As I round the corner into this ninth year of podcasting and after over 700 episodes, today I’m announcing a pause for both shows. Listen in to hear what factors helped me reach this decision across time, money, energy, depressing industry articles, the pace of both shows’ growth, and mix of additional business factors that make this an important moment to pause and regroup. You might also appreciate the even deeper dive with my longtime friend (and first coach) Adrian Klaphaak in Pivot episode 360: 📦 Unpacking a Big Business Decision and Dissolving Related Doubts. While I will be sad not to bring fresh episodes to your earbuds every week, I truly want to say thank you so much for being here. This only represents a small fraction of listeners, but I was genuinely touched receiving the Spotify Wrapped for Podcasters stats at the end of 2023 after I knew I would be pausing once all the episodes “in the can” went live. Among Pivot listeners: for 681 this show is in your top ten on Spotify, for 373 it’s in your top five, and for 65 of you, this is your number one show (again, at least in Spotify’s podcast player)! Among Free Time listeners: for 423 of you this show is in your top ten on Spotify, for 247 it’s in the top five, and for 57 it is your number one show in Spotify—the highest honor!! I was shocked to see even one, truly, with so much other incredible audio content out there. There’s one thing I know for sure: I will miss you during this break 🥹 🌟 ;TLDR/L (Too Long Didn’t Listen) Top Takeaways: In addition to pausing my private community, I am pausing both podcasts for a bit (duration TBD) so I can clear financial and energetic space to listen to what my broader business wants to become. 🎧 Stay subscribed to both shows: Pivot with Jenny Blake and Free Time with Jenny Blake so that you still get episodes when I release them, even if a bit more sporadically (for now); I may switch to seasons if/when I resume 📧 Subscribe to any/all of my three Substacks if you’re not already: I hope to experiment with live tapings with interesting friends and guests, ones that are for paying subscribers where we can go into even more nitty gritty detail behind-the-scenes. 📝 Permission Pause and regroup on any of your creative projects so you can create space to hear what’s next. 🔗 Resources Mentioned Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h: 🏆 Time to Put the Trophies Away Do What You Love and the Money Will Follow . . . IF Rebuilding from Rubble 👟 A Strange and Wonderful Morning: Walking Photo Essay Dear 2024: A Letter and From 2024: A Reply What Works: Making the Content Math Work Edison Research: Podcasting’s Big Hits and Long Tail Adam Davidson: The Rise and Fall of Podcasting The Daily Beast: Malcolm Gladwell’s Media Empire is Being Torn Apart Podcast Production: One Stone Creative ListenNotes: Pivot, Free Time 📚 Books Mentioned Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes SPARKED: Jenny in Conversation with Jonathan Fields (Spotify Playlist) BFF Bonus: Upcoming Quiet Sabbatical + Important Membership Updates Pivot: 329: Five Types of People-Pleasers from The Joy of Saying No with Natalie Lue 342: “Whatever Comes Through Me Comes For Me First,” With Nicole Antoinette 360: 📦 Unpacking a Big Business Decision and Dissolving Related Doubts with Adrian Klaphaak Free Time: 042: How I Run My Business Without Social Media (Pivot Replay) 203: 🎢 Riding the Emotional Rollercoaster of Launching with Natalie Lue 250: Do what you love and the money will follow . . . IF you meet at least 3 of these 20 criteria 🦧 What to Do When You Lose Your Biggest Client, Part One and Part Two 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/270 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“I don’t get on the airplane—and definitely not the stage—unless all invoices are paid in full.” When my friend and fellow keynote speaker Joey Coleman said this to me over coffee, I started drilling him for details: Really?! How do you have the nerve to say that to a speaking client?! How do you avoid caving in to make sure their event doesn’t fall apart if they haven’t paid in time? What about clients who work for highly bureaucratic companies that insist on their “standard” net-120 terms? In this illuminating conversation, Joey shares his best practices for getting paid on time—every time by setting, stating, and upholding better boundaries (and contracts) with clients. More About Joey: As an award-winning speaker for over twenty years, Joey Coleman works with organizations around the world ranging from small startups to major brands such as Volkswagen Australia, Zappos, and Whirlpool. His First 100 Days® methodology fuels the remarkable experiences his clients deliver and dramatically improves their profits. 🌟 4 Key Takeaways “You should care a lot about what a few people think.” For Joey, it’s his wife, his children, his closest business advisors, longstanding clients. “I don’t want my creativity hampered by one person’s feedback.” “You need to know how to ask for the money.” Gem from Joey’s dad growing up on the most important thing to know when running your own business, about having confidence when you state the price and terms of your services without wavering. Don’t raise your prices just for the sake of raising them; however, as your expertise and capabilities and the cost of living and costs of running your business increase, there is a necessary understanding that prices will go up. Right before he hit send on a proposal, he would stop, go back to the original contract and raise the fee by ten percent. Price is something you pay at the grocery store; investment is something you are going to do to grow your operation and make it better. You will invest with me to grow your returns, and it will continue to pay dividends. As a speaker, you need to be clear on the return on investment that you’re promising. 📝 Permission It is unbelievably challenging to start and run your own business. Because you are so bold to do that, give yourself permission to courageously set your boundaries. The more clear and comfortable you are stating how to work with you and holding firm when pushed, the happier you will be as a business owner, and the longer you will be in business. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next Try Joey’s approach to sharing the investment for working together. List a range on your website, and the first time your desired client learns how much it costs to work with you should be hearing it from you, not reading a document. 🔗 Resources and Books Mentioned 📚 Joey on the web, X (Twitter), LinkedIn Never Lose an Employee Again: The Simple Path to Remarkable Retention Never Lose a Customer Again: Turn Any Sale into Lifelong Loyalty in 100 Days Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One 🎧 Related Episodes Joey’s podcast: Experience This! Free Time: 083: Breaking through Buyer’s Remorse—Never Lose a Customer Again 201: Never Lose a Team Member Again with Joey Coleman Pivot: 155: Becoming a Successful Speaker with Grant Baldwin 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/269 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What mysterious ingredients make a book launch successful? What number of first-week and first-year sales truly make a difference to a book’s longevity? What can you do to turn lagging numbers around? In a flagship illuminating post for the industry, Todd Sattersten, publisher and owner of Bard Press, shared his findings in The Magic Number. In this behind-the-business conversation from October 2023, you’ll hear him generously talk me through how I could help Free Time get there—with a much-needed morale boost at the end. More About Todd: Todd Sattersten is the publisher and owner of Bard Press, a book publisher that works with authors to create best-selling books in business, personal development and technology. Before Bard Press, Todd served as general manager of IT Revolution and president of business book retailer 800-CEO-READ. He is the author of Every Book Is a Startup and the co-author of The 100 Best Business Books of All Time (Portfolio, 2009). Todd lives in Portland, Oregon with his wife Amy and their three awesome kids. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways A book launch is a set of activities to engage people and create momentum, and there is no common blueprint for success. “Each book is different—in its approach to a problem and delivery of solution. Each author is different—in what they bring to the launch. And the world itself is different every time you bring a book into the world.” The Magic Number: The data says is that if you can get into the 10,000 to 25,000 copy range for first year sales, you have a 42% chance of selling more than 25,000 copies in lifetime sales. If you get past that 10K mark, there is a 4 in 10 chance of getting beyond 25K copies sold. Endorsements should triangulate the reader to think this book is for them. Who is the highest comp author? A practitioner (someone doing the work or even a related recognizable company), a reader who demonstrates utility. 📝 Permission Put your ego down. Remember, you want your readers to be better, to improve their lives. Our job is to find more people to help, and there are still so many opportunities for that. You don’t actually have to stop promoting the book after it’s launched—there is nobody stopping you! ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next Send a survey out to your readers and community, ideally 90 to 120 days after the book comes out. Check out the one Jenny sent here—and please take it if you can at the same time! 🔗 Resources Mentioned Todd on the web, IG, X, LinkedIn Publisher: Bard Press Take the Free Time reader survey Jenny sent here, whether you’ve read the book or not! Bard Press Articles: The Magic Number and The Few, The Many, and the Reality of Power Laws Net Promoter Score (NPS): https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net_promoter_score Technology Adoption Life Cycle: Innovators → early adopters → early majority → late majority → laggards BookBub and The Fussy Librarian for ebook promotions Jenny’s Author Toolkit and Free Time Leader Kit 📚 Books Mentioned The One Thing by Jay Papasan and Gary Keller Atomic Habits by James Clear Your First 1000 Copies by Tim Grahl Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes Self-Publishing School: The Engineer Approach to Millions of Copies Sold with Todd Sattersten Billion Dollar Creator: 018: How to Write a Book That Sells for Decades with Tim Grahl Free Time: 249: Systems for Selling Over One Million Books and 012: Generating Personal MBA Momentum with Josh Kaufman 117: Tiny Marketing Actions with Pamela Slim Pivot: 207: How to Develop Your Book and Big Idea (Part 1) and 208: Your Book and Big Idea (Part 2) 49: The (He)art of Book Publishing Excerpt: Land a Traditional Publishing Deal — Q&A with My Editor at Portfolio/Penguin Random House 📝 Check out full show notes and share: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/268 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Laura Mae Martin has a fascinating role as the Executive Productivity Advisor at Google in the Office of the CEO—one that she helped create six years ago (with big thanks to Jenny Wood for introducing us!). ****She coaches Google’s top executives on the best ways to manage their time and energy and sends out a weekly productivity newsletter that reaches over fifty thousand employees. Today we’re talking about her forthcoming book, Uptime: A Practical Guide to Personal Productivity and Wellbeing. We discuss what the most senior-level executives do differently when it comes to time management (and what they still struggle with), five strategies for saying no, taming inbox stress with The Laundry Method, cozy corners, pairing activities with certain locations (hot spots and not spots), and what differentiates truly excellent executive assistants. More About Laura: During her nearly fourteen-year tenure at Google, Laura Mae Martin has worked in sales, product operations, event planning, and now executive coaching. She holds a bachelor of science in business administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, with her husband and three children under five. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways Laura’s 5 C’s of Productivity: Calm, Create, Capture, Consolidate, Close. Create a system that you truly trust: where new tasks get captured and where you know you will see them again. No matter when or where a loop comes from (i.e. on a walk), ensure you have systems in place for the entire loop lifecycle from capturing to closing. Five Ways to Say No to Incoming Requests: ask more questions to better understand the time commitment and see if it aligns with your top three priorities; say you’ll think about it or don’t respond right away to buy yourself time and prevent a knee-jerk response; imagine two scenarios playing out for yes and for no (to help you decide); say no, but _______ (send helpful resources); say no, because _______ (give a little context). The Laundry Method: Think about your inbox the way you think about your dryer. You would never process clothes one item at a time—whether drying, folding or putting away—and yet that’s how many people tackle email. Process in batches instead. Treat sorting, reading, and answering as separate activities. If you have only twenty minutes, pick one of those activities. 📝 Permission Give yourself plenty of down time in order to have highly productive uptime; drop the guilt! Rest leads to better overall productivity. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next Stop wasting energy points! Eliminate any emails from your inbox that you don’t need to see: the unread, notifications, newsletters (Jenny uses SaneBox for this), and make sure you help the things you need to see stick out. 🔗 Resources Mentioned Laura on the web, IG, LinkedIn Articles: Business Insider—6 tips a productivity advisor gives Google executives to better manage their email, meetings, and workload Google Blog—5 things I learned from Google’s productivity expert CNN—She helps Google workers be productive. Here are her pro tips. Video: Top 3 Google Workspace tips Apps: SaneBox, TextExpander, HelpScout 📚 Books Mentioned Uptime: A Practical Guide to Personal Productivity and Wellbeing Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes Free Time: 019: Most Valuable Activities with Dave Crenshaw 154: The Hard No 027: Time Management for Mortals with Oliver Burkeman Pivot: 289: Stealing Wi-Fi as Career Strategy with Jenny Wood 307: Pivoting from Google to Launching People Playbook with Tony McGaharan 318: The Beauty of Late Bloomers with Jenna Valovic 309: Wayfinding and Developing Identity Agency with Ciela Hartanov 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/268 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While the title of this episode, The Framework Framework™ is tongue-in-cheek, I’m pulling this out of the BFF bonus vault because it’s one of the community’s favorites. I’m sharing the first steps to how you can set up a framework to help bolster your IP and your business; either by scaling through programs like certification and licensing, and to make your material more memorable and accessible to the groups you care most about reaching. I shared this in June 2023 as a follow-up to the fantastic workshop that Pamela Slim did for us on Certification and Licensing. You can access over 100 bonus episodes and that workshop by joining Free Time as a paying subscriber. You’ll get instant access to Stephanie Huston’s How to Batch Create and Customize Your Annual Content Calendar, with an epic multi-tab template in Google Sheets. Be sure to also check out the resources below, including Wes Kao’s detailed LinkedIn post on how to turn your ideas into frameworks. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways of the Framework Framework™ Solves a problem (people know they have), answers a question (BookRx) Action-oriented → Transformation Journey or Comprehensive (Whole body/self/org). Name your process Memorable, concise name and stages (ideally 3 to 4 stages) Bonus: Tie-in a metaphor, hook, and/or story 📘 From Built to Sell: TED’S TIP # 3 Owning a process makes it easier to pitch and puts you in control. Be clear about what you’re selling, and potential customers will be more likely to buy your product. TED’S TIP # 6 Don’t be afraid to say no to projects. Prove that you’re serious about specialization by turning down work that falls outside your area of expertise. The more people you say no to, the more referrals you’ll get to people who need your product or service. 🔗 Resources Mentioned Here's a photo of my journal where I first started trying to piece the Free Time Framework together, brainstorming themes before eventually shifting from Mind/Time/Team to Align -> Design -> Assign :) Articles: Martha Beck’s Growing Wings: The Power of Change TED—The 7 types of rest that every person needs Wes Kao’s detailed LinkedIn post on how to turn your ideas into frameworks 📚 Books Mentioned Built to Sell The Referral Engine Finding Your Own North Star E-Myth Revisited The Power of Full Engagement The Lean Start-up Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes BFF Bonus Workshops: Pamela Slim’s Certification and Licensing Stephanie Huston’s How to Batch Create and Customize Your Annual Content Calendar Free Time: 189: Jay Acunzo's walkthrough of his Intellectual Property (IP) Development OS — check out the diagram here 256: Behind-the-Business: 1:1 Voxer Coaching Summer Pop-Up—Structure, Systems & Pricing 135: How to Rapidly Prototype a Course (Pivot Replay from Dec. 2019) 187: Licensing 201 — Q&A on Pricing + Packaging, Train-the-Trainer, Delivery, and Legal 186: Licensing 201 — Q&A on Product Development, Attracting Clients, and Sales Process 185: How Licensing Helps Serve the Queen Bee Role + Stop Keeping up with the EntrepreJoneses with Mike Michalowicz 140: How to License Your IP (Intellectual Property) Pivot: 281: Feeling Impostery? Become a Qualified Curator Instead of an End-All-Be-All Expert 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review ✍️ Check out Jenny’s personal business essays on Substack, Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter for access to the Free Time Toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/266 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What do you do when you lose your biggest client? If you haven’t already, listen to part one for some answers—264: What to Do When You Lose Your Biggest Client— and save these links for a rainy day :) The next time you’re going through something challenging in your business, remember: you are not alone! I hope you find comfort through the voices of some of my dearest friends, former podcast guests, and favorite Heart-Based Business owners who are speaking from experience about how they've handled situations just like this. If you want the full scoop on what founding BFF member Leanne Hughes calls “business reality TV” on how I have been handling losing my biggest favorite client, I encourage you to check out the full series of posts at Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h. Thank you for listening, and huge thanks to our contributors to this series! 📝 Contributors & Permission Slips: Stephanie Polen, founder of The Polen Group: “Give yourself permission to be emotional and recognize that that's your humanity - that is the thing that makes you special and the work that you do. And it's probably why that big client hired you in the first place.” Khe Hy, founder of RadReads: “View these challenges not as a death of identity, but an opportunity to recalibrate your emotional resilience.” Marisol Dahl, cofounder of Together Agency: “When you part ways with a big client, give yourself permission to take a beat so that you can reflect and digest on your own experience with this client.” Chris Wilson, founder of Simplify Your Why: “Try more experiments with your business; give yourself the chance to iterate and fail (it helps if you live below your means!). It's rare that your first business model will work.” Maya Middlemiss, founder of Remote Work Europe: “Give yourself permission to do something for yourself in terms of your interests and professional development. Don't let anybody own so much of your time.” Check out the other half here, from Kelli Thompson, Kristoffer Carter, Pamela Slim, and Charlie Gilkey: 264: What to Do When You Lose Your Biggest Client (Part One) 🔗 Articles Mentioned Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h This is a Wonderful Day An Honest Accounting: Part One, Part Two, Part Three Am I Running a Zombie Business? Part One and Part Two Ghost Self: Part One, Part Two, Part Three 📚 Books Mentioned The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks (mentioned by Chris Wilson) Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes Free Time: 264: What to Do When You Lose Your Biggest Client (Part One) 173: Cut Your Losses—Even While Pivoting in Public—with Khe Hy Check out our full Rad Reads x Pivot Spotify Playlist Pivot: 355: Building a Brand Strategy from Scratch with Adam Chaloeicheep of Together Agency and 356: Four Brand Personas with Adam Chaloeicheep Future is Freelance with Maya Middlemiss: From Freelancing to Delightfully Tiny Teams: Embracing Automation, Empowerment, and Emojis with Jenny Blake 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review ✍️ Check out Jenny’s personal business essays on Substack, Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter for access to the Free Time Toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/265 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What do you do when you lose your biggest client? That was my Spotify search query for podcast episodes on this topic in the summer of 2023. It came up empty—there was not a single podcast episode on this topic. Of course not. Who wants to admit out loud and in their archives that they've lost their biggest client? In the past, I probably wouldn't have fessed up to this either. Except for the fact that now it's what I wish I could see, read, and hear. Today’s compilation episode is here to fix that! If you've been reading Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h, you know that the origin story for my new-ish paid Substack was losing my biggest, most beloved corporate client in the summer of 2023. Getting The News shook me up so much because not only was it one of my longest-running favorite licensing clients, but it also represented at least six figures of income for the next six months being instantly wiped off the table. Now, at least, we will all have something to turn to (and return to). My goal is not to provide advice but rather to offer some comfort through the voices of some of my dearest friends and favorite Heart-Based Business owners who are speaking from experience about how they've handled situations just like this. Maybe you don't need this episode right now, but if something does happen in the future (even if we hope not), you'll remember that you can come back and listen on a proverbial rainy day. Please share with any fellow business owner friends who might be going through a tough time, and enormous thanks to the wonderful group of friends and former podcast guests who shared their stories for this two-part episode! 📝 Contributors & Permission Slips: Kelli Thompson, author of Closing the Confidence Gap: “Diversify your business income and give yourself permission that you can do a lot of things that align with your mission, but offer it in many different ways that feel good for you.” Kristoffer ‘KC’ Carter, author of Permission to Glow: “Drop the self-judgment, give yourself more self-compassion, and just get back to work with creating the next even better client.” Pamela Slim, author of The Widest Net: “Give up the idea that you are in control of the success of your business. When you release that idea, then you can be more curious about how to step in and fix things that aren't working.” Charlie Gilkey, author of Team Habits: “Do not take the client loss personally. Stand tall, take care of yourself, and go get your next client.” 🔗 Articles Mentioned Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h This is a Wonderful Day An Honest Accounting: Part One, Part Two, Part Three Am I Running a Zombie Business? Part One and Part Two Ghost Self: Part One, Part Two, Part Three 📚 Books Mentioned Closing the Confidence Gap by Kelli Thompson Permission to Glow by Kristoffer ‘KC’ Carter Escape from Cubicle Nation, Body of Work, and The Widest Net by Pamela Slim Start Finishing and Team Habits by Charlie Gilkey Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes — Part One Free Time: 188: Energy Capacity Planning, Pricing, and Finding Resonant Masterminds with Kelli Thompson 039: Permission to Glow with Kristoffer (KC) Carter 117: Tiny Marketing Actions with Pamela Slim 143: Exploring Time, Money, and Energy Capacity with Tara McMullin and Charlie Gilkey 091: Quarterly Planning with Charlie Gilkey Pivot: 315: Intuition-Building, Spotting Pedestal Syndrome, and Closing the Confidence Gap with Kelli Thompson 136: Start Finishing—Pricing, Projects, and Momentum Planning with Charlie Gilkey 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/264 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“I am great in the early, messy days and I know that about myself, so I designed my business around serving others in that stage.” In this conversation with business strategist (genius!) Michelle Warner, we cover the three growth stages most relevant to tiny business owners, how to fix broken business models, validating product-market-founder fit, the difference between traffic-based versus relationship-based sales and marketing, borrowing aligned audiences, leading a free monthly Q&A to “catch” their interest afterward, imagining sales as a downhill snowball, and how to scale while still staying Delightfully Tiny. More About Michelle: Michelle Warner designs tiny companies that are built to last. With an MBA from one of the world’s top business schools and 15+ years experience growing small businesses, Michelle focuses on layering real world experience on top of classic business fundamentals to design businesses that are sustainable and scalable in the long term and resilient and adaptable in the short term. It’s the way she grew her first business to 7+ figures, and it’s what she’s used to help 300+ CEO's create businesses that work for the important stuff: profit, energy, passion + time. She’s also the creator of Networking That Pays, the introvert-friendly, always awkward-free connection system that brings in reliable leads, consistent referrals and meaningful connections for your business - in 5 minutes a day. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways Three small business stages most relevant to tiny business owners (adapted from HBR): Validate—product-market-founder fit; Sell—repeatable and predictable marketing and sales; Foundation—process, team, culture) Relationship- versus traffic-based sales and metrics: Relationship-based business are going for smaller reach, with ideally at least a fifty-percent conversion rate on sales calls. Traffic-based marketing aims at bringing in much bigger audiences, with smaller conversion rates for things like selling digital products (pushing a boulder up hill). Three marketing stages: Awareness (imagine a snowball running downhill—people need to have a really big moment with you; you’ve made 80% of the sale by blowing their mind during the awareness stage) engagement, and sales. 📝 Permission Focus on sequence over strategy: you can execute strategies perfectly, but if you’re doing them in the wrong order, it’s not going to do a thing for you. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next Take five minutes a day to reach out to one person across any of these four themes: thank you’s (be specific!), connections, asks, and catch-ups. 🔗 Resources Mentioned Michelle on the web, IG, Twitter, LinkedIn Articles: HBR—The Five Stages of Small-Business Growth Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h—Climbing Down the Entrepreneurial Ladder, An Honest Accounting (Part One) People: Margo Aaron, Pamela Slim, Jay Acunzo Tiny + Strong Table Talk: Michelle’s free monthly Q&A if you need a good idea, fresh perspective or to get inspired by what others are thinking and doing. Register here. 📚 Books Mentioned Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes Off the Grid: Leaving Social Media Without Losing All Your Clients — Relationship Marketing with Michelle Warner Free Time: 042: How I Run My Business Without Social Media 181: Be Irreplaceable with My Creative Coach Jay Acunzo 117: Tiny Marketing Actions with Pamela Slim 261: Cringe-Free Launches and Evergreen Sales Considerations with Anne Samoilov 165: Are your clients bringing out the best in you? Engineering the Evolution of Your Business and 229: How (and When) to Trust Yourself and Others with Ilise Benun 138: ⛵️Stop Sailing the Sea of Shiny Shoulds 136: Why I Stopped Exploring Selling the Pivot Brand and Business 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/263 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Things today are waaayyyyy better than Things have ever been. Cavemen had sticks. In the Middle ages they had typhoid. We have iPhones and Hermann Miller chairs and shoes with air in the soles. Inside the soles! How do they get the air inside the soles??? We are living in the Golden Age of Things, in the Golden Empire of Things.” —Shalom Auslander's Fetal Position via Beckett Drove a Deux Chevaux I first encountered the Apple billboard a few days after Christmas. I was walking down Fourteenth Street in the Meatpacking district, and there it was—an Apple ad declaring “Newphoria!” in enormous print. We don’t need newphoria. We need oldphoria, the joy in what already exists. We need simplephoria, the joy in streamlining. We need enoughphoria, the celebration that what we have and who we are is already enough. Newphoria, at least as it relates to running a small business, is not always all it’s cracked up to be. Today’s post is a crossover from Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h—you can read the post and reply in the comments here: Climbing Down the Entrepreneurial Ladder. 📝 Permission Celebrate your own -phoria, the joy in running your business in the way that works best for you! 🔗 Resources Mentioned D🤦🏻‍♀️h Articles: Love That! For You 🙄, COnTenT cReaToRs exist and subsist in the verrrrrrry looooooooooooong tail’s trough, 🤬 Rant From the Wound: Why This Platitude Meme Engraged Me, Serendipity signage Katherine Raz on closing the second location of her Fernseed business in Tacoma Emily McDowell’s experience of running a small business that blew up—in a good way—but also led to burnout: The truth about going mega-viral, part one and part two. Nathan Barry’s The Ladders of Wealth Creation Jonathan Field’s The Unfortunate Middle JB for CNBC: Treat your career like a smart phone, not a ladder NYT: Climbing Down the Corporate Ladder. Big thanks to Rob Walker for including me in this Workologist column! It’s still a career highlight. He’s now here on Substack at The Art of Noticing Video: If you want to geek out further on idea gathering process: here’s a Loom walkthrough of my Collection Bucket in Notion. Recent Free Time workshop by Stephanie Huston with a template for creating and batching content for the year ahead. Apps: Substack 📚 Books Mentioned I’m not immune from status-chasing—none of us are. In his book, The Status Game, Will Storr categorizes these games into three types: dominance, success, and virtue. My two all-time favorite books on this topic are Alain de Botton’s Status Anxiety and Wanting by Luke Burgis who is on Substack at Ride or Drive and Anti-Mimetic. Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes Listen to the audio version of Jonathan Fields reading “The Unfortunate Middle” here, and check out our series of 12 SPARKED episodes (Spotify Playlist). Pivot: 305: Is What You’re Wanting Actually What’s Best For You? With Luke Burgis Pivot x RadReads conversations on status with Khe Hy (Spotify Playlist) Free Time: Here are some of my favorite Free Time conversations with small business owners who downsized their operations: 016: IP Licensing and “No Full-Time Employees” with Lee LeFever 131: Scaling Joy While Streamlining Business Overhead with Kaneisha Grayson 157: Downshifting to a Delightfully Part-Team Team with Laura Roeder 173: Cut Your Losses—Even While Pivoting in Public with Khe Hy 205: Turning Down a $200K Two-Book Traditional Publishing Deal with Paul Millerd 241: Finding Freedom and Financial Reciprocity through a Paid Newsletter 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/262 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you’re anything like me, you may find conducting online launches for your programs or events exhausting and sometimes even cringe-inducing. Thankfully, today’s guest, Anne Samoilov, is here to help! Anne is a long-time expert in the space who has helmed product launches for Laura Roeder, Marie Forleo, and Jonathan Fields. Today, we’re talking about why some of us find big, splashy launches so draining; how to set up automated or evergreen launches (and her take on the pros and cons of these); how to find non-cringey launch strategies; be willing to take on clients or projects that have nothing to do with your business. More About Anne: Anne Samoilov is a launch strategist and VFX Producer. She started her work online as the creator of Fearless Launching, an online training program that teaches impact-driven entrepreneurs how to create simple, streamlined, and standout launches without relying on templates or cookie-cutter strategies. She has also led the VFX teams for TV shows on Paramount Plus and Starz. Check out Anne’s podcast, The Fearless Launching Show, where she shares insights and tips on how to have an amazing product or business launch—your way. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways Evergreen or Automated Launches: a person who is interested in what you do → signs up for a free interactive event (a webinar, challenge, email series, video series, etc.) → at some point, you make an offer by sending them to a sales page. They can do all this on their own schedule. Do people actually know what you offer? Three ways to make sure: communication (webinar, mini-course, offer in your thank you pages, newsletter P.S.), website updates (bio, announcement bar, pop-up, work with me page), other people (free workshop for their audience, podcast guesting) Get in front of other audiences by doing a workshop (webinar) tour: You can offer the host an affiliate commission for sales. Give both audiences a heads-up that you have a relationship. 📝 Permission To take on clients or projects that have nothing to do with your business; it can bring in revenue and reconnect you with latent skills. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next Spruce up your thank you pages! Put your bio, mention ways to work with you, offer a freebie. Bonus: create a launch library with some of the copy that has worked best from previous launches. 🔗 Resources Mentioned Anne on the web, IG, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook Content Sprints: Stephanie Huston BFF Workshop: How to Batch + Create Your Annual Content Calendar with Stephanie Huston People: Catherine Just, Marie Forleo, Jeff Walker Tools: Notion, Deadline Funnel 📚 Books Mentioned The White Space Solution: Make Room For Your Best Life & Work Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes Anne’s Fearless Launching Show BFF Workshop: How to Batch + Create Your Annual Content Calendar with Stephanie Huston Free Time: 064: The Vulnerability of Launching 157: Downshifting to a Delightfully Part-Team Team with Laura Roeder 107: How to Know When You’ve Gotten Pricing Wrong and 020: Pricing Psychology with Jacquette M. Timmons 084: Sprinkling the First 1,000 Serendipity Seeds of a Launch 069: Evergreen Email Sequences with Allan Dib Pivot: 047: Live Fiercely, Study Deeply . . . While Earning a Living — with Jonathan Fields 358: Crossing the Cringe Chasm when Taking Career and Creative Risks with Henna Pryor 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/261 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Whenever you have a choice of what to do, choose the more interesting path." In honor of our upcoming Free Time x Long Game IRL event in Miami on February 1 and 2 (it’s not too late to join!), today I’m bringing you a favorite episode from the earliest days of the Free Time pod. In this conversation with Dorie Clark—aka “DC”—one of my closest friendtors, we discuss how she "optimizes for interesting," says no to good opportunities, builds relationships by following her "no asks for a year" rule, and when to call on trusted advisors to ensure you don't quit something too soon. We're discussing her bestselling fourth book, The Long Game: How to Be a Long-Term Thinker in a Short-Term World—be sure to grab your copy for even more insights on how to apply strategic thinking to your biggest vision. This episode originally aired on September 28, 2021. More About Dorie: Dorie Clark helps individuals and companies get their best ideas heard in a crowded, noisy world. She has been named one of the Top 50 business thinkers in the world by Thinkers50, and was honored as the #1 Communication Coach in the world by the Marshall Goldsmith Leading Global Coaches Awards. She is a keynote speaker and teaches executive education for Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and Columbia Business School. Dorie is the author of The Long Game: How to Be a Long-Term Thinker in a Short-Term World, Reinventing You, Stand Out, Entrepreneurial You. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways Building and Maintaining Relationships: Dorie doesn’t make any significant asks from new connections for at least a year. This strategy is aimed at building genuine, agenda-free relationships, nurturing them over time, rather than using them for immediate benefits. Optimizing for Interesting Opportunities: Pursue what genuinely interests you rather than feeling pressured to follow a predetermined passion or path. Balancing Opportunities and Saying: It’s a skill to decline opportunities, especially alluring seemingly “free” ones. Evaluate opportunities based on alignment with your long-term goals and the true cost of saying yes, including opportunity cost, time, and energy. 📝 Permission “You don’t have to do this,” for types of events that you hate attending! Decline joyfully. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next What decision would you make about a current or future project if you were optimizing for interesting? 🔗 Resources Mentioned Dorie on the web, Instagram: @dorieclark, LinkedIn Articles: Dorie on HBR Video: TEDx—How to Future-Proof Your Career Free Time Miami on Feb 1 and 2: Learn more and register here » 📚 Books Mentioned Dorie’s Books: The Long Game, Reinventing You, Stand Out, Entrepreneurial You Decoding Greatness by Ron Friedman Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes Russel Brunson's The Marketing Secrets Show Pivot: 298: Building a New Network and Becoming Broadway Investors with Dorie Clark and Alisa Cohn 268: Decoding Greatness with Ron Friedman 58: Monetize Your Ideas with Dorie Clark 66: Create Multiple Streams of Income with Dorie Clark 33: Find Your Breakthrough Idea and Build a Following with Dorie Clark 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review ✍️ Check out Jenny’s personal business essays on Substack, Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter for access to the Free Time Toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/260 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Before you post anything, ask: Why am I posting this? Is this within my brand guardrails? Even still, you may find yourself in hot water someday, and it’s important to think through how you will respond (and the pop-up team you will assemble to help) in advance. Today, we’re breaking down the tricky art of crisis communications and apologies with Aliza Licht, author of On Brand, who brings two decades of PR experience to the conversation. More About Aliza: Aliza Licht is an award-winning marketer, bestselling author, podcaster, personal branding expert, and the founder of LEAVE YOUR MARK, a multimedia brand and consultancy. She advises businesses and mentors individuals on brand building and career development. Licht leverages over two decades of expertise in marketing, communications, and digital strategy in the fashion industry. She was named one of "America's Next Top Mentors" by The New York Times. Her new book, On Brand: Shape Your Narrative. Share Your Vision. Shift Their Perception is a comprehensive roadmap to building your personal brand. As a social media pioneer and one of the first fashion influencers, Licht created and was the voice of the anonymous social media phenomenon DKNY PR GIRL. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways Brand Guardrails: What kind of point of view do you have? What will and won’t you stand behind? What is central to who you are? Plan for Crisis Communications before you have a crisis: What team will be involved? An attorney, an HR person (if a bigger business), certain savvy friends. Put that “bat team” together, almost like your to-go bag in an emergency. You won’t be thinking clearly in the middle of a crisis when your brand is everywhere, and not in a good way. Social media is very siloed: If a fire starts on one platform, don’t spread your own wildfire by responding to it across every channel. Contain a fire where it started first. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next If you are faced with a crisis, first understand where you messed up. What did you do that pissed off your community? Second, how quickly can you respond to that? Finally, are there actions you need to take in addition to your words? 📚 Books Mentioned On Brand: Shape Your Narrative. Share Your Vision. Shift Their Perception Humans of New York and Humans of New York: Stories by Brandon Stanton The Journalist and the Murderer by Janet Malcolm Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🔗 Resources Mentioned Aliza on the web, IG, Twitter, LinkedIn Humans of New York: web, IG, book Articles: DKNY Responds to Accusations that it Stole Photos from ‘Humans of New York’ Photographer, CBS New York—DKNY, Photographer Settle After Store Uses 'Humans Of New York' Photos Without Permission Streisand effect: An unintended consequence of attempts to hide, remove, or censor information, where the effort instead backfires by increasing awareness of that information. The New York Times—Is Empowering Corporate Women Enough? The New Yorker—The Journalist and the Murderer by Janet Malcolm 🎧 Related Podcast Episodes Leave Your Mark: Jenny Blake on Quietly Unsubscribing From Burnout, Harnessing Free Time, and Why We Should Stop Sailing the Sea of Shiny Shoulds Free Time: 005: Brand Obsessed with Emily Heyward Pivot: 236: We're All In This Together—From Blame to Belonging with Mike Robbins 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/259 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What’s on your business owner to-do list? Here’s a peek at mine, full of items large, small, and existential. This is another crossover from Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h, a recent essay that was an unexpected runaway hit—the most popular to date in the six months since I started on Substack. I had no idea (as usual) whether it would resonate or not when I hit “publish,” until my friend Adam texted to say how much he could relate. “Your comments are blowing up!” he said, sending a screenshot of other people letting me know that I wasn’t alone in my itemized anxiety. Enormous thanks to those of you who have already subscribed, read, commented, and shared—it means the world to me! 📝 Permission To reward yourself with something fun after you complete the most annoying #adulting item on your to-do list. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next Delegate one thing you are dreading on your own to-do list. 🔗 Resources Mentioned NaNoWriMo cofounder Grant Faulkner Rolling in Doh: To Do—One Small Business Owner’s Checklist; An Honest Accounting Part One, Part Two, Part Three—Emojij Balance Sheet Articles: Jennifer Egan’s “To Do”, Todd Sattersten’s publishing magic number for book sales, Julia Cameron’s Artist Dates Cartoon: “Alice in Responsibilityland” by Liana Finck for The New Yorker Apps: Substack 📚 Books Mentioned The Art of Brevity by Grant Faulkner Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes Free Time: 238: Why Revenue Goals Don’t Work (For Me) 226: Is your business a hot mess? If yes, let's celebrate — Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h 236: Ignore the Odds — Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h 250: Do what you love and the money will follow . . . IF you meet at least 3 of these 20 criteria 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review ✍️ Check out Jenny’s personal business essays on Substack, Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h ❤️ Join our private BFF community for Heart-Based Business owners 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter for access to the Free Time Toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/258 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“We don’t want our time to be spread thin like peanut butter on a slice of toast. You will have greater impact when you concentrate your efforts on work that is closely tied to winning—however you define it.” Are you working in a frustration factory? If so, it’s important to recognize that not all friction is created equal. Some is good, to slow down decision-making in crucial moments, and some is bad, getting in the way of progress. You’ll need to tap into your inner “grease” and “gunk” sides to address both. In the introduction to their book, The Friction Project, coauthors Huggy Rao and Bob Sutton share a quote from Ed Catmull, former president of Pixar. He believes that if Pixar followed overreaching executives’ advice to wring maximum efficiency and scale out of the organization, it would “kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.” "The goal isn't efficiency, it is to make something good or even great,” Catmull says. “We iterate seven to nine times, with friction in the process.” More About Huggy: Huggy Rao is the Atholl McBean professor of Organizational Behavior at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Science, the Sociological Research Association, and the Academy of Management. He has written for Harvard Business Review, Business Week, and the Wall Street Journal. He is the author of Market Rebels and coauthor of the bestselling book Scaling Up Excellence. Today we’re talking about his new book, also coauthored with Bob Sutton, The Friction Project: How Smart Leaders Make the Right Things Easier and the Wrong Things Harder. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways Think of yourself as a trustee of others’ time: Don’t forget that your company is a product too. Be intentional about how customers (and team members) interact with your business at every step. Grease people vs. gunk people: Grease people are connectors—like WD40—they like to make things easier. Gunk people are more rule and procedure-bound. These are two different aspects of ourselves. Think of your role as Editor-in-Chief of a newspaper: Take away stuff that bores and distracts readers. You also need to do your due dilligence: fact check, interview sources. What’s the cost of serving a large, friction-filled client? Is it really worth it? Are they the right people for you to serve? Don’t be customer compelled, thinking you have to chase every customer. A great company says yes to some customers, and no to others. 📝 Permission Start simple: get rid of stupid stuff. How will you do this every day? Can you have one decision-making rule that a ten year-old would understand? ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next Do a simple test of friction forensics. Ask: is this a one-way door decision I’m making, one that’s very costly to reverse? There are other decisions where the cost of failure is very low. When you’re making a one-way door decision, put in good friction to slow you down. For the latter, make things very easy for people to do. 🔗 Resources Mentioned Huggy on the web, Twitter, LinkedIn Articles: Our to-do lists can’t grow forever. It’s time to try subtraction Video: Huggy Rao on Scaling Up Excellence 📚 Books Mentioned The Friction Project: How Smart Leaders Make the Right Things Easier and the Wrong Things Harder by Huggy Rao & Robert Sutton Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull Subtract: The Untapped Science of Less by Leidy Klotz Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes Friction with Bob Sutton and Huggy Rao Free Time: 169: Running a Goal-Free Business with Stephen Shapiro Pivot: 326: Fool Me Once—How to Avoid Accidental and Righteous Fraud with Kelly Pope 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/257 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I'm so excited to bring you a listener submission today from Renee Rubin Ross about my summer Voxer coaching pop-up. I've done these two summers in a row now, and I've learned so much every subsequent time. In this episode, I’ll share the structure, systems, and pricing that help me create a joyful asynchronous program that keeps our calendars free of “tiny boxes” (as my friend Sarah calls them). More about Renee: Dr. Renee Rubin Ross is a recognized leader on board and organizational development and strategy and the founder of The Ross Collective, a consulting firm that designs and leads inclusive, participatory processes for social sector boards and staff. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways Structure: Cohorts are nice so that you can make yourself energetically available (and make extra space on your calendar for replying) for the program duration. Ask participants to put their one question for the week in big blinking lights! Ideally as text underneath their voice memo (Voxer caps memos at 15 minutes, which is a good thing!) Systems: Create a “how this works” program overview page that participants can reference throughout the program. Keep a participant tracker where you note their question and your answer each week, so you don’t repeat yourself (and so you can easily reference resource links that another participant might ask about later). Pricing: Offer your current active, paying clients and community members the first chance at enrollment and at a discounted rate. I also grandfather in their pricing for life. 📝 Permission Design programs that are as joyful for you to facilitate as they are for others to join! At the inaugural Business Bestie Brunch we came up with the mantra, “We get to call this work.” What is your ideal “I get to call this work” format for delivering client services? ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next Consider your own Voxer coaching experiment! Make sure it’s limited in scope (ie not rolling admission) and that you set clear parameters up front. 🔗 Resources Mentioned Join the waitlist: Voxer Coaching with Jenny and Business Bestie Brunch Apps: Notion, Substack, Loom, Voxer 📚 Books Mentioned Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes BFF Bonus: 100: Three Ingredients to Fill a Program Faster Free Time: 023: Determine Your True Capacity with Ashley Gartland 100: Top Ten Lessons from 💯 Episodes 106: Splatology—On Clearing Time Clutter Pivot: 277: Expansive Impact and Spacious Scheduling with Sarah Young 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review ✍️ Check out Jenny’s personal business essays on Substack, Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h ❤️ Join our private BFF community for Heart-Based Business owners 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter for access to the Free Time Toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/256 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“It wasn’t about being better than others, it was being ourselves, and true to our ideals in our work.” That’s just one of many gems from today’s guest, Birch Coffee co-founder Paul Schlader, who says, “I don’t accept anything less than absolute excellence.” In this conversation we talk about how he stands out in the New York City noise by hiring for kindness; getting bought out when the Gershwin Hotel closed and thereby ending the lease on their first location, then parlaying those funds into two new stores (and the growing pains that followed); and the moment he had to tell his entire team they were furloughed indefinitely when New York City delivered the shut-down order; losing four stores but bouncing back to 14 (when so many other coffee shops closed down). More About Paul: Paul Schlader co-founded Birch Coffee, a New York City-based coffee company, in 2009. Since then, the company has grown to fourteen locations and is doing 10x the revenue by the end of year three. Paul and his business partner Jeremy have been focused on bettering the industry through their work in coffee and service over the past fifteen years. Paul's work directly focuses on quality of product. As a licensed Q grader, he manages all of Birch's green coffee purchases, and oversees their roasting, wholesale program, and espresso training. Though the coffee side is important, leadership is where Paul spends most of his time, building teams and working to teach their leaders to follow the mission, "Serve our customers every need, every time, knowing every moment counts.” 🌟 3 Key Takeaways A sample interview question to screen for kindness: What do you like most about working in the coffee industry, and what has drawn you to this industry? Individual has to talk about something positive. Through their tone, what they are sharing, we make an assessment about whether they are being truthful, honest, and open—or whether they are blowing smoke. From one store to two was far more challenging than two stores to four: Building trust, and making sure all systems are written out and tracked, everything memorialized. “One of our core values is ownership, up and down the chain of command. We all do the dishes, we all do what is called upon us at any time in the business.” Learn along the way: “Not knowing is the best part of the adventure of entrepreneurship, and the greatest teacher. There’s no button you can press to accelerate your ability to be better. You can’t do it until you go through it. 📝 Permission Drop being hard on yourself—give yourself grace as you learn and grow, and make mistakes. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next Operationalize one of your business values by crafting an interview question or manager manual entry that describes how you show up as {quality}. 🔗 Resources Mentioned Paul on the web, IG, LinkedIn HQ: Birch Coffee Blend: Emma’s Espresso Articles: Eater—4,000+ Restaurant Closings in New York City since the pandemic, Forbes—Nvidia Founder Admits: ‘Wouldn’t Start Company If I Had To Do It Over Again’ Video: Acquired—Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang 📚 Books Mentioned Thanks a Thousand: A Gratitude Journey by A.J. Jacobs Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes Free Time: 177: “Don’t scale too soon” — On Books and Mission-Based Business-Building with Readwise Cofounder Daniel Doyon Pivot: 353: Pain, Purpose, and Portals—Pivoting from Massage Therapist to Coach with John O'Connor Acquired: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/255 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today is a crossover episode from the Pivot podcast celebrating eight lessons learned from over eight years of podcasting. The Free Time podcast is now approaching its third birthday—I launched it on March 21, 2021—a year prior to the book coming out. I encourage you to grab your copy if you haven’t already, or even better—🎁 give the gift of free time to a loved one in your life for 2024! As we start to plan the year ahead, I hope that you can apply some of these pointers to the creative projects that you're working on. Happy New Year, and I'll see you on the other side! 🌟 8 Key Takeaways Ride out the inevitable dips and plateaus: Ask, how can I fall in love with this again? Keep the bar high—strive for jump-out-of-the-chair-with-glee-to-record level of guests and topics. (Re)connect with the even more meaningful metrics: Don’t obsess over download numbers or charts. They can be instructive, but they don’t have to be the one-and-only indicator of whether or not to continue. 51/49: My antidote to inexplicable nerves and overthinking: 49% fear and anxiety, 51% take one small step forward. Just tip the scale toward action by two percent. Eyes on your own paper: Don’t get lost in what other people are doing or how fast they are going. Remind yourself what’s in it for you, regardless of what “the competition” is up to. There may even be downstream benefits of having others in the same space. Keep up with new software, don’t worry too much about sunk costs: While you want to avoid chasing shiny software objects, don’t be afraid to jump from one lily pad to the next when it improves your systems and process. Hire help! To truly achieve consistency escape velocity, hire a team so that someone else owns the outcome and you can show up and do what only you can do. Go your own way: Be aware of diminishing returns on shiny shoulds that, if you were to chase them, would stop you from doing the creative thing you enjoy altogether. Keep experimenting—one might say pivoting! There is no there there. The project will evolve alongside you, even when you lose steam for a little bit. You will always find a new way forward. And if you’re so stuck you truly can’t see straight, it’s okay to call it quits too. 🔗 Resources Mentioned Articles: Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h—The Business Yips & 51/49 Tools: Substack app, Kajabi, Notion, Riverside.fm, Descript Loom Walkthrough: Day in the Life of a Podcast Episode 📚 Books Mentioned Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes Pivot: 281: Feeling Impostery? Become a Qualified Curator Instead of an End-All-Be-All Expert Pivot x Career Pathfinder podcast episodes with Adrian (Spotify playlist) 346: Finding Clarity While Navigating Change with Marc Lesser 342: “Whatever Comes Through Me Comes for Me First,” with Nicole Antoinette Free Time: 241: Finding Freedom and Financial Reciprocity through a Paid Newsletter with Nic Antoinette 181: Be Irreplaceable with My Creative Coach Jay Acunzo 223: The Confidence Trap: Why You Don’t Need It to Do Big Things (SPARKED Crossover) 180: 📉 Diminishing Returns and the True Costs of Shiny Shoulds 138: ⛵️Stop Sailing the Sea of Shiny Shoulds 196: 🍩 What Do Donuts, Coffee, Conversation, and Energy Cliffs Have in Common? 130: Day in the Life of a Podcast Episode + How I Prepare for Guests 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/254 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“’Something I always say: at the very least, do it for the plot. Do it for the story. Be bold in life, mostly because not being bold is boring as hell.’ Margot tipped her head back in glittery laughter and I felt my chest expand in hope.” That’s just one of many glittering conversations that the main character of Jamie Varon’s debut novel, Main Character Energy, has with her Aunt, a guiding light who helps her find her voice and pursue her publishing dream. In today’s conversation, Jamie and I go behind the book to talk about how fiction differs from nonfiction, working with a writing coach, the importance of giving yourself permission for a “zero” draft, moving past the mental machinations of envy and the desire for logical explanations for others’ success, and so much more. Be sure to check out our previous conversation for the Pivot podcast 278: Radically Content with Jamie Varon. More About Jamie: Jamie Varon’s writing has been seen across the internet for over a decade, from her early days of personal blogging all the way to features in publications such as Teen Vogue, HuffPost, GOOD, Complex, and many more. Over the years, both her long-form essays and short-form prose have garnered millions of reads and views, using her signature style of combining personal story with universal themes. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways Where are you holding yourself back before you even try? Part of Jamie’s motivation for focusing so much on the interior journey within Main Character Energy was her own experience as an aspiring author: “I was the first person to reject myself, to tell myself no.” Read your draft out loud to see what feels natural and what doesn’t, especially for dialogue. What excites you to do the work, not just for the results? Recognize that writing the book may be every day for three years, while releasing a book happens on a single day. 📝 Permission Drop the perfectionism. Let it be messy and uncertain. Let yourself discover how you work, what you’re good at, and what you need to improve upon. There’s so much wisdom in action. Give yourself permission to write Novel Zero. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next Envy and comparison doesn’t go away through logic, even though our mind craves answers and formulas to “figure it out.” Return to your spiritual practices. I do my best, at my pace; I accept and love where I’m at; it always makes sense, it’s always working in my favor. Trust that. Bonus: Take a break from social media. 🔗 Resources Mentioned Jamie on the web, IG, Twitter, LinkedIn, Substack Articles: Jamie’s writing for publication Plot Twist: Being offline Rolling in Doh—Ignore the Odds Writing Coach: Savannah Gilbo 📚 Books Mentioned Authors: Blake Crouch, Ann Patchett, Rebecca Yaros Main Character Energy: A Novel by Jamie Varon Radically Content and Radically Content: The Journal by Jamie Varon Jamie’s favorite craft books: Save the Cat Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass Before and After the Book Deal by Courtney Maum Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes Fiction Writing Made Easy: 91: Student Spotlight: How She Went from First Draft to Landing Her Dream Agent with Jamie Varon Barbara Kingsolver on Armchair Expert, The Shift, The Ezra Klein Show Free Time: 203: 🎢 Riding the Emotional Rollercoaster of Launching with Natalie Lue Pivot: 278: Radically Content with Jamie Varon 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/253 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

”In a society that glorifies titles, visibility, reach, and the grind, taking a beat to opt out of all that isn’t easy,” today’s guest Mel Dizon writes in the origin story to her pop-up Substack. Mel shares how she defines an accidental sabbatical; the energetic urgency and pent up ambition that let her know it was time to leave her job; the permission she needed to give herself; navigating the fears that followed; how publishing her process out loud has helped with courage and accountability; and trusting herself to make important decisions when it’s time, while also not rushing that process. More About Mel: Mel Dizon is a writer and editor; a runner, CrossFitter, pickleballer, and efficiency fanatic; a former therapist, consultant, and coach; a dog, pool, and scalding-hot-dirty-chai lover. She started writing words for dollars back in 1993. She’s written thousands of articles, ghostwritten many books and essays, facilitated hundreds of video interviews, and written copy for everyone from NYT best-selling authors to companies like Google. Melani dreamed about taking a sabbatical for years, and the universe finally conspired to light the way. Turns out she’s a big fan. She currently writes life & dying on Substack for those in the middle of the reinvention mess, seeking to “live a life worth writing about.” 🌟 3 Key Takeaways An Accidental Sabbatical is about not knowing what's next and how to live more comfortably in the void or liminal space. When you feel blocked by fear or worry, ask yourself: What if X were no longer important to you, what would you do? Don’t babysit your work (or your budget): “Don’t do it. Write the thing, publish it, post it, paint it on a mural, or do whatever you need to do with it and move on. Forgive yourself for being terrible or unreadable, or boring or derivative and just keep going.” 📝 Permission Who am I doing this for? If it’s for anybody other than yourself, pause and reconsider. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next Take a page out of Mel’s post, On Calling People Out for Being Awesome and her book, The Hand Written Letter Project: Go to your favorite stationary store and pick out at least 30 notecards or long-form letter pages and envelopes. Or make your own. Buy a pen that will make you feel smarter, funnier, and more brilliant each time you touch it to the page. Sit down in your favorite chair with your dashing new pen and a piece of paper, and write down the names of the first 30 people that come to your mind. Don’t overthink it. The first time I did this, someone I had not talked to in 10 years came to my mind. When she received my letter, she called me immediately and told me that receiving my letter was one of the best moments of her entire year. We talked and laughed for hours. Just go with whoever comes to mind. There’s a reason they will. Address all of your envelopes. I recommend doing this a few days before the start date because, inevitably, you’ll be missing some addresses, and you’ll need time to track them down, send emails, ask friends and family, etc. Then, put a cool stamp on each one—there are plenty to choose from here. Now go ahead, make someone’s day! 🔗 Resources Mentioned Mel on Substack, IG, LinkedIn Articles: Babysitting the Rusty Nail Is your sabbatical on the chopping block? Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h: A Strange and Wonderful Morning: Walking Photo Essay Elizabeth Gilbert’s Letters from Love BFF December Mailer: Important Community Announcement—Please Read! Tools: Substack, Future Me 📚 Books Mentioned The Handwritten Letter Project by Mel Dizon Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One 🎧 Related Episodes Free Time: 193: Sabbatical Planning with DJ DiDonna BFF Bonus: My Upcoming Quiet Sabbatical 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/252 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Just because you use pretty words that sound nice doesn’t mean they are effective. Although we know what we do because we do it all the time; it’s hard to separate that from what your audience wants and experiences. Thankfully, today’s guest is here to help. Ben Guttmann is a marketing and communications expert and author of Simply Put: Why Clear Messages Win — and How to Design Them. We discuss why business owners often muck up their sales pages (what I call invitation letters), how to reduce friction when attracting clients and customers, and the toll that writing too much takes on the receiver. More About Ben: Ben is former co-founder and managing partner at Digital Natives Group, an award-winning agency that worked with the NFL, I Love NY, Comcast NBCUniversal, Hachette Book Group, The Nature Conservancy, and other major clients. He’s an experienced marketing executive and educator on a mission to get leaders to more effectively connect by simplifying their message. Currently, Ben teaches digital marketing at Baruch College in New York City and consults with a range of thought leaders, venture-backed startups, and other brands. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways It’s most effective to communicate to one person, rather than imagining an ambiguous thousand (or ten thousand). Strong communication is not about how many (or few) words you use; it’s about reducing friction, or offramps, from your message. “This and that” versus “this so that”: Test the cohesiveness of your message by replacing and with so. 📝 Permission Not to spend money on paid advertising. Focus on making your business more referable instead. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next Look at one of the most important pages of your website. If each word costs you $10, how many can you cut? What about $1,000? If you had to distill your message down to a road sign, what would it look like? 🔗 Resources Mentioned Ben on the web, IG, Twitter, LinkedIn Articles: NYT—My Delirious Trip to the Heart of Swiftiedom Meme: I aint reading all that 📚 Books Mentioned Simply Put: Why Clear Messages Win―and How to Design Them Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes The Tim Ferriss Show: Managing Procrastination, Predicting the Future, and Finding Happiness with Tim Urban Reply All: Email Debt Forgiveness Day Free Time: 181: Be Irreplaceable with My Creative Coach Jay Acunzo 227: 🎁 The Best Gifting Strategies and Biggest Mistakes with John Ruhlin Pivot: 70: Build a Referral Engine with John Jantsch 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review ✍️ Check out Jenny’s personal business essays on Substack, Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h ❤️ Join our private BFF community for Heart-Based Business owners 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter for access to the Free Time Toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/251 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The phrase is emblazoned at WeWorks across the globe: in large neon lights across lobby walls, bedecking laptops via swag stickers, and printed in playful cursive on the mugs that facilitate bottomless free coffee—with the addition of always in small print at the top. But what becomes of the adage to do what you love when the company blasting it everywhere declares bankruptcy? What about the rest of us? Today’s essay is a crossover from my paid Substack, Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h. I encourage you to join us there if you haven’t already! 🧐 Do what you love and the money will follow . . . if you meet more than three of the following 20 criteria: The economy is booming. Actually booming, not “soft landing” or “immaculate disinflation” “booming.” 😉 You are clear on what you love in the first place. You’re not still in the Tinker Dabble Doodle Try phase. You love teaching other people how to teach other people how to make money online. You have enough money in long-term investments—index funds and the like—to live off the interest alone, keeping the principal tucked safely aside for retirement. You are already independently wealthy. See #4, trustafarian, or #6. You have a spouse AND said spouse earns a robust living with solid health insurance and a thick paycheck every two weeks. You have abundant financial runway AND you don’t mind that runway crumbling beneath your wheels as you try to get the 747 of your passion off the ground. Continue reading » 📝 Permission To pause doing what you love if the money isn’t following and you need to regroup. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next What did I miss on the Top 20 list? Share in the comments and let me know :) 🔗 Resources Mentioned Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h: Do What You Love and the Money Will Follow . . . IF (and updated Top 20 here) What Works: Making the Content Math Work Khe Hy’s RadReads: **The $645,099 Business Pivot AP: WeWork declares bankruptcy, economic BS: “soft landing” or “immaculate disinflation” Edison Research: Podcasting’s winner-take-all industry Video: Steve Martin in Conversation with Charlie Rose Podcast Production: One Stone Creative Reese’s Book Club Apps: Substack 📚 Books Mentioned Turning the Flywheel: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great by Jim Collins Born Standing Up by Steve Martin So Good They Can’t Ignore You by Cal Newport Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes Free Time: 141: Process, Permission Slips, and Business Pivots with Tara McMullin 143: Exploring Time, Money, and Energy Capacity with Tara McMullin and Charlie Gilkey (Replay) 173: Cut Your Losses—Even While Pivoting in Public—with Khe Hy 183: Letting Go of Productivity Guilt with Madeleine Dore Pivot: 326: Fool Me Once—How to Avoid Accidental and Righteous Fraud with Kelly Pope; 29: Deep Work: Ditch Cognitive Junk Food with Cal Newport; 122: Digital Minimalism with Cal Newport 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review ✍️ Check out Jenny’s personal business essays on Substack, Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h ❤️ Join our private BFF community for Heart-Based Business owners 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter for access to the Free Time Toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/250 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“The biggest breakthroughs came from the random side projects that I had no expectation would turn into anything.” Josh Kaufman is a longtime friendtor (13 years and counting!) who I admire for his streamlined approach to running his business in a way that supports family life and creative solitude. In our last conversation we spoke about releasing the ten-year anniversary edition of his bestselling book, The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business, that has since surpassed the one million books sold milestone. Today we’re diving into the systems behind that success. Check out 012: Generating Personal MBA Momentum with Josh Kaufman if you haven’t already! More About Josh: Josh Kaufman’s research and books focus on business, entrepreneurship, skill acquisition, productivity, creativity, applied psychology, and practical wisdom. Josh's unique, multidisciplinary approach to business mastery and rapid skill acquisition has helped millions of readers around the world learn essential concepts and skills on their own terms. Josh's TEDx talk on The First 20 Hours is one of the top 25 most-viewed TED talks published to date, with over 37 million views on YouTube. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways Sign up for the Audible bounty program to generate affiliate income for audiobook sales. Get Josh’s Personal MBA book for free here, and Free Time on Audible (if you’re not already a member). If you set-up SEO-optimized topic pages for discoverability with excerpts from your book, do not create a central navigation page that might detract from book sales. The pages don’t need to be linked together, but you can link to a few related concepts. Include ways to purchase the book across all formats, as well as a small bio and newsletter sign-up embed. Figure out where your people are, figure out what they want, how to talk to them, and then just keep doing it day after day after day. The more you invest that effort in creating, the more your work will last. 📝 Permission Try more random experiments, things where you don’t know whether or not it will work. Things you’re curious about, that pique your attention. “The biggest breakthroughs come from the random side projects that I had no expectation would turn into anything.” ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next From Josh: To build skill from scratch, you need to know How to Climb A Ladder. But how do you know which ladder to climb? Try the Explore / Exploit process (here’s the overview from the Personal MBA: Exploration / Exploitation 🔗 Resources Mentioned Josh on the web, IG, Twitter Articles: Personal MBA (website) SEO-optimized book excerpt: What is the Iteration Cycle? Video: TEDx—The First 20 Hours Conference: Book Expo America Tools: Audible’s bounty program, ACX (Amazon) audiobook publishing, Findaway Voices (now acquired by Spotify), Amazon’s KDP publishing (for self-publishing) 📚 Books Mentioned Josh's Books: The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business The First 20 Hours: How to Learn Anything...Fast! How to Fight a Hydra (don’t miss the Audible edition Worldly Wisdom: Collected Quotations and Aphorisms Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business by Jenny Blake Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One 🎧 Related Episodes Otherppl: How Conglomeration Changed the Publishing Industry and American Literature Free Time: 084: Sprinkling the First 1,000 Serendipity Seeds of a Launch 103: How to Land a Literary Agent and Publisher with David Moldawer (Part One) 105: “Don’t write the wrong book!” with David Moldawer (Part Two) 162: Should You Self-Publish? (Part One) 164: Let’s Talk Royalties re: Publishing Options (Part Two) Pivot: 49: The (He)art of Book Publishing Excerpt: Land a Traditional Publishing Deal — Q&A with My Editor at Portfolio/Penguin Random House 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/249 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are you running a Franken-Brand? A quick, inexpensive logo here. And then someone a few months later tries to write the brand strategy. And then another junior hire adds in graphics and you don’t even know where they came from. Suddenly, you have this brand that is cobbled together, and no one on the team is feeling compelled. Today, returning guest Adam Chaloeicheep and I are picking up where we left off in episode 259: Has your Business Brand Become a Liability, diving into Together Agency’s four personas of clients who are ready to do brand work, the three types of clients that are deal-breakers for Adam, and the perils of navigating the brand strategy process with a CEO who is in the midst of a spiritual awakening. Be sure to check out our previous conversations, 045: Behind the Free Time Brand with Adam Chaloeicheep and 247: Has your Business Brand Become a Liability? How to Know When It’s Time for a Tune-up. More About Adam: Adam Chaloeicheep is co-founder of Together agency with his wife, Marisol Dahl, who I had the great pleasure of working with for five years in the early days of JBE. Adam is a creative business leader with over a decade of experience in a variety of startup areas including product and service concepting, building teams, operations, and brand-focused design and digital solutions. He is one of my closest friends (12 years and counting!), and a creative business leader with over a decade of experience in product and service concepting, building teams, and brand strategy. Together Agency is behind every big brand I have launched into the world including Pivot and Free Time. 🌟 4 Brand Stages Blank Canvas—You have a business idea and nothing else. A branding exercise is helpful at this stage because you’re getting down, on paper, the core of what this business is and how it’s showing up in the world. It’s a really nice opportunity to align from the very beginning in a brand-forward way, from the name, to the strategy, to the identity. Jeckyll/Hyde—Your brand has only gotten you so far, and now it’s holding you back. You’ve got some traction, got something really special, but you are losing out on bigger opportunities and need that rebrand to launch your business to the next phase. Frankenstein—Piecemeal elements from different contractors, but no cohesive strategy. You have a brand that is cobbled together, and no one on the team is feeling inspired by it. It’s confusing, not inspiring and everyone hates working with it because there’s no clear way in how to use it. Tune-up—The foundational strategy is strong, now there is an opportunity to see what is out of date, what elements can be refreshed or tightened up. 📝 Permission “Judge the crap out of anything you want for five minutes!” ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next Adam says, “If you’re feeling spiritually lost, go figure that out before starting the brand strategy process.” 🔗 Resources Mentioned Adam on the web, IG, Twitter, LinkedIn Go Together Agency, Instagram, LinkedIn Together Portfolio Feature: Free Time Brand Strategy Substacks: Mind Brew, Re:Brand Articles: Missing Missy, Worst Client Comments Turned Into Posters Jenny’s Substack: Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h 📚 Books Mentioned Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes Free Time: 045: Behind the Free Time Brand with Adam Chaloeicheep 247: Has your Business Brand Become a Liability? How to Know When It’s Time for a Tune-up 005: Brand Obsessed with Emily Heyward 003: Liberate Your Life Force with Christine Arylo Pivot: 12: Belly of the Pivot Beast: On Bouncing Back from Zero with Adam Chaloeicheep 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/248 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Has your business brand become stale, perhaps to the point of being a liability? After a few years, especially with major pivots, you may run the risk of losing clients and credibility. Sometimes it’s time for a tune-up and fresh tires, and sometimes, it’s time for a whole new brand engine. As today’s returning guest, my good friend and part of the team behind the award-winning Free Time brand, recently featured on Behance. Adam Chaloeicheep says, “It’s about building the relationship with your customer. First impressions are really important.” If you haven’t already, I suggest listening to our previous conversation first, 045: Behind the Free Time Brand with Adam Chaloeicheep, for a foundational overview of how Adam and team think about brand strategy more broadly. Today, we’re diving into how to know when you’re due for a rebrand. More About Adam: Adam Chaloeicheep is co-founder of Together agency with his wife, Marisol Dahl, who I had the great pleasure of working with for five years in the early days of JBE. Adam is a creative business leader with over a decade of experience in a variety of startup areas including product and service concepting, building teams, operations, and brand-focused design and digital solutions. He is one of my closest friends (12 years and counting!), and a creative business leader with over a decade of experience in product and service concepting, building teams, and brand strategy. Together Agency is behind every big brand I have launched into the world including Pivot and Free Time. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways Three key signs it’s time to rebrand: your brand is a liability to your business, your business model has shifted adn you’re growing out of it, your brand name no longer works Brand therapy: Sometimes it’s hard to let go of attachments to aspects of the old brand or business model. Stay focused on the bigger picture. Tune-up moments: Customers and clients also get really excited to see something new. It reinvigorates interest and can become a moment where you show the world, “We’re still here, we’re still growing, and we’re refreshing and refining and polishing.” 📝 Permission Be vulnerable; take some risks to put your whole self out there. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next Sit with one of the creative questions from Together Agency’s client intake/exploration survey: What texture is your brand? If your brand were a plant, which one would it be? A song? 🔗 Resources Mentioned Adam on the web, IG, Twitter, LinkedIn Go Together Agency, Instagram, LinkedIn Together Portfolio: Free Time Brand Strategy Substacks: Mind Brew, Re:Brand Articles: Free Time feature in Print Magazine, Activate Your Brand: From Idea to Reality Jenny’s Substack: Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h, Rebuilding from Rubble Apparel: my favorite cozy cashmere sweats by Naadam Tools: Upwork, Behance, Canva, Working Not Working, ChatGPT, Substack 📚 Books Mentioned Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes BFF Bonus: Certification and Licensing Workshop with Pamela Slim Free Time: 005: Brand Obsessed with Emily Heyward 045: Behind the Free Time Brand with Adam Chaloeicheep On licensing: 140: How to License Your IP (Intellectual Property) 186: Licensing 201 — Q&A (Part One) on Product Development, Attracting Clients, and Sales Process 187: Licensing 201 — Q&A (Part Two) on Pricing + Packaging, Train-the-Trainer, Delivery, and Legal Pivot: 12: Belly of the Pivot Beast: On Bouncing Back from Zero with Adam Chaloeicheep 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/247 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What do you do when a business area becomes energetically draining, or the income isn’t flowing? Today’s guest has many intuitive superpowers, and one of them is “following the data points of truth.” In this episode, Erin Weed and I discuss why you shouldn’t just stick with something that is no longer aligned; the tragic event that launched her journey into entrepreneurship; the moment she knew it was time to release her first business; how she came up with her unique process, The Dig®️ (then later trained a dozen facilitators to help conduct sessions); volunteering as one of the best ways to try on new business ideas; and setting intentions with a word of the week and for the year, in addition to your core word at the center of who you are. ⛔️ For listeners who wish to avoid sensitive content: This episode contains a story about violent crime. More About Erin: Erin Weed is an intuitive communications expert with a passion for truth and storytelling, dedicated to helping leaders discover their purpose and express it succinctly. With a background in PR and documentary production, she has a wealth of experience. Erin's journey took a transformative turn when the tragic murder of her sorority sister inspired her to launch Girls Fight Back!, a global women's safety education company. Erin is also renowned 22-year professional speaker who coaches TEDx and TED speakers using her unique approach, The Dig®, to distill their messages down to simple words. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways Core values are something you’re choosing, and how you want to show up. The Dig is about excavating the past and remembering who you already are, deprogramming what’s getting in the way of expressing that. Why do you do what you do? Erin’s Dig process boils down to one word, a frequency. Your word is not a descriptor, it’s about the life path you’re here to learn and teach about, the lens through which you see the world, stories or our life so we can be better teachers. Resonance meter: 0 to 100, how true does this feel? No one is authentic or inauthentic; the more we’re authentic, the more we will be aligned. The authentic truth of who you are is always moving. The work is to know thyself so deeply that when your resonance meter starts to dip, you’re so attuned to it that you’re able to stop and ask why. What’s happening? 📝 Permission Be radically honest with yourself. Try Erin’s Head Heart Core framework: Pick a topic that is alive for you, or one that has been challenging for you. Share your truth by naming the factual truth, what is undisputedly true. Then name your emotional truth, then name what you really, really, want. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next Take out a pen and paper and reflect: When is the last time I was out of alignment, and how did it feel in my body? How did it show up in my thoughts? How did it show up in my life expression? 🔗 Resources Mentioned Erin on the web, IG, Twitter, LinkedIn Private Community: The Speakeasy HeadHeartCore.com Clairvoyance School: Psychic Horizon Center in Boulder Video: TEDxBoulder—Dare to be Authentic 📚 Books Mentioned Girls Fight Back!: The College Girl's Guide to Protecting Herself Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes The Hoffman Podcast: Episode 1 with Erin Weed The Penney & Jenny Show (Spotify playlist) Free Time: 191: Structuring Free Time as a Single Parent while Grieving and Rebuilding with Karen Allen 157: Downshifting to a Delightfully Part-Team Team with Laura Roeder Pivot: 327: 🐺The Wolf You Feed — On Addiction, Recovery & Codependency — and What We Get Wrong About All Three with Eric Zimmer 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/246 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How can you get paid for who you are, not just what you do? Today’s guest, Terry Rice, is teaching us his Golden Link Strategy for creating a steady stream of potential clients, without giving them (or you) “the ick” through cold outreach misfires. He also shares speaking and marketing tips he pulled from one of his mentors, Daymond John, how he reframes business development activities, why it’s vital to get your offer right before you focus on branding, how he makes time for 12 hours of creating each week (even with four kids), and the sacrifices he made after his business started taking off. More About Terry: Terry Rice is a performance coach and business development consultant. He is a staff writer at Entrepreneur magazine and host of Launch Your Business, a podcast that helps entrepreneurs make money, save time and avoid burnout. Terry is also the author of Start Your Own Consulting Business: Your Step-By-Step Guide to Success. A recognized marketing expert, Terry’s previous experience includes internal consulting roles at Adobe and Facebook. Terry is an instructor at New York University, and has been featured as a subject matter expert by Good Morning America, Fast Company and the Wall Street Journal. Terry is based in Brooklyn; he is a husband and father of four children. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways The Golden Link Strategy: Learn how to borrow other people’s audiences, especially if you don’t have the money to buy paid ads. This could include joining local organizations Biz Dev before branding: Instead of posting on social media and creating content hoping people will see it and reach out to you, reach out to people you want to work with and show how you add value. Identify gatekeepers, ask questions on their posts, and then it can move to DMs, then meetings. Practice strategic patience and give first: Whenever you project lack or scarcity, that’s when things won’t work out well. Start now, knowing it may be a long game. Solve a real problem for someone, subscribe to their newsletter and reply, What can I create with this person instead of what can I get from this person? 📝 Permission Be unreasonable. Go from needing to wanting, even without a justification why. As George Bernard Shaw said, “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next Conduct a time audit: How much time do you need each week to create content for your business? Client follow-up? Business development? Add those as recurring blocks to your calendar. 🔗 Resources Mentioned Terry on the web, IG, Twitter, LinkedIn Articles: Terry’s articles on Entrpreneur.com Video: Pitching & Proposals with HoneyBook Pro and Business Consultant Terry Rice Tools: Apollo.io 📚 Books Mentioned Start Your Own Consulting Business: Your Step-By-Step Guide to Success by Terry Rice $100 Million Offers and $100 Million Leads by Alex Hormozi Discipline is Destiny by Ryan Holiday Vivid Vision by Cameron Herold Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes Terry’s podcast: Launch Your Business Grow your business with the Golden Link Strategy Daymond John: Money Mastery Playbook for Entrepreneurs Free Time: 061: Scaling Boutique Businesses with Greg Alexander 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review ❤️ Join our private BFF community for Heart-Based Business owners 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/245 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“What am I pretending not to know?” There is tremendous power in asking better questions, whether it comes to ideal day design, creating systems in your business, or teaching someone how to help tame your inboxes. Today’s conversation with Claire Giovino covers all that ground and more. We talk about what qualities make email so vexing for many business owners, how to reduce fear and friction when delegating replies, and the importance of asking better questions—of yourself and in your business. More About Claire: After an extensive career in academia, Claire Giovino began optimizing inboxes for industry leaders, launching InboxDone in 2017. She and her cofounder Yaro quickly scaled the business 10X in three years with no startup capital. Her proprietary recruitment, training and onboarding process ensures that each client is matched with a carefully-selected Inbox Manager and represented with a superior level of communication. These clients now check their inbox just once per month — or not at all. Claire has always been a seeker, maneuvering her way through life with constant questioning. She now has the lifestyle freedom to seek out her dream podcast guests and to start conversations at her Better Question Dinners. She cherishes books, quotes and good listeners. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways If you’re hesitant to delegate thinking, “But my emails are special!” Claire says the same patterns exist, no matter the industry, the business model. We can systematize and template every single inbox. No one will serve your client like you, but there is plenty that you can train others to do. You’re not outsourcing tasks, you’re delegating decisions. Start with the smallest micro-decisions, then move into higher stakes relationships and messages incrementally by drafting. Be willing to accept five percent of mistakes in service of your larger vision of lifestyle independence. Each time you give feedback, have that team member update their Role Description document (RD); review that on a monthly or quarterly basis. 📝 Permission Drop even things that you’re very good at. Ask: is this nourishing me or depleting me? ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next Go back to the ideal day drawing board (here’s a template for that!): If you could spend your day however you wanted, what would that look like? Where would the parts of your business show up on a daily basis? For each area ask, “Am I the one who should be doing this?” Create a time budget for a single work week, starting by tracking how you are currently spending time. 🔗 Resources Mentioned Claire on the web, LinkedIn, IG: @thebetterquestions The Better Questions Company: Inbox Done 💬 Quote "But it's no use now," thought poor Alice, "to pretend to be two people! Why, there's hardly enough of me left to make one respectable person!" —Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland 📚 Books Mentioned Rocket Fuel by Gino Wickman Who Not How by Dan Sullivan and Ben Hardy The Emyth Revisited by Michael Gerber Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes The Better Questions with Claire Giovino Free Time: 161: Inbox Taming with Yaro Starek 002: Eliminate Email with Cal Newport Pivot: 061: Virtual Freedom: Overcome Superhero Syndrome and Start Outsourcing with Chris Ducker 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review ✍️ Check out Jenny’s personal business essays on Substack, Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h ❤️ Join our private BFF community for Heart-Based Business owners 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter for access to the Free Time Toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/244 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"For the first time in a decade, I feel free again." That’s how one of my earliest blogging friends, longtime community leader David Spinks, was feeling when I caught up with him in-person in the middle of his yearlong sabbatical, after selling his community-based business. David and I discuss best practices for creating and nurturing communities, for engineering serendipity, what it’s like to build and run a conference (and later sell it), and the freedom that comes with taking a deliberate sabbatical. More About David: David Spinks is the author of The Business of Belonging and a popular weekly newsletter for community creators. Previously he co-founded CMX, the leading network for community professionals that was later acquired by Bevy. 🌟 From David’s Post on How to Engineer Serendipity A 2015 study set out to discover how serendipity occurs. Through in-depth interviews, they uncovered the 4-step process (edited for clarity): ⚡️ Trigger: A cue that sparks an experience of serendipity. (e.g. meet at an event, see a question in your Slack, get introduced…) 🧠 Connection: The recognition of a potential valuable outcome (e.g. learning, collaboration, friendship) 🤳 Follow-up: An action taken to obtain the valuable outcome (e.g. set up a meeting, plan a project, chat on AIM…) 🏆 Valuable outcome: The positive result of the serendipitous experience (e.g. form a meaningful relationship, learn something new, commit to build something together…) And there’s one more factor. . . for serendipity to occur, there must be an 🧵 “unexpected thread” throughout the experience. The more unexpected each step feels, the more it will be perceived as serendipity. 📝 Permission To say no to virtual meetings! ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next If you run a community, build a process to facilitate random encounters: Introduce mechanisms that encourage serendipitous connections among community members. For example, you can implement a "random pairing" feature that pairs members together for one-on-one conversations or create opportunities for members to showcase their work or expertise. 🔗 Resources Mentioned David on the web, Twitter, LinkedIn David’s Substack: David Spinks Articles: Substack—How to Engineer Serendipity How I Reduced Scheduled Meetings by 90% 📚 Books Mentioned The Business of Belonging: How to Make Community your Competitive Advantage Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes Masters of Community with David Spinks Free Time: 141: Process, Permission Slips, and Business Pivots with Tara McMullin 241: Finding Freedom and Financial Reciprocity through a Paid Newsletter with Nic Antoinette 093: How to Sell Your Online Business with Alexis Grant 167: Transform Your Approach to Community-Building with Gina Bianchini 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review ✍️ Connect with me on Substack: http://substack.com/@jennyblake ❤️ Join our private BFF community for Heart-Based Business owners 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter for instant access to the Free Time Toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/243 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“The world doesn’t need another expert.” So says today’s guest, Andrew Davis. Experts rely on hacks, tips, tricks, teaching, preaching, and over-promising. Visionary leaders a) tend not to call themselves that and b) focus on the quest for knowledge itself, with enough humility to admit what they don’t know, or the problems they are exploring even while still in process. In today’s conversation, you’ll learn how to move past commoditized content toward launching a quest that builds trust and brings your audience along for the ride—while embracing digital doppelgängers to help you get there. More About Andrew: Andrew Davis is a bestselling author and internationally acclaimed keynote speaker. Recognized as one of the industry's "Jaw-Dropping Marketing Speakers," Andrew is a mainstay on global marketing influencer lists. Wherever he goes, Andrew Davis puts his infectious enthusiasm and magnetic speaking style to good use teaching business leaders how to grow their businesses, transform their cities, and leave their legacy. He is the author of Brandscaping, Town Inc., and The Referable Speaker. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways Move from Expertville (commoditization, tips/tricks/hacks) to Visionary Town (new ways of thinking and approaching things), by starting at the crossroads: investigate advice from other experts that bothers you, focus one one small story and universalize it, and/or share something you have tried that didn’t work, and try to understand why. Andrew’s cube of creativity comprises four constraints to come up with any idea faster and with better results. Define the Outcome → Limit the Options → Raise the Stakes → Eliminate the Unnecessary. Digital Doppelgängers: In the future, maybe when you hire someone for a position that requires creativity, you’re also hiring all the AI that they have trained to write and think the way they think, so they can deliver better results faster. You can have many doppelgängers, in the form of ongoing ChatGPT threads, each with very narrow parameters of what you are asking it to do. 📝 Permission Every time you start something new, stop doing two other things. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next Start an ongoing thread with ChatGPT and name this version of your digital doppelgänger. What “squirrel-sized task” do you want to train it to do, that it can grow better at over time? For example, Andrew’s Drewdini helps him write promotional video scripts for upcoming keynotes. Each time he gives feedback, it gets better at the task. 🔗 Resources Mentioned Andrew on the web, IG, LinkedIn, Twitter Articles: Time Well Spent—Why I don’t call myself a content creator, Gillian Ortillian on Medium—I Spent $166.66 on Amazon Ads for my First Book. Here’s What I’ve Learned., PCMA—How the Cube of Creativity Can Save Your Business Video: There’s Something About Mary—Six-Minute Abs 📚 Books Mentioned Andrew’s books: Brandscaping, Town Inc., and The Referable Speaker Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes Unthinkable with Jay Acunzo: Leaving Expertville Free Time: 210: ⛵️Knot a Care—Sailing the Free Time Seas with Joy and Ease and 181: Be Irreplaceable with My Creative Coach Jay Acunzo Pivot: 281: Feeling Impostery? Become a Qualified Curator Instead of an End-All-Be-All Expert 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review ❤️ Join our private BFF community for Heart-Based Business owners 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/242 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“You do not need to cannibalize your healing for content.” Today, I’m in conversation with longtime blog-turned-IRL friend Nic Antoinette, diving deeper into her decision to shut down her Patreon community (taking a $30,000/year haircut to do so), then pivoting to a private paid Substack while she navigated her way through decisions about what might follow. We discuss the generosity of being honest, the trap of wanting to be special, knowing where to draw the line on how much or how little you share, and much more. Be sure to also check out our earlier Pivot conversation in episode 342: “Whatever Comes Through Me Comes for Me First,” with Nicole Antoinette. More About Nic: Nicole Antoinette is a writer, long-distance hiker, and former indoor kid who never imagined she’d wind up spending months of each year pooping in the woods. In 2017, stuck in a loop of codependency and people-pleasing, Nicole set off to find her self-belief and inner resilience by doing something she did not for one second believe she could actually do. The results are two adventure memoirs, How To Be Alone: An 800-mile hike on the Arizona Trail, and What We Owe to Ourselves, and a weekly Substack newsletter called Wild Letters. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways Spirals of intimacy: who has access to which parts of you, and when, and why? Before posting, ask: What am I hoping to gain from sharing this? Is it coming from a place of your ego seeking validation, or does it feel “true and good” to share? Remember: (Almost) all deadlines are arbitrary! 📝 Permission Go your own way: if you are going to use a certain platform or give a certain type of offering, you don’t have to opt into the ways other people are using that offering. ✅ Do (or delegate) this next For an existing program, reflect on how you might realign with your strengths, energy, and values. Ask, “What does this offering really want to be?” 🔗 Resources Mentioned Nicole on the web, IG: @nic.antoinette Adventure writing: Backpacking Books Substacks: Wild Letters, Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h Patreon: Honest Conversation Club Coworking: Get Sh*t Done Club Jenny’s BFF Community 📚 Books Mentioned How To Be Alone: an 800-mile hike on the Arizona Trail What We Owe to Ourselves Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes Nicole’s podcasts: Real Talk Radio and The Pop-Up Pod Good Life Project: Ann Patchett | On Solitude, Writing & Indie Bookstores Pivot: 342: “Whatever Comes Through Me Comes for Me First,” with Nicole Antoinette 327: 🐺The Wolf You Feed — On Addiction, Recovery & Codependency — and What We Get Wrong About All Three with Eric Zimmer 302: Moving Beyond Burnout with Dr. Susan Biali Haas 338: Is Midlife Messing with Your Enoughness? With Mandy Lehto 305: Is What You’re Wanting Actually What’s Best for You? With Luke Burgis 341: Pivoting from Prestigious Consulting Jobs to the Pathless Path with Paul Millerd Free Time: 141: Process, Permission Slips, and Business Pivots with Tara McMullin 042: How I Run My Business without Social Media 183: Letting Go of Productivity Guilt with Madeleine Dore 205: Why Paul Millerd Turned Down a $200K Two-Book Traditional Publishing Deal 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: http://itsfreetime.com/episodes/241 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you have been in business for any amount of time, then you know the feeling when a launch just isn’t working. The sales are crawling, you start doubting yourself, wondering if you created the right thing in the first place, if you built a big enough audience to sell anything at all. All kinds of additional questions and insecurities follow when sales aren’t flowing: is that the offer that’s off? Your sales page invitation letter? The pricing? Is it you? It’s so hard not to get a big morale dip in the middle of the sales dip during a launch. So this month’s bonus is on a few strategies that I’ve picked up over the years. This is a replay of our bonus episode 💯 for the BFF Community. ✨ If you have the means and it feels joyful to support me and this new body of work, you can subscribe as a paid or Founding Member here 🙏 Huge thanks to those of you who have already joined and commented — it means the world to me! 💬 What helps you “sweeten the pot” to get momentum when launching? What helps you get over any morale dips or vulnerability hangovers along the way? ⭐️3 Key Ingredients Once you have an irresistible offer, try adding a: Deadline Discount Limited number of spots 📝 Permission To defy the Business Police and trade time for money if it helps you fill the first crucial spots in a program. Everybody wins! Your early enrollees will be thrilled, and you’ll get key insights to help design an even better experience with their needs in mind. 📚 Books Mentioned $100 Million Offers and $100 Million Leads by Alex Hormozi Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business 🎧 Related Episodes Free Time: 064: The Vulnerability of Launching 084: Sprinkling the First 1,000 Serendipity Seeds of a Launch 203: 🎢 Riding the Emotional Rollercoaster of Launching with Natalie Lue 148: How to Build a Business Operations Dashboard 058: Look for Measurable Loops Pivot: 108: Penney & Jenny Show Returns! On Spirituality and Small Business 🔗 Resources Mentioned Join us in the private BFF Community for small-business owners → sign-up for a year in advance at a discounted rate by joining as a founding member here » Join the waitlist: 1:1 Voxer Coaching, Business Bestie Brunch + Pop-up Mastermind VIP Day with Jenny: via Free Time Operations Dashboard 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review ✍️ Check out Jenny’s personal business essays on Substack, Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h ❤️ Join our private BFF community for Heart-Based Business owners 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter for access to the Free Time Toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/240 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“I only write books for problems I can’t otherwise solve,” Nir Eyal says. “I don’t write my books for my readers; I write my books for myself.” Driven by curiosity to fix his own problems, Nir’s books have sold over one million copies. Listen to today’s conversation on how he weathered the criticism storm around his first book, Hooked; the one essential skill to being an entrepreneur; how to turn your values into time, and turn time into traction; and if you’re an aspiring author, why the fear of not being qualified should not be one of your fears. If you haven’t already, check out Pivot episode 131: Indistractable with Nir Eyal. More About Nir Nir Eyal writes, consults, and teaches about the intersection of psychology, technology, and business. He is the author of two bestselling books, Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products and Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life. In addition to blogging at NirAndFar.com, Nir’s writing has been featured in The New York Times, The Harvard Business Review, Time Magazine, and Psychology Today. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways Distraction is not something that happens to us, it’s something we ourselves decide to do. Traction is prioritizing the right things, on your chosen schedule. Reactive work vs reflective work: you have to put time in your schedule to think. 📝 Permission Live out your values without regret. There is no distraction you can’t overcome if you plan ahead, even if you can’t guarantee the outcome. You do control your time, and your attention. We need to stop moralizing or medicalizing normal behaviors, as long as you do them on your schedule. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next Map out a time-blocked calendar that includes time with loved ones, a bedtime, and anything else that fits your values. 🔗 Resources Mentioned Nir on the web, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, IG: @neyal99 Nir’s free tools: Habit Tracker, Schedule Maker Indistractable bonus content and summary Articles: ****Why the Illusion of Control Is Hurting Your Goals Jeff Bezos’ Regret Minimization Framework Nir’s top articles—including on timeboxing, values, and FOMO Tim Urban’s Wait but Why 📚 Books Mentioned Hooked and Indistractable Stolen Focus by Johann Hari Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes The Tim Ferriss Show with Tim Urban (#283) Diary of a CEO: No.1 Habit & Procrastination Expert: We've Got ADHD Wrong! Break Any Habit & Never Be Distracted! Free Time: 203: 🎢 Riding the Emotional Rollercoaster of Launching with Natalie Lue Pivot: 131: Indistractable with Nir Eyal 281: Feeling Impostery? Become a Qualified Curator Instead of an End-All-Be-All Expert 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review ❤️ Join our BFF community for Heart-Based Business owners 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/239 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Abundance was my word of 2019. I’d love to tell you I meant abundance in the broadest possible sense, appreciating the bounty already in my life, financial and otherwise. But mostly, my theme was about money. Specifically: to surpass one million dollars in revenue by the end of the year. I was going to build the sexiest small business rocket ship to achieve time-and-money escape velocity with my Delightfully Tiny Team. *Today's post is a crossover from Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h. Check out my profile page to see what I’m publishing across ‘Doh, Free Time, and Pivot at [http://substack.com/@jennyblake.](http://substack.com/@jennyblake.*)* 📝 Permission Not to hit—or even set—super specific revenue targets. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next See what fellow Free Timers have to say on this topic and join us in the comments here » 🔗 Resources Mentioned Statistics: Census Bureau’s latest data, nonemployer business constitute nearly three-quarters of all businesses, Chartable’s top 50 entrepreneurship podcasts Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h Articles: Why Revenue Goals Don’t Work (For Me), Mutually Assurred Rejection, An Honest Accounting + my emoji balance sheet, the Self-Imposed Pressure to be an Expert, Love That! For You 🙄 What Works: The Money Always Goes Up Gizmodo: The untold story of Napoleon Hill—the greatest self-help scammer of all time An Accidental Sabbatical: It Might Feel Safe, But It Won’t Feel Good Term: Limerence Zen parable: “We’ll See” Songs: We Are Young by fun., Unanswered Prayers by Garth Brooks Apps: Substack 📚 Books Mentioned My favorite spiritual financial reads: Creating Money, It’s Not Your Money, Happy Money, and one forthcoming by my longtime friendor Penney Peirce :) Loving What Is and The Work by Byron Katie also changed my life For a quirky one, check out Dollars Flow Easily To Me by Richard Dotts Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel by Kate Bowler Status Anxiety by Alain de Botton Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes Free Time: 226: Is your business a hot mess? If yes, let's celebrate — Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h 236: Ignore the Odds — Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h Crossover The Examined Life with Khe Hy: Should You Play Status Games? With Jenny Blake The Dream: Think and Grow Duped (S3 E4) 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review ✍️ Check out Jenny’s personal business essays on Substack, Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h ❤️ Join our private BFF community for Heart-Based Business owners 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter for access to the Free Time Toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: http://itsfreetime.com/episodes/238 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is your relationship to rest? How about your caretakers’ relationship to rest while you were young? What examples did they set? What attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors did they hold, and how does that still influence you today? Today I’m talking with Ximena Vengoechea about the five rest profiles, productivity dysmorphia, “tiny transition time,” why paid work (no matter how much you love it) doesn’t count as pure play, and how she designed the book to deliver a restful experience beyond just the words themselves. Listen to our previous conversation on the Pivot podcast, 263: Conduct a Relationship Audit with Ximena Vengoechea. More About Ximena: Ximena Vengoechea is a researcher, writer, and illustrator. She previously worked at Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Twitter, and currently advises select startups and executives on user research, executive communication, and resting well. She is the author of Listen Like You Mean it: Reclaiming the Lost Art of True Connection, and today we’re talking about her new book, Rest Easy: Discover Calm and Abundance through the Radical Power of Rest. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways Leisure time used to be a highly coveted status symbol in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The wealthy used their time to entertain and be entertained—not work themselves to the bone. Leisure was the status symbol, not busyness. The five rest profiles (on a spectrum of embracing rest to rejecting rest): intuitive resters, functional resters, gold-star resters, anti-resters, deprived resters There are many flavors of rest: active, passive, solo, social, calming, energizing. Ximena defines rest as “a state of being in which nothing is required of us. It is a time where we can just be.” 📝 Permission Play! Try an activity you loved as a kid, and do something for no reason other than pure enjoyment. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next Honor Tiny Transition Time by leaving your phone in another room when you take mini-breaks throughout the day (getting a snack, taking your dog out, going to the bathroom). Resist the urge to check notifications as you walk from one room to the next, and be present instead. Let your thoughts and observations emerge. 🔗 Resources Mentioned Ximena on the web, IG, LinkedIn Articles: Refinery29—Do I have productivity dysmorphia? Newsletter: Rob Walker’s The Art of Noticing 📚 Books Mentioned Rest Easy: Discover Calm and Abundance through the Radical Power of Rest Listen Like You Mean it: Reclaiming the Lost Art of True Connection The Art of Noticing by Rob Walker Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes Podcast: Rest Easy with Ximena Vengoechea — coming soon! Free Time: 193: Sabbatical Planning with DJ DiDonna, 199: Creating Happier Hours and the Diminishing Returns of Too Much Free Time With Cassie Holmes, 169: Running a Goal-Free Business with Stephen Shapiro Pivot: 263: Conduct a Relationship Audit with Ximena Vengoechea 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review ✍️ Check out Jenny’s personal business essays on Substack, Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h ❤️ Join our private BFF community for Heart-Based Business owners 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter for access to the Free Time Toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/237 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Startup CEOs should not play the odds. When you are building a company, you must believe there is an answer and you cannot pay attention to your odds of finding it. You just have to find it. It matters not whether your chances are nine in ten or one in a thousand; your task is the same.” —Ben Horowitz, The Hard Thing About Hard Things We are not meant to compare ourselves to eight billion people. I know I’m not the first to remind you that social platforms are status games on globalized steroids. With so much exposure to people who are (actually) smarter, funnier, prettier, and/or fill-in-the-blanker, the logical conclusion would be not to jump in. Right? In Zero Sum Logic, this is correct. If you can’t be the best author, the best podcaster, the best thinker about your topic, the prettiest/skinniest/curviest/strongest in physical appearance, why try? Today's post is a crossover from my newest project, Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h: Divine disaster diaries from a bread-winning business owner living in New York city. This is a paid Substack where I share personal essays about the nitty-gritty aspects of running a business, especially when sh*t hits the fan. My friend Leanne calls it “business reality TV.” *Check out my profile page to see what I’m publishing across ‘Doh, Free Time, and Pivot at http://substack.com/@jennyblake.* 📝 Permission To be magnificently in the middle. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next Publish something you’re unsure about, especially if you’re overthinking it; let your audience give feedback on whether it was helpful or not. 🔗 Resources Mentioned Articles: Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h—Ignore the Odds Gnostic Gospel of Thomas New York Times—Tip of the Iceberg (A Litany of Clichés) Apps: Substack 📚 Books Mentioned The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz My Body by Emily Ratajkowski Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas by Elaine Pagels Status Anxiety by Alain de Botton Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes Free Time: 223: The Confidence Trap: Why You Don’t Need It to Do Big Things (SPARKED Crossover) 226: Is your business a hot mess? If yes, let's celebrate — Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h The Examined Life with Khe Hy: Should You Play Status Games? With Jenny Blake High Low with EmRata 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review ✍️ Check out Jenny’s personal business essays on Substack, Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h ❤️ Join our private BFF community for Heart-Based Business owners 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter for access to the Free Time Toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: http://itsfreetime.com/episodes/236 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You can calm chaos at work, but it starts with a reality check from Charlie Gilkey, delivered with his signature wit and generosity: You might not have a team problem, you have a you problem. It’s time to stop catering to air sandwiches, Crisco watermelons, broken printers, ghost plans, and other corrosive practices, and start implementing Charlie’s finely-tuned, road-tested systems instead. Today we’re talking about his new book Team Habits: How Small Actions Lead to Extraordinary Results. We also talk about scaling from maker to manager (and sometimes back again), accounting for those who don’t want the added social overhead of that (often due to some combination of hoarding control, people-pleasing, introversion, and empathy). More About Charlie: Charlie Gilkey has advised hundreds of teams, from Fortune 100 companies to tiny nonprofits, through Productive Flourishing, the coaching and training company he founded. Charlie is a former Army logistics officer and near-PhD in philosophy living in Portland, Oregon. He is the author of Start Finishing: How to Go from Idea to Done, and today we’re talking about his new book, Team Habits: How Small Actions Lead to Extraordinary Results. 🌟 4 Key Takeaways VUCA: Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous. Operating in VUCA environments can be frustrating for free timers with a “thing for control.” At the same time, the status quo “broken printers” get thrown out too—it forces us to reimagine how we work. Shrink the scope of your world enough so that you don’t have to fix everything, everywhere, all at once. What small team habit can you examine and improve this month? i.e. Leaving five minutes at the end of meetings to capture action items and next steps. The $300,000 speed bump: If you’re stuck getting over this revenue hump, you may need to decide whether you want to scale or not. Bigger teams have social overhead and hidden costs at work that aren’t dollarized. DRIP: Decision, recommendation, intention, and/or plan. Take off the Chief Question Answerer hat by asking team members to come back to you with a DRIP before punting a “thoughts?” question onto your plate. 📝 Permission Center your needs and wants into how you build your business and your teams. Build so that you want to show up and do the work. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next If you’re getting overwhelmed by uncertainty, pause and ask: What are the gifts of not knowing? What constraints are you willing to accept? What permission slip do you need to give yourself to build a business that meets your needs in a sustainable way as the owner? 🔗 Resources Mentioned Charlie on the web, IG , Twitter, LinkedIn, Substack Articles: Better Team Habits—Share your guide to working with me and What are your team’s broken printers?, Paul Graham—Maker’s Schedule, Manager’s Schedule Video: Office Space—Printer Scene 📚 Books Mentioned Team Habits: How Small Actions Lead to Extraordinary Results Company of One by Paul Jarvis The Dollarization Discipline by Jeffrey Fox and Richard Gregory Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes Charlie’s podcast: Productive Flourishing Pivot: 136: Start Finishing—Pricing, Projects, and Momentum Planning with Charlie Gilkey Free Time: 052: Perceived Capacity vs. Actual Capacity 091: Quarterly Planning with Charlie Gilkey 141: Process, Permission Slips, and Business Pivots with Tara McMullin 143: Exploring Time, Money, and Energy Capacity with Tara McMullin and Charlie Gilkey 016: IP Licensing with Lee LeFever, author of Big Enough 228: The Burdensome B’s—Four Red Flags Signaling it’s Time to Make The Big (Delegation) Leap 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/235 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“As long as we settle for thinking inside the brain, we’ll remain bound by the limits of that organ. But when we reach outside it with intention and skill, our thinking can be transformed. It can become as dynamic as our bodies, as airy as our spaces, as rich as our relationships—as capacious as the whole wide world.” —Annie Murphy Paul, The Extended Mind In this second half of a two-part solo series, I’m sharing 6 more strategies that have helped me build (and trust) my intuition at increasingly subtle levels. If you haven’t already, be sure to listen to Part One here first. As always, I would love to hear from you! How do you practice the skill of following your intuition? Leave a voice note for a future listener-submission episode at http://itsfreetime.com/ask. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways When making a decision, look for a “whole body yes,” that includes your head, heart, and gut. Or take a page from Internal Family Systems (parts psychology): Which part of you is speaking/steering? How can you ensure you’re listening to your core self / highest self? Pay attention to persistent thoughts or feelings: For example, after you have drafted a piece of writing, to remove something, or change something. Notice and give credit to how you feel when interacting with someone, seeking additional information if needed. Note “yellow” flags even if they aren’t bright red. From Penney - Let go of needing things to be nailed down in advance. “You can still have a vision and goals, you can still make plans, but let it all be fluid. Visions and plans evolve constantly. Affirm to yourself: “I know what I need to know exactly when I need to know it.” In any given moment, there’s just one piece of information, one urge, one action, that’s a perfect fit.” 📝 Permission Follow your next intuitive hit when speaking with (or coaching) someone. Ask, “Is it okay if I share something that just came to me? You can tell me I’m completely off-base . . .” See if what you shared (an image, a metaphor, a “hit” of guidance) resonates. Even if it doesn’t, it might move the conversation in an interesting direction as the person bounces off of what you said. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next Make one decision this week based on a muscle test: it could be whether to say yes or no to a meeting request, whether to reach out to someone, or what topic to write about next. Stand up and close your eyes. Frame a question that results in yes or no by starting with: “Is it in the highest good for . . . ?” Notice if your body naturally leans forward or recoils back. That’s your intuition speaking to you: forward means yes, backward means no. 🔗 Resources Mentioned Articles: Penney Peirce—7 Tips to Improve Your Intuition Catherine Carrigan—5 Easy Ways to Muscle Test Yourself Mind Body Green—How To Develop The 4 'Clairs' Of Intuition Oprah.com—Get a New Leash on Life by Martha Beck 📚 Books Mentioned Finding Your Own North Star and Steering by Starlight by Martha Beck The Intuitive Way and Frequency: The Power of Personal Vibration by Penney Peirce The Psychic Pathway by Sonia Choquette Outrageous Openness and It’s Not Your Money by Tosha Silver Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One 🎧 Related Episodes Free Time: 234: 11 Practices to Strengthen Business Intuition (Part One) 198: Book Club ✨ OUTRAGEOUS OPENNESS: Letting the Divine Take the Lead by Tosha Silver 084: Sprinkling the First 1,000 Serendipity Seeds of a Launch Author Toolkit: Jenny’s Behind-the-Book episodes (Spotify playlist) Pivot: The Penney & Jenny Show (Spotify playlist) 328: Accessing Your True Self Through IFS (Part One) 332: IFS Part(s) Two—Understanding Our “Not Enough” Exiles with Adrian Klaphaak 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/234 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I’m excited to bring you this crossover episode with Rose Cox, founder of The HSP Business School and host of The Sensitive CEO Show ****podcast. She is one of the people I have been most excited to connect with across the globe the last few years, even though we have yet to meet IRL! In this conversation, we dive into the world of highly sensitive people (HSPs), empaths, and introverts in the business world, with plenty of permission slips to stop doing what drains you. We discuss how to build a sustainable, soulful business that aligns with your energy, while embracing the strengths and challenges of being a sensitive CEO. Finally, we touch on Rose’s decision to pause her podcast (at least for now) after a year of releasing weekly episodes. More About Rose: Rose Cox is an ICF-credentialed and Certified Human Potential Coach, 3 Brains Coach, Business Coach + Strategist, Advanced Rapid Transformational Therapist, Clinical Hypnotherapist and Energy Practitioner. Rose's unique blend of soul, science, systems and strategy combines her 20+ years’ experience in the fields of online business, hypnotherapy, coaching, and psychology to help her clients build a successful and sustainable business that is aligned with their energy and their soul. She works with highly sensitive people, empaths and introverts who have amazing gifts to share with the world but struggle with both the business strategies and mindset to fully step into their own. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways Do business in a way that serves you: For example, just one or two days for clients each week, alternating on A and C weeks of each month (so you always have two no-client weeks) Work with fellow sensitives, even as an overt niche market for your clients and community: Working together because we understand each other, share the same values, have a similar nervous system. Batch activities so that you group similar types of work together: For example, client-facing, podcast interviews, admin, day off. 📝 Permission Remove email and other social apps from your phone. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next Try a guided meditation to speak with your higher self, or do free writing as if it’s a letter from your higher self to you. For encouragement around this, check out Elizabeth Gilbert’s new Substack, Letters from Love. 🔗 Resources Mentioned Rose on the web, IG: @therosecox, Twitter, LinkedIn Course: The HSP Business School Video: The Human Upgrade—#928 How to Revamp Busy Work, Overcome Boredom and Fix Burnout 📚 Books Mentioned The Highly Sensitive Person by Elaine Aron Tools of Titans and Tribe of Mentors by Tim Ferriss Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes Sensitive CEO Show: An HSP’s Guide to Podcasting, and Awakening Intuition: Empowering Sensitive Entrepreneurs through Trusting Your Inner Guidance Pivot: 172: Self-Care for Empaths and HSPs with Sarah Santacroce and 257: Gentle Business Revolution with Sarah Santacroce Free Time: 203: 🎢 Riding the Emotional Rollercoaster of Launching with Natalie Lue 141: Process, Permission Slips, and Business Pivots with Tara McMullin 193: Sabbatical Planning with DJ DiDonna 200: 🎉 20+ Free Time Permission Slips for Small Business Owners (Part 1) 202: 🎉 20+ Permission Slips for Small Business Owners (Part 2) 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review ❤️ Join our private BFF community for Heart-Based Business owners 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/233 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Intuition is always speaking to you in subtle ways. Are you listening? Intuition isn’t a gift that is only bestowed on a special few; everyone can strengthen this muscle—how loudly you hear these signals, and the trust in yourself to take action on the information you’re receiving. In the comments of a recent ‘D🤦🏻‍♀️h post, Claudia asked: I read your words “all-in on myself” and how you consciously cho(o)se to believe that the Universe was/is redirecting you, and can’t but think “Jenny’s so in tune with her intuition. No matter what comes, she has this trust muscle that allows her to keep going, to keep betting on herself and her ideas” and I wish I was “better” at it. Is this something you’ve gotten better at with practice? And is there any advice that you would share with us here about how to cultivate this way of being? In this two-part solo episode, I’m sharing eleven strategies that have helped me build (and trust) my intuition at increasingly subtle levels. As always, I would love to hear from you! How do you practice the skill of following your intuition? Leave a voice note for a future listener-submission episode at http://itsfreetime.com/ask. 📝 Permission Trust your intuitive hits, even if you do not have a verbal or rational explanation (yet!) to validate the “memos” or make sense of your insights. Oprah says, “Your life is always speaking to you. It speaks in whispers guiding you to your next right step.” Are you listening? What is your life whispering to you right now? ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next Review your intuition history: Reverse engineer previous intuitive hits and the action you took; times you listened, times you didn’t. Times it “worked,” and times it didn’t — even then, you don’t always know what the bigger picture might have been. How did your intuition speak to you in these moments (a whisper, a feeling, an image)? 🔗 Resources Mentioned Articles: Penney Peirce—7 Tips to Improve Your Intuition Catherine Carrigan—5 Easy Ways to Muscle Test Yourself Mind Body Green—How To Develop The 4 'Clairs' Of Intuition Oprah.com—Get a New Leash on Life by Martha Beck Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h—Mutually Assured Rejection: Part One and Part Two Website: Work with Source (via Graham Duncan in Tribe of Mentors) Quiz: 4 Types Of Intuition: Which Are You Dominant In? Course: Become an Expert Intuitive: Trust What Your Deep Self Knows with Penney Peirce 📚 Books Mentioned Finding Your Own North Star and Steering by Starlight by Martha Beck The Intuitive Way: The Definitive Guide to Increasing Your Awareness and Frequency: The Power of Personal Vibration by Penney Peirce The Psychic Pathway: A Workbook for Reawakening the Voice of Your Soul by Sonia Choquette Outrageous Openness and It’s Not Your Money by Tosha Silver The Gift of Fear by Gavin DeBecker Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity by Julia Cameron The Game of Life and How to Play It by Florence Scovel-Shinn Tribe of Mentors by Tim Ferriss (Graham Duncan, pages 56-63) mBraining by Grant Soosalu and Marvin Oka Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One 🎧 Related Episodes Free Time: 198: Book Club ✨ OUTRAGEOUS OPENNESS: Letting the Divine Take the Lead by Tosha Silver 084: Sprinkling the First 1,000 Serendipity Seeds of a Launch Author Toolkit: Jenny’s Behind-the-Book episodes (Spotify playlist) Pivot: The Penney & Jenny Show (Spotify playlist) 277: Expansive Impact and Spacious Scheduling with Sarah Young 319: Who’s Sitting in the Board Room of Your Brain? With Adrian Klaphaak 328: Accessing Your True Self Through IFS (Part One) 332: IFS Part(s) Two—Understanding Our “Not Enough” Exiles with Adrian Klaphaak Pivot x Career Pathfinder podcast episodes with Adrian (Spotify playlist) 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/232 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Let’s build ESPN.com for strength, and convince everyone they can lift weights.” With this mission in mind, the first six months of building the BarBend platform were a blur for today’s guest. By the end of the first year in 2016, they had had 1.4 million readers. By 2022, they had over 31 million registered users, allowing them to sell the business in 2023. In this conversation, we cover David Tao’s take on the media landscape and how to build a profitable content-based business; raising a seed round of funding from friends and family after getting rejected from every venture pitch; the biggest mistake he made while experimenting with monetization strategies; and how he navigated a successful acquisition with a shared vision at the new parent company, Pillar4. More About David: David Thomas Tao is an entrepreneur and writer based in NYC. He's the co-founder and former CEO of BarBend.com, the world's premiere strength sports and strength training media platform. A proud Kentucky native, David is also a Forbes 30 Under 30 Listmaker, Kentucky Colonel, and a noted whiskey/spirits writer and judge, appearing yearly on national tasting panels. BarBend was recently acquired in a thrilling deal that included hiring all employees and the executive team has chosen to stay on as well. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways Burnout and bottlenecks are two red flags that you need to hire team members who can help. Don’t be afraid to kill something promising if it’s not what you are best at, and if it’s not what you’ve built your team to be best at. When you have moments of fleeting clarity, pay attention: they aren’t flukes. Write them down; for example, when you wish you were doing something else with the business. 📝 Permission If you’re bad at business development and partnerships, delegate that! ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next Consider what kind of help you could get on the “biz dev” front: what would be one small next step? Even if it’s something like employing the Cyrano Strategy for Delegating Important Comms so you aren’t the only one interacting with potential clients. 🔗 Resources Mentioned David on the web, IG: @davidthomastao, Medium, Twitter, Muck Rack, BarBend Pillar4 Media Articles: BarBend—How We Built (and Sold) the Next Great Content Brand NYT—Vice, Decayed Digital Colossus, Files for Bankruptcy Axios—BuzzFeed News to shut down, as CEO cites missteps They Got Acquired—Niche strength site BarBend sells to Pillar4 Media HR Tool: Justworks 📚 Books Mentioned Clockwork by Mike Michalowicz So Good They Can't Ignore You ****by Cal Newport Born Standing Up by Steve Martin Built to Sell ****by John Warrillow Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes BarBend Jenny Blake Knows How To Help You Make Twice The Money In Half The Time Built to Sell Radio Invest Like the Best with Patrick O’Shaughnessy Free Time: 093: How to Sell Your Online Business with Alexis Grant 045: Behind the Free Time Brand with Adam Chaloeicheep 185: How Licensing Helps Serve the Queen Bee Role + Stop Keeping up with the EntrepreJoneses with Mike Michalowicz 086: The Cyrano Strategy for Delegating Important Comms Pivot: 290: May Cause Side Effects—Life After Antidepressant Withdrawal with Brooke Siem 12: Belly Of The Pivot Beast: On Bouncing Back From Zero With Adam Chaloeicheep 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review ❤️ Join our BFF community for Heart-Based Business owners 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/231 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” —Maya Angelou Earlier this summer, I arrived late one day to the podcast studio, laying on the floor in lieu of actually recording anything. Should I take that as a sign to reduce my creative output? Not necessarily. Aside from big one-off projects like writing a book, where I pour incredible time and attention to detail into (that I tackle every five years or so), I seem to do better with ongoing creative work by sticking to a stretch-worthy production schedule. These days I’m running a Delightfully Tiny media company that produces the following on a monthly basis: 14 podcast episodes across Pivot, Free Time, and BFF Bonuses ~14 essays or newsletters: 8 ‘Doh posts, 4 Time Well Spent newsletters, 2 PivotList round-ups, and 1-2 BFF mailers This does not include guest appearances on other people’s shows By stretching myself to show up in these ways, I have discovered that there’s not always an inverse relationship between consistency and quality—at least for me. 🌟 5 Key Takeaways Check your assumptions about causation vs. correlation. For example, more time doesn’t necessarily equal more money (or higher quality); maybe less time requires firmer boundaries, smarter systems, increasing delegation Keeping up with a stretchy level of creative output doesn’t mean caving into the downsides of quantity: throwing in the kitchen sink to keep up with shiny shoulds or client demands out of insecurity Nothing needs to be forever: Trust yourself to be creative and resourceful in the moment if/when you need to slow down or take a break. Align your production schedule with what you will be proud to produce, and look for secondary benefits of each creative output such as networking, catching up with friends, reading books Do beware of burnout: Look for alignments to make things easier (cross-posting bits of the same content across multiple places), and put a Delightfully Tiny Team in place who can help take the pressure off. 📝 Permission Aim for consistency even over quality (knowing that “babysitting the work” doesn’t always help anyway), and permission to keep publishing even through energetic highs and lows. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next Look back at your creative history: do you do better work with more constraints or fewer? What’s your sweet spot? There is no right answer. Bonus: Put a team and/or resources in place to help bolster accountability, take responsibility off your shoulders, and that raises the stakes (in a good way) of missing a deadline. 🔗 Resources Mentioned Articles: Emily McDowell’s Unqualified—Paid Subscribers: READ THIS! Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h: Mutually Assured Rejection Part One, Part Two; Morning Rush, Afternoon Crushed, The Business Yips & 51/49, Love That! For You 🙄 Video: Ira Glass—The Gap Between Taste and Talent Podcast Production: One Stone Creative Apps: Substack 📚 Books Mentioned Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes BFF Private Feed (with free preview): Substack Q&A with Linda Lebrun from the Writer Outreach Team Pivot: 123: Peeking Out From The Plateau — My Latest Pivots Free Time: 222: Why I migrated my three email lists to Substack (BFF Bonus Replay) 138: ⛵️Stop Sailing the Sea of Shiny Shoulds 060: Triangle of Tradeoffs 130: Day in the Life of a Podcast Episode ✍️ Check out Jenny’s personal business essays on Substack, Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/230 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When we say trusting ourselves, which self are we talking about? Which parts of ourselves can’t be trusted? That’s what we’re exploring today with returning guest, Ilise Benun. We discuss how confidence is a byproduct of action, what made her so angry that she decided to start her own business twenty five years ago, building tolerance for silence and small experiments, and why she puts her phone number in her newsletter, on her website, and in the “from” line of her emails. If you haven’t already, check out our previous conversation in episode 165: Are your clients bringing out the best in you? Engineering the Evolution of Your Business with Ilise Benun and episode 467 of Marketing Mentor on How to Free Your Time. More About Ilise: Ilise Benun is the founder of Marketing-Mentor.com, the go-to online resource for creative professionals who want better projects with bigger budgets, through which she offers business coaching. She is also a national speaker and author of 7 books, including "The Creative Professional's Guide to Money," three online courses via CreativeLive and Domestika.org, and The Simplest Marketing Plan – all tailored to the needs of creative professionals. She has also been hosting the Marketing Mentor Podcast since 2008, with over 465 episodes at the time of this recording. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways Drop the belief that “I need to know” — what I’m doing, what my niche is, have all the ducks in a row. Approach life and business as an experiment. You’ll know what’s not working much earlier than what is. Absence blindness: we don’t see what’s not there, but in the silence things are happening Be careful about taking advice from someone who has too much at stake in terms of the decisions you’re making. 📝 Permission To listen to someone else. Find someone you trust, and just try something that they suggest—then see what happens. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next Make a list of various selves; for example, the old self vs. the new self; rational self vs. the irrational self; the critical self vs. the compassionate self; the morning self vs. the afternoon self. Note who you trust most with business decisions, and which ones might be better to sideline. 🔗 Resources Mentioned Ilise on the web, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube Ilise’s Quick Tips newsletter (with Magic Money Formula) People: Terri Trespicio, Jenn Lederer Jenny’s Substack Tools: Vocaroo.com, LinkedIn mobile app, How to add LinkedIn’s audio intro (10 sec) 📚 Books Mentioned The Creative Professional's Guide to Money: How to Think About It, How to Talk About it, How to Manage It Unfollow Your Passion by Terri Trespicio Atomic Habits by James Clear Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes Ilise’s podcast: Marketing Mentor Free Time: 165: Are your clients bringing out the best in you? Engineering the Evolution of Your Business with Ilise Benun 223: The Confidence Trap: Why You Don’t Need It to Do Big Things (SPARKED Crossover) 133: Hire People Who Are Better Than You with Terri Trespicio 185: How Licensing Helps Serve the Queen Bee Role + Stop Keeping up with the EntrepreJoneses with Mike Michalowicz Pivot: 269: How to Stand Out When Everyone is Peddling the Same Sh*t with Terri Trespicio 294: Confidence Conundrums and Attention Budgets with Terri Trespicio 319: Who’s Sitting in the Board Room of Your Brain? With Adrian Klaphaak 328: Accessing Your True Self Through IFS (Part One) and 332: IFS Part(s) Two—Understanding Our “Not Enough” Exiles with Adrian Klaphaak 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/229 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a free preview of this month's bonus episode for paying Free Time subscribers. Listen to the full episode (plus 100+ in the archives) and join us for live Q&A calls here » *** They say write from the scar, not the wound—but what do you do when you feel called to write or speak from the wound? Do you forge ahead, knowing you will wake up the next day with a raging vulnerability hangover? Or do you keep it inside, bottled up for a future sell-by date? Scott asks: I'd love to hear you talk about seeking recognition / validation from others. Yep, kinda personal, so a bit vulnerable sharing here in direct email, but I do wonder if it's something that lies beneath the surface for me. Possibly combined with an uncertainty about taking a step out of the corporate path about 5 years ago to go into full-time sports coaching and having a lot of pondering about that decision esp based on financial implications that came with it. "Somebody tell me I'm doing the right thing / doing well / pat on the back" kinda chat would be amazing. Thanks again. 💬 What helps you move through vulnerability hangovers? What helps you try vulnerability experiments in the first place? Join as a paying member or BFF to see the full show notes (related books, articles, and podcast episodes), then share your thoughts in the comments here » Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“I’m at my wit's end.” That was the conclusion of a text message that broke my heart a little bit. when a friend and fellow business owner showed it to me the other day. Their team member sent it to them, expressing exasperation at the state of unfinished tasks in the business where they were waiting on an answer or action from the owner. Seeing it bummed me out for both of them because it was neither person’s fault per se (though we can all take responsibility, of course). As I say in Free Time, business stress is a systems problem. Today I’m sharing the signal flares to look out for indicating that something needs to change, with ways to communicate (and delegate) to stop the stressful pile-up languishing on your desk. 🌟 Key Takeaways: The Burdensome B’s Bored: You no longer enjoy the work (same goes for your team members) Bottlenecked: Team members are frustrated from waiting for you; you are frustrated that there’s a growing pile at your desk. Burned out: You are starting to resent the work, your team, even your clients. Every communication starts to feel like a paper cut. Buried by bureaucracy: You are no longer operating in your Zone of Genius because you are so bogged down by tasks that fall into your zones of incompetence, competence, or even excellence (the zone that Hendricks’ says has most risk of lulling you to sleep). 📝 Permission Stop doing things that you're not even good at—that you dread, that drain you, that you procrastinate on. You also have full permission to stop trying to be somebody you’re not—even if that means a “business owner who is equally brilliant at big, creative thinking and administravia.” ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next Keep a piece of paper at your desk (or digital can work): note where you are in your zone of incompetence, competence, excellence, and genius. 🔗 Resources Mentioned Articles: The Hendricks Institute—More Happiness and Success Than You Thought Possible (PDF), HBR—Who’s Got the Monkey? Video: Read and Grow’s How to Overcome Your Upper Limit Problem and enter the Zone of Genius, Gay Hendricks on Upper Limit Problem — the only problem we need to solve Free Time Templates: Delegation Task Tracker, sample job descriptions, and the EOS Quarterly Planning Template 📚 Books Mentioned The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks Traction and Rocket Fuel by Gino Wickman The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey by Ken Blanchard and William Onken, Jr. Team Habits by Charlie Gilkey Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes Gay Hendricks’ podcast: The Big Leap Free Time: 086: The Cyrano Strategy for Delegating Important Comms, 054: Ten T's of Successful Delegating, 006: Going Pro on Podcasting with Jordan Harbinger 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review ✍️ Check out Jenny’s personal business essays on Substack, Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h ❤️ Join our private BFF community for Heart-Based Business owners 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter for access to the Free Time Toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/228 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Nobody’s soul is moved by swag.” So says longtime friendtor of the pod, John Ruhlin, founder of strategic gifting company Giftology. Since the day I met John and encountered his work in 2016, I have been inspired by his commitment to elevating the relationship game with generosity, “heart bombs,” and expressing genuine appreciation in the business world and beyond. He does this all while setting up brilliant systems to make sure it all actually happens (such as setting a robust annual gifting budget aside off of top-line revenue). John is long overdue for a free time appearance, and I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did! More About John: John Ruhlin is the world’s leading authority in maximizing customer loyalty through radical generosity. He is the founder and author of Giftology: The Art and Science of Using Gifts to Cut Through the Noise, Increase Referrals, and Strengthen Retention and has been featured in Fox News, Forbes, Fast Company, Inc and New York Times. He and his firm now help automate this process for individuals and organizations like UBS, Raymond James, DR Horton, Keller Williams, the Chicago Cubs, and Caesar’s Palace. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways Gratitude isn’t a feeling, it’s an action. This doesn’t always have to be about gifts; it can include introductions, access to resources, words of affirmation. Gifting is an act of love. If finances are tight, don’t worry about crazy or expensive gifts, but be crazy thoughtful with the gifts you give. Don’t forget to recognize the recipients family and/or team members when you can — they are the unsung heroes. Personalization will take you far. Take the time to make a video or write a note, and don't just make it about you; articulate what you see in them and appreciate most. Super bonus: take that note and go read it to them in person. As John says, “You'll both probably cry, and they will never get rid of that note — it will be one of their most prized possessions. And all it did was it cost you your time.” 📝 Permission Not be good at everything in your business; partner up with someone who fills in your skill gaps. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next Double down on the personalization aspect of a thank you to a team member or client by sending a handwritten note, quick video filmed on your phone, or both! 🔗 Resources Mentioned John on the web, IG: @johnruhlin, Twitter, LinkedIn Articles: Why food corporate gifts are an absolutely terrible idea Video: Walkthrough of Jenny’s Gift Tracker in Notion, Giftology playlists on YouTube—Get More Client Referrals, Strategic Gifting Mastery, Mastering Brand Loyalty Publisher: Ideapress 📚 Books Mentioned Giftology by John Ruhlin Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara The 5 Love Languages (and quiz) by Gary Chapman Start With Why by Simon Sinek Traction and Rocket Fuel by Gino Wickman Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes Other: Self-Publishing School—SPS 108: Giftology, “Love Bombs”, And Why I Have A $250 Book with John Ruhlin (Using Your Book To Build Relationships & Get Referrals) Free Time: 176: 🍪What’s the Chocolate Chip Banana Bread in Your Business?🍌, 083: Breaking through Buyer’s Remorse—Never Lose a Customer Again with Joey Coleman, 201: Never Lose a Team Member Again with Joey Coleman Pivot: 70: Build a Referral Engine with John Jantsch ✍️ Connect with Jenny on Substack: http://substack.com/@jennyblake 📝 Check out full show notes and share with a friend: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/227 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I used to refer to myself as a hot mess often in the early blogging days circa 2008, until someone scolded me saying it wasn’t a nice way to describe myself, that maybe it wasn’t the best self-image to curate. So I stopped. But I lost something in dropping the “hot” and the “mess” as I now approach middle age (and grandma-status in my soul). Today's post is a crossover from my newest project, Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h: Divine disaster diaries from a bread-winning business owner living in New York city. This is a paid Substack where I share personal essays about the real nitty-gritty aspects of running a business, especially when sh*t hits the fan. My friend Leanne calls it “business reality TV.” My husband Michael says it's picking up where Sex and the City left off, but this time about money. You can follow me directly on my profile page at Substack to see what I’m publishing across ‘Doh, Free Time, and Pivot at http://substack.com/@jennyblake. 📝 Permission To have messes in your business at the moment—even hot, complicated, gnarly messes. You are still here, and you are still learning and trying and troubleshooting; that’s all that matters. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next Take a day or two off! Celebrate the mess if it means you’re still in business :) 🔗 Resources Mentioned Articles: Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h—Hot Mess NYT—Heat Singes the Mind, Not Just the Body View From the Wing—San Francisco Is A Mess, And The Owner Of The City's Largest Hotel Is Just Walking Away Apps: Substack 📚 Books Mentioned Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes Free Time: 223: The Confidence Trap: Why You Don’t Need It to Do Big Things (SPARKED Crossover) 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review ✍️ Check out Jenny’s personal business essays on Substack, Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h ❤️ Join our private BFF community for Heart-Based Business owners 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter for access to the Free Time Toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/226 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“A book is not about something. A book is for someone.” That’s the mantra that drives AJ Harper’s work, that includes ghostwriting over one hundred books (and working on many more one-off chapters and projects). In this conversation, she shares the “life of a book” process in her writing partnership with Mike Michalowicz (ten books together and counting!), what most authors get wrong when writing the conclusion, her favorite tried-and-true question to solicit “unexpected, delicious responses from interviewees,” and how to calibrate expectations for timing around the writing, editing, and creative process. More About AJ: AJ Harper is an editor and publishing strategist who helps authors write transformational books that enable them to build readership, grow their brand, and make a significant impact on the world. As ghostwriter and as developmental editor, she has worked with hundreds of authors, from newbies to New York Times bestselling authors with millions of books sold. She is writing partner to business author Mike Michalowicz, and together they’ve written ten books, including Profit First. AJ is the author of Write a Must-Read: Craft a Book That Changes Lives—Including Your Own. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways Before you start writing, every nonfiction book needs three key elements: a transformational message, ideal reader, and a promise you can deliver on. AJ’s Reader Transformation Sequence: Readers will engage with a life-changing book in the following order: buy, read, finish, act on, tell. There’s a difference between story, anecdote, and case study: Stories have a beginning, middle, and an end and are told with suspense and often a transformational moment; anecdotes are smaller moments you capture as you move through the world (or from others); case studies are more detailed client examples that illustrate results. 📝 Permission: Abandon your timeline. Don’t overly obsess about deadlines, timelines, and where the book fits in your business plan. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: We can all take strange comfort in knowing that no matter how many books you’ve written or how successful you are in business, “No amount of experience or preparation can save you from being nervous about the work you’re putting out into the world.” 🔗 Resources Mentioned AJ on the web, Twitter, LinkedIn Book Bonuses: WriteAMustReadBook.com Templates: Free Time Author Toolkit Work with AJ: Top Three Book Workshop, Must-Read Editing Workshop Articles: Notes from Prince Harry’s Ghostwriter Hallmark Movie: Unexpected Christmas App: Christmas Hallmark Movies 📚 Books Mentioned Write a Must-Read: Craft a Book That Changes Lives―Including Your Own Book Lovers by Emily Henry All In: How Great Leaders Build Unstoppable Teams ****by Mike Michalowicz Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes JB’s Spotify Playlist: Behind-the-Book Free Time: 103: How to Land a Literary Agent and Publisher with David Moldawer (Part One), 105: “Don’t write the wrong book!” with David Moldawer (Part Two), 032: Courageous Marketing With Mike Michalowicz Pivot: 164: Fix This Next (And Stop Keeping Up With The Entrepre-Joneses) with Mike Michalowicz 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review ❤️ Join our private BFF community for Heart-Based Business owners 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/225 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do you already have an elegant way of wrapping up with clients? If you work with people one-on-one, it's important to systematize business values that you say are important to you, like surprise and delight, or giving clients a red carpet experience from start to finish. Many of us have thought more about that on the front end than when we're actually closing out with a client—that's why I'm super excited to bring you this listener submission episode from previous guest and BFF, Jacqueline Fisch. 🌟 5 Key Takeaways Share a few sentiments about working together: What you accomplished, any encouraging words or celebratory notes. Ask for feedback via short survey: then turn that into a testimonial for them. Ask for referrals: “If I could fill my roster with more clients like you, I’d be over the moon!” Draft the referral email for them. Suggest ways to continue their momentum: Ideally by suggesting two or three options to continue working with you. Keep in touch! Share social links, and ask them to connect with you there and in your newsletter (if they aren’t already subscribed) 📝 Permission Ask directly for referrals and feedback, in an elegantly streamlined and systematized way. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next Create your own See You Soon kit and feedback survey for when you wrap-up with clients. Want a head start? Check out Jacq’s Intuitive Client Service Bundle. 🔗 Resources Mentioned Templates: Jacq’s Intuitive Client Service Bundle Community: Join us in BFF! Service: Sugar Wish 📚 Books Mentioned Jacq’s Intuitive Writing: The Remedy for Writer's Block and the Secret to Authentic Communication The Referral Engine Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes Free Time: 179: Video-Free Business and Intuitive Writing with Jacqueline Fisch, 183: Letting Go of Productivity Guilt with Madeleine Dore, 120: Transform Your To-Do List into a Results List — Leanne’s Favorite Time-Saving System Pivot: 70: Build a Referral Engine with John Jantsch, 45: Post-Launch Pivot Point + Visit From the Furry Rest Monster 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review ❤️ Join our private BFF community for Heart-Based Business owners ✍️ Check out Jenny’s new Substack, Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/224 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Have you ever looked at someone else, someone you admire, who has accomplished a lot, and just assumed they must be wildly confident and always winning at everything? You’re not alone. But, the truth, it turns out, is much more complex. So many of those luminaries are not, in fact wildly, or even remotely confident. And if they are, they go through cycles of profound change, self-doubt, struggle and, when they learn to harness these experiences, revelation and even reinvention.” That’s how my longtime friendtor Jonathan Fields describes this episode, a crossover from his fantastic SPARKED podcast, where I’m honored to be on a panel of rotating advisor co-hosts (here’s our Spotify playlist). In this crossover episode, we discuss seasons of confidence, struggle, renewal, and my 51/49 mantra on courage. I hadn’t yet spoken about the new secret Substack publicly, so I thought Free Timers might benefit from a spontaneous (and nerve-wracking!) reveal that I didn’t see coming. As Jonathan writes, “In an unexpected, yet deeply powerful moment, Jenny shares a ‘Sparked Exclusive’ revealing that she began, almost covertly, creating something ‘from the mess’ in hopes of helping others feel less alone in their struggles. She wonders: Can sharing our human flaws and uncertainties actually complement our expertise and advice, providing value in its own way?” More About Jonathan Fields: Jonathan Fields—the Good Life Guy—delivers insights that spark purpose, possibility, and potential. On a decades-long quest to discover what makes people come fully alive, Jonathan is an award-winning author, Webby-nominated producer, business innovator, and host of one of the world’s top podcasts, Good Life Project. He is the author of Sparked: Discover Your Unique Imprint for Work that Makes You Come Alive. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways The simple act of putting something into the world can let other people know that they are not alone; in fact, oftentimes it opens a two-way door that does the exact opposite of your worst fears. Allow for (and expect) 49% nausea, fear, overwhelm and insecurity, followed by a massive vulnerability hangover after something goes live. Just aim for 51% action that gets you to press the schedule button. If you’re launching a project, pick what day you want it to go live, and then schedule it. That way, you have to do the work of unscheduling it, rather than the reverse. The next action becomes putting on the breaks, rather than constantly fretting about how and when to get over the hump of pressing go and pressing forward. 📝 Permission To share your process before you have a neat, tidy outcome tied in a beautiful bow. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next Take one tiny step that tips the scale from fear and anxiety into action. 51/49. 🔗 Resources Mentioned Jonathan on the web, Sparketype.com Articles: Follow Jenny on Substack, The Business Yips & 51/49, Ignore the Odds Tools: Substack app 📚 Books Mentioned Jonathan’s books: Sparked: Discover Your Unique Imprint for Work that Makes You Come Alive, Uncertainty, How to Live a Good Life, Career Renegade Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes SPARKED: Subscribe here, check out the full Spotify playlist of Jonathan x Jenny’s episodes Free Time: 222: Why I migrated my three email lists to Substack (BFF Bonus Replay), and 033: Sparked with Jonathan Fields Pivot: 047: Live Fiercely, Study Deeply . . . While Earning a Living — with Jonathan Fields 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review ✍️ Check out my new Substack Rolling in D 🤦🏻‍♀️h: Divine Disaster Diaries 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/223 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Now that I’m one month into Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h, I’m sharing my reflections on Substack as a software platform for personal writing (and potentially moving my newsletters soon too). I recorded this bonus episode for the BFF Community at the end of July; since then, I decide to officially migrate my Pivot and Free Time mailing lists and go all-in. ;TLDR: I’m utterly delighted! The last time I felt this thrilled about software was when I first started tinkering in Notion four years ago, which became one of the best things I ever did for my business :) ✨ If you have the means and it feels joyful to support me and this new body of work, you can subscribe as a paid or Founding Member here 🙏 Huge thanks to those of you who have already joined and commented — I can't begin to tell you how much it means to me! 🌟 3 Key Takeaways As a reader, Substack allows you to more easily reply and engage in the comments, “restack” snippets you like, browse the archives, bookmark favorite posts, see what percentage of each article you’ve read, and support fellow creators’ work if you feel called to. As a writer, the composition interface is such an improvement! You can create richer newsletters with fancy content embeds—my husband calls it “upgrading the facilities,” host an archive page ****with previous issues, and for the first time—publish essays and podcast episodes to the same main feed. One writer I follow, Kathryn Vercillo, practices artistic tithing: Ten percent of her income goes to supporting other writers on the platform. I now pay for fifteen fellow Substackers, and while at first I feared subscription fatigue (like so many of us!), this combined expense has become the happiest money that leaves my bank account every month. I love supporting the writers and thinkers whom I respect most, and who have given me so much. 📝 Permission: To make changes in your business operations even when it seems like no one solution is perfect, and you know you’ll break 100 things in the process. No risk, no reward! You also hereby have permission to charge for your work :) We’re all getting a raise in 2024! ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Download the Substack app and see how joyful it is to browse newsletters again away from the chaos of your email inbox! You might be surprised at how many people you read and follow are already on there :) 🔗 Resources Mentioned Writing coach: Writers at Work with Sarah Loom Walkthrough: Notion for Idea Collection (5 min) Video: TEDxBerkshires—Homework for Life Course: MasterClass—Dan Brown Teaches Writing Thrillers JB’s Substacks: Notes (and “restacks”), Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h, Time Well Spent, PivotList Elizabeth Gilbert’s new Substack: Letters from Love Articles: Time Well Spent Newsletter with Writing Apps, Substack Office Hours, Top Twenty Tips for Writing Memoir Apps: Substack, Notion, Circle, OmmWriter, SaneBox, Kajabi 📚 Books Mentioned Intuitive Writing: The Remedy for Writer's Block and the Secret to Authentic Communication by BFF member Jacqueline Fisch Happy Money by Ken Honda Storyworthy by Matthew Dicks The Memoir Project by Marion Roach Smith How to Tell a Story from The Moth, and check out their related podcast Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes Spotify Playlist: Behind-the-Book podcast episodes The Active Voice with Substack cofounder Hamish McKenzie SPARKED: The Confidence Trap: Why You DON'T Need It To Do Big Things Working Wife, Happy Life: Bethanie & Jenny on being the breadwinner Free Time: 210: Knot a Care—Sailing the Free Time Seas with Joy and Ease, 203: 🎢 Riding the Emotional Rollercoaster of Launching with Natalie Lue, and 034: Organizing Research and Ideas — Notion Walkthrough #1 ✍️ Check out my new Substack Rolling in D 🤦🏻‍♀️h: Divine Disaster Diaries 📝 Check out full show notes at: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/222 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“I see in books,” says today’s guest. “Every book is, at its heart, an argument for something—for a belief, a way of life, a vision of the future, a way to solve a problem, a way to make a friend, a way to lose your soul. The point is what the entire story drives to. It’s the thing your reader will come away from your book feeling.” That’s just one gem from today’s guest, Jennie Nash, book coach and author of a blueprint series on how to approach your writing. Jennie and I discuss the tumult happening in hybrid and traditional publishing outfits; risks inherent in the publishing process; red flags to watch out for in selecting partners; determining the right genre for your work (i.e. nonfiction, fiction, memoir), how to “make room for the reader,” and what it means to write for the marketplace. More About Jennie: Jennie Nash is the founder and CEO of Author Accelerator, a company on a mission to lead the emerging book coaching industry. Author Accelerator has certified more than 160 book coaches in both fiction and nonfiction. Jennie’s own book coaching clients have landed top New York agents and six-figure book deals with Big 5 houses such as Penguin, Scribner, Simon & Schuster, and Hachette, and won dozens of national indie book awards. Jennie is the author of 12 books in 3 genres, including Blueprint for a Nonfiction Book: Plan and Pitch Your Big Idea and the forthcoming Blueprint for a Memoir: How to Write a Memoir for the Marketplace. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways Before choosing a publishing partner (traditional or hybrid): Speak with at least three authors who have worked with that organization before! Not just ones the publisher suggests. Three genres explore different possibilities: Fiction explores what if? as you imagine a world and the characters within it; nonfiction will be factual, information-based, teaching and topic oriented; memoir is where you tell your own story about your own life, even with larger themes at play; memoir+ brings additional elements. Make room for the reader: When you’re writing personal essays or memoir, you can get so caught up in your own story that you’re not thinking about who will read this, why they care, what they are looking to experience, and how you can connect with and inspire them. 📝 Permission: Drop the idea that you will be picked by the publishing industry. You are the creator, so take the work into your own hands. You pick you. 🔗 Resources Mentioned Jennie on the web, IG, Twitter, LinkedIn Coach Training: Author Accelerator Templates: Free Time Author Toolkit Articles: NYT—Buyouts and Layoffs Mean a Changing of the Guard at Penguin Random House, Leaders Press—Scribe Media Shuts Down Substack: Round-up of serialized fiction classics, Jenny’s (secret for now) new Substack :) MasterClass: Dan Brown on Thriller Writing, Malcolm Gladwell 📚 Books Mentioned Jennie’s series: Blueprint for a Book, Blueprint for a Nonfiction Book, and Blueprint for a Memoir In the Dream House: A Memoir by Carolyn Maria Machado Untamed by Glennon Doyle The Candy House by Jennifer Egan Bomb Shelter by Mary Laura Philpot + NYT Review In Love by Amy Bloom Lost and Founder by Rand Fishkin Shoe Dog by Phil Knight Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes JB’s Spotify Playlist: Behind-the-Book Free Time: 205: Why Paul Millerd Turned Down a $200K Two-Book Traditional Publishing Deal, 203: 🎢 Riding the Emotional Rollercoaster of Launching with Natalie Lue, and 209: From Lost and Founder to Chill Work with Rand Fishkin Pivot: 208: Your Book and Big Idea (Part 2) 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review ✍️ Check out my new Substack Rolling in D 🤦🏻‍♀️h: Divine Disaster Diaries 📝 Check out full show notes and share with a friend: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/221 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I broke one of my own big rules this summer. For the last few weeks, I've been kicking myself, saying, how could I do this? I know better. I wrote a book called Free Time, after all! Well, as I say in the introduction, business stress is a systems problem. Listen in for more on the mistake I made, and the systems and reminders I set up to ensure I have ample free time next summer. 📆 Upcoming Event: Substack Q&A on September 7 I'm falling deeper in love with Substack every day—there are so many wonderful elements that are refreshing my creative energy for all things newsletters and writing. I haven’t been this excited about software since encountering Notion in early 2020, and that completely changed my life and transformed my business! In addition to my new paid Substack Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h: Divine Disaster Diaries from a Breadwinning Business Owner Living in New York City, I’m now in the process of migrating my two main lists for Pivot and Free Time. Linda Lebrun from Substack’s writer partnerships team graciously agreed to do a Q&A with the BFF community on September 7 at 12pm ET. She’ll share: Substack’s goals as a company, and the types of writers and creators they are most interested in working with Monetization strategies that are working best Ideas to leverage their network and community to grow your platform . . . and anything else you can think to ask! Learn more and join us here » If you’re listening in the future and this date has passed, you can still join to get instant access to our entire archive of bonus workshops and monthly private podcast episodes. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways Europeans have been taking a full month off (typically in July or August) since the 1920s; this is common practice for them. Your clients will be enjoying their summer too, wishing they were away from their computers splashing in pools or ocean waves. New business will likely be in a lull while others are on vacation. You’ll want to enter the fourth quarter of the year with enthusiasm. 📝 Permission: Claim your big free time blocks for next summer now. Take notice, future self! ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Set a daily recurring Do Not Schedule (DNS) block now for next August. Do not let yourself schedule any work commitments over it! Bonus: Take this time to also block off mid-December through mid-January if you haven’t already. 🔗 Resources Mentioned Articles: JSTOR Daily—Why Europeans Have Such Long Summer Vacations, NYT—[Heat Singes the Mind, Not Just the Body](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/10/health/heat-mental-health.html#:~:text=“Extreme heat is an external,are experiencing homelessness%2C she added.) Apps: TripIt Pro, HotelTonight (use promo code JBLAKE9) 📚 Books Mentioned Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes Free Time: 166: Crashing into Quiet Time 🏝️, 126: Creating Time Buffer—7 Strategies for Spacious Scheduling Pivot: 250: Staycation in the City, 77: 21+ Travel Tips, Tools and Apps 🌟 Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review ✍️ Check out my new Substack, Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h: Divine Disaster Diaries ❤️ Join our private BFF community for Heart-Based Business owners 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/220 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Since launching this show in September 2015, the podcasting landscape has grown and changed tremendously. What was once a niche sandbox of independent producers pursuing passion projects has blossomed into an abundant field where it seems as though every major media property, celebrity, side hustler, and business owner decided to throw their hat (mic?) into the audio arena. Since I’m not nearly ambitious or prolific enough to share three hundred lessons learned in honor of today’s major milestone, or even thirty, I thought I’d boil it down to my top three creative lessons learned in seven years of creating content in a constantly changing space. This crossover episode originally aired on the Pivot podcast on November 13, 2022. Before going any further, thank you from the bottom of my heart—this show wouldn’t be nearly what it is without you here listening and sharing with friends. Thank you for listening these last seven years, and I’m looking forward to seeing what the years ahead bring us! 🌟3 Key Takeaways: Challenging myself to do a daily creative bootcamp for three months has made the production (and idea generation) process easier ever since. Delegating is a game-changer, such as investing in a full-service production team—even before I was 100% ready. It truly helped me shift from sporadic, overwhelmed output to energized, consistent creativity. Success is anything over a small handful of listeners: staying focused on the intrinsic rewards, the “autotelic” joy of podcasting, no matter the metrics, has kept the creative fires burning brighter. Bonus: Most of all, have fun! When things get too hard, pause: there’s a mantra I repeat to myself often, “Let it be easy, let it be fun.” Or as my friend Leanne asks, “How can I fall in love with this again?” 📘Books:  Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One, Life After College  The Work Revolution: Freedom and Excellence for All by Julie Clow Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...And Others Don't by Jim Collins  Turning the Flywheel: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great by Jim Collins The 10X Rule: The Only Difference Between Success and Failure by Grant Cardone Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi The Practice: Shipping Creative Work by Seth Godin 🔗Resources: Free Time Operations Dashboard Podcast Production: One Stone Creative Podcast Recording: Riverside.fm Audio and Video Editing Software: Descript Jim Collins: The Flywheel Concept Creative Coach: Jay Acunzo 🎧Related Podcast Episodes: 223: Stepping up Systems—How I Shifted to Daily Podcasting 254: The Practice—On Generosity, Peculiarity, and Showing Up with Seth Godin 276: Behind the Free Time Pivot 100: Ten Lessons Learned in 3+ Years of Podcasting 291: Free Time Crossover – Protect Your Idea Factory, Build a Creative Flywheel, and Go Behind-the-Scenes of Book Publishing with Todd Henry 213: Flex Your Flywheel (for Solopreneurs) and 212: Virtuous Circles in Pivot Portfolio Planning 292: True Fun vs Fake Fun with Catherine Price 304: Through the Crux—Pivoting from Acting to Entrepreneurship with Ryan Devlin Free Time: 077: Happy Launch Day! Antonio Neves Guest Hosts (Part 1) and 079: Behind the Launch with Antonio Neves (Part 2) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Cultivate 12 people who love you, because they are worth more than 12 million people who like you.” That’s just one of many gems from Kevin Kelly’s new book Excellent Advice for Living: Wisdom I Wish I’d Known Earlier, bits of wisdom that he thinks of like handrails to grab when he needs a quick reminder about what is most important. In this conversation, we revisit our 2016 discussion about the power of human-AI partnerships, give you permission not to become a billionaire, help you lean into serendipity and embrace paradox, and encourage you to buy your time (through delegation) so that you can focus on doing the work that only you can do. As Kevin says, “Don’t be the best, be the only.” This crossover episode originally aired on the Pivot podcast on May 7, 2023. More About Kevin: Kevin Kelly helped launch WIRED magazine in 1993. He is a renowned technology and science writer, futurist, and thinker who has been at the forefront of digital culture for decades. Kelly's work explores the intersection of technology, culture, and society, and he is known for his thought-provoking insights on the future of innovation and the impact of technology on our lives. He has authored multiple books including The Inevitable, Out of Control, The Silver Cord, and What Technology Wants. His newest is Excellent Advice for Living: Wisdom I Wish I’d Known Earlier (May 2023). He lives in Pacifica, California with his family. 🌟 5 Favorite Takeaways from Excellent Advice for Living ChatGPT and generative AI tools are becoming the intern that everybody can have; you’ll still need to check their work, but you no longer need to start from scratch. You really don’t want to be famous. Read the biography of any famous person. Measure your wealth, not buy the things you can buy, but buy the things that no money can buy. Delegate what you can. Ask anyone you admire: Their lucky breaks happened on a detour from their main goal. So embrace detours. Life is not a straight line for anyone. Be generous. Give ideas (and compliments!) away, and even more will return to you. ✅ Try this experiment: You’ll get invited to an argument in the next week or two. Decline the invitation; don’t attend! 🔗 Resources Mentioned Kevin on the web, Instagram: @kevin2kelly, Twitter: @kevin2kelly, YouTube, podcast: Cool Tools Articles: WIRED’s Picture Limitless Creativity at Your Fingertips, NYT—Bing’s AI Chat” I want to be alive,” and A Conversation with Bing’s AI Chatbot Left Me Deeply Unsettled Video: TED—The Future Will be Shaped by Optimists OpenAI’s ChatGPT 📚 Books Mentioned Excellent Advice for Living: Wisdom I Wish I’d Known Earlier by Kevin Kelly The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future and What Technology Wants by Kevin Kelly Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes Pivot: 36: Kevin Kelly on Techno Literacy, Systems Thinking, Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality (July 2016) 305: Is What You Are Wanting Actually What’s Best For You? With Luke Burgis 264: Embrace Your Onlyness with Nilofer Merchant 61: Virtual Freedom: Overcome Superhero Syndrome and Start Outsourcing with Chris Ducker 270: Free Time Framework for Moving from Friction to Flow in 2022 Free Time: 153: Behind the Podcast — Increasing Serendipity Surface Area — Mic Flip with Matthew Thompson, 084: Sprinkling the First 1,000 Serendipity Seeds of a Launch, 017: Serendipity as Business Strategy with Leanne Hughes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Self-doubt isn’t all bad. It means you’re stretching outside of your comfort zone, that you’re willing to learn, and that you aim to surround yourself with people who challenge you. So if you often grapple with imposter syndrome (or as I like to call it, an Imposter Monster sitting beside you), you are not alone. If you sometimes fall into the trap of feeling like you’re not good enough or ready yet to tackle your biggest creative aspirations, here’s a new perspective to consider. This crossover episode originally aired on the Pivot podcast on May 29, 2022. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways: There is a big difference between acting like you are the ultimate expert, and being a curious and informed curator of ideas and resources.  One of the biggest gifts you can give others is curating people, and allowing them to connect and share with each other. We have no control how a project is going to land in the world, so “don’t suffer twice,” in terms of worrying before you hit publish and after — just put it out there, then deal with what follows in the moment.   ✅ Next Action: Shift your mindset from “I need to be an expert before . . .” to “I’m curious.” Start curating the people and ideas that inspire you, then share them with others through your unique lens and experiences. 📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Perfection Detox: Tame Your Inner Critic, Live Bravely and Unleash Your Joy You’re Invited: The Art and Science of Connection, Trust, and Belonging The Wisdom of Insecurity: A Message for an Age of Anxiety 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Shane Snow’s article on Intellectual Humility Related Podcast Episodes:  251: Listener Q&A on (Furry) Imposter Monsters 112: Whose Voice is in Your Head? Perfection Detox Round Two with Petra Kolber 86: Grab Bag! Upcoming NYC Workshop, BookRx on Interviewing Tips, and the Upside of Awkwardness 56: Perfection Detox with Petra Kolber Penney & Jenny 8: Embracing Liminal Space (July 2019) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As “recovering people pleaser” Natalie Lue opens her book, The Joy of Saying No, “Suppressing and repressing my needs, desires, expectations, feelings, and opinions to try to influence and control other people’s feelings and behavior was as natural to me as breathing. I thought it was normal to tell people what they want to hear (read: lie) to make them feel better. I believed I was ticking the boxes of being a Good Person by being kind, generous, hardworking, conscientious, loving, eager to help, attractive, and intelligent, and doing what others needed and wanted.” If you, too, are ticking “Good Person” boxes while making yourself miserable, this episode is for you. Natalie and I discuss the five types of people pleasers, what we continue to struggle with today despite decades of awareness-building, and how to build the skill of saying no. This crossover episode originally aired on the Pivot podcast on July 2, 2023. More About Natalie: Natalie Lue used to have very low self-esteem, a litany of problems including bad boundaries, toxic relationships with emotionally unavailable and shady folk, and a crippling immune system disease, but this all changed in the summer of 2005. Now, she is a recovering people pleaser. She’s the author of The Joy of Saying No: A Simple Plan to Stop People Pleasing, Reclaim Boundaries, and Say Yes to the Life You Want and for 8 years hosted The Baggage Reclaim Sessions podcast. Natalie helps people learn how to reclaim themselves from their emotional baggage and increase emotional availability through self-care, making a profound difference in their lives via her substack On Knowing Yourself. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways When “resentment enters the room” that’s a sure sign that you’re caught in people-pleasing. Natalie says, “People pleasing is code for I am (or was) anxious about something. It’s an anxiety-management habit that ironically keeps you locked in a cycle of anxiety because it’s hyper-vigilance.” Natalie’s five types of people-pleasing: Gooding, Efforting, Avoiding, Saving, and Suffering. Saying no, and finding the joy in it, is a skill: You can’t change what you don’t know, and until you know your no, you can’t know your yes. Remember, “Boundaries are not miracle workers.” You may still need to call it at some point with a toxic relationship and let go. love care trust and respect make d ✅ Try This Next: Check in with yourself when you feel pressure to be or do something in a certain way—is this a preference or is this programming? 🔗 Resources Mentioned Natalie on the web, Instagram: @natlue, Twitter, Facebook, Substack: On Knowing Yourself Take the Quiz: Are You a People-Pleaser? Video: Natalie’s TV Show appearance on How To Stop People Pleasing & Start Saying No With Author Natalie Lue! | Lorraine 📚 Books Mentioned The Joy of Saying No: A Simple Plan to Stop People Pleasing, Reclaim Boundaries, and Say Yes to the Life You Want Natalie’s earlier books: Mr Unavailable and the Fallback Girl, The No Contact Rule, The Dreamer and the Fantasy Relationship, and Love, Care, Trust and Respect: Reclaim your relationships from the jaws of pain, fear and guilt Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes Podcast: The Baggage Reclaim Sessions with Natalie Lue Nat on Good Life Project: How to Stop Pleasing Everyone but Yourself | Natalie Lue Pivot: 338: Is Midlife Messing with Your Enough-ness? + Busting Other “Not Enough” Scams with Mandy Lehto 282: The Honor Roll Hangover with Melody Wilding 56: Perfection Detox with Petra Kolber 112: Whose Voice is in Your Head? Perfection Detox Round Two with Petra Kolber Free Time: 54: The Hard No ❌ and 152: Do Less — On Entropic Bloat & Business Haircuts ✂️ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I'm super excited to pilot a "what would we invent if anything were possible" experience this quarter—and you're invited! Join me and business bestie Sarah Young, founder of Zing Collaborative and author of Expansive Impact, on Sunday, October 22 for a three-hour VIP brunch and brainstorming extravaganza, followed by a decadent buffet at DUMBO house, with inspiring views of the Brooklyn Bridge and lower Manhattan.  This is much more than a brunch. As fans of what restauranteur Will Guidara calls Unreasonable Hospitality, we just couldn’t resist throwing in all kinds of bells and whistles.  This VIP day is supported by a three-month-long program designed to surprise and delight you. Together with a small, curated group of Heart-Based Business owners, you’ll get a mix of 1:1 coaching and group calls to close 2023 strong, set a clear vision and strategy for 2024, and implement the most joyful, abundant next steps for you and your business. 📆 Early Bird Enrollment (and special pricing) ends September 1, and the final deadline to enroll is September 15. If you’re interested in joining, learn more and apply here » 🪄 Here’s to building business blissfully! 🎉 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s solo riff is on a three-word phrase that has helped quell countless waves of anxiety in the decade since I first heard it, wisdom passed from my friend Monica McCarthy's (aka MonBon’s) mom then to the pages of Pivot. Pardon the occasional panting (lol) and background noise—err New York City soundscape—as I recorded this one on a big hill at the park, running up and down while throwing a giant log for Ryder to chase. He chases sticks, I chase ideas! This crossover episode originally aired on the Pivot podcast on April 2, 2023. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways: Memento Mori, though it is by definition morbid, is a practice of reminding ourselves that we (and our loved ones) will die. As the monks at Wat Umong temple hand-wrote on a note posted to a tree, “Remember: In 100 years, all new people.” How can you allow this reality to inform how you engage in relationships without leading to excessive anxiety or worry? The Second Arrow: Notice when you are suffering because of a story you are telling yourself after a painful event, grinding the gears of a problem and making it worse long after the fact. Remember, “Worry is praying for what you don’t want.” Try not to worry for or about others either; it’s not a nice energy to project or to feel. ✅ Next Action: If you notice yourself worrying or anxious, try to remind yourself of those three little words from MonBon's mom: Don't suffer twice. 📚Books Mentioned Life After College Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business The Examined Life: How We Lose and Find Ourselves by Stephen Grosz When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times by Pema Chodron Outrageous Openness: Letting the Divine Take the Lead by Tosha Silver Change Me Prayers: The Hidden Power of Spiritual Surrender by Tosha Silver 🔗 Resources Articles: Many Animals—Including Your Dog—May Have Horrible Short-Term Memories, Memento Mori, The Second Arrow People: Monica McCarthy, Tosha Silver, Penney Peirce 🎧 Related Podcast Episodes Pivot: 312: Are You Future-Tripping? Jenny & Penney Show (Spotify playlist) Slow Cooked vs. Pressure Cooker Free Time: 170: 🌈 “Imagine a World of Abundance” ✨ 172: Free Time Isn’t Just for the Fun Days 138: ⛵️ Stop Sailing the Sea of Shiny Shoulds Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Who is sitting in the boardroom of your brain? Who is sitting around the table, challenging your decisions, making noise, and offering critiques? Today Adrian and I are walking through one of our favorite coaching exercises by offering up (and coaching each other through) identifying and describing three of our current loudest board members and who we want to hire moving forward. This work connects to a therapy tool called Internal Family Systems which Adrian will share more about in our next episode together. This crossover episode originally aired on the Pivot podcast on April 23, 2023. We want to hear from you! Leave us a voice memo about this episode or to request a future topic for us to cover at http://pivotmethod.com/ask. Are you working on a pivot-in-progress? For guidance on reconnecting with what lights you up and creating an action plan to move forward, check out Adrian’s flagship Career Pathfinder Program and apply promo code PIVOT at checkout. More about Adrian: Adrian Klaphaak is a coach, purpose guide, entrepreneur, and founder of A Path That Fits Career and Life Coaching. His coaching approach is holistic—a constant balance between getting results and a quest for meaning and fulfillment. He describes himself as “a deep seeker with a constant itch to make things happen.” 🌟 3 Key Takeaways We all have parts of us that seem like voices in our heads speaking from different perspectives. When experiencing change, separating them out can provide powerful clarity. Ask questions and imagine (or write) the answers from each of your board members. What is each one's primary motivation? Their biggest fear? What are they trying to protect you from? What is the bigger vision coming from your more critical board members? For example, that you experience greater peace, success, time with your family, etc. ✅ Try This Next: Brainstorm your current board members, either on a piece of paper or together with a friend. Make a list of as many as you’d like, and build out the description by personifying them: What are they wearing? How are they acting? What is their primary fear and their primary motivation? What do you want to say to each one? Bonus: Who are the three board members you’d like to hire moving forward to help bring out your best self? 🔗 Resources Mentioned Adrian on the web, Yelp, Facebook, LinkedIn Course: Career Pathfinder, promo code PIVOT IFS Training: Internal Family Systems Coach Training: CTI Articles: Finding Your Calling by a Path the Fits Selfleadership.org 📚 Books Mentioned The Joy of Saying No: A Simple Plan to Stop People Pleasing, Reclaim Boundaries, and Say Yes to the Life You Want by Natalie Lue Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes Previous Pivot x Career Pathfinder Playlist with Adrian 313: What’s the pebble in your shoe? Pivoting from Wall Street to RadReads with Khe Hy 292: True Fun vs Fake Fun with Catherine Price 303: What is Your Soul Path for 2023? Follow What’s Most Alive — With Adrian Klaphaak Free Time: 138: ⛵️ Stop Sailing the Sea of Shiny Shoulds Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the saying goes, “Worrying is praying for what you don’t want.” A close cousin is future-tripping: projecting and living in the future instead of being present with what is actually happening, keeping an open mind about whatever might happen next.  If you are inclined to catastrophize, you’re not alone! But getting caught in a fictional movie can mean missing out on important opportunities, ideas, and relationships. Today, I’m talking about why we do this, how future-tripping manifests, and strategies for shifting into what I call present-calming instead. This crossover episode originally aired on the Pivot podcast on March 5, 2023. 🌟 15 Strategies for Shifting from Future-Tripping to Present-Calming: Notice when you’re in a movie where you’re projecting events and possibilities rather than being present to the actual facts at hand.  Be compassionate with your fearful side, as being hard on yourself doesn’t help. Take a page from The Work with Byron Katie by asking, “Is that true? Can I absolutely know that it’s true?” Pause and reflect: What are the facts versus what am I assuming? Reframe what you are experiencing as an open-ended, creative question. Trust yourself to be creative and resourceful at every next step as it arises. Intuition happens in the moment, so ground yourself in the present. Be grateful for the abundance that the problem you are facing represents. Create and hold a positive vision of what is possible if all goes as well as it possibly can (instead of worst-case catastrophizing). Listen to relaxing podcasts or meditations if you have trouble sleeping due to anxious thoughts.  Take a small step or positive action toward a solution. Limit your exposure to negative news. Or all news, for that matter! Get your endorphins flowing with 20-minutes of cardio or yoga Talk to an energizing friend or family member to get an outside perspective Surrender. Ask for clarity on what action to take (or not) and for grace and patience in the meantime. ✅ Try this next: Notice when you’re caught in a movie of the future, generating anxiety from a problem or situation causing you stress. Ask to be shown one next step, and stay attuned to clues or hits of inspiration or intuition in your environment. Do you have any strategies for present-calming? Send me a note at hello@itspivotmethod.com or leave me a voice memo at pivotmethod.com/ask. 📘Books:  Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College Loving What Is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life by Byron Katie Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life: Life-Changing Tools for Healthy Relationships by Marshall Rosenberg 🔗Resources: Byron Katie: TheWork.com and Judge Your Neighbor worksheet TV Series: Harlem via Amazon Prime (clip pulled from S2 E4) JB’s Ideal Day Madlib Sleep Foundations: The Best Podcasts for Sleep  Jordan Harbinger: 6-Minute Networking Course 🎧Related Podcast Episodes: [Best Of] Penney & Jenny 1: Intuition and Frequency (listen to the full Spotify playlist of the Penney & Jenny Show) 282: The Honor Roll Hangover with Melody Wilding 260: Everyday Rituals and the 'Sparkling of the Sacred' with Casper ter Kuile 69: Worrier's Guide to the End of the World with Torre DeRoche Free Time 138: ⛵️ Stop Sailing the Sea of Shiny Shoulds Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Attending conferences can be overwhelming — even for the most excited extroverts among us—let alone the introverts who challenge their comfort zone in the registration process alone. Today, my friend Alisa and I do an in-person debrief of our recent week-long adventure at the TED global conference in Vancouver (my second time attending, her fifth). We cover conversation openers, the power of a genuine compliment, trying (and sometimes failing) to approach people we admire as a peer, handling the inevitable FOMO and big feelings that arise, when to call it quits (what I call “falling off the cliff”), and so much more. This crossover episode originally aired on the Pivot podcast on June 4, 2023. More About Alisa: Alisa Cohn has been coaching startup founders to grow into world-class CEOs for nearly 20 years. She is the author of From Start-Up to Grown-Up, and hosts a podcast of the same name. A onetime startup CFO, strategy consultant, and current angel investor and advisor, she has worked with startup companies such as Venmo, Etsy, and more. 🌟 10 Key Takeaways Have a repertoire of different openers to approach people with. Wear a “talk piece” clothing item that invites people to comment on. Approach as a peer vs. fangirling (which might occur anyway!) Sit in a central public place to catch conference passers-by. Message people right after you meet them about something you spoke about. Text a “wish you were here!” selfie to mutual friends as a way to keep in loose touch. Prepare for the emotional ups and downs you’re going to feel when you’re in large groups. Embrace JOMO when you need a break, knowing when you’re at your best. Don’t be afraid to call it early in the evening if/when you’re feeling New Friend Fatigue. Follow up with connections after you return home by scheduling a dinner reunion. ✅ Try This Next: Alisa: Go and meet one new person—strike up a conversation with someone you wouldn’t normally speak to and see what happens. Jenny: Put yourself in the path of people. Is there an event, a book reading, even a bench in the park where you can encounter people you normally wouldn’t? 🔗 Resources Mentioned Alisa on the web, Twitter: @AlisaCohn, LinkedIn: @AlisaCohn Articles: Andrew Wilkinson on Medium (founder of Tiny capital) Video: Lizzo thanking Beyoncé at the Grammy’s 📚 Books Mentioned From Start-Up to Grown-Up by Alisa Cohn The Long Game by Dorie Clark The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin Presence by Amy Cuddy The Courage to be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes Other Shows: The Tim Ferriss Show — Alisa Cohn on Prenups for Startup Founders, How to Reinvent Your Career, the Importance of “Pre-Mortems,” and the Three Selves (#539) Pivot: 298: Networking in a New Niche and Becoming Broadway Investors with Dorie Clark and Alisa Cohn, 285: Cultivating Influence with Jon Levy, 293: 🍝 Are you a Spaghetti-Twirler or a Spaghetti-Thrower? Free Time:192: 📲 5 Creative Ways to Better Organize Your Phone Contacts, 196: What do Donuts, Coffee, Conversation, and Energy Cliffs Have in Common?, 043: From Start-Up to Grown-Up (and Coach to Author) with Alisa Cohn, 035: The Long Game with Dorie Clark Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“My little pirate.” That’s the nickname Michael has given me this summer, as it feels like many of my corporate (client) income boats have burned these last few years. At the same time, he says he has never seen me so happy and free. “You’re not in a raft anymore,” he said. “You’re in a sailboat. You don’t want to be in the big cruiseliner anyway.” Not to be confused with Sailing the Sea of Shiny Shoulds (I clearly love ocean metaphors!), today’s episode is all about embracing the agility and freedom that small business owners have to Sail the Free Time Seas. Heck, even one of the richest men in the world, Jeff Bezos, chose to buy a sailing yacht (albeit the world’s largest) rather than the more mechanized superyacht. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways / Goldilocks Three business vessel metaphors: the superyacht or cruise liner (large corporations), the sailboat (agile small-medium businesses), and the raft (struggling micro-businesses); the Goldilocks ideal lies somewhere in the middle. Relationship with Risk: A super yacht-like small business, due to its size and resource intensity, may be less willing to take risks, akin to how a super yacht cannot afford to take on dangerous waters. On the other hand, a sailboat-like small business can quickly change its course and can be more open to taking smart risks, seeing them as opportunities for learning and growth. Sail la Vie! Celebrate and embrace the full autonomy you have to set your own course—what you work on, with whom, and how you get there. 📝 Permission: Embrace your agile sailing yacht status as a Free Timer—we don’t all need to be (or buy or build) a superyacht :) ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Celebrate how far you’ve already come from your earliest days in the rickety raft stage of running a business to where you are now. 🔗 Resources Mentioned Articles: New Yorker—The Haves and The Have Yachts, NYT—5 Deaths at Sea Gripped the World. Hundreds of Others Got a Shrug. TV Shows: Below Deck and Below Deck Sailing Yacht JB’s Secret Substack: http://itsfreetime.com/secret App: Substack (for reading others you subscribe to) Community: BFF (promo code PODCAST) 📚 Books Mentioned Love with a Chance of Drowning and The Worrier’s Guide to the End of the World by Torre DeRoche Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes SPARKED: JB on SPARKED with Jonathan Fields (Spotify playlist) Pivot: 304: Through the Crux—Pivoting from Acting to Entrepreneurship with Ryan Devlin Free Time: 050: Business-Building Metaphors—Are You Running a Machine, House, or Restaurant? 028: When the Financial Tides Recede 138: ⛵️ Stop Sailing the Sea of Shiny Shoulds 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review ❤️ Join our private BFF community for Heart-Based Business owners 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/210 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“When you’re in debt to the truth, the interest rate sucks.” That’s just one of many so-true-it-hurts gems in Rand Fishkin’s 2018 book Lost and Founder, an accounting of his leadership journey through the often-Faustian bargain of building a company through venture funding, for all but a select few types of start-ups who do benefit from that route. In this conversation, he shares why he dislikes the term lifestyle business, how he views some of his biggest business regrets in hindsight, his definition of chill work, and how he’s building his new business through open-sourced angel funding (and profit sharing) with a Delightfully Tiny Team of three. More About Rand: Rand Fishkin is the co-founder and CEO of SparkToro, makers of fine audience research software. He’s dedicated his professional life to helping people do better marketing through his writing, videos, speaking, and his book, Lost and Founder: A Painfully Honest Field Guide to the Startup World. When Rand’s not working, he’s usually cooking a fancy meal for the love of his life, author Geraldine DeRuiter. If you bribe him with great pasta or fancy cocktails, he’ll pull back the curtain on big tech’s dark secrets. 📝 Permission: Hire an outside expert, a consultant or an agency, to do that thing that you know your business could benefit from. 🔗 Resources Mentioned Rand on the web, IG: @randderuiter, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Mastadon: @randfish Companies: Tiny Seed Capital, HubSpot, SparkToro Parable: “We’ll See” 📚 Books Mentioned Lost and Founder by Rand Fishkin All Over the Place by Geraldine DeRuiter Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes Office Hours with Spencer Rascoff: SEO Guru Rand Fishkin of SparkToro and Moz Reveals Why He Thinks Venture Funding isn't Always the Right Path for Start-ups Free Time: 016: IP Licensing with Lee LeFever 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review ❤️ Join our private BFF community for Heart-Based Business owners 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/209 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What do Manuka honey, brown M&Ms, chocolate milk, vanilla gelato, rose petals, fair trade bananas, and Twizzlers have in common? No, they’re not ingredients for a bizarre ice cream sundae. Listen to today’s episode to find out . . . 🌟 3 Key Takeaways Botching the basics: **A term my friend and I use for companies who fail to deliver the baseline minimum expected customer experience. See also: unforced errors in Chapter 3 of Free Time, “Systematize the Spirit of Your Business.” “God is in the details:” What might seem simple at a first glance often turns out to be more complex and require more time and attention to accomplish correctly. **** Touring bands have backstage riders that specify details on stage design, sound systems, lighting, and an artist's green room wishlist. 📝 Permission: Be picky about the details! And to be incredibly detail oriented in your documentation. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Create your own form of a celebrity rider, whether for your household, for travel and on-site client events, or even VIP days you might host with clients. I encourage you to go a little wild with this! Yes, figure out what your must haves are, but then imagine your ultra delightful details too :) 🔗 Resources Mentioned Video clip: Curb Your Enthusiasm—Pissing Off Mocha Joe (S10, E1) TV Show: Bravo’s Below Deck (Prime, Peacock) Articles: John Wooden’s Pyramid of Success The Smoking Gun’s 300+ Backstage Riders; Sample Excerpts: John Mayer (2005), Adele (2011), Katy Perry (Page 1, Dressing Rooms), Justin Bieber (2010), Pearl Jam (2008) PDF: JE’s Palm Beach Household Manual Tools: Free Time Business Operations Dashboard (promo code PODCAST), Free Time Toolkit, ChatGPT 📚 Books Mentioned The Essential Wooden by John Wooden Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes The Really Rich Podcast: Ep 22 with Rey Flemings: Buying What Isn’t For Sale, Post Luxury, & Kindness Pivot: ChatGPT as Universal Intern and Permission Not to Be a Billionaire with Kevin Kelly Expansive Impact and Spacious Scheduling with Sarah Young Free Time: 200: 🎉 20+ Free Time Permission Slips for Small Business Owners (Part 1) 202: 🎉 20+ Permission Slips for Small Business Owners (Part 2) 068: Are You Running a Grumpy Business? 176: 🍪What’s the Chocolate Chip Banana Bread in Your Business?🍌 104: Save Someone Next Steps 146: New? Help Us Welcome the Next You (A Message for Your New Team Members) 194: 🤖 Top 10 Favorite Recent GPT Prompts for Creative Business Owners 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review ❤️ Join our private BFF community for Heart-Based Business owners 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/208 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The best systems aren’t cumbersome sources of frustration collecting dust in the cloud—they save you so much time, that creating even more streamlined solutions becomes a personal passion. That’s the case for me and today’s returning guest, Karen Allen. We’re going behind-the-business, swapping ideas for client-facing pages, client tracking databases, course resources pages, personal journaling, and more. Although we are talking specifically about Notion (this isn’t #sponcon, I swear!), any software that has similar functionality can work :) More About Karen: Karen is a super-mom, healthy eater, and keynote speaker. After experiencing the tragedy of losing her husband, she picked herself up and set out to thrive for her son’s sake. She is the founder of the 100% Human movement, helping others develop a mindset of joy and abundance through her community. She also hosts the In the Details podcast, and be sure to check out our previous conversation in episode 191: Structuring Free Time as a Single Parent While Grieving and Rebuilding. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways: Start Here Create a database for prospective and current clients (coaching, speaking, consulting, etc.) Within that, create a new client template that populates with information behind-the-scenes that you and your team will reference Within that, create a shared page that you and the client can see and collaborate on 📝 Permission: Invest in the systems that are going to support your overall well-being. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Examine an aspect of running your business that takes a lot of time. How could you bring that into a system, possibly with a template or two? 🔗 Resources Mentioned Karen on the web, IG: @karen.m.allen, LinkedIn, TikTok, podcast: In the Details Free Time Operations Dashboard (promo code PODCAST), and one of Jenny’s earliest Notion pages (don’t laugh!)—(He)art of Podcasting course resources Voxer Coaching: Sign-up for the waitlist to work with Jenny » Video: Use Your Tragedy to Change the World Tools: Notion, Loom, Canva, Gusto, Bench People: Marie Poulin, Thomas Frank 📚 Books Mentioned Building a Second Brain by Tiago Forte One Line A Day: A Five-Year Memory Book Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business 🎧 Related Episodes In the Details: Introducing In the Details (Karen’s Story) Free Time: 191: Structuring Free Time as a Single Parent While Grieving and Rebuilding. 111: Building a Second Brain with Tiago Forte 088: Why I Moved from Asana to Notion for Task and Project Management 148: How to Build a Business Operations Dashboard 182:🏚️The Challenges of Renovating a (Business) House while Living in It 177: “Do things that don’t scale” — On Books and Mission-Based Business Building with Readwise CoFounder Daniel Doyon 194: 🤖 Top 10 Favorite Recent GPT Prompts for Creative Business Owners (BFF Bonus Replay) 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review ❤️ Join the private BFF community 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 📝 Check out full show notes and share it with a friend: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/207 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2021, I paid nearly a thousand dollars to hire a plumber to fix something that wasn't absolutely necessary and that no one would ever see. Why did I do that? And what on earth does it have to do with running your business? More on that in today’s episode, along with twelve examples of tiny things to celebrate in your business operations, even if they forever remain a secret to the outside world. Outside of big launches, awards, and accomplishments. 🌟 3 Key Questions What’s one tiny thorn in your shoe (business)? What is one friction area that no one would notice if you addressed, but that would allow the work to flow more freely in your business? How can you make your business operations one percent better every day? 📝 Permission: Celebrate (even as you may sweat) the small stuff: the invisible, incremental improvements, and the mere fact that you’re staying in the game! ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Make a list of ten tiny improvements you’ve already made this year, that no one would be able to see from the outside. 🔗 Resources Mentioned Chair: Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman Photos: Under the hood of Jenny’s sink: Before and After Jenny’s secret pop-up project 📚 Books Mentioned Atomic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones by James Clear The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes Free Time: 117: Tiny Marketing Actions with Pamela Slim, 102: 12 Systems-Thinking Steps for Moving from Friction to Flow, 183: Letting Go of Productivity Guilt with Madeleine Dore Pivot: 336: Letting Go of Productivity Guilt with Madeleine Dore (Free Time Crossover), 297: Create a Failure Resume, Khe Hy: RadReads x Pivot & Free Time 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review ❤️ Join our private BFF community for Heart-Based Business owners 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/206 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From a certain outside perspective, turning down a $200,000 two-book deal from a traditional publishing house makes no sense. But for today's guest, Paul Millerd, it fits perfectly into his operating paradigm of what David Whyte calls the pathless path. After climbing the ranks in corporate consulting but feeling increasingly empty, Paul shifted away from chasing status and approval, and started his own business his own way. Now the mantra he lives (and writes) by is “coming alive over getting ahead.”  In this conversation we dive into how he felt when he got the offer from the publisher, the "old Paul" resurfacing during his meetings with them, and how he has fared on his self-publishing journey in the two years that the book has been out. More About Paul: Paul Millerd is an independent writer, freelancer, coach, and digital creator. He is the author of The Pathless Path: Imagining a New Story for Work and Life, in which he explores the invisible scripts that constrain our lives. He is also the host of The Pathless Path podcast, where he talks with the most interesting people on unconventional paths. 📝 Permission: To self-publish your book! 🔗 Resources Mentioned Paul on the web, IG: @pathlesspaul, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube Articles: Paul’s substack, essays, Reflections on Saying No to a Book Deal & Betting on Myself #219, Original Twitter thread, and From Blog to Book: How to Self-Publish on Your Own Terms Swag: StickerMule (Bubble Envelopes) Tools and Templates: Jenny’s Author Toolkit 📚 Books Mentioned The Pathless Path by Paul Miller The War of Art by Steven Pressfield The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes The Pathless Path with Paul Millerd Pivot: 328: Accessing Your True Self Through IFS with Adrian Klaphaak Free Time’s full Behind-the-Book Playlist (Spotify) 084: Sprinkling the First 1,000 Serendipity Seeds of a Launch 035: The Long Game with Dorie Clark 173: Cut Your Losses—Even While Pivoting in Public—with Khe Hy 162: Should You Self-Publish? (Part One) 164: Let’s Talk Royalties re: Publishing Options (Part Two) 203: Riding the Emotional Rollercoaster of Launching with Natalie Lue 196: 🍩 What Do Donuts, Coffee, Conversation, and Energy Cliffs Have in Common? 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review ❤️ Join our private BFF community for Heart-Based Business owners 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and share with a friend: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/205 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, I’m sharing eight reasons I really appreciate having a team inbox using HelpScout. They’re not paying for this episode; I just can’t help but share software solutions that help me move from friction to flow in my business, especially when I have already spent a lot of time and money on ones that don’t work. 📝 Permission: Stop managing a zillion inboxes and narrow them down to one centralized inbox for you and your team. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Set-up a shared inbox for your business, and set all of your work-related accounts to forward into it. 🔗 Resources Mentioned Apps: HelpScout, TextExpander, Descript, SpeakPipe Related: Free Time Tools Jenny's Free Time Toolkit 📚 Books Mentioned Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes 092: Train the System, Then the Person 086: The Cyrano Strategy for Delegating Important Comms 161: Inbox Taming with Yaro Starak 094: Top 5 Tools That Power My Business 200: 🎉 20+ Free Time Permission Slips for Small Business Owners (Part 1) 202: 🎉 20+ Permission Slips for Small Business Owners (Part 2) 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review ❤️ Join our BFF community for access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/204 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we’re going behind the scenes of book launching, sharing the good, the bad, and the ugly (cries) resulting from the emotional rollercoaster that often surrounds the process of setting big projects loose into the world, including exhaustion, comparison, dashed hopes, and grief. 🎧 If you haven’t already, be sure to listen to Natalie on the Pivot podcast in episode 329: Five Types of People-Pleasers from The Joy of Saying No. More About Natalie: Natalie Lue is the author of The Joy of Saying No: A Simple Plan to Stop People Pleasing, Reclaim Boundaries, and Say Yes to the Life You Want and for 8 years hosted The Baggage Reclaim Sessions podcast. She helps people learn how to reclaim themselves from their emotional baggage and increase emotional availability through self-care. 📝 Permission: Do something at 70 percent and see what happens, giving yourself the gift of more energy and bandwidth. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Create a Mastermind group of friendtors to vent with, even if you don’t wait to air that grief (and those grievances) publicly. For related episodes, check out 078: How to Create Transformational Mastermind Groups and 188: Energy Capacity Planning and Finding Resonant Masterminds with Kelli Thompson. 🔗 Resources Mentioned Natalie on the web, Instagram: @natlue, Twitter, Facebook, Substack: On Knowing Yourself Substack: On Knowing Yourself Quiz: Are You a People-Pleaser? Video: Natalie’s TV Show appearance on Lorraine—How To Stop People Pleasing & Start Saying No With Author Natalie Lue! 📚 Books Mentioned The Joy of Saying No by Natalie Lue Outrageous Openness: Letting the Divine Take the Lead by Tosha Silver Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One 🎧 Related Episodes Natalie’s podcast: The Baggage Reclaim Sessions with Natalie Lue Jenny's Behind-the-Book playlist (Spotify) Pivot: 329: Five Types of People-Pleasers from The Joy of Saying No with Natalie Lue, 319: Who’s Sitting in the Boardroom of your Brain?, 320: Sustainable Ambition with Kathy Oneto, and 329: Five Types of People-Pleasers from The Joy of Saying No Free Time: 031: Eleventh-Hour Creative Gremlins, 064: The Vulnerability of Launching, 096: Book Sales Stats—One Month Post-Launch 🎉, 174: What Book Marketing has to do with Glass Blowing: Reflecting on Free Time’s 1-Year Bookiversary 🥂, 173: Cut Your Losses—Even While Pivoting in Public—with Khe Hy 🌟 Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review ❤️ Join our private BFF community for Heart-Based Business owners ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to our #200 celebration...part two! 🎉 These next 20 permission slips all about mindset, staying in the game, and the spiritual aspects of running a Heart-Based Business. Make sure to catch last week’s episode which had 20 of my favorites about doing less, charging more, and working in your zone of genius. 📝 #202 Permission Slips 🎧 027: Time Management for Mortals with Oliver Burkeman — 📝 Admit that you are never going to get everything done. You're never going to get on top of everything. 🎧 183: Letting Go of Productivity Guilt with Madeleine Dore — 📝 Stop measuring the day by how productive you were. Embrace your day for what it wants to be. 🎧 173: Cut Your Losses—Even While Pivoting in Public—with Khe Hy — 📝 To feel. To cry. To fully experience and talk about what you’re going through. 🎧 137: Attracting Clients Through TikTok (without Letting the Algorithm Drive You) with Inna Aizenshtein — 📝 Drop whatever shame or fear you have around creating something imperfectly. Step into the fear and remember that this is a superpower, and the fear is going to make it meaningful. 🎧 033: Sparked with Jonathan Fields — 📝 Allow the thing that you seek to create be as much a manifestation of the essential nature of who you are as it is a mechanism to fill what you perceive to be a viable need in a marketplace. 🎧 041: Pay From the Heart Pricing with Mark Silver — 📝 Trust your heart. 🎧 171: Discovering Your Divine Assignment with Melissa Hughes (while Building with Grace and Ease) — 📝 Understand that whatever you want wants you, too. It can be both/and: Look at what’s working for you and lean more into that unapologetically. 🎧 047: Beautiful Business with Steven Morris — 📝 Be your whole self and grant yourself permission to live your most beautiful life. You don't have to prove anything to anyone. 🎧 191: Structuring Free Time as a Single Parent while Grieving and Rebuilding with Karen Allen — 📝 Do what your soul is calling you to do. 🎧 013: The Self-Employed Ecosystem with Jeffrey Shaw — 📝 Do business in a way that actually feels good. 🎧 117: Tiny Marketing Actions with Pamela Slim — 📝 Drop the socialization that tells you that you should be in a different place than you are, doing more, feeling guilty for what you haven’t done. 🎧 004: Take a Stand with Antonio Neves — 📝 Being fine with who we are. 🎧 165: Are Your Clients Bringing Out the Best in You? Engineering the Evolution of Your Business with Ilise Benun — 📝 Stop listening to the scolding voice in your head. See your business as a laboratory, where everything is an experiment. 🎧 083: Breaking through Buyer’s Remorse—Never Lose a Customer Again with Joey Coleman — 📝 Be more gentle with yourself. 🎧 115: Successfully Taking Over as CEO from a Founder (MBS) with Shannon Minifie — 📝 To “earn your paycheck” over a long period of time. 🎧 147: How to Set Up Brand Partnerships with Justin Moore — 📝 Celebrate the business success you have already achieved. 🎧 121: How to Steer Through a Downturn and Stop Micromanaging with Annie Hyman Pratt — 📝 Drop the self-blame and self-disappointment. If you are a business owner, your self-compassion must exceed your ambition. 🎧 073: From CEO (Back) to Creator with Pat Flynn — 📝 To fail. There is no better learning than failure, so go ahead, try something new, do your best and learn from the results. 🎧 039: Permission to Glow with Kristoffer (KC) Carter — 📝 Breathe. There's time. 🎧 079: Behind the Launch with Antonio Neves (Part 2) — 📝 Share what scares you. Whatever secret you are terrified people will find out — or are embarrassed to say out loud — let it surface; it’s freeing to let the light in. 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/202 ❤️ Join our private BFF community for Heart-Based Business owners Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You’ve heard of buyers remorse—but what about new hire’s remorse? That is the feeling of worry, regret or uncertainty that a new team member might have when taking a new role with your team. Today, returning guest Joey Coleman shares insights his new book, Never Lose an Employee Again: The Simple Path to Remarkable Retention. Make sure to also check out our previous conversation **083: Breaking through Buyer’s Remorse—Never Lose a Customer Again with Joey Coleman. More About Joey: Joey Coleman, author of the #2 Wall Street Journal bestseller, Never Lose a Customer Again: Turn Any Sale into Lifelong Loyalty in 100 Days, has helped organizations retain their best customers and team members by turning them into raving fans. He is an award-winning speaker and co-host of the Experience This! podcast. He’s also a former criminal defense lawyer and one of the most generous, energetic people I know. Today we’re talking about his new book, Never Lose an Employee Again: The Simple Path to Remarkable Retention. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways Be intentional with designing a new team member’s experience: What systems do you need to make sure someone’s pivot doesn’t result in a faceplant? Orientation is different from onboarding: Orientation means introducing a new team member to their surroundings, with an overview of how things work in your business. Onboarding involves a structured series of contacts designed to create a warm, welcoming experience. The first hundred days are critical when it comes to making a good impression on a new team member. But don’t stop paying attention on day 101; you still want to be creating surprise and delight moments throughout their tenure. 📝 Permission: Be gentler with yourself. Many entrepreneurs are great at being gentle with team members, vendors and clients, but are way too critical of themselves. Think about the experience of you interacting with you, and consider what you can do to provide little moments of delight and appreciation to yourself. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Send a quick video selfie to one of your team members (or extended team and/or contractors), thanking them for their contribution to your business. 🔗 Resources Mentioned Joey on the Web, Twitter, LinkedIn Video: Savannah Bananas, Savannah Bananas’ website, Pieces of Flair - Office Space Articles: Architectural Digest’s Before and After Flair! Wizard Pins Tool: Hootsuite 📚 Books Mentioned Never Lose an Employee Again and Never Lose a Customer Again by Joey Coleman Giftology ****by John Ruhlin The First 90 Days by Michael Watkins Gallup’s It’s the Manager by Jim Clifton and Jim Harter Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes Joey’s Podcast: Experience This! Pivot: 177: Pivot Method as 4-Stage Coaching Framework Free Time: 083: Breaking through Buyer’s Remorse with Joey Coleman 146: New? Help Us Welcome the Next You (A Message for Your New Team Members) 145: Tips for Training Part-Time Team Members with Kaneisha Grayson 128: A Tale of Two Teas, On Botching the Basics and Correcting Mistakes (Or Not) 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review ❤️ Join our private BFF community for Heart-Based Business owners. 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/201 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey, hey, Free Timers, we have arrived at episode 200! 🎉 To celebrate, I’m giving you the ultimate permission slip compilation (two in fact). At the end of every episode, I ask our guests to give fellow business owners a permission slip to do something differently or drop something altogether.  📝 Permission Slips 🎧 123: “Pricing is Branding” — Anti-Time Management with Richie Norton — 📝 Rethink projects with too many steps or obstacles toward creating the lifestyle you want. How can you bake your dream into the process from day one? 🎧 188: Energy Capacity Planning, Pricing, and Finding Resonant Masterminds with Kelli Thompson —📝 Drop anything that drains your energy! 🎧 169: Running a Goal-Free Business with Stephen Shapiro — 📝 Do less and get more. Each day, imagine you only have one hour you can work. How would you spend that hour? 🎧 141: Process, Permission Slips, and Business Pivots with Tara McMullin — 📝 To rebuild your business model from the ground up. 🎧 145: Tips for Training Part-Time Team Members with Kaneisha Grayson — 📝 Keep some of the tasks that you are excellent at and bring money into the business, and let go of the feeling that you’re not acting like “the CEO.” 🎧 091: Quarterly Planning with Charlie Gilkey — 📝 Drop at least one project that does not create cash flow, opportunity, or visibility. 🎧 101: Run Your Business with Exquisite Greatness and Tiny Art Projects with Alexandra Franzen — 📝 Give yourself a raise! If you are excellent at what you do, significantly increase what you charge. 🎧 111: Building a Second Brain with Tiago Forte — 📝 Not to be everywhere on all channels. Pick just one place that best fits your personality and style for your unique artistic expression. 🎧 167: How to Transform Your Approach to Community-Building with Gina Bianchini — 📝 You don’t have to produce a lot of content! Flip the script from producing content to convening human beings towards a common goal. 🎧 181: Be Irreplaceable with My Creative Coach Jay Acunzo — 📝 Focus on resonance before—or even at the expense of—reach. Let go of the idea of adding more people until you have a small group reacting in a big way. 🎧 035: The Long Game with Dorie Clark — 📝 Not to network or connect with people when you don’t feel like it. 🎧 002: Eliminate Email with Cal Newport — 📝 Electronic communication does not have to be a super important part of your work life. 🎧 161: Inbox Taming with Yaro Starek — 📝 To be involved in, not responsible for, your inbox. 🎧 133: Hire People Who Are Better Than You with Terri Trespicio — 📝 Stop taking pride in doing everything yourself. Delight in the fact that you need help and support to do your best work, and you can get it. 🎧 099: How to Find Your Perfect Problem with Jim McKelvey — 📝 Charge people for your time, and bill for your attention. 🎧 107: How to Know When You’ve Gotten Pricing Wrong with Jacquette M. Timmons — 📝 Quote an uncomfortable price. Detach yourself from the outcome by treating it as an exercise; doing this once will make it easier next time. 🎧 143: Exploring Time, Money, and Energy Capacity with Tara McMullin and Charlie Gilkey — 📝 Shift your request evaluation default from, “Do I have time to squeeze this in?” to “Do I have time to do this well?” 🎧 139: Paid Newsletter Secrets and Organizing Knowledge with David Elikwu — 📝 Shut down projects on purpose so you don’t kill them by accident. Be intentional about possibilities you leave open. 🎧 016: IP Licensing with Lee LeFever — 📝 Forget the way things have been done in the past. You don’t need to be a billion-dollar unicorn. 🎧 131: Scaling Joy While Streamlining Business Overhead and Navigating ADHD with Kaneisha Grayson — 📝 Ignore business advice that doesn’t work for you, or that—for whatever reason—you just can’t do. Stop internalizing failures. 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode and share it with a friend: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/200 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What’s the daily free time sweet spot? Between two to five hours, according to today’s guest, professor and researcher Cassie Holmes. In this conversation, you’ll hear about the wedding that wasn’t — sparking Cassie’s quest to determine the areas of highest agency for improving our own happiness, why time well spent is such a big factor to that end, the powerful question her now husband opened with on their first date, and how to buy better time. More About Cassie: Cassie Holmes is a professor at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, an award-winning teacher and researcher on time and happiness, and bestselling author of Happier Hour: How to Beat Distraction, Expand Your Time, and Focus on What Matters Most. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways Too much free time can lead to less happiness: There are diminishing returns on more than five hours of free time a day (if we’re not on vacation) because we do value work activities that foster meaning, connection, and purpose. Least happy activities: Lonely, obligated, and wasteful. Happiest activities: Connecting through conversation, fresh air / getting outside, and “buying better time” through delegation 📝 Permission: Prioritize your own personal happiness. It’s tempting to try and prioritize the happiness and needs of others, but when we personally feel happier, we show up better for the people around us than we do otherwise. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Buy better time—identify one household chore that you could delegate, and/or experiment with a meal service like Thistle, Gobble, Factor, etc. 🔗 Resources Mentioned Cassie on the web Parable: “We’ll see” Research: UCLA Anderson Review—Too Much Free Time? Blame Solitude or Lack of Productive Activity Tool: The School of Life—Conversation Cards and Decks Meal Services: Thistle, Gobble, Factor 📚 Books Mentioned Happier Hour: How to Beat Distraction, Expand Your Time, and Focus on What Matters Most by Cassie Holmes Scarcity: The New Science of Having Less and How It Defines Our Lives by Sendhil Mullainathan Time Smart by Ashley Whillans Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes Free Time: RadReads x Pivot & Free Time, 046: Time Margin—Are You Drowning, Treading Water, or Gliding?, 188: Energy Capacity Planning, Pricing, and Finding Resonant Masterminds with Kelli Thompson Pivot: 315: Intuition-Building, Spotting Pedestal Syndrome, and Closing the Confidence Gap with Kelli Thompson, 61: Virtual Freedom: Overcome Superhero Syndrome and Start Outsourcing with Chris Ducker 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review ❤️ Join our private BFF community for Heart-Based Business owners 💌 Subscribe to Time Well Spent: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Access the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When you catch a wishie, what do you yearn for? Today’s book club episode might shift your “wish” hereafter to just one powerful offering. Tosha Silver’s grassroots-to-bestselling book Outrageous Openness: Letting the Divine Take the Lead is a cornerstone of my collection, one that changed my life when I first read it nearly a decade ago. The stories from this book were adapted from two years of Tosha’s columns for the San Francisco Examiner, after she spent 25 years giving nearly 30,000 readings to people from all over the world. After OO became a self-published sensation, she got a traditional book deal and republished with Atria a few years later. More about Tosha: For the past 30 years, Tosha Silver has taught people around the world practical ways to align with Inner Love. She’s the author of Outrageous Openness, Change Me Prayers, and It’s Not Your Money. She particularly enjoys finding fresh, funny ways to embrace the Divine, while avoiding conventional jargon and cliches. 🌟 3 Big Ideas Divine Order and Divine Source: Learn to become detached to what the mind wants or thinks it needs; let go of grasping. Tosha writes, “Divine Order says that the perfect solution to any problem is already selected if you allow yourself to be guided; Divine Source says there is a natural Universal Abundance that knows how to meet every need. Harmonizing with this Force of Love—call it the Shakti, God, Goddess, One Mind, whatever you will—is the golden key to everything.” Outrageous Openness and Surrender: Surrender to the flow, “what wants to happen.” There’s also a bigger picture to manifestation and the much maligned Law of Attraction that includes our prarabdha karma, our soul’s course of study. Tosha writes, “Whenever I can, I love to be receptive to how the day wishes to unfold without any planning or interference of the mind. Since this skill grows with practice, I’ll intentionally create situations that involve relaxing and letting my instincts guide me.” Offering: When problems feel bigger or more intractable than your ability to meet them, offer them up to the divine, even the divine higher wisdom within you that’s already attuned to the universe at the deepest levels. Ask to be shown next steps. When experiencing intense writer’s block with OO, Tosha offered it to God: “If You wish this [book] written, I cannot do this on my own. You know my limits. But the perfect route is already selected, so if this is Your Will, fling open the doors. If this is meant to be, please bring the right help.” 📝 Permission: Let go of your attachment to the way things need to be. Release your grip, open your palms in an offering of surrender to something higher than yourself. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Try offering your biggest challenge by saying, “My perfect new path is already selected and will arrive at the right time. I’ll be shown the steps to receive it.” As Tosha writes, “Don’t strong-arm a solution. Call in Divine Order. Allow that the right solution is already chosen and you will be guided to it effortlessly at the right time. Then let go. Follow the steps as they appear. You’ll be shown the way.” 🔗 Resources Mentioned Tosha on the web, Facebook, Twitter Community: Outrageous Openness Forum Article: How "Outrageous Openness" was Born Songs: Fun. “Some Nights” (YouTube), Spotify), and “We Are Young” (Spotify) 📚 Books Mentioned Tosha Silver’s books: Outrageous Openness: Letting the Divine Take the Lead, Change Me Prayers: The Hidden Power of Spiritual Surrender, It’s Not Your Money: How to Live Fully from Divine Abundance Florence Scovel-Shinn’s The Game of Life and How to Play It and The Collection Jenny’s books: Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business, Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One, Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes Free Time: 170: 🌈 “Imagine a World of Abundance” ✨ Pivot: 27: Intuition And Frequency With Penney Peirce Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Liking is the great fog of the mind.”—Todd Herman You’ve heard the adage that people need to know, like, and trust you to want to do business with you. But is that really true? Today’s guest, longtime entrepreneur and peak performance coach Todd Herman, believes liking is not nearly as important as respect, and can even prevent us from making strong decisions. We also cover how to organize your work according to your strengths, creating growth loops for growing the business, and making key adjustments as your business grows. More About Todd: Todd Herman is the creator of the multi-award-winning Leadership & Skills Development Program, 90 Day Year, author of the WSJ bestselling book, The Alter Ego Effect: The Power of Secret Identities to Transform Your Life, and recipient of Inc. 500’s Fastest Growing Companies Award. Todd is also the founder of Upcoach, a platform to help coaches simplify, organize, and automate their coaching. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways Know-Respect-Trust (with a little “l” at the end): Drop the need to be liked as a main priority of how you show up online, replacing it with respect instead. Theme your days: Organize the different kinds of work you do into different daily themes over the course of a week, such as coaching day, writing day, and domino day (catch-up), to optimize your energy and inspiration. The Transformation-Led Growth Loop: Four stages of working with a 1:1 client can be systematized to ensure successful outcomes: Onboarding clients so they start seeing results quickly; building a strong relationship through encouragement and accountability; demonstrating progress the client is making; and retention by **keeping people invested, engaging with new/next products and services. 📝 Permission: Drop the need to make your business look like someone else’s. Be honest with yourself about what you want, and ditch the idea that you need to scale, scale, scale. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Institute theme days: What kinds of similar work can you batch together to do more efficiently and joyfully, and when in your week does it make the most sense to do it? 🔗 Resources Mentioned Todd on the web, IG: @todd_herman, Twitter, LinkedIn Article: Agenda Seeding: How 1960s Black Protests Moved Elites, Public Opinion and Voting by Omar Wasow Program: Peak Athlete (licensing) Software: Upcoach People: Jordan Harbinger, Nassim Taleb 📚 Books Mentioned Nassim Taleb’s books The Road Less Stupid by Keith Cunningham The Mental Game of Baseball: A Guide to Peak Performance by H.A. Dorfman The Referral Engine by John Jantsch Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes Beyond a Million: 066: The Science Behind Peak Performers and the 90-Day Year with Todd Herman Free Time: 006: Going Pro on Podcasting with Jordan Harbinger 140: How to License Your IP (Intellectual Property) 186: Licensing 201 — Q&A (Part 1) on Product Development, Attracting Clients, and Sales Process and 187: Licensing 201 on Pricing + Packaging, Train-the-Trainer, Delivery, and Legal 127: Protect Your Idea Factory, Build a Creative Flywheel, and Go Behind-the-Scenes of Book Publishing with Todd Henry 058: Look for Measurable Loops 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review ❤️ Join our private BFF community for Heart-Based Business owners 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/197 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What’s it like to be at a conference with “fancy” people, when you’re the one feeling like you snuck in a side door as a seat filler? Okay, okay — that’s just my imposter monster talking. In today’s experimental episode, I’m taking you behind-the-scenes of the recent 5-day main TED conference in Vancouver, building on Pivot episode 325: 10+ Conference Networking Strategies with Alisa Cohn. In full-on morning voice with a travel mic, I do a daily check-in about what I was nervous about, spontaneous serendipitous invites, fan-girling my favorite authors and podcasters, falling off the energy cliff, what gave me FOMO and JOMO, and my daily quest for coffee. Always. Find. The. Coffee. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways Identify when you’re at your conversation-sparking best: time of day and format (1:1, small group, big group; format vs. informal gatherings) Trust that less can be more: Fewer, deeper conversations can be just as powerful, if not even longer lasting than more, shorter ones. Resist the pressure to maximize every single element of being at the event. Put yourself in the path of people: Even when you’re not invited to the fancy formal events, place yourself in a central place — like the hotel lobby or a coffee station — to attract random conversation from other people who are also looking to meet someone new, but may be similarly unsure about how to break the ice of conversation. 📝 Permission: Embrace JOMO, knowing you’ll be at your best if you say no to situations that tend to bring out your worst. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Send a follow-up note to reconnect with someone you met in the last year. Bonus: schedule a small group reunion event over brunch or dinner (or Zoom). 🔗 Resources Mentioned Apply to attend the TED Conference in Vancouver Travel: Athletic Greens, TripIt Pro, Peloton, Tonal, my favorite Tumi carry-on bag People: Alexandra Franzen, Alisa Cohn, Jon Levy, Cameron Herold, Gina Bianchini, Amy Cuddy, Dan Harris, Scott Belsky, Krista Tippett, Jacob Weisburg Articles: Jon Levy Influencer Dinners 📚 Books Mentioned From Start-up to Grown Up: Grow Your Leadership to Grow Your Business by Alisa Cohn You're Invited: The Art and Science of Connection, Trust, and Belonging by Jon Levy Presence: Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges by Amy Cuddy The Messy Middle: Finding Your Way Through the Hardest and Most Crucial Part of Any Bold Venture by Scott Belsky 10% Happier Revised Edition: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works--A True Story by Dan Harris Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes The Sensitive CEO Show with Rose Cox: An HSP’s Guide to Podcasting with Jenny Blake Free Time: 043: From Start-Up to Grown-Up (and Coach to Author) with Alisa Cohn 166: Crashing into Quiet Time 🏝️ 126: Creating Time Buffer—7 Strategies for Spacious Scheduling 084: Sprinkling the First 1,000 Serendipity Seeds of a Launch 167: Transform Your Approach to Community-Building with Gina Bianchini Pivot: 325: 10+ Conference Networking Strategies with Alisa Cohn 298: Networking in a New Niche and Becoming Broadway Investors with Dorie Clark and Alisa Cohn 251: Listener Q&A on (Furry) Imposter Monsters 324: Six Golden Shadows of the Imposter Complex with Tanya Geisler 77: 21+ Travel Tips, Tools and Apps — with Jenny Blake 302: Moving Beyond Burnout with Dr. Susan Biali Haas Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Does the world really need this? This is one of the inevitable existential dilemmas of creative work. You have to decide that your work is worth your time and energy, because no one is asking you for it. Today’s guest, Jessica Abel, is someone whose work I have long admired for its richness and depth. In this conversation, we talk about navigating the “Dark Forests” of creativity; go behind-the-business when one of her most successful books, Out on the Wire, was taking off; the causes behind cyclical burnout; three revenue-generating paths that she’s seen work best; and calculating your enough number as a small business owner. More About Jessica: Jessica is an author and indie cartoonist-turned-creative business strategist (founder of Autonomous Creative) who has published a number of comics and prose books, including Growing Gills: How to Find Creative Focus When You're Drowning in Your Daily Life and Out on the Wire: The Storytelling Secrets of the New Masters of Radio. She also hosts the Out on the Wire and The Autonomous Creative podcasts. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways The Dark Forest is a creative phase when you question the value of a project and if you should even continue working on it. Three main ways to fund creative work: Low-cost products and mass marketing, fitting your creative projects around more traditional work, and/or designing a high-end high-ticket business. Calculate your enough number by determining the amount of money you need to meet all of your obligations (including taxes and long-term savings), then determine capacity for the number of clients you can take on or products you can create. Divide the first number by the second to yield the minimum amount you need to charge. 📝 Permission: You do not have to make your living from your creative work. Money doesn’t have to enter the picture at all for you to be the real thing, to make work that has an impact, that expresses something you need to express. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Do the math on what would help you and your business thrive. If you haven’t already, check out the earlier conversation, 175: Give Yourself a Raise with Erin Haag. 🔗 Resources Mentioned Jessica on the web, IG: @autonomouscreative, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn Articles: Hustle Culture is Really a Scam—On Cyclical Burnout, Brad Troemel’s Athletic Aesthetics, How do you know if it’s time to quit? On the Dark Forest (with Kazu Kibuishi’s tweet we referenced) Videos: THE GAP — Ira Glass on Taste vs. Talent, The New Masters of Storytelling, SPX Spotlight on Jessica Abel and NPR Brad Troemel on the MFA pyramid scheme, Jessica at Creative Mornings on Flow Tools: YNAB, Jessica’s calculator, ****When do I earn out? (Jane Friedman's calculator for traditional book deals) 📚 Books Mentioned Out on the Wire: The Storytelling Secrets of the New Masters of Radio Growing Gills: How to Find Creative Focus When You're Drowning in Your Daily Life Trish Trash: Rollergirl of Mars Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes Jessica’s podcasts: The Autonomous Creative, Out on the Wire Also Mentioned: This American Life, Radiolab, Planet Money Free Time: 181: Be Irreplaceable with My Creative Coach Jay Acunzo 182:🏚️The Challenges of Renovating a (Business) House while Living in It 175: Give Yourself a Raise with Erin Haag 162: Should You Self-Publish? (Part One) 164: Let’s Talk Royalties re: Publishing Options (Part Two) 174: What Book Marketing has to do with Glass Blowing: Reflecting on Free Time’s 1-Year Bookiversary 🥂 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode and share it with a friend: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/195 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today I'm sharing ten more of my favorite recent GPT4 prompts and experiments for creative business owners. This episode originally aired as a bonus episode for the private BFF community, as a follow-up to a case study on how ChatGPT has helped me draft a few solo podcast episodes. Want more where this came from? Join us in the private BFF community and/or Free Time Operations Dashboard with promo code PODCAST. 🏝️ I’m also opening up ten Voxer coaching spots to work with me 1:1. Enrollment closes when the 10 spots are filled or by EOD June 4, whichever comes first. Learn more and sign-up » (Apply promo code PODCAST at check-out) 💬 As always, I'd love if we could crowd-source on this one! What are the most interesting GPT prompts that you've tried? Join BFF so you can share with us in the comments! 🎧 Or if you're listening on Spotify, answer the question prompt at the bottom of this episode's page :) 🔗 Resources Mentioned Video: OpenAI cofounder Greg Brockman’s 2023 TED talk, The inside story of ChatGPT's astonishing potential TV Series: Big Door Prize (Apple TV+) and Trailer (YouTube) Tools: OpenAI’s ChatGPT (+ iOS app), Midjourney, There’s an AI for that, Zapier, Descript, TextExpander Mighty Networks: AI Community Generator and Community Design Accelerator (course) Download the Circle mobile app if you haven't already (for jumping into group discussions more easily) 📰Articles Descript (audio and video editor): How to use ChatGPT to improve your creative process NYT: 35 ways people are using AI and NYT Magazine cover image mentioned Zapier: The best AI productivity tools in 2023 and How to use OpenAI's GPT4 to write emails Ann Handley: What does AI Mean for Writers? I Have Thoughts. Alex Berenson: Potential Perils of AI 🎧 Related Episodes Pivot: 321: ChatGPT as Universal Intern and Permission Not to Be a Billionaire with Kevin Kelly March BFF Bonus: Case Study—How ChatGPT Helped Me Write My Latest Solo Episode (join here with promo code PODCAST) Free Time: 045: Behind the Free Time Brand with Adam Chaloeicheep 167: Transform Your Approach to Community-Building with Gina Bianchini 163: Leveraging Idea Kernels to Create Compelling Content with Khe Hy 124: JB’s 5 C’s System for Content Curation and Production 096: Book Sales Stats—One Month Post-Launch 🎉 190: 🐍 How the Cobra Effect Creates Perverse Incentives and Metrics Tyranny 💻 Prompts I share in the episode A la Big Door Prize: What's {your name + descriptors} life purpose? Can also provide a list of interests and ask it to suggest potential revenue streams. Brand Guidelines: Create a voice style guide, including brand emoji Differentiators: What makes {your name + descriptors} unique? Based on Amazon and/or podcast reviews. Sales documents: Make the case for why your IP has a competitive moat around it. Email replies: Draft 3 warm, friendly potential responses to a tricky email, 3-5 sentences each in U.S. English. Content planning: Quotes, stats, cite research studies, create case studies for that topic x Your specific audience Content posting: Show notes and social shares, headline options; guest share email. Negotiation Communications: Draft response with your outcome/s in mind. Midjourney (image generation): Visioning for you or clients, i.e. ideal home. Create a mascot for your business. Upload a CSV → analyze the data: Can you make some exploratory graphs? P&L analysis? Word Cloud? Etc. Non-work related: Vet or doctor's test results, menu planning, and so much more! ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Try just one of the ideas above! 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review ❤️ Join our BFF community for Heart-Based Business owners 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The average American worker gets 11 days of paid vacation per year. Among those with unlimited paid time off (PTO), the average person takes 19 days off per year, yet 48% of Americans say they still check their work email while away. What about business owners? Although it seems like we have more free time, the reality is that life as a business owner can be a 24/7 unceasing, all-consuming task. Even if you’re not at the computer, your passing thoughts probably drift toward what you need to do, projects to tackle, revenue gaps to make up for. Today’s guest, DJ DiDonna, is an advocate for taking more abundant time off—ideally measured in months, not days or weeks. By DJ’s definition, sabbaticals should go beyond recovering from burnout; instead offering extended time to learn more about yourself in unstructured, even “unproductive” ways. More About DJ: DJ DiDonna is a Senior Lecturer in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit at Harvard Business School, where he teaches the required first-year course: The Entrepreneurial Manager. In 2019, he founded The Sabbatical Project to define, explore, and research sabbaticals. He is currently working on a book based on this research, called Time Off Well Spent: A Sabbatical Manifesto. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways DJ defines a sabbatical as: Measured in months not days or weeks; taken intentionally; no specific outcome in mind (i.e. not working or trying to achieve anything); where you are exploring and learning something new about yourself. Three archetypes of sabbatical-takers: Explorer, Seeker, and Achiever. You might toggle between all three during your time off, switching modes from working holiday (passion project) to free dives (exploring the world), to more personal quests (existential discovery). Sabbaticals ideally start slow, with extended time to heal: sleeping in, eating healthier, and reconnecting with family or friends. When sabbaticals serendipitously unfold from recovery to exploration to putting that learning into practice, they can “lead you to a really radical new self.” 📝 Permission: Take four to six months off, even if it’s two years from now to give you enough time to prepare. Entrepreneurs often grasp their role in their companies too tightly, and inadvertently create a business that will fail without them. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Look for the area of your business that would fail without you. What small step could you take today to bolster that area for the future? 🔗 Resources Mentioned DJ on the web, Twitter, LinkedIn, The Sabbatical Project Quiz: What’s your sabbatical style? Videos: TEDxEVHS—DJ’s Sabbaticals: Time [off] well spent, TED—Stefan Sagmeister’s The Power of Time Off, How Bug Soup Becomes a Butterfly, David Foster Wallace This is Water Commencement Speech. Course: Sabbatical Basecamp 📚 Books Mentioned Time Off Well Spent: A Sabbatical Manifesto (Coming soon!) by DJ DiDonna Clockwork, Revised and Expanded: Design Your Business to Run Itself by Mike Michalowicz Reboot: Leadership and the Art of Growing Up by Jerry Colonna The 4-Hour Work Week: Escape the 9-5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich by Tim Ferris Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One 🎧 Related Episodes SPARKED: How to Take a Life-Changing Sabbatical with DJ DiDonna and How I Took a Month Off to Write & Make Art (and what REALLY happened) Good Life Project: Jenny Blake | How to Create More Free Time The Tim Ferris Show: How to Reboot Yourself with Jerry Colonna Free Time: 166: Crashing into Quiet Time, 146: New? Help Us Welcome the Next You (A Message for Your New Team Members), 044: Are You High Net Freedom? Pivot: 124: Penney & Jenny Show — Embracing Liminal Space (the In-Between), 45: Happy Launch Day!! Pivot for the Podcast: James Altucher Interviews Jenny 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode and share it with a friend: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/193 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today I'm sharing five creative ways to better organize your phone contacts. I hope it’s helpful and time-saving toward a very important end: feeling less overwhelmed by relationships! 🏝️ Friendly Reminder: I’m opening up ten Voxer coaching spots to work with me 1:1 (asynchronously). I’d love to help you take a step back from the day-to-day operations of your business and set even more of your time free this summer! Enrollment closes when the 10 spots are filled or by EOD June 4, whichever comes first. Learn more and enroll » (Apply promo code PODCAST at check-out) 🌟 5 Strategies for Better Organizing Your Contacts Make notes about each person when you chat with them in their contact card within your phone: For example, ****spouse’s name, kids’ names, pets names, important milestones). Identify your friendship circles and a cadence for each: 5, 15, 50, 150, 151+ Pin your favorites in texts and contacts. Create a go-to moniker for your MIPs such as Keith Ferrazzi’s “Lifeline,” saving it as their middle name so you can search when you need a trusted friend to call. Create collection buckets for cities, even if you don’t know their full address. You could even keep it mainly to people you’d want to see when you visit. If you want to separate these out, indicate their city as the company name or in notes. Ie: Visit Austin or Austin Travel Add confirmation text phone numbers to your contacts with an emoji identifier, Either in first name field or by customizing the image. For example, ie 💊 Capsule Pharmacy, 📦Shipping Updates, 🐾 Vet, 👩🏻‍⚕️ Doctor, etc. This way they immediately jump out and stand apart from spam, and might even spark a little joy when you see them :) Here’s an example of Jenny’s » Bonus: Keep a Notes note with your neighbors names and a 1-2 word description to jog your memory :) 📝 Permission: Not to create a full-on CRM or pay for expensive overly complicated software. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Spruce up your ability to keep in touch with people who are important to you by implementing just one of the ideas above. 🔗 Resources Mentioned Get Jenny’s KIT template (CRM) and so many more in the done-for-you Free Time Operations Dashboard (apply promo code PODCAST for 10% off) Submit your favorite Time-Saving System for fellow Free Timers at http://itsfreetime.com/ask Articles: Why You Need the “Lifeline Relationships” (PDF), 5/25/150: The Secret of the Best Networker I Ever Met by Sean Johnson (via RadReads.co) Video: BNET—Who’s Got Your Back? Book Brief Apps: Notion, Google/Gmail Contacts, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Relatable Books: Friends by Robin Dunbar and Who’s Got Your Back? by Keith Ferrazzi 🎧 Related Episodes 125: How to Create Your Own CRM with Alex Sherwood 083: Breaking through Buyer’s Remorse—Never Lose a Customer Again with Joey Coleman 120: Transform Your To-Do List into a Results List — Leanne’s Favorite Time-Saving System 🌟 Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review ❤️ Join our BFF community for Heart-Based Business owners 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit » 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Small hinges move big doors.” That one thought helped Karen Allen pick herself up from the depths of grief after losing her husband in a tragic, senseless act of violence nearly a decade ago. Shortly afterward, she lost her house, her car, and then one year later — her job. Getting fired followed just a few months after an intuitive hit that corporate wasn’t the best fit for her any longer was a blessing in disguise that precipitated the founding of her now-thriving business, one where she puts her son front-and-center as her North star. In this conversation, Karen shares how she navigated overwhelming grief while parenting, structuring her business for free time as a single parent, and how her business has evolved as she continues gaining clarity about who she wants to be and how she wants to serve. More About Karen: Karen is a super-mom, healthy eater, and keynote speaker. After experiencing the tragedy of losing her husband, she picked herself up and set out to thrive for her son’s sake. She is the founder of the 100% Human movement, helping others develop a mindset of joy and abundance through her community. She also hosts the In the Details podcast. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways Gratitude helps balance out the negativity in our brain: Return to even the most simple acknowledgments, like having a soft pillow to lay down on at night. “My intuition has been sharpened through faith.” There are beautiful parallels between the two; you won’t always see things working at first. The universe rewards a courageous heart: look out for #GodHugs encouraging you to stay rooted in your values and what you know intuitively know to be true. 📝 Permission: Do what your soul is calling you to do, and create it in a way that supports you. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Identify your triad (or duo or quad) of life/work categories you want to be entirely present for; for example, time with family, for your business, for your community. Make sure each have their own dedicated (and inviolable!) space in your schedule. 📚 Books Mentioned Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman Deep Work by Cal Newport Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🔗 Resources Mentioned Karen on the web, IG: @karen.m.allen, LinkedIn, TikTok Video: Use Your Tragedy to Change the World Sarah K. Peck’s Startup Parent podcast and community 🎧 Related Episodes Karen’s podcast, In the Details: Introducing In the Details (Karen’s Story) Pivot: 29: Deep Work: Ditch Cognitive Junk Food with Cal Newport, 87: Penney Interviews Jenny—We Are Souls, 314: Doing Less, Focusing More After Taking a Two-Month Leave with Adrian Klaphaak Free Time: 171: Discovering Your Divine Assignment with Melissa Hughes (while Building with Grace and Ease), 159: Time Blocking Together with Jess & Dave Radparvar, 027: Time Management for Mortals with Oliver Burkeman, 111: Building a Second Brain with Tiago Forte, and 131: Scaling Joy While Streamlining Business Overhead and Navigating ADHD with Kaneisha Grayson 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review ❤️ Join our BFF community for access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and share it with a friend: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/191 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hi friends! A quick in-beteween-isode to let you know about a special opportunity to work with me 1:1 :) Back by popular demand, I'm opening doors again for my 1:1 Voxer coaching pop-up. Summer is the perfect time to take a step back from your business and set even more time free through smarter systems—while freeing yourself from screens and coordinating extra calendar entries. We piloted this program last year with members from my private BFF community, and it was a big hit! It was so nice to connect asynchronously to help you focus on the big picture and make meaningful progress on the projects that matter most.  ✅ How it works: There are 10 spots available, and enrollment closes on June 4 (or whichever comes first) We kick-off our 12 weeks of coaching on June 5. You'll submit one voice memo between Monday through Thursday each week with your biggest question (that part of the process alone helps create tremendous clarity!), then I respond by Friday of each week with detailed ideas, guidance, specific templates, and resources that will help you save time and money while rapidly accelerating progress in any area. You'll also get complimentary access to the private BFF community if you join, and lock-in your 1:1 Voxer Coaching rate for life (I do tend to raise the rates with each subsequent launch). Learn more about 1:1 Voxer coaching and enroll here » *Make sure to apply promo code PODCAST at check-out! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Time- and money-based targets don’t always serve the purpose we intend. In fact, sometimes, they actively work against us. Today we’re spelunking into a few related principles like Goodhart’s Law, The Cobra Effect, and why vanity metrics are often no more than a hungry ghost lurking in the shadows of your business. I couldn’t resist sprinkling pop culture clips throughout to illustrate these concepts, so I hope you enjoy the ride :) 🌟 3 Key Takeaways: Be mindful when implementing specific numerical targets. Consider how they may lead to behavior that doesn't align with your overall goals and values, sometimes even transforming into perverse incentives that beget negative actions. Clarify your values. Make it clear to your team what values you prioritize (and ethical behavior more broadly) over short-term gains or “shoulds” based on what everyone else is doing. Be open to feedback and willing to adjust your strategies. Goodhart's Law says that "When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure," ****so take the pressure off by zooming out from overly focusing on any one measure of success to paint a bigger, more holistic picture. Define more creative metrics that indicate you’re living in alignment with your values, and resonating with your community, such as number of enthusiastic email replies per newsletter sent. 📝 Permission: Stop chasing the hungry ghost of vanity metrics in your business. Get clear on your more meaningful metrics and core values, and aim for a holistic picture of those instead. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: To more clearly see the tradeoffs you are willing to make, write your own “even over” statements, like the originators of the Manifesto for Agile Software Development have inspired many businesses to do. As in: “We value {important quality A} even over {important quality B}.” 🔗 Resources Mentioned Articles: Manifesto for Agile Software Development, The Great Hanoi Rat Massacre of 1902 Did Not Go as Planned, The Cobra Effect: No Loophole Goes Unexploited TV Shows: Killing It — episode 4 “Carlos” (Peacock), Byron Baes, Black Mirror—Nosedive Music Video: Dolly Parton’s classic, 9 to 5 Community: Jay Acunzo’s Creator Kitchen and Unthinkable podcast Software: Referral Candy, HelpScout Heuristics: Goodhart’s Law, The Cobra Effect 📘Books Mentioned Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One The Work Revolution: Freedom and Excellence for All It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at Work Rework The 4-Hour Work Week: Escape the 9-5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich 🎧Related Episodes 097: How to Find Your Perfect Problem with Jim McKelvey, author of The Innovation Stack (Part One) and 099: (Part Two) 174: What Book Marketing has to do with Glass Blowing: Reflecting on Free Time’s 1-Year Bookiversary 🥂 169: Running a Goal-Free Business with Stephen Shapiro 181: Be Irreplaceable with My Creative Coach Jay Acunzo 189: 💡Jay Acunzo’s IP Development OS — Courtesy of Creator Kitchen 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟 Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️ Join Jenny’s private BFF community for Heart-Based Business owners 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 📝 Check out full show notes and share this episode with a friend: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/190 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In episode 181: Be Irreplaceable, you heard from my creative coach, Jay Acunzo about how to prioritize resonanceover reach. I’ve been working with Jay for about six months now, and it has transformed the way I think about creating content. One of the videos he shared with us in his new community, Creator Kitchen, is a walkthrough of his Intellectual Property (IP) Development OS: how he collects ideas, chooses which one/s to pursue, and decides which channel they belong in. I loved it so much — and I know you will too — that I asked for special permission to share it here on the pod. Learn more at creatorkitchen.com and apply promo code FRIENDOFAFRIEND for $100 off your membership for life. 🎧 If you're listening on Spotify—or just want to pop over there to share your biggest insight—answer the question prompt at the bottom of this episode's page :) 💡 View the diagram of Jay Acunzo’s IP Development OS here » 💻 Jay’s IP Development Trello board has the following columns: Ideas, Chef’s Table (Community), Playing Favorites (Newsletter), Unthinkable (Podcast), Strongest Ideas (categorized as either Problems, Change, or Solution/s), Strongest Stories (Lead or Supporting), and Frameworks + Models (Diagrams) More About Jay: Jay Acunzo is one of the world’s most sought-after business storytellers and brand consultants. He’s hosts the award-winning podcast, Unthinkable, and has authored multiple books on creativity, including Break the Wheel: Question Best Practices, Hone Your Intuition, and Do Your Best Work. He helps creators learn to increase the power of their creative work, not just the volume, through his membership platform, the Creator Kitchen. Jay’s grandest aspiration-slash-delusion is to be the Anthony Bourdain of workplace storytelling. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways Stage 1 — Focusing — What is your mission? Seeing the world through a focused lens, through a mission, a message, one big idea that you’re exploring. Stage 2 — Feeling — Interplay between frustration and curiosity: You're saying something is under-explored, something is broken. What is the status quo that you would like to change, to improve, to lead people away from? Curiosity is when you turn the frustration into something productive instead of destructive: Why is it this way? How did we get here? Stage 3 — Thinking — Looking for ideas that feel exciting: What feels easy to tackle today? “If you're trying to knock over a brick wall, it's a lot easier rather than brute force your way forward to just start pressing bricks and see which one of 'em budges.” ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Map out your own IP Development process. What does the life of a new frustration, question, or insight look like? How would it move across a Kanban-style content production board? 🔗 Resources Mentioned Jay on the web, IG: @jacunzo, Twitter, LinkedIn, Medium Podcast: Unthinkable Book: Break the Wheel: Question Best Practices, Hone Your Intuition, and Do Your Best Work  Community: The Creator Kitchen (use promo code FRIENDOFAFRIEND  for $100 off your membership for life) People: Andrew Davis, Joshua Levy of Holloway Tools: Trello, Notion 🎧 Related Episodes Unthinkable: Leaving Expertville, Going Bananas, Fine, I’ll Talk About AI; Welcome to the Jumble 2 Pages with MBS: Making What Matters Most: Jay Acunzo [reads] ‘Kitchen Confidential’ Pivot: Feeling Impostery? Become a Qualified Curator Instead Free Time: 182: The Challenges of Renovating a (Business) House While Living In It 181: Be Irreplaceable with My Creative Coach Jay Acunzo 127: Protect Your Idea Factory and Build a Creative Flywheel with Todd Henry 034: Organizing Research and Ideas 036: Shaping Big Ideas 038: Tracking Progress Toward Finishing a Book (or Big Idea) 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When today’s guest, Kelli Thompson, was overwhelmed by opportunity—a level of success she had been dreaming of and working diligently toward—she knew she needed a roadmap to better manage her time and energy, stat. In this conversation, we unpack how she created an Energy Capacity Plan (a woman after my own spreadsheet-loving heart!), how to create yours, why it doesn’t need to be a detailed calendar grid sliced into specific 15-minute increments, and how that plan can inform your pricing. In the second half, we also talk about masterminds — when to join, what to watch out for, and how to determine which one/s are right for you. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out our conversation for the Pivot podcast on 315: Intuition-Building, Spotting Pedestal Syndrome, and Closing the Confidence Gap. More About Kelli: Kelli Thompson is a women’s leadership coach and speaker who helps women advance to the rooms where decisions are made. She has coached and trained hundreds of women to trust themselves, lead with more confidence, and create a career they love. She is the founder of the Clarity & Confidence Women's Leadership Program, and a Stevie Award winner for Women in Business—Coach of the Year. She is the author of Closing The Confidence Gap: Boost Your Peace, Your Potential & Your Paycheck, which was selected as a must-read by The Next Big Idea Club. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways Kelli maps her month by giving each week an energy theme/allocation: High intensity (week 1), moderate intensity (weeks 2 and 3), and recovery (week 4). “Success loves clarity”: When considering opportunities, before jumping to yes, ask if it aligns with your mission and business values. Think of energy and entrepreneurship as levers you can pull: Sometimes, you need to push up or pull down when things are happening with your health, with your family, and/or within your business. 📝 Permission: Drop anything that drains your energy! ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Do an energy audit, and perhaps even create your energy capacity plan mapping out what each week looks like at a high level (day by day, rather than hour by hour) and the time-value of different types of activities. 🔗 Resources Mentioned Kelli on the web and social: @kelliraethompson (IG), Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook Kelli’s page of free resources (includes her Energy Capacity Plan template) Article: Mitch Joel’s Who is Your Mastermind? Apps for asynchronous communication Marco Polo, Voxer, Telegram (iOS, Android) People: Mark Manson Jenny’s private BFF Community 📚 Books Mentioned Closing The Confidence Gap: Boost Your Peace, Your Potential & Your Paycheck by Kelli Thompson The Wisdom of the Enneagram: The Complete Guide to Psychological and Spiritual Growth for the Nine Personality Types Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes Pivot: 315: Intuition-Building, Spotting Pedestal Syndrome, and Closing the Confidence Gap Free Time: 046: Time Margin—Are You Drowning, Treading Water, or Gliding? 175: Give Yourself a Raise with Erin Haag 141: Process, Permission Slips, and Business Pivots with Tara McMullin 143: Exploring Time, Money, and Energy Capacity with Tara McMullin and Charlie Gilkey (Replay) 078: Creating Transformational Mastermind Groups 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review ❤️ Join our private BFF community 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode and share it with a friend: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/188 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s episode is the second half of an in-depth Licensing Q&A prompted by BFF Al Dea, host of the MBA Insider podcast. If you haven’t already, listen first to 140: How to Licensing Your IP (Intellectual Property), followed by 186: Licensing 201 — Q&A (Part One) on Product Development, Attracting Clients, and Sales Process. Al submitted a series of wonderful questions that span five categories; in this episode I’ll be addressing the latter three: selling and packaging, delivery (including Train-the-Trainer), and legal considerations. A caveat, as always, when it comes to this notoriously opaque arena: this is not the way, it’s just what I’ve learned along the way in nearly a decade of setting my mind to licensing as a revenue stream. 📣 Join us in our private BFF community for a related workshop this week! We’ll be diving deeper into Certification and Licensing on Thursday, May 11 at 1pm ET. Even if you can’t make it live and/or if you’re listening after that date, you’ll get instant access to the entire private podcast feed with years of special content archives.  In this special BFF bonus workshop, my longtime friendtor Pamela Slim—who taught me the early ins-and-outs of licensing—will walk us through: how to know if/when adding a certification or corporate licensing program to your business makes sense, the first steps involved in creating them, ways you can work with her team on build-out, and anything you can think to ask during Q&A! You can also hear Jenny on Pam's Widest Net podcast in episode 005: From Friction to Flow and Finding Joy in Systems. ❤️ Learn more and join us at http://itsfreetime.com/bff (apply promo code PODCAST) 📝 Permission: Start tiny. Plant a few little conversational seeds here and there with current and prospective training clients, and see what starts to blossom. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Create a page on your website that shows the path from one-off workshops or keynotes to full-on licensing and Train-the-Trainer, even if you haven’t fully built out your programs yet. And join us in BFF to learn (and develop your materials) alongside fellow Heart-Based Business owners who are also on the certification and licensing journey! 📘Books Mentioned Built to Sell: Creating a Business that Can Thrive Without You by John Warrillow Inked: The Ultimate Guide to Powerful Closing and Sales Negotiation Tactics by Jeb Blount Value-Based Fees, Million Dollar Consulting Proposals and Million Dollar Consulting by Alan Weiss The New and Complete Business of Licensing by Craig Battersby One Simple Idea for Startups and Entrepreneurs by Stephen Key Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One 🔗 Resources Mentioned Community: BFF (apply promo code PODCAST) Article: NYT—‘Air’ and the Argument for Letting the Talent Share in the Profits Movie: Air (Trailer) Attorney: Francine Love at Love Law Firm 📓 Examples of Certification and Licensing Programs Pivot Programs: Rollout Options, Pivot Workbook, Companies (Overview), Pivot in the Classroom, and Pivot Programs Overview (Made in Canva) Jenny’s LinkedIn Learning Courses: Figuring Out Your Next Move, Holding 1:1 Career Conversations With Your Team, Managing Introverts, Coaching New Hires, Coaching New Managers Assessment Certifications: Sparketype, MBTI, Kolby, #lovework, True Colors, Gallup Strengths The Energy Project: Licensing tracks—LeaderFuel and PeopleFuel Others Mentioned: Box of Crayons and MBS.works, Getting Things Done Practitioner Certification, Duct Tape Marketing Certification, Profit First Professionals Certification 🌟 Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review » 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“A shoe is just a shoe until my son steps into it.” —Deloris Jordan When negotiating Michael Jordan's famous shoe deal with Nike, his mom Deloris “made an additional demand: Her son must receive not only a $250,000 fee, but also a cut from every sneaker sold,” making her case with that mic drop moment above (as retold in the movie Air via The New York Times article ‘Air’ and the Argument for Letting the Talent Share in the Profits). That, my friends, is the power of licensing :) Today’s episode is the first of a two-parter — an in-depth addition to 140: How to License Your IP (Intellectual Property), thanks to a set of wonderfully thorough follow-up questions from BFF member Al Dea. Al is the founder of MBASchooled.com, author of MBA Insider, and host of the MBA Insider podcast. He asked a series of questions across five categories, and in this episode I’ll be addressing the first two: product development and client attraction strategies. A caveat as always, when it comes to this notoriously opaque arena: what I’m sharing is not the way, it’s just what I’ve learned along the way in nearly a decade of building out licensing as a revenue stream. Check out episode 140 if you haven't yet, paired with 135: How to Rapidly Prototype a Course, 016: IP Licensing with Lee LeFever, 185: How Licensing Helps Serve the Queen Bee Role with Mike Michalowicz, and 045: Behind the Free Time Brand with Adam Chaloeicheep. 📆 Join us in the private BFF community for a related workshop coming up! We’ll be diving deeper into Certification and Licensing on Thursday, May 11 at 1pm ET. Even if you can’t make it live and/or if you’re listening after May 11, you’ll get instant access to the entire private podcast feed with years of special content archives. In this special BFF bonus workshop, my longtime friendtor Pamela Slim—who taught me the early ins-and-outs of licensing—will walk us through: how to know if/when adding a certification or corporate licensing program to your business makes sense, the first steps involved in creating them, ways you can work with her team on build-out, and anything you can think to ask during Q&A! You can also hear Jenny on Pam's Widest Net podcast in episode 005: From Friction to Flow and Finding Joy in Systems. ❤️ Learn more and join us at http://itsfreetime.com/bff (apply promo code PODCAST) 📝 Permission: To be overwhelmed. Even if you need to listen to this three times, even if you're still scratching your head, it will start to make more sense, slowly over time. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Join us in BFF to learn more and develop your materials alongside fellow Heart-Based Business owners! 📘Books Mentioned Built to Sell: Creating a Business that Can Thrive Without You by John Warrillow Inked: The Ultimate Guide to Powerful Closing and Sales Negotiation Tactics by Jeb Blount Value-Based Fees, Million Dollar Consulting Proposals and Million Dollar Consulting by Alan Weiss Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One 🔗 Resources Mentioned Community: BFF (apply promo code PODCAST) Article: NYT—‘Air’ and the Argument for Letting the Talent Share in the Profits Movie: Air (Trailer) Attorney: Francine Love at Love Law Firm 📓 Examples of Certification and Licensing Programs Pivot Programs: Rollout Options, Pivot Workbook, Companies (Overview), Pivot in the Classroom, and Pivot Programs Overview (Made in Canva) Jenny’s LinkedIn Learning Courses: Figuring Out Your Next Move, Holding 1:1 Career Conversations With Your Team, Managing Introverts, Coaching New Hires, Coaching New Managers Assessment Certifications: Sparketype, MBTI, Kolby, #lovework, True Colors, Gallup Strengths The Energy Project: Licensing tracks—LeaderFuel and PeopleFuel Others Mentioned: Box of Crayons and MBS.works, Getting Things Done Practitioner Certification, Duct Tape Marketing Certification, Profit First Professionals Certification Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I'm excited to bring you an episode from the Pivot podcast vault today—this is a conversation with a longtime friendtor, Mike Michalowicz, that stuck in my mind long after we recorded on February 5, 2020. The episode launched on March 20, 2020, and the last group gathering I attended was Mike's in-person Fix This Next workshop at his office in New Jersey on Friday, March 13. Boy was the world about to get weird! Mike explains how to identify and serve the Queen Bee Role in your business, the cliffhanger phrase that freed up even more of his time to write and speak, his unique approach to IP licensing, “guinea pigging” new book ideas, how to stop keeping up with the EntrepreJoneses, and the secret to how he has been so prolific in publishing 8+ books in the last 15 years. More About Mike Michalowicz: Mike is the creator of Profit First, which is used by hundreds of thousands of companies across the globe to drive profit. Today, Mike leads two new multi-million-dollar ventures as he tests his latest business research for his books. He is a former small business columnist for The Wall Street Journal and a business makeover specialist on MSNBC. Mike is a popular main-stage keynote speaker on innovative entrepreneurial topics; and is the author of Get Different, Fix This Next, Clockwork, Profit First, Surge, The Pumpkin Plan, and The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways Identify the Queen Bee Role (QBR): The core function in your business that is the biggest determinant of your company’s health and success—it’s “thrive factor”—where the uniqueness of your offering meets the best talents of you and/or your staff. “When this function is at full throttle, the business thrives, and when it is slowed or stopped, the entire business suffers.” There is an order you should follow when solving problems in your business, following what Mike calls the Business Hierarchy of Needs (sometimes oscillating between stages). You must address sales and cash flow first, followed by profit, order, impact, and finally legacy. If you try to optimize or improve things outside of this order, you may be missing the biggest problems hindering your progress. Try Mike’s “guinea pigging” approach for new IP: Test ideas through workshops for your target audience before developing them further into a book, course, or broader program. You can make these free or low cost to learn as much as possible from your users. 📝 Permission: Stop trying to keep up with the EntrepreJoneses! ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Identify or clarify the Queen Bee Role in your business as it relates to your personal purpose as the owner. For example, the QBR in Mike’s business is thought leadership, and his personal mission is “eradicating entrepreneurial poverty” through his books and speaking (which also help serve the company’s QBR). 🔗 Resources Mentioned Mike on the web: Mike Michalowicz, Twitter: @MikeMichalowicz, IG: @mikemichalowicz Run Like Clockwork business and programs Podcast: AJ Harper – Write a Book that Changes Lives (Including Your Own) 📚 Books Mentioned All books written by Mike Michalowicz, including Fix This Next and Clockwork (Revised and Expanded Edition) Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Write a Must-Read: Craft a Book That Changes Lives — Including Your Own by AJ Harper Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One 🎧 Related Episodes 032: Courageous Marketing With Mike Michalowicz 103: How to Land a Literary Agent and Publisher with David Moldawer (Part One) 105: “Don’t write the wrong book!” with David Moldawer (Part Two) 140: How to License Your IP (Intellectual Property) ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode and share it with a friend: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/185 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It was a hot summer day, and I’m grumbling while dragging a rolling carry-on suitcase full of books to sign and send to the post office, starting to build resentment at how much time it was taking. After two hours of signing, writing notes, punching endless kiosk buttons, I start tsk taking myself, saying I should never do this myself again (I’m the owner of the business, after all! This is admin I should surely be delegating out!). But alas, I ended up with one extra copy, curious at who I missed or how I miscalculated. And then . . . right as I was walking out, someone walked through the door that made my heart leap out of my chest—and making the entire errand worth far more than the time-price of admission. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways: Doing things by the book doesn’t always leave room for the messy magic of serendipity. If we’re overly rigid about rules and business best practices, we miss the good stuff. Tightropes in your business—such as too-tight deadlines, an over-booked calendar, or working in an overly rigid way—are precarious, in that a single misstep can throw you off. Consider parallel systems as back-up: intentionally create redundancy, back-up options, and schedule flexibility to yield greater stability. As Julia Cameron writes: “Perfectionism is not a quest for the best. It is a pursuit of the worst in ourselves, the part that tells us that nothing we do will ever be good enough." 📝 Permission: Break the rules. Don’t always do things by the Big Ol’ Book of Business Best Practices. Give yourself permission to read or run an errand in the middle of the day (gasp!), maybe even doing a “$10 task” that relaxes your mind or opens you up to a magical moment of delight or serendipity. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Identify an area of the business that’s on a tightrope—only one person, one client, one stream of income—and therefore vulnerable to disruption. Look for way/s you can build redundancy and balance by implementing a new process, a backup person, and/or any other shift that generates greater stability. 📘Books Mentioned Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock by Jenny Odell Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🔗 Resources Mentioned Article: The Pyramid Pose | Intense Side Stretch pose Service: TaskRabbit Song: You Can’t Rush Your Healing by Trevor Hall (YouTube, Spotify) People: Kristin McGee on the web and Instagram; Trevor Hall on the web, Instagram, Spotify Podcast: Hustle and Grace with Hilary Sutton Peloton Yoga Class: 20-Minute Focus Flow: Shoulders with Kristin McGee Community: BFF (apply promo code PODCAST) 🎧Related Episodes 176: 🍪What’s the Chocolate Chip Banana Bread in Your Business?🍌 178: 📕Book Club — 3 Big Ideas from SAVING TIME by Jenny Odell 084: Sprinkling the First 1,000 Serendipity Seeds of a Launch 092: Train the System, Then the Person 069: Epic Evergreen Email Sequences with Allan Dib 129: The $10K Work Framework with Khe Hy 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟 Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review » ❤️ Join Jenny’s private BFF community for access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/184 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“You have to live spherically—in many directions. Never lose your childish enthusiasm—and things will come your way.” —Federico Fellini This week’s delightful guest, Madeleine Dore, reminded me of this wonderful quote while reading her book, one that I know you will love as much as I did: I Didn’t Do The Thing Today: Letting Go of Productivity Guilt. We talk about widening the measure and meaning of a day beyond our to-do lists, discovering the call of a new topic, shaping a big idea “blob of clay,” how she collects all the great quotes and stories for her book, why she sees herself as more of a guinea pig than an expert (and freelancer valuing independence even more than business owner), and how she decides when to sunset a project, rather than “maintaining something at all costs.” More About Madeleine: Madeleine Dore is a writer and interviewer exploring how we can broaden the definition of a day well spent. As a labor of love, Madeleine spent over five years asking creative thinkers how they navigate their days on her popular blog Extraordinary Routines and podcast Routines & Ruts. The lessons culminated in her first book, I Didn’t Do The Thing Today: Letting Go of Productivity Guilt. Madeleine continues to write, speak and ask questions—but mostly tries to hold things lightly. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways We all go through creative phases of being a sponge vs. squeezing it: the former is a time to absorb the world and take in inspiration, even if it might look from the outside like we’re not doing anything. When caught in a deflating comparison spiral: Get up close, use it as a guide, return to what you want to do, and do it! Identify what is most important to you, and change the questions you ask as a result. For example, Madeleine’s decision to favor more time over more money means when considering a new project or direction, asking not “How much will this earn?” but “How much [free] time will this enable?” 📝 Permission: Stop measuring the day by how productive you were. Be curious and expansive when reviewing your day, including your internal accomplishments, moments of connection, or even moments of idleness. Instead of trying to optimize your day only through the lens of productivity, occupy and embrace your day for what it wants to be. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Identify one area of your business or creative projects that may be languishing. What would happen if you gave yourself permission to close it out completely to create space for what’s next? 🔗 Resources Mentioned Madeleine on the web, Instagram: @madeline_dore, Facebook Substack: On Things Madeleine’s podcast: Routines & Ruts 📚 Books Mentioned Madeleine’s book: I Didn’t Do The Thing Today: Letting Go of Productivity Guilt Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One 🎧 Related Episodes 2 Pages with MBS: How to Be Alive: Madeleine Dore [reads] Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life Free Time: 170: 🌈 “Imagine a World of Abundance” ✨, 169: Running a Goal-Free Business with Stephen Shapiro, 057: You+ vs. You 2.0 with MBS, 036: Shaping Big Ideas — Notion Walkthrough #2 Pivot: 287: Solving Pivot Puzzles with A.J. Jacobs, 305: Is What You Are Wanting Actually What’s Best For You? With Luke Burgis 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review ❤️ Join our BFF community for access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode and share it with a friend: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/183 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

📣 We’re publishing this week’s solo episode a day early as a friendly reminder that the Free Time podcast is nominated for a Webby Award, the "Oscars of the Internet!" Please visit http://itsfreetime.com/webby to cast your vote by the end of today, Thursday, April 20! This nomination alone is a major achievement, putting us in the top 12% of nearly 14,000 projects entered—thank you so much for being here and for your support :) There’s a wall in my house that I know would look gorgeous if it were painted a deep, velvety, rich navy blue. It’s behind the TV, so every day I stare in its general direction while watching shows, and on some days I even remember (fantasize about!) my vision of painting it blue. But the wall remains stubbornly bare, stuck on factory settings. Why is it so hard to change one seemingly simple thing, even when a future vision is so strong? 🌟 3 Key Takeaways: Remember the awkward stage within the four Levels of Learning: Unconscious incompetence (you don’t know what you don’t know), conscious incompetence (the hardest mentally and emotionally!), conscious competence (awkward but functional), and finally, unconscious competence (the new skills and systems are fully integrated and automatic) Plan for integration time: Deadlines press on, and yet doing the same work takes 2x or 4x as long because you’re improving, growing, and stretching into new arenas. Create support scaffolding through new systems: Old process grooves are well-worn, new ones take time, habit change, and updated systems. For example, when I want to change what we include in our show notes, the templates we currently use to create them are still based on our old way of doing it. Making all of the necessary changes takes extra effort, but ultimately makes the new method easier. 📝 Permission: You have permission not to do everything all at once and for things to take longer than you think they should. You also have permission to be incredibly awkward, a little confused, maybe lost, or even discouraged as you traverse the different levels of learning from unconscious incompetence to conscious competence. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Set up one new template or process that could help you integrate something you’re learning or implement an improvement to the business. 📘Books Mentioned Out on the Wire: The Storytelling Secrets of the New Masters of Radio by Jessica Abel Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One 🔗 Resources Mentioned Jay Acunzo’s podcast: Unthinkable and community: The Creator Kitchen (use promo code FRIENDOFAFRIEND for $100 off your membership for life) Jessica Abel’s podcasts: The Autonomous Creative, Out on the Wire and article: Hustle Culture is Really a Scam — On Cyclical Burnout Jenny’s Community: BFF (apply promo code PODCAST) Licensing: Pivot Programs 🎧Related Episodes Pivot: 47: Live Fiercely, Study Deeply . . . While Earning a Living — with Jonathan Fields Free Time: 181: Be Irreplaceable with My Creative Coach Jay Acunzo, 057: You+ vs. You 2.0 with MBS 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟 Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review » 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/182 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hi Friends! I'm re-airing this announcement as a friendly reminder that the Free Time podcast has made it to the nomination stage of the Webby Awards, the "Oscars of the Internet!" The Webbys celebrate the best and most innovative online content across websites, podcasts, games, apps, and videos. 📣 Between now and TOMORROW, April 20th: Please visit itsfreetime.com/webby and cast your vote for Free Time! This nomination alone is a major achievement, putting us in the top 12% of nearly 14,000 projects entered. We're up for best individual episode in the Business category. I did a double-take when I saw the other nominees, as we were by far the smallest show and the only indie that's not part of a larger network. So if you want to cast a vote not just for me, but for independent creators everywhere, I would be incredibly grateful if you could . . . ✅ Visit itsfreetime.com/webby and cast your vote for Free Time before EOD on Thursday, April 20! After that, you'll see the results of where we currently stand :) You do have to go through a small registration process (just a few questions), but after that you can peruse other categories and vote for your favorite show among those too! 🍰 Bonus: If you have a newsletter or your own community that you can post this link to, inviting others to listen to Free Time and vote for the show, that would be super icing on the cake! THANK YOU!! For being you, for being here, and for helping Free Time stay afloat through accolades like this one :) I also want to thank the One Stone Creative production team for making this possible. Without them, there's no way we would have landed this nomination. They help the trains run on time, ensuring every single one of 12 episodes goes live across my two shows every single month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

📣 The Free Time podcast is nominated for a Webby Award, the "Oscars of the Internet!" Please visit http://itsfreetime.com/webby to cast your vote for Free Time between now and April 20! One thing I love about Jay Acunzo is that his body of work is a love letter to craft and quality. We talk about mindset shifts and practices to help you focus more on resonance than reach; how to do work that matters to you so that your work can matter more; how he worked through his own existential creative crisis upon hitting the 200th episode milestone of his podcast; thinking like an explorer, not an expert; and “making the leap from what best practices say you should do to what your intuition is urging you to try.” More About Jay: Jay Acunzo is one of the world’s most sought-after business storytellers and brand consultants. He’s worked in marketing for Google, HubSpot, and ESPN before launching his award-winning podcast, Unthinkable, and authoring multiple books on creativity. Today he helps creators learn to increase the power of their creative work, not just the volume, through his membership platform, the Creator Kitchen. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways Reach vs. Resonance: Reach is how many people see something. Resonance is how much they care. No amount of reach will ensure that people care. As David Bowie’s says, “Don’t play to the gallery.” “Don’t be the best, be their favorite”: Create resonance with the audience relevance pyramid, starting with the base—how relevant you are in topic and theme. Moving up, your content should be enjoyable and entertaining, then impactful, where you are helping people reflect or take action. At the top of the pyramid is personal, where you (and your content) truly becomes irreplaceable. Jay’s Mastery 3 P’s: Posture, Practice and Process. Posture is how you see yourself in the world. Practice is the cadence you are creating and shipping on (aim for consistent and purposeful), then process emerges. 📝 Permission: Focus on resonance before—or even at the expense of—reach. Let go of the idea of adding more people until you have a small group reacting in a big way. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Define your Even More Meaningful Metrics. For example, Jay’s Unsolicited Response Rate (URR): When he publishes something and someone feels urged to respond in some way without being prompted, or Cackles Per Piece (CPP): points during the process of creating that cause so much joy he cackles out loud. 🔗 Resources Mentioned Jay on the web, Instagram: @jacunzo, Twitter, LinkedIn, Medium Jay’s podcast: Unthinkable and community: The Creator Kitchen (use promo code FRIENDOFAFRIEND for $100 off your membership for life) People: Andrew Davis, Hrishikesh Hirway TV Series: Song Exploder on Netflix Video: David Bowie on why you should never play to the gallery, and AJ Jacobs: The Importance of Self-Delusion in the Creative Process Article: The Surprising Thing About Expectations by Seth Godin 📚 Books Mentioned Jay’s Books: Break the Wheel: Question Best Practices, Hone Your Intuition, and Do Your Best Work Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain 🎧 Related Episodes Unthinkable: Fine, I’ll Talk About AI; Song Exploder Exploded, Welcome to the Jumble Podcasts: Mike Birbiglia’s Working it Out, Song Exploder, Radiolab 2 Pages with MBS: Making What Matters Most: Jay Acunzo [reads] ‘Kitchen Confidential’ The Tim Ferriss Show: Managing Procrastination, Predicting the Future, and Finding Happiness with Tim Urban Free Time: 127: Protect Your Idea Factory, Build a Creative Flywheel, and Go Behind-the-Scenes of Book Publishing with Todd Henry, 014: Why It Matters to Celebrate Wins Pivot: 287: Solving Pivot Puzzles with A.J. Jacobs, 254: The Practice—On Generosity, Peculiarity, and Showing Up with Seth Godin Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

📣 The Free Time podcast is nominated for a Webby Award, the "Oscars of the Internet!" Please visit http://itsfreetime.com/webby to cast your vote for Free Time between now and Thursday, April 20! This nomination alone is a major achievement, putting us in the top 12% of nearly 14,000 projects entered—thank you so much for being here and for your support! What business best practices drive you nuts? What are the best practices you wish people would follow, but they don't? These are clues to things you can be doing differently or stop doing altogether in your business. Today’s episode starts with a few of my pet rants—err, peeves—followed by six specific examples of activities with diminishing returns in my business, ending with one big question antidote for when you, too, find yourself Sailing the Sea of Shiny Shoulds. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways Shiny Shoulds and diminishing returns obscure the true opportunity cost of what’s really at stake, and they can quickly lead to finishing returns in terms of focus, energy, and output. Consider the data and your intuition: Sometimes it’s hard to go a different way than “what everyone else is doing”, even when you know it’s what’s best for you. Only you know what’s at stake if you continue down a path that doesn’t resonate or produce the ROI you need. Look for asymmetric upside when considering what’s possible when creating space: What if I stopped this altogether? What’s the worst that could happen? What’s the best? What else? 📝 Permission: Stop working on projects and with clients who are no longer serving you, that don’t meaningfully contribute to your revenue and joy. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Audit your business; what areas are past their prime or no longer aligned? If you’re being truly honest, which ones never were? 🔗 Resources Courses: Dorie Clark’s Rapid Content Creation, Jenny’s LinkedIn Learning courses Articles: Investopedia on Diminishing Returns, Investopedia on Sunk Cost Fallacy, 10 Things I learned from Peter Drucker 📚 Books Mentioned Nassim Taleb’s 5-book Incerto series: Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets, The Black Swan: Second Edition: The Impact of the Highly Improbable, Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder, The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms, and Skin in the Game: Hidden Asymmetries in Daily Life Jenny’s books: Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business, Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One, Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes Free Time: 138: ⛵️ Stop Sailing the Sea of Shiny Shoulds 173: Cut Your Losses—Even While Pivoting in Public—with Khe Hy 042: How I Run My Business Without Social Media (Pivot Replay) Pivot: 148: Penney & Jenny Show—Pivoting From Toxic Situations Toward Self-Entertainment, 305: Is What You Are Wanting Actually What’s Best For You? With Luke Burgis 304: Through the Crux—Pivoting from Acting to Entrepreneurship with Ryan Devlin 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review ❤️ Join our BFF community for access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out show notes from this episode and share it with a friend: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/180 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

📣 The Free Time podcast is nominated for a Webby Award, the "Oscars of the Internet!" Please visit http://itsfreetime.com/webby to cast your vote for Free Time between now and Thursday, April 20! This nomination alone is a major achievement, putting us in the top 12% of nearly 14,000 projects entered—thank you so much for being here and for your support! “Start with the truth, then edit.” That’s a gem that today’s guest, Jacqueline Fische, picked up while working in corporate communications that maps directly to how she encourages business owners to write: quickly, and from the heart. Go for speed, not sense. Edit later. More About Jacqueline: Jacqueline Fisch is an author, copywriter, and communications consultant. As the founder of The Intuitive Writing School, she helps writers make progress on their passion projects, and creative business owners sound more human in their writing. As a freelance copywriter, she’s helped hundreds of clients – tech startups, life and business coaches, creatives, and more – learn how to communicate more authentically and stand out in a busy online world. She’s also the author of Unfussy Life: An Intuitive Approach to Navigating Change, and the soon-to-be-published Intuitive Writing: The Remedy for Writer’s Block. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways: Jacq defines intuitive writing as the “down to earth embodiment of knowing.” Identify the ways your intuition speaks to you, then create space for them in your day-to-day. (For example, switching all meetings to audio-only and even declining video-based activity) Try mapping bigger writing efforts with moon phases: start with the new moon, VERB with the waxing moon, VERB with the full moon, and VERB with the waning moon. Create a ritual for closing out with clients that encourages repeat business and word-of-mouth referrals: Jacq sends a “See You Soon” kit that includes a feedback survey and even pre-written, customized emails for recommending her work to a friend. 📝 Permission: Write whatever is on your heart. Whatever is coming up for you. Your story is yours and yours alone. You have full permission to write it. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Set a timer to do 20-minutes of stream-of-consciousness writing for something you’re passionate about right now related to your business, whether it’s an about page, an invitation letter (aka sales page), or your next newsletter. Let the ideas flow without censoring yourself, and only return to edit the following day (or week). 📚 Books Mentioned Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Unfussy Life: An Intuitive Approach to Navigating Change 🔗 Resources Jacqueline on the web, IG: @theintuitivewritingschool, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Pinterest Tools: Brit Kolo’s Marketing Personalities, Riverside.fm, Jacq’s Intuitive Writing + See You Soon Kit 🎧 Related Episodes Podcast: Jay Acunzo’s Unthinkable—Fine, I’ll Talk About AI Related Free Time episodes: 003: Liberate Your Life Force with Christine Arylo Related Pivot episodes: Jenny & Penney Show (Spotify playlist) 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review ❤️ Join our BFF community for access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out show notes from this episode and share it with a friend: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/179 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

📣 The Free Time podcast is nominated for a Webby Award, the "Oscars of the Internet!" Please visit http://itsfreetime.com/webby to cast your vote for Free Time between now and Thursday, April 20! This nomination alone is a major achievement, putting us in the top 12% of nearly 14,000 projects entered—thank you so much for being here and for your support! What if time wasn’t something we had to hoard, protect, or chase? What if we could change our relationship to time—to life itself—expanding beyond the linear, grid-like units running out as we race against the clock, and toward a true sense of aliveness instead? Today’s I’m trying an experimental format: diving deep into a book that relates to so much of what we talk about here, Jenny Odell’s Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock. I haven’t landed an interview with her (yet!), but I also really appreciated her previous book, How to do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy, so am happy to spotlight both. A few caveats: This is not a book review where I critically examine the content (here are two from The New Yorker and the NYT), nor a comprehensive summary. Instead, I’m bringing you three big ideas from the book related to our Free Time universe, that sparked aha moments and mindset shifts for me. I hope these inspire similar paradigm shifts for you. As always, my goal is to help set even more of your time freeeeeee! 🌟 3 Key Takeaways: Notice the productivity paradigm that many of us are still operating under: seeing our days as a race against time, leading to an internal tyranny and guilt even if self-employed. Embrace the roads not taken: Step off the hedonic treadmill by allowing limits, and even deliberate mediocrity. Who gets to say what is mediocre in the first place? Cultivate abundance: “What if time [could] be gardened?” Jenny writes, “Then it's also possible to imagine its increase in ways other than individual hoarding.” 📝 Permission: To be tired in a good way, one that softens you; to be unproductive, to stop optimizing every micro moment of your day, to do less, to be free. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Be an observer as you go about your week; look for people and places that give you time, that expand your sense of aliveness. 🔗 Resources Mentioned Articles: The New Yorker—Why We Never Have Enough Time, NYT—Time Has Been Codified and Commoditized, WIRED—Jenny Odell Can Stretch Time and So Can You Community: BFF (apply promo code PODCAST) 📘Books Mentioned Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock by Jenny Odell How to do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy by Jenny Odell Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One 🎧Related Episodes Interviews with Jenny on Saving Time: Jenny Odell Saves Time, and Herself, by Living Beyond the Clock, Making Sense of Time (Jenny Odell), Jenny Odell on Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock Free Time: 141: Process, Permission Slips, and Business Pivots with Tara McMullin 027: Time Management for Mortals with Oliver Burkeman Pivot: 305: Is What You Are Wanting Actually What’s Best For You? With Luke Burgis 🌟 Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review » ❤️ Join Jenny’s private BFF community for access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and share this episode with a friend: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/178 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Friends!! I can't believe it!! The Free Time podcast has made it to the nomination stage of the Webby Awards, the "Oscars of the Internet!" The Webbys celebrate the best and most innovative online content across websites, podcasts, games, apps, and videos. 📣 Between now and April 20th: Please visit itsfreetime.com/webby and cast your vote for Free Time! This nomination alone is a major achievement, putting us in the top 12% of nearly 14,000 projects entered. We're up for best individual episode in the Business category. I did a double-take when I saw the other nominees, as we're by far the smallest show and the only indie that's not part of a larger network. So if you want to cast a vote not just for me, but for independent creators everywhere, I would be incredibly grateful if you could . . . ✅ Visit itsfreetime.com/webby and cast your vote for Free Time before Thursday, April 20! After that, you'll see the results of where we currently stand :) You do have to go through a small registration process (just a few questions), but after that you can peruse other categories and vote for your favorite show among those too! 🍰 Bonus: If you have a newsletter or your own community that you can post this link to, inviting others to listen to Free Time and vote for the show, that would be super icing on the cake! THANK YOU!! For being you, for being here, and for helping Free Time stay afloat through accolades like this one :) I also want to thank the One Stone Creative production team for making this possible. Without them, there's no way we would have landed this nomination. They help the trains run on time, ensuring every single one of 12 episodes goes live across my two shows every single month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I’m delighted to welcome Daniel Doyon to the pod this week, co-founder of one of my favorite software services, Readwise. Every morning while I have my coffee, I look forward to checking out the daily email roll-up of five serendipitous snippets pulled from my entire library of Kindle highlights. In this conversation, we cover: how Dan and his cofounder handled the famous “hug of death” from Tim Ferriss recommending their service in his 5-Bullet Friday newsletter; the perils of premature optimization and why you should do things that don’t scale; what to do when you do slam against a scale ceiling; the benefits of running a mission-oriented business; how we’re handling the progressive atrophying of our attention for reading books, and our favorite page-turners that spark joy and as Dan says, “whisk you to the end.” More About Daniel: Daniel Doyon is the cofounder of Readwise, a reading tool that helps readers revisit the highlights from their ebooks by synchronizing and then sending a daily email resurfacing the best highlights from Kindle, Instapaper, iBooks, and more. He is also an expert in creative real estate acquisitions and partnerships, bibliophile, oenophile, and sailor. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways Be wary of premature optimization: Do things that don’t scale without trying to predict how your systems will break. Only once you “slam” against a ceiling should you work on solving for the next level of scale. Hire from your user base: You’ll find the most passionate, mission-based people to work with from your own community, people who already love what you’re creating and what you stand for. Minimize meetings by taking a page from Readwise’s playbook: No more than 1.5 recurring meetings per person per week. That means one weekly, and one bi-weekly—that’s it! 📝 Permission: Reset the expectations around whether or not you reply to inbound messages, and the amount of time it takes you to do so. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Sign-up for Readwise if you haven’t already! It’s a game-changer for carrying your favorite highlights forward from the books you read. Every day you’ll get a round-up email of five random highlights and a sixth suggestion from an adjacent book that you haven’t read yet. 🔗 Resources Mentioned Daniel on the web, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook Dan’s “whisk you to the end” book recs: Trader Joe’s Book, Doctor Dealer Jenny’s favorite true story page-turners about large-scale drug ops: American Kingpin by Nick Bilton (on the DPR/Silk Road build-up and bust), The Mastermind by Evan Ratliff (verticalized prescription drug and arms kingpin), Dreamland by Sam Quinones (decentralized drug trade, “Uber of heroin”) 📚 Books Mentioned Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson 🎧 Related Episodes RadReads x Pivot & Free Time 111: Building a Second Brain with Tiago Forte 084: Sprinkling the First 1,000 Serendipity Seeds of a Launch 017: Serendipity as Business Strategy with Leanne Hughes 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️ Join Jenny’s private BFF community for access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode and share it with a friend: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/177 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Business, like life, is all about how you make people feel. It's that simple, and it's that hard.” —Danny Meyer, Setting the Table Danny Meyer is a famous restauranteur responsible for founding some of my favorite spots, including Gramercy Tavern, Eleven Madison Park, and the popular Shake Shack chain. He pioneered the philosophy of “enlightened hospitality.” That’s the thing about engineering surprise and delight moments in your business. Like the example I share in this episode, while they may seem small or spontaneous, the best ones have intention and strong systems behind them. It’s not hard to design a system to do this repeatedly and consistently for the people you love working with, encouraging more word of mouth referrals in the process, and reducing your reliance on marketing strategies that don’t align. Today I’m sharing some examples of small gifts that make a big impact and leave a lasting impression on the people and clients you care most about. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways: Surprise and delight moments don’t happen by accident; you can design them intentionally, and create systems to support them happening consistently in your business. Consider meaningful (and even functional) ways you can support clients at the beginning, middle, and end of an engagement to build the relationship, and spark joy and word-of-mouth referrals. Create a Gift Tracker if you don’t already have one: Track the life of a gift from idea of giving one, to collecting any missing info, selecting the gift and writing a message to go with it, to placing the order, tracking and confirming it was received, all the way to archiving it for later reference. 📝 Permission: To spice up the level of surprise and delight in your business. You can spend a little more than you think is reasonable, and trust that it will go towards building strong relationships, creating great experiences and a better, more joyful business. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Pick one person that you want to make smile: a team member, a client, a friend, and send them unexpected. 📘Books Mentioned Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Giftology: The Art and Science of Using Gifts to Cut Through the Noise, Increase Referrals, and Strengthen Retention by John Ruhlin The Referral Engine: Teaching Your Business to Market Itself by John Jantsch 🔗 Resources Mentioned NYC Restaurants: Gramercy Tavern, Locande Verde, Eleven Madison Park (and their delicious Eleven Madison Park Granola that also makes a great gift!) Gift Services: Goody, BoxFox, Giftology, Greetabl, SugarWish, Gift Mic: Yeti Nano (travel mic) Swag Services: Wizard Pins, Pens.com, Sticker Mule Community: BFF (apply promo code PODCAST) 🎧Related Episodes To Dine For — Will Guidara 179: Video-Free Business and Intuitive Writing with Jacqueline Fisch 068: Are You Running a Grumpy Business? 083: Breaking through Buyer’s Remorse—Never Lose a Customer Again with Joey Coleman 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟 Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review » ❤️ Join Jenny’s private BFF community for access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/176 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“You are making a choice every time you undercharge.” How’s that for a splash of cold water to the face?! Bad pricing strategy puts your business—and your body—at risk. As today’s guest, Erin Haag says, when your prices are too low, “You are choosing to work an additional 10, 20, or 30 hours per week to generate the income you need to survive.” In this conversation, Erin shares what led to two hospitalizations from back-to-back stress-related illnesses, followed by her aha moment: doing the math to determine exactly what she needed to do to go from the brink of business collapse to becoming debt-free and selling her pilates studio for a 40x multiple. More About Erin: Erin Haag is the creator of Pricing Overhaul and a self-proclaimed math nerd. Using her over 20 years of corporate experience working intimately with numbers and pricing metrics, she created the Pricing Overhaul™️ method will help people shift their mindset around money and math, overhaul their pricing for profitability, and make more money inside their business than they ever dreamed possible. Her upcoming book, Give Yourself a Raise: The Mindset and Math You Need to Get to Your First Million, shares her story of hitting rock bottom, pushing her to overhaul her entire business. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways: You can charge more than your competitors (and what you can afford.) You can increase your prices without upsetting your best clients. Space creates more money: “A hectic schedule and tons of stress creates less money. I promise you that.” 📝 Permission: Give yourself a raise! And outsource everything you dislike doing. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Do the math to determine A) the monthly revenue your business needs to generate so that you have at least 30% profit (beyond what you pay yourself as the owner). “In other words, the total amount of money your business needs to generate each month to cover all expenses, pay your team, pay yourself, AND generate a profit on top.” Bonus: Next, determine B) your ideal monthly client capacity (how many people you want to serve given your available time), and C) the ideal client value (by dividing target revenue (A) by number of clients (B). 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Give Yourself a Raise: The Mindset and Math You Need to Get to Your First Million (coming soon!) 🔗Resources Mentioned: Erin on the web, IG: @pricingoverhaul, Facebook, LinkedIn Article: 5 Things You Should Do To Increase Your Financial Literacy Tools: ClassPass, Bench (bookkeeping), Alexandra Franzen’s Get it Done publishing services and courses 🎧Related Podcast Episodes: 107: How to Know When You’ve Gotten Pricing Wrong with Jacquette M. Timmons 020: Pricing Psychology with Jacquette Timmons 122: My Top 5 Sources of Recurring Revenue 162: Should You Self-Publish? (Part One) 164: Let’s Talk Royalties re: Publishing Options (Part Two) 101: Run Your Business with Exquisite Greatness and Tiny Art Projects with Alexandra Franzen Pivot 183: Cultivating Opposites and Checklists with Alexandra Franzen 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️ Join Jenny’s private BFF community for access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/175 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

🎉 This week marks the one-year bookiversary of Free Time making its way into the world, and the two-year podiversary of launching this show. 🥂 As I reach these milestones, a question looms: Has the book writing, launching, and marketing been a success, as I would define it? In today’s solo, let’s ride the mindset rollercoaster of launching something new into the world, and I share specific one-year sales stats for those who are curious—similar to episode 096: Book Sales Stats—One Month Post-Launch 🎉 that I know many of you appreciated :) But first: there's an important detour that we need to take. Listen in to find out and join me for the journey. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways: Sometimes the “success” glass isn’t half empty or half full; remember, you created a glass! That’s the biggest accomplishment, no matter the external results. Be wary of the “bar is always raising” hedonic treadmill of business success. Constantly shifting your personal or business goalposts back can prevent you from enjoying the success you have achieved. Consider the creative’s journey as an infinity loop on its side: As waves of energy that ebb and flow across four phases; starting in the bottom left: rise, ride, release, retreat. You may cycle through these many times, even within any one part of the process (i.e. while in “marketing mode” for your work, you experience quiet moments and bigger surges of output and attention). 📝 Permission: Define success in a way that lifts your spirits, that helps you enjoy the vulnerable process of putting your creative work into the world. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Looking back on the last year, make a list to celebrate all the wins—large and small—that you’ve experienced in your business (or for any one creative project). Bonus: when you hit a big milestone or busiversary moment, do something fun to mark the occasion! Super bonus: submit your business and/or any products (like a book or podcast) for industry awards. Most of the time, they don’t just fall from the sky—my dad and I call these Gretsky’s, after hockey player Wayne Gretsky’s famous line that, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire, and How to Want What You Need by Luke Burgis The Long Game: How to Be a Long-Term Thinker in a Short-Term World by Dorie Clark 🔗Resources: Join the BFF Community Free Time Operations Dashboard Get help writing an Amazon review BOGOGO promotion —Buy One, Get One, Give One MasterClass: Malcolm Gladwell Teaches Writing People: Jay Acunzo, Charlie Gilkey, Tosha Silver 🎧Related Episodes: 138: ⛵️ Stop Sailing the Sea of Shiny Shoulds 170: 🌈 “Imagine a World of Abundance” ✨ 172: Free Time Isn’t Just for the Fun Days 084: Sprinkling the First 1,000 Serendipity Seeds of a Launch 035: The Long Game with Dorie Clark 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️ Join Jenny’s private BFF community for access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/174 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“How did you go bankrupt?" Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly.” —Ernest Hemingway That’s the kick-off quote from returning guest Khe Hy’s recent pivot-in-progress big reveal, taking us behind the scenes of his business in a recent post titled, “The $645,099 business pivot.” Khe is the founder of RadReads and former Wall Street managing director. Khe returns to the pod today (as our first three-peat Free Time guest) to share his experience from the belly of the Pivot beast. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out Khe’s earlier Free Time appearances, linked in the Resources section below and in this Spotify playlist: RadReads x Pivot x Free Time. More About Khe: Khe Hy is the founder and CEO of RadReads, an online education company that helps professionals lead productive, examined, and joyful lives. Khe is creator of the $10K Work productivity method and teaches the popular cohort-based course Supercharge Your Productivity. RadReads provides guides, trainings, and coaching for over 36,000 professionals to help them gain back free time, scale their impact and make their little dent in the universe. 🌟3 Key Takeaways: You’re not alone: Don’t feel bad if you caught a momentum wave during the pandemic that has vanished since. It can feel like you’ve captured success in a bottle, and it will continue just the way you’re experiencing it now, but the same circumstances rarely last. Borrowing other people’s goals can lead to chasing arbitrary success metrics and other people’s work-life balance. Instead, follow the fun! Ultimately, it will be much more sustainable. There’s freedom and surrender in openly sharing your process. Many entrepreneurs are not straightforward about how difficult it can be to maintain and grow a business, and being outwardly transparent helps you be inwardly honest about what you really want to accomplish. 📝Permission: To feel. To cry. To fully experience and talk about what you’re going through. Your humanity in the situation is not at odds with who and how you want to be as a founder and CEO—they are perfectly intertwined. ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Get quiet: What is it that you truly want? What part of my business is driven by ego and “borrowing other people’s goals,” and what part is driven by the pure magic of it? For any friction area where you feel stuck or drained, take a page out of Khe’s business playbook and “follow the fun.” What would following the fun tell you to do next?   📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One We Should All Be Millionaires: A Woman’s Guide to Earning More, Building Wealth, and Gaining Economic Power by Rachel Rodgers 🔗Resources Mentioned: Khe on the web, Instagram: @radreadsco, TikTok: @radreadsco, Twitter, LinkedIn Courses: Supercharge Your Productivity, $10K Work Accelerator, Life Operating System, Jenny’s Free Time Business Operations Dashboard Rad Reads: The Magic of Doing $10,000 Per Hour Work 🎧Related Podcast Episodes: Spotify playlist: RadReads x Pivot x Free Time 145: Tips for Training Part-Time Team Members with Kaneisha Grayson 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️ Join Jenny’s private BFF community for access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners.  💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit  💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/173 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Free Time. The phrase connotes, leisure, fun, time off, vacation—as if we're skipping through meadows with butterflies! 🦋and unicorns!🦄 But if you’re a long-time listener, you know that I think of free time as a verb. It is a skill, a muscle we can build. Freeing Time is something we can get better at. By creating smarter systems and taking small steps today, we can set our time free far into the future. Today’s episode is a reminder about why it’s important to leave abundant margin on your calendar, especially for the days when you need it most (what previous guest Laura Vanderkam calls a “time emergency fund”), without punting problems to your future self. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways: Avoid a cascade of cancellations in case of emergency (or the need to rest) by leaving more space than you think you’ll need in any given week. Create a time emergency fund by blocking days of the week, weeks of the month, and months of the year where you have nothing at all. Set these to recur annually (and indefinitely) so you only make exceptions as these open windows approach. Before reflexively saying yes to a meeting, reflect: “Would I say yes if this were tomorrow?” Or replace it with a decision filter of your choosing, such as the classic question Derek Sivers popularized, “Is this a hell yes?” If not, it’s a no. 📝 Permission: Build abundant free time into your calendar. What would it look like if you reduced your meetings by half, only filling up to 40% full in advance? Then you can wait until closer to the approaching day or week to add things—only if/as they resonate in real time. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: When you’re feeling low on energy (or time), if you’re going to say yes at all, transition requests to meet with you (especially for “pick your brain” conversations) to asynchronous apps like Marco Polo, Voxer, or Vocaroo. After you’ve fielded more than one on the same subject, consider creating a public-facing resource, such as the Author Toolkit. As I say in Free Time, every question lives three lives: the original request, saving your response in your internal documentation, then adding it to your website to help clients and friends answer their own questions even before they have to ask you. 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Tranquility by Tuesday: 9 Ways to Calm the Chaos and Make Time for What Matters Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport 🔗Resources Mentioned: Tools: Calendly, Marco Polo, Voxer, Vocaroo Free Time Author Toolkit Dr. Dalton-Smith’s Rest Quiz 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  151: Calm Time Chaos with Laura Vanderkam 170: 🌈 “Imagine a World of Abundance” ✨ 150: 💸 3 Strategies to Set Your Time Free in 2023! 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe »  🌟 Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️ Join Jenny’s private BFF community for access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners.  💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/172 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“What’s the highest level I can serve?” That’s one of the driving questions that today’s guest, Melissa Hughes, helps business owners answer while building companies and making an impact on the world with grace and ease. She believes that the more of us who can shine our lights unapologetically, the better off we all are. In this conversation, Melissa shares how she knew it was time to leave corporate, launching and later shutting down her brick-and-mortar spa business and the “blessing wrapped in sandpaper” of declaring personal bankruptcy. She shares how she started rebuilding by leaning into intuition, her philosophy on giving from the overflow and backing it all up with practical systems that serve your values. More About Melissa: With us today is Melissa Hughes, founder of Live Rich, Spread Wealth—a business (and movement) that is all about helping people live richer lives as a result of becoming their best selves. Melissa is a best-selling author, speaker, and master business coach who became a self-made millionaire by the age of 31. Known as The Guru of Implementation®, Melissa’s success, and that of her clients, is a result of her practical, proven systems for business and life success. 🌟3 Key Takeaways: Work Yourself Out math: How much revenue does your business need to generate to justify hiring someone to do one of the task areas on your desk? Finding and pursuing your Divine Assignment means being in purposeful alignment. When you’re there, you can use your gifts, be in flow and be of service to others. Systems for the sake of systems don't work. They need to be designed to specifically support your (and your company’s!) values and what you’re trying to accomplish. 📝Permission: Understand that whatever you want wants you, too. It can be both/and: Look at what’s working for you and lean more into that unapologetically. Allow yourself to explore new possibilities. ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Take a page from Melissa’s reframe book. Instead of referring to exercise as “working out,” she calls it “snatching your sexy back!” Reframe (or restructure) something that feels like a chore by turning it into a life-giving system that serves you.  📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business, Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One 🔗Resources Mentioned: Melissa on the web, Instagram: @IAmMelissaHughes, Facebook, LinkedIn, Live Rich Spread Wealth, YouTube Documentary: Live Rich, Spread Wealth Video: Join the Live Rich Spread Wealth Movement 🎧Related Podcast Episodes: 003: Liberate Your Life Force with Christine Arylo 108: How to Run a Scaled Coaching Team with Notion 120: Transform Your To-Do List into a Results List — Leanne’s Favorite Time-Saving System Pivot 204: Radical Alignment: Getting to Hell Yes with Alex & Bob 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️ Join Jenny’s private BFF community for access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners.  💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit  💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/171 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feeling slow, stuck, uncertain, or in the midst of a morale dip? If so, today’s minisode is for you—or for a business bestie who might need a little pick-me-up. I share a surprising shift from an encounter with Serendipity Signage; a portal to gratitude on a random New York City train station wall under a set of shattered windows.  When you feel down, remind yourself (as I do) what Julian of Norwich, a 14th-century mystic, said: “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.”  🌟3 Key Takeaways: Look for the gifts that wash ashore when the financial tides recede, knowing they only show up if you resist the urge to panic and rush to fill the empty space. We all have dips in time, energy, money, and connection to our work that we need to ride out; give yourself space and permission to go into business maintenance mode during these times. As Tosha Silver says, abundance is not a “grocery list for God”—a list of material items like one you’d give to Santa Claus as a kid. When you remember, shift from feeling stuck to gratitude (for what is) and faith (in what will follow). 📝Permission: To sit in the unknown, not to solve everything right away, and to surrender to the higher purpose and picture unfolding before you. ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Play a game of Serendipity Signage in your neighborhood or during daily travels: Frame a question or conundrum for the universe, and see what you notice. 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One  The Intuitive Way: A Guide to Living From Inner Wisdom by Penney Peirce Revelations of Divine Love by Julian of Norwich (quote is in Chapter 32) Tosha Silver’s books (and community Living Outrageous Openness): Outrageous Openness: Letting the Divine Take the Lead  Change Me Prayers: The Hidden Power of Spiritual Surrender  It's Not Your Money: How to Live Fully from Divine Abundance 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  029: Funded By Source with Ksenia Avdulova  028: When the Financial Tides Recede 084: Sprinkling the First 1,000 Serendipity Seeds of a Launch  090: Paying for Consistency and Accountability  051: How to Replace Yourself as CEO with Michael Bungay Stanier  Pivot [Best Of] Penney & Jenny 1: Intuition and Frequency; full Spotify playlist of The Penney & Jenny Show 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe »  🌟 Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️ Join Jenny’s private BFF community for access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners.  💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/170 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stephen Shapiro is a quintessential Free Timer. Throughout his 20+ year self-employment tenure, he has run a variety of experiments to optimize for freedom and joy. To name just a few: working one hour a day (for years!), clearing space for 15 weeks of travel and/or vacation each year, and week-long hotel stays for focused work sprints.  We also talk about the “existential meltdown” that led to a business model redesign, and why he doesn’t need or want to build a team right now, beyond an extended network of specialists, and why he’d rather sell 10 copies of his next book to the right readers (potential clients) than 10,000 copies to the masses. More About Stephen Shapiro: Stephen cultivates innovation by showing leaders and their teams how to approach, tackle and solve their business challenges. He sees what others can’t: opportunities to improve innovation models and the cultures that support them. He is the author of six books, including Goal-Free Living, The Little Book of Big Innovation Ideas, Personality Poker, Best Practices are Stupid, and his latest, Invisible Solutions: 25 Lenses that Reframe and Help Solve Difficult Business Problems. 🌟3 Key Takeaways: Leverage is the key to working less. Ask, how do I do less and get more? Goal-free living: You may have aspirations, but detach from the outcome. Aim for a sense of direction, not a specific destination, then meander with purpose. Focus on leading indicators, not lagging indicators for day-to-day energy and effort allocation. Leading indicators are actions you take to create the results you want; for example, five networking calls per week typically leads to at least one new client. Lagging indicators measure what has already happened; for example, how much revenue you generated last month, or how many newsletter subscribers you added. 📝Permission: Do less and get more. Each day, imagine you only have one hour you can work. How would you spend that hour?  ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Try working one hour a day for one week. Each day ask yourself, “What’s the one thing I have to do that will have the greatest impact today?” You might end up working more, but if you shoot for that single hour, it will focus your thinking.   📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College Stephen’s Books Goal-Free Living: How to Have the Life You Want NOW! Invisible Solutions: 25 Lenses that Reframe and Help Solve Difficult Business Problems 🔗Resources Mentioned: Stephen on the web, Twitter: @stephenshapiro, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube Stephen’s podcast: Invisible Solutions Video: TEDx NASA Innovation Keynote | Stephen Shapiro Concepts: Goodhart’s Law, the Cobra Effect, Leading vs. Lagging Indicators 🎧Related Podcast Episodes: 018: Workcation in the City 166: Crashing into Quiet Time 🏝️ 035: The Long Game with Dorie Clark 091: Quarterly Planning with Charlie Gilkey 028: When the Financial Tides Recede 084: Sprinkling the First 1,000 Serendipity Seeds of a Launch 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️ Join Jenny’s private BFF community for access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners.  💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit  💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/169 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of the biggest lessons I learned from author Nassim Taleb is that whenever he finds himself bored with what he’s writing, he stops. His logic? Surely if you are bored as the author, your readers will be too. Taleb takes it as a sign to drop that direction or concept altogether unless he figures out a way to get excited about it again.  In Free Time, I share a similar sentiment: how we bake is as important as what we make. That means that working on your big ideas—whether a project as complex as a book or a single article or podcast episode—should be fun! It doesn’t have to be an overwhelming slog where you’re stuck staring at a blinking cursor on a blank page, though even the stress of that is being lessened every day by generative AI tools like ChatGPT. In today’s episode of the Author Toolkit Q&A series, I share five strategies that help me reduce overwhelm when writing (hint: which really means doing better thinking in advance). If you haven’t already, be sure to check out the free Author Toolkit here » 🌟5 Key Takeaways to Reduce Overwhelm When Writing: For harvesting ideas, make sure you have a cloud-based collection bucket Take a nonlinear brainstorming approach for topics and structure Prepare your mise en place before sitting down to write by collecting: personal anecdotes, data, concepts, how-to, stories, and examples from others Ignite the pilot light of motivation by writing just 7 sentences, approximately 100 words Consider that a book comprises of many short blog-post length essays (each Free Time chapter was 1,500 to 2,000 words). You might even end up with the problem of writing more than you need! 📝Permission: Stop writing if you’re bored with the topic. Notice what sparks your energy and start there instead. ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Challenge yourself (even better to set up accountability with a friend) to write seven sentences or 100 words each day for one week, ideally about five different ideas you’ve been exploring. Send each other a green checkmark (like the one at the start of this paragraph) once you’ve done your thinking/writing/voice dictating for the day.   📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One  The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable (Incerto) by Nassim Nicholas Taleb What Works: A Comprehensive Framework to Change the Way We Approach Goal Setting by Tara McMullin (and her What Works podcast) 🔗Resources Mentioned: Free Time’s Author Toolkit ChatGPT Marco Polo Jenny’s Notion for Idea Collection Loom walkthrough Meal Kits: Hello Fresh, Blue Apron, Factor (pre-made meals I’m loving at the moment) 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  111: Building a Second Brain with Tiago Forte 163: Leveraging Idea Kernels to Create Compelling Content with Khe Hy 166: Crashing into Quiet Time 🏝️ 162: Should You Self-Publish? (Part One) 164: Let’s Talk Royalties re: Publishing Options (Part Two) 158: How to Decide on a Book (or Big Idea) Topic—10 Filters 156: 8 Idea Generation Strategies 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe »  🌟 Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️ Join Jenny’s private BFF community for access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners.  💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/168 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How do we use technology to facilitate real relationships? That’s the big question driving Gina Bianchini’s epic entrepreneurial quest. Today we’re talking about the magic phrase that will transform what you’re building, the difference between social networks versus social media, why a course is not a community, how to avoid working too hard as the host, and why you might benefit from building a small, tight-knit group before trying to grow a bigger audience. More About Gina: Gina Bianchini is the CEO and Founder of Mighty Networks, where creators, entrepreneurs, and brands use cultural software to build digital communities. She’s also the creator of Community Design™, a proven strategy framework for understanding and growing communities online and in the real world. Today we’re talking about her new book, Purpose: Design a Community and Change Your Life. 🌟3 Key Takeaways: Fall in love with the expression, “So that we can . . .” This will help you more clearly communicate the transformation you are working toward while building new features and services in your business and/or community. One of the worst things you can do is make membership about fandom, where members are active only in relationship with you as the host. A much more powerful value journey is facilitating connections with and for other members. Community questions evoke meaningful responses and spark a connection between people. Try Gina’s “question generator” formula with two key elements: an unlocking phrase (e.g. name one thing, how do you know when, what was an unusual, what do you value most in a…, etc.) and a topic tied to the purpose of your community. For example: What’s your favorite book about meditation? What’s the first time you remember hearing the phrase generational wealth? 📝Permission: You do not have to produce a lot of content! Flip the script from producing content to convening human beings towards a common goal. This is one of the most profound shifts any of us can make, not just in building communities but how we approach life. ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Gina defines your Ideal Member as the person who needs your community right now. “Remember, you’re not building a generic community. Everyone is not welcome. By definition, your Ideal Members already have a lot in common.” Jot down the qualities of your ideal member (how they think, what stage of life/business they’re at, core challenges, what they’ve already tried) and write about the transition they are currently experiencing.  📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Purpose: Design a Community and Change Your Life—A Step-by-Step Guide to Finding Your Purpose and Making It Matter 🔗Resources Mentioned:  Gina on the web, Instagram: @mightynetworks, Twitter: @MightyNetworks and @GiNab, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube What Works with Tara McMullin: What is the creator economy? with Gina Bianchini 🎧Related Podcast Episodes: 125: How to Create Your Own CRM with Alex Sherwood 078: Creating Transformational Mastermind Groups 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️ Join Jenny’s private BFF community for access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners.  💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit  💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/167 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How many times have you gone skidding into vacation, arriving exhausted from trying to “earn” it before you leave? Then feeling guilty for any loose ends you were unable to tie up in time, maybe even brooding the first few days because you’re so burned out that you aren’t even enjoying your precious time off nearly as much as you thought you would?  Research shows that we can experience diminishing returns when we have too much free time, which might explain the onset of vacation blues. In this episode, I’m sharing my rollercoaster that arises at the beginning of longer stretches of free time and a few strategies for settling in to find true peace and relaxation.  🌟3 Key Takeaways: Give yourself transition time on both ends of time off: switching from a pre-vacation work sprint to instant R&R is highly unlikely!  Sometimes you just need a day to float and not ask anything of yourself, including the pressure to relax (oh, the irony!).  Tune in: What’s sitting just below the surface? What are you noticing once the busyness and daily routine recedes? 📝Permission: To relax! Leave things undone. You do not have to “earn” your time off by working yourself into the ground preparing. You also hereby have permission to take a longer break than you think you need, allowing space for a slow unwinding when you arrive. ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: For your next vacation or big block of free time, buy yourself extra time and mental margin by starting your email autoresponder a week early, and ending it a week after you return. 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Grumpy Monkey, Bragging Rights by Lisa Bragg Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn Happier Hour by Cassie Holmes Goal-Free Living by Stephen Shapiro Invisible Solutions: 25 Lenses that Reframe and Help Solve Difficult Business Problems by Stephen Shapiro Outrageous Openness by Tosha Silver 🔗Resources Mentioned: Free Time’s Author Toolkit UCLA research via Cassie Holmes: Too Much Free Time? Blame Solitude or Lack of Productive Activity Article: The 7 types of rest that every person needs by Saundra Dalton-Smith MD 🎧Related Podcast Episodes: 126: Creating Time Buffer—7 Strategies for Spacious Scheduling JB on SPARKED with Jonathan Fields 'White Lotus' Creator Mike White on Fresh Air podcast JP on the Good Life Project: How I Took a Month Off to Write & Make Art (then what REALLY happened), Jenny Blake | How to Create More Free Time 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️ Join Jenny’s private BFF community for access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners.  💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit  💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/166 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Here are a few food-for-thought reflection questions, inspired by today’s guest: Are you working with amateur clients or ones who bring out the best in you? Are you pricing the “aggravation factor” into your proposals when necessary? What about “throwing proposals over the fence,” creating self-inflicted stress when prospective clients ghost you as a result? Finally, are you stuck in the feast-or-famine cycle of your business? If any of the questions above resonate, you will love this conversation with Ilise Benun, who has been running her business helping creative professionals for over 35 years. Ilise shares The Proposal Oreo Strategy; how she stays consistent with content creation while walking the line between discipline and rigidity; why she sees word-of-mouth marketing as a result, not real marketing; and creating abundant interstitial time by embracing eigenzeit—the German term meaning “the time inherent to a process itself.” More About Ilise: Ilise Benun is the founder of Marketing-Mentor.com, the go-to online resource for creative professionals who want better projects with bigger budgets, through which she offers business coaching. She is also a national speaker and author of 7 books, including "The Creative Professional's Guide to Money," three online courses via CreativeLive and Domestika.org, and The Simplest Marketing Plan – all tailored to the needs of creative professionals. She has also been hosting the Marketing Mentor Podcast since 2008, with over 465 episodes at the time of this recording. 🌟3 Key Takeaways: Amateur clients are those who have not worked with a provider like you before and might have unrealistic expectations. The Oreo Proposal Method: Two cookies and a yummy center, comprising of a qualifying conversation to determine mutual fit, a live proposal walk-through, followed by a conversation about next steps. The best marketing is part of your day-to-day work, not an isolated set of activities. Consider three ongoing tools: strategic networking, targeted outreach, and content marketing. 📝Permission: Stop listening to the scolding voice in your head. See your business as a laboratory, where everything is an experiment. ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Clear even more space in your calendar with interstitial time, space between events or obligations that you can use to prepare and reflect. Ensure that you have big blocks of time that you can use to let ideas marinate and develop. 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One The Creative Professional's Guide to Money: How to Think About It, How to Talk About it, How to Manage It by Ilise Benun 🔗Resources Mentioned: Ilise on the web, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube Ilise’s podcast: Marketing Mentor and Newsletter: Quick Tips Marketing the Invisible: How to Get Better Clients with the Proposal Oreo Strategy - In Just 7 Minutes with Ilise Benun 🎧Related Podcast Episodes: 133: Hire People Who Are Better Than You with Terri Trespicio 117: Tiny Marketing Actions with Pamela Slim 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️ Join Jenny’s private BFF community for access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners.  💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit  💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/165 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You’ve probably heard the phrase, “A book is a business card.” That’s because what you don’t hear is that a book is a wonderful revenue generator! It isn’t — at least not directly. The extreme Time-to-Revenue Ratio of writing and marketing a book is not for the faint of heart, unless the book connects directly to a larger part of your business model, serving as lead generation for more profitable products and services. Some interesting stats for you: Even the big behemoth, Penguin Random House, reports that just 35 percent of books they publish are profitable. Among those that make money, just 4 percent account for 60 percent of those profits. In 2021, fewer than one percent of the 3.2 million titles that BookScan tracked sold more than 5,000 copies. Continuing on last week’s conversation about the three different publishing options and how to choose which one is right for you, today I’m diving deep into the mysterious royalty waters. How do each of the three methods — self, hybrid, traditional — stack up? Listen in to find out. For more data points beyond my own examples, check out The Transparency Project’s Publishing Paid Me crowd-sourced spreadsheet with nearly 3,000 responses. 🌟4 Key Questions: Have you published a book before? How much cash (and free cash flow) do you have available? What is your creative vision? What is your timeline? 📝Permission: To take your time and try to take the pressure off. Keep marinating on your book idea, and trust that you’ll be shown what to do with the process. ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Reach out to your network to schedule 20-minute chats with authors (friends-of-friends) who have taken each of these three routes.   📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One  Life After College The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever by Michael Bungay Stanier Turning the Flywheel: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great by Jim Collins 🔗Resources Mentioned: Articles: A Trial Put Publishing’s Inner Workings on Display. What Did We Learn?, The Random House Antitrust Suit Revealed How Out of it Book Publishers Really Are Self- and Hybrid Publishers: Page Two, Running Press Publishing, Portfolio Publishing, Ideapress Publishing, Amazon CreateSpace Calculator: When do I earn out? (Jane Friedman's calculator for traditional book deals) 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  103: How to Land a Literary Agent and Publisher with David Moldawer (Part One) 105: “Don’t write the wrong book!” with David Moldawer (Part Two) 077: Happy Launch Day! Antonio Neves Guest Hosts (Part 1) and (Part 2) 158: How to Decide on a Book (or Big Idea) Topic—10 Filters 162: Should You Self-Publish? (Part One) Pivot 207: How to Develop Your Book and Big Idea (Part 1) and 208: Your Book and Big Idea (Part 2) 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe »  🌟 Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️ Join Jenny’s private BFF community 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/164 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Prolific punchy pontificator Khe Hy—creator of the $10K work accelerator and Supercharge Your Productivity—returns to the pod to share his strategy for collecting inspiring content, repackaging interesting tidbits, and regularly hitting “publish” on his newsletter, RadReads.  Today we’re talking about idea kernels: micro-ideas that can be elaborated upon and turned into different kinds of content that help you connect with your audience and your fellow creators. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out Khe’s earlier episode on 129: The $10K Work Framework. More About Khe: Khe Hy is the founder and CEO of RadReads, an online education company that helps professionals lead productive, examined, and joyful lives. Khe is the creator of the $10K Work productivity method and teaches the popular cohort-based course Supercharge Your Productivity. RadReads provides guides, trainings, and coaching for over 36,000 professionals to help them gain back free time, scale their impact and make their little dent in the universe. 🌟3 Key Takeaways: If you’re collaborating on making content, create rules for decision-making that your team members can follow. Are you telling yourself any stories that aren’t serving you? For example, can you only be a certain kind of creative or productive at a certain time or under certain conditions? Are they really true? If you have a large enough audience, social media sites, like Twitter and IG, can be a great place to test idea kernels. The feedback is immediate and can help you decide whether or not to develop a small idea further, repurposing it in a style best suited to the different platforms.  📝Permission: To not be consistent. If that consistency bugaboo takes over, it can suck the life out of the process for you. When you get stuck, create content based on kernels from other people's work to help them gain more visibility and to build a deeper relationship with them. ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Set yourself up to find idea kernels that resonate with your audience by looking at what they’re consuming: their top ten podcasts or YouTube channels or Substacks. Follow the fun and look at what is interesting to you as well.  📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It by Michael E. Gerber 🔗Resources Mentioned: Khe on the web, Twitter, LinkedIn Courses: Supercharge Your Productivity, $10K Work Accelerator Articles: The Magic of Doing $10,000 Per Hour Work, How to be the Chief Unblocking Officer, CNN: Meet Khe He, the Oprah for Millennials 🎧Related Podcast Episodes: 129: The $10K Work Framework with Khe Hy and Pivot 313: What’s the pebble in your shoe? Pivoting from Wall Street to RadReads with Khe Hy Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy interview with John Mayer 156: 8 Idea Generation Strategies and 124: JB’s 5 C’s System for Content Curation 137: Attracting Clients Through TikTok (without Letting the Algorithm Drive You) with Inna Aizenshtein 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️ Join Jenny’s private BFF community for access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners.  💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit  💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/163 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Should you self-publish? This is a big debate among aspiring authors, and there is no one right answer. Today I’m sharing my take on the three main publishing options you have to get a book into the world:  Self-publishing (including direct-to-ebook or audiobook) where you hire your own team of specialists along the way. Hybrid where you partner with an established publisher, while fronting the costs as an author (for the team they assemble and either print-on-demand or funding a larger print run), and  Traditional publishing with one of the “Big Five” publishing houses, where they give you an advance, and you get the cache of making it through the “gatekeeper” gauntlet. 🌟6 Key Considerations: Cash Flow Your Business Model Quality Speed Team & Process Platform size, connections, and “know that I tried” 📝Permission: Take one small next step towards publishing your book. Remember, you are a messenger. When you get overwhelmed, return to asking, “What is in the highest good for all involved? How can I move forward with ease and joy?” ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Check out the Author Toolkit, then draft a one-page query email highlighting the answers to: why me, why now, why this book, and your platform stats.  📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One  Life After College Published.: The Proven Path From Blank Page To 10,000 Copies Sold by Chandler Bolt Write Useful Books: A Modern Approach to Designing and Refining Recommendable Nonfiction by Rob Fitzpatrick Write a Must-Read: Craft a Book That Changes Lives—Including Your Own by A.J. Harper 🔗Resources Mentioned: Free Time’s Author Toolkit Article: New York Times’ How to Get Published—One Book’s Journey Related Podcasts: Self Publishing School, The Creative Penn Podcast Publishers: Page Two, Running Press Publishing, Portfolio Publishing, Ideapress Publishing, Amazon CreateSpace Audiobook Publishing: ACX, Findaway Voices 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  103: How to Land a Literary Agent and Publisher with David Moldawer (Part One) 105: “Don’t write the wrong book!” with David Moldawer (Part Two) 077: Happy Launch Day! Antonio Neves Guest Hosts (Part 1) 079: Behind the Launch with Antonio Neves (Part 2) 096: Book Sales Stats—One Month Post-Launch 🎉 028: When the Financial Tides Recede 045: Behind the Free Time Brand with Adam Chaloeicheep 158: How to Decide on a Book (or Big Idea) Topic—10 Filters 070: Rough Drafts vs. The Writers Room 035: The Long Game with Dorie Clark 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe »  🌟 Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️ Join Jenny’s private BFF community for access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners.  💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/162 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Processing email and social media inboxes is overwhelming enough for one person — can you imagine creating an entire company to help entrepreneurs do this at scale?! Communication curmudgeon that I am, I most certainly cannot. That’s why I invited today’s guest, Yaro Starek, to share the systems and approaches behind Inbox Done, his company that helps clients tame the never-ending email beast. More About Yaro: Yaro Starak is the co-founder of InboxDone.com, an email management company with a team of 45+ serving clients, including restaurant owners, venture capitalists, accountants, doctors, lawyers, real estate agents, car retailers, online coaches, and more. He is the host of the Vested Capital podcast, author of Blog Profits BluePrint, and angel investor. Yaro has been featured in SkyNews, Forbes, Entrepreneur Magazine, Huffington Post, Business Insider, Foundr, and hundreds of media outlets and events. 🌟3 Key Takeaways: Yaro believes it’s best to have two team members entirely dedicated to email, not just a fraction of one VA’s time, which often just replicates the problems you have with staying on top of it yourself. Build in redundancy for handling communications.  Determine where you most want to receive different kinds of information such as daily summaries, details about leads and inquiries, personal matters, time sensitive client requests, etc — then create SOPs for how you get the information you need where you can most easily deal with it.  If your inbox is your to-do list then you are at risk of two things: You will not be able to fully delegate it, and it might not be the best way to prioritize your work. 📝Permission: To be involved in — not responsible for — your inbox. ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Check out Jenny’s Stuck Email Categories template and start observing what the most common types of emails are (and subsequent processes to document) that you might be able to delegate in the future.  📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Blog Profits Blue Print by Yaro Starak A World Without Email by Cal Newport Unsubscribe by Jocelyn Glei The Tyranny of Email by John Freeman 🔗Resources Mentioned: Yaro on the web, Instagram: @yarostarak, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook InboxDone.com Yaro’s podcast: Vested Capital and course: Laptop Lifestyle Academy Article: How To Hire, Test And Train A Virtual Assistant To Handle Your Email  Tools: Yesware, SaneBox, Calendly, HelpScout (what JB uses for team emails), HubSpot, Slack 🎧Related Podcast Episodes: 002: Eliminate Email with Cal Newport 006: Going Pro on Podcasting with Jordan Harbinger 019: Most Valuable Activities with Dave Crenshaw 145: Tips for Training Part-Time Team Members with Kaneisha Grayson 104: Save Someone Next Steps 035: The Long Game with Dorie Clark and Pivot 298: Networking in a New Niche and Becoming Broadway Investors with Dorie Clark and Alisa Cohn 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️ Join Jenny’s private BFF community for access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners.  💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit  💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/161 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do you ever feel like you’re just not good with systems? If so, then this episode is for you. The more efficient we can be in our operations, the more time we can set free. Today, I’m sharing five questions to keep in mind while working to increase your awareness for potential automation opportunities. Automation is a skill, and this episode will help you get better at it. For more help and inspiration as you set your time free in 2023, I encourage you to join us in BFF, my private community. If you join before March, you’ll be in time for a special workshop on Trademarking and IP with a Heart-Based Business attorney. Learn more and enroll at ItsFreeTime.com/BFF. Apply promo code PODCAST for 50% off your first month. 🌟Five Questions to Get Better at Spotting Automation Opportunities: Does this repeat? Is something falling through the cracks? Would more communication help? Is my data centralized where I can reference it easily? Do I need two or more different software tools to talk to each other? Bonus: What can I put on subscription? 📝Permission: Not to be a software expert or an engineer!  ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Become an observer: Where are you repeating yourself? What’s falling through the cracks? Where would extra reminders be helpful? Get creative and start automating more! 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling 🔗Resources Mentioned: Free Time Toolkit and Quiz BFF Community Free Time Operations Dashboard Subscriptions: Trade Coffee, Lola, Factor Tools: Kajabi, Zapier, Notion, HelpScout, Slack, TripIt Pro, Typeform, Squarespace 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  062: Made By Monday 🐸 On Content "Frog" Batching 156: 8 Idea Generation Strategies 102: 12 Systems-Thinking Steps for Moving from Friction to Flow 094: Top 5 Tools That Power My Business 088: Why I Moved from Asana to Notion for Task and Project Management 148: How to Build a Business Operations Dashboard 125: How to Create Your Own CRM with Alex Sherwood 018: Workcation in the City Pivot 077: 21+ Travel Tips, Tools and Apps — with Jenny Blake 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe »  🌟 Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️ Join Jenny’s private BFF community for access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners.  💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/160 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Juggling a schedule for one person is tricky enough; for a two-entrepreneur household with kids, it’s another thing altogether! Learn how Jess and Dave make time for each other, for themselves, and for their deep work in today’s conversation about creating free time together as a family. More About Jessica: Jessica Marati Radparvar is a social impact strategist motivated by the belief that doing the right thing should be as easy as humanly possible. She is the founder of Reconsidered, a boutique consultancy and content platform that helps impact leaders drive bigger, bolder, more sustainable change. More About Dave: Dave Radparvar is an entrepreneur, father, and amateur skateboarder. In 2009, he co-founded Holstee, a company that offers inspiration and tools to help you live a more meaningful life. In 2020, he co-founded Reflection.app, a guided digital journal for mental wellness. Dave lives in Amsterdam with Jess and their son Shilo. 🌟3 Key Takeaways: Revisit things that don’t feel right. As you and your company grow, regularly check in to see what feels right and what should stop or change. Clear communication and clarity around task ownership make it much easier to anticipate and enjoy the work you are in charge of. Is the best or right thing to do also the easiest one? Think about how you want to show up for your business and family; block time in advance for what matters most individually and as a unit. 📝Permission: Jess says, “For entrepreneurs who are new parents: accept where you are in your journey, you might not be able to accomplish everything you used to be able to. Be compassionate and loving to yourself. This time is temporary.” From Dave, “Do the things for yourself in the morning that set you up for mental and physical wellness. Work can wait until you have spent some time on what makes you feel happy and energized.” ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Give yourself, or your business, a haircut. What is no longer working or serving you? Find something that needs to go or change to make room for something new. (Or just enjoy a new look!) 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life Admin: How I Learned to Do Less, Do Better, and Live More by Elizabeth Emens 🔗Resources Mentioned: Jessica on the web, Twitter, LinkedIn Dave on the web, Twitter, LinkedIn Holstee Reflection.app Reconsidered: Newsletter, courses, private LinkedIn group Newsletter: Dense Discovery People: David Goggins, MBS, Sarah Peck’s Startup Parent 🎧Related Podcast Episodes: 143: Exploring Time, Money, and Energy Capacity with Tara McMullin and Charlie Gilkey (Replay) 141: Process, Permission Slips, and Business Pivots with Tara McMullin 157: Downshifting to a Delightfully Part-Team Team with Laura Roeder 093: How to Sell Your Online Business with Alexis Grant 104: Save Someone Next Steps 098: How to Build Your Minimum Viable Team (MVT) 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️ Join Jenny’s private BFF community for access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners.  💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit  💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/159 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of the most common questions from those accessing the Author Toolkit (an assembly of my best-open-sourced templates and processes from 14+ years and three books) is a variation on: How can I decide on a topic? How do I narrow down my idea? How do I know if/when I have landed on the right idea? Today I’m sharing ten filters to help you narrow down your book idea — or, if you’re not an aspiring author, perhaps your next “big IP” area that will best serve your body of work, your business, and your future audience.  🌟10 Filters: How do I decide on a book topic? BookRx: Does it solve a problem people know they have? Would two friends at the coffee shop talk about the idea the way I’m describing it?  Is it evergreen for the market? Will there always be new people interested in the topic? Is it evergreen for me? Will I be able to maintain interest in the idea over time? Is it specific and yet still a big idea? It needs to be unique enough to attract attention and broad enough to have a large audience. Is it missing, or has it already been done? Some topics are more crowded than others, so spend some time researching other books and authors. Is there a trend, a hook, a twist? What is my unique take on this topic, and how will it benefit my audience? Does it serve an audience I’m excited to attract? Who do I want to work with, and will the idea help you connect with them? Does it serve my broader business/career goals? How does the book fit into my business or career? Am I uniquely qualified/positioned? Do I have the expertise and background to create a book on this topic? Why me, why now, why this book? What is my platform? Do I have the reach and connections to make a business case for the book?  📝Permission: Ditch dull ideas! No matter how good (or should) they seem on paper. Stay committed—and surrender throughout the process—to ideas that make your heart sing. ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Once you’ve narrowed down your BookRx (or BigIdeaRx), create a one-pager answering: Why me? Why now? Why this book? What’s the timely hook or the unexpected twist? Bonus: Draft a mini-conversation about the problem it solves, with one friend lamenting to another over coffee, and the second one answering, “Ahhh, I know just the thing — you have to read this book!”  📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business, Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One  🔗Resources Mentioned: Free Time Author Toolkit Adrian Klaphaak’s Career Pathfinder Course (promo code PIVOT) Jenny’s LinkedIn Learning Courses 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  156: 8 Idea Generation Strategies 103: How to Land a Literary Agent and Publisher with David Moldawer (Part One) 105: “Don’t write the wrong book!” with David Moldawer (Part Two) 036: Shaping Big Ideas — Notion Walkthrough #2 038: Tracking Progress Toward Finishing a Book (or Big Idea) with an Essay Tracker — Notion Walkthrough #3 031: Eleventh-Hour Creative Gremlins Pivot 207: How to Develop Your Book and Big Idea (Part 1), 208: Your Book and Big Idea (Part 2) 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe »  🌟 Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️ Join Jenny’s private BFF community for access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners.  💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/158 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What type of business would you build if you no longer needed the money? After a life-changing exit from her previous company, Meet Edgar, Laura Roeder’s answer: a fun one.  She is now more focused than ever on building a business that is bootstrapped, agile, asynchronous, joyful for all involved, and powered by part-time team members who love what they do. In this conversation, we discuss why Laura downshifted from a structure with 30 full-time employees to one that’s leaner, saying no to the Business Ops Police, the perks of part-time team members (for you and them), and why “winner take all” markets are a myth. More About Laura: Laura Roeder is a lifelong entrepreneur and founder of several multi-million dollar bootstrapped companies. Her current two focuses are Paperbell and CoachCompare; prior to that, she built and sold MeetEdgar, co-founded Marie Forleo’s B-School, and ran LKR Social Media. 🌟3 Key Takeaways: Look for people who get tremendous satisfaction (even if not passion) from the work you need done. What types of problem-solving and projects do they find inherently fun? “Your business is your utopia” (Derek Sivers): The reason you work for yourself is to have greater control and freedom. “The inside of your business should be as beautiful as the outside.” How can you build systems and employ software that engenders a sense of relief for all involved? 📝Permission: To enjoy your business! Drop any shoulds you’re carrying from the Business Ops Police. ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Is your current software stack causing stress or making you sigh with relief? Make sure each tool is helping more than it’s hurting, replace any that aren’t, and even better still—see if any new tools can combine what separate ones are doing. 📘Books Mentioned:  Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel Pink Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't by Verne Harnish 🔗Resources Mentioned:  Laura on the web, Paperbell, CoachCompare, Instagram: @laurakroeder, Twitter, LinkedIn Article: Exactly How I Cold Emailed My Way to A Life-Changing Exit (and You Can Too) Videos: The Pre-launch Strategy That Built MeetEdgar a 100k List - Laura Roeder at Converted 2016, Laura Roeder: How She Grew MeetEdgar Into A Multi-million Dollar Business speaks at LTV Conf 2018 Tools: MixPanel, SalesForce, Meet Edgar, HelpScout, ClickUp, Notion, Dubsado, Kajabi, Practice, DuckDuckGo, Hootsuite Podcasts: Laura Roeder on They Got Acquired, Built to Sell #344: How to Make Your Email List Worth 7-Figures, The Art of Newsletters 069: Laura Roeder – Building the Best Brand in Your Niche 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  093: How to Sell Your Online Business with Alexis Grant 061: Scaling Boutique Businesses with Greg Alexander 145: Tips for Training Part-Time Team Members with Kaneisha Grayson 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit  💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/157 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I had high hopes for the first couple of weeks of the year, but I rang in 2023 in bed, completely uninspired by goals or ideas—anything beyond a desire to get healthy and feel human again, let alone any loftier business aims. Taking a (very loud) hint from the universe, I settled on the theme THRIVE as my focus to start the year. One of the most common replies to my “wave a magic wand and fix one thing in your business” question when people access the Free Time Toolkit is for help with idea generation. In a meta move—seeing as I was in need of those very strategies myself to create this episode—today I am sharing 8 of them here with you! Don’t forget, you can always share a question or your favorite time-saving system by leaving me a voice memo at http://itsfreetime.com/ask. 🌟8 Idea Generation Strategies: Maintain a collection bucket for when you’re reading, watching or have-on-the-go ideas.  What is true now? Look for Truth While It’s Fresh or Share When Solved moments. Always Be Listening (ABL). Systematize your listening through forms and ongoing input. Synthesis: Introduce a new concept by fusing different ideas together through metaphor. Be a contrarian: What is everyone talking about right now, and what is your take? What tropes or industry cliches drive you crazy?  Be a trend spotter: What is happening now that you have a heightened sensitivity to? Get quiet: What can come through only me? How can I serve as a messenger?  📝Permission: Lean on your audience and friends when creatively stuck. Explicitly ask for Q&A submissions, or get quiet and tap into the collective consciousness to create what you most need to hear in this moment. What’s the “love letter” you want to write or say if you were sitting across from one of your business besties (or your ideal reader or listener) in a coffee shop? ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Create an “always be listening” form (or field on an existing form asking about your audience’s biggest question or challenge) if you don’t already have one. For more on this, get your copy of Free Time and check out Chapter 13!  📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One  How to Take Smart Notes: One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and Thinking by Sönke Ahrens Building a Second Brain: A Proven Method to Organize Your Digital Life and Unlock Your Creative Potential by Tiago Forte The Way to Wealth: Ben Franklin on Money and Success by Benjamin Franklin (Benjamin Franklin) 🔗Resources Mentioned: Free Time Toolkit, Free Time Operations Dashboard Videos: Matthew Dicks’ TEDxBerkshires Talk: Homework for Life, Curb Your Enthusiasm: Bad Middling YouTube Channel: The Deep Life with Cal Newport Article: New Yorkers Sick of Being Sick Notion web clipper: https://www.notion.so/web-clipper Jenny’s Loom walkthrough on Notion, and Notion for Collection Buckets 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  111: Building a Second Brain with Tiago Forte 142: 🍉 Pick the Low-Hanging Watermelon 124: JB’s 5 C’s System for Content Curation and Production 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe »  🌟 Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️ Join Jenny’s private BFF community for access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners.  💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/156 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What’s the right thing to do, and how do we do it quickly? In this conversation with Strategy Sprints founder Simon Severino, we cover: Why you shouldn’t start with your ideal avatar; setting daily, weekly, and monthly strategy planning (and measuring) habits; how he scales his business through certified Strategy Sprints® Coaches; creating self-healing loops, and greater resilience by tying roles to revenue. More About Simon: Simon Severino helps business owners in SaaS and services discover how to be able to run their company more efficiently, which results in sales that soar. Simon is the CEO and founder of Strategy Sprints which is a global team of certified Strategy Sprints® Coaches that offers a customized strategy to help clients gain market share and work in weekly sprints, which results in fast execution. He is also the host of the Strategy Sprints podcast, a Forbes Business Council Member, an Entrepreneur Magazine contributor, and a Duke Corporate Education member. 🌟3 Key Takeaways: A 90-day sprint consists of 12 one-week sprints, each with 3 key measurement goals: one each for sales, operations, and marketing. Work backward to determine your ideal avatar: start helping people solve problems, then review what was the most fun and the most profitable. To build a lean, resilient process that can scale easily, make sure to establish self-healing loops and self-correcting mechanisms — with costs coming directly from profits, rather than being front-loaded. 📝Permission: Drop the idea that you have to do more. You don’t. Follow your process, and good things will result.   ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Think about your next 90 days and identify daily, weekly and monthly habits you want to institute. Bonus: choose one numerical goal for each of the three key categories: marketing, sales, and operations. 📘Books Mentioned:  Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Strategy Sprints: 12 Ways to Accelerate Growth for an Agile Business by Simon Severino Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days by Jake Knapp Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business by Gino Wickman It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at Work by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson The Road Less Stupid: Advice from the Chairman of the Board by Keith J. Cunningham 🔗Resources Mentioned:  Simon on the web, IG: @strategysprints, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook Simon’s Podcast: Strategy Sprints Jenny’s 2-Day Strategy Sprint Template ISO Certification 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  061: Scaling Boutique Businesses with Greg Alexander 016: IP Licensing with Lee LeFever 140: How to License Your IP (Intellectual Property) 122: My Top 5 Sources of Recurring Revenue Pivot: 126: How We Ran Our 2-Day Strategy Sprint (with Template)   💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️ You’re invited! Join Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit  💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/155 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As I shared in last week’s solo episode, Free Time isn’t about time management or productivity, or even simply doing work more efficiently. It is about setting time free.  If our time is trapped like a bird in a cage, unless we break free of shoulds and obligations, there it will remain. We achieve this through smarter systems, and that includes getting better at saying no.  My own tendency to say yes — in an effort to be liked, to please others, to be accommodating, or even to continue trying to “do right” by my work in promoting it — leads to burnout and resentment when to many “yeses” create time confetti and tiredness. In this episode, I’m sharing strategies that I’ve picked up along the way for doing the very hard thing of disappointing others by saying no.  🌟 Key Takeaways Do’s: Ask, “Is my focus done?”, create blanket rules, celebrate space, trust in timing and your own inner compass Don’ts: Punt something you don’t actually want to do to your future self, spend too many thinking cycles mulling a decision, beat yourself up, cave to FOMO 📝Permission: Treat indecision as the decision that it often is: no! Separate the guilt or shoulds you feel from what your intuition is saying to you. Would you initiate this request with joy, unprompted, or are you saying yes out of obligation?    ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Craft a graceful reply for a decision you’re facing, and don’t over-explain or defend your decision. Save your “graceful no” replies in the same place (I use Notion and TextExpander) so that you can return to them when facing the next tough no.  📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Unsubscribe: How to Kill Email Anxiety, Avoid Distractions, and Get Real Work Done by Jocelyn K. Glei Drop the Ball: Achieving More by Doing Less by Tiffany Dufu 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  152: Do Less — On Entropic Bloat and Business Haircuts 141: Process, Permission Slips, and Business Pivots with Tara McMullin 052: Perceived Capacity vs. Actual Capacity 106: Splatology—On Clearing Time Clutter Pivot: 293: 🍝 Are you a Spaghetti-Twirler or a Spaghetti-Thrower? 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe »  🌟 Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️ Join Jenny’s private BFF community for access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners.  💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/154 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Imagine my surprise when, on the Saturday before I was set to be interviewed on a podcast last summer, my phone dings. It’s Door Dash. Huh?! I didn’t order anything . . . Turns out it was a surprise delivery from the producer of that show, Matthew Thompson. Next thing I know, my husband Michael and I are enjoying iced coffee and yummy treats with our Sunday morning reading—I have never felt so taken care of prior to guesting on a podcast! That’s Matt, and he’s all class (not to mention a fellow systems aficionado). When he suggested we flip the mic to talk more about my podcasting process, I leaped to say yes :) We talk about increasing the surface area of serendipity, saving time, improving interview quality with pre-surveys, and what we both learned from conducting three-month daily podcasting sprints. More About Matt: Producer Matt helps entrepreneurs around the world unlock the power of podcasting. Over the last five years, he's built a system that protects founders from the pain of podcasting so they can focus on having conversations that add value, build relationships and grow their business. Email him here » 🌟3 Key Takeaways: Be discerning about diminishing returns. If your content doesn’t feel perfect, how much effort would it be to make the tweaks and changes you need, and is it really worth it for the difference in outcome you would get? If you have a podcast, transcribe your episodes and make sure that those transcripts are easily searchable so that you can quickly review your podcasting history for guests, key ideas, and quotations.  Thoughtfully giving gifts to guests can be a small investment in your process that pays huge dividends in your relationships. Consider how a gift can help digitally replicate some of your experiences in real life.   ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Review your tech stack: Look at the different tools and software you use to run your business and see if there have been any updates, changes to functionality, or new integrations you might be able to use to save yourself time and clicks.    📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect  🔗Resources Mentioned:  Matthew on the web, Best of Belfast podcast Tools:Notion, Descript, Zapier, Hourglass gift, Auphonic, Riverside.fm, Yeti Nano mic, Elevate coaching with Jay Acunzo, Loom walkthrough of Jenny’s podcast production process 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  Best of Belfast podcast: Amilra De Silva on Serendipity & the Chemistry of Everything, Isabel Woods: The 93-Year-Old Record-Breaking Cyclist Depression Cure podcast: ADHD 101: Superpowers, Myths & Unexpected Causes 130: Day in the Life of a Podcast Episode and How I Prepare for Guests Pivot 197: Should You Start a Podcast? "It's A Love Game" — Interview by Petra Kolber Pivot 300! 🎉 3 Creative Lessons Learned from 7+ Years of Podcasting  Pivot 41: The Progress Paradox with Gregg Easterbrook Pivot 307: Pivoting from Google to Starting People Playbook with Tony McGaharan   💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit  ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/153 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As I share in Free Time, nowhere is entropy more visually evident than in older homes or ones in nature. I remember staying at a cabin in the Catskills, where I could see right before my eyes all forms of plants and animals encroaching on the once-pristine house.  Without upkeep, a dead tree teetered precariously toward the roof, weeds started overtaking the grass, spiders made themselves comfortable in bathroom corners, giant carpenter ants traversed the kitchen counters, and we spotted a garden snake crawling into the crevices of the outdoor hot tub. Entropy, defined as a gradual decline into disorder, is intrinsic to all organic systems, and it’s happening in your business, too. In this episode, I’m talking about entropic bloat and why we need to actively decide to do less, giving our business regular “haircuts” along the way. 🌟 Key Takeaway: Due to entropic bloat, you need to actively eliminate aspects of your business that are no longer serving you. Ways to give your business a haircut: Raise prices Stop doing custom proposals Don’t negotiate Reset your boundaries Sell only one flagship product or service  Aggressively block your calendar Choose two focus areas for the year Tighten your filter Say no more, even when you’re excited Rethink contract terms Create content assets Shut down stale services Double check: eliminate before you delegate Create automations that eliminate future steps and friction 📝Permission: To be selfish in service of your business. Do less so you can say yes to producing more of your best work — the work you’ll look back on at the end of the year and be most proud of. ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Conduct an audit of all the projects and recurring tasks you have delegated to team members in your business and reconsider if they should be done at all. 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Unsubscribe: How to Kill Email Anxiety, Avoid Distractions, and Get Real Work Done by Jocelyn K. Glei Overwhelmed: Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time by Brigid Schulte What Works: A Comprehensive Framework to Change the Way We Approach Goal Setting by Tara McMullin Drop the Ball: Achieving More by Doing Less by Tiffany Dufu Do Less: A Revolutionary Approach to Time and Energy Management for Ambitious Women by Kate Northrup 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  141: Process, Permission Slips, and Business Pivots with Tara McMullin 143: Exploring Time, Money, and Energy Capacity with Tara McMullin and Charlie Gilkey 091: Quarterly Planning with Charlie Gilkey 140: How to License Your IP (Intellectual Property) 052: Perceived Capacity vs. Actual Capacity 106: Splatology—On Clearing Time Clutter 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe »  🌟 Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️ Join Jenny’s private BFF community for access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners.  💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/152 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If life is a circus, then maybe there’s a way to get better at performing in it. As Laura shares in this conversation about ways to calm time chaos, “Nobody gets shot out of a cannon at the wrong time in a circus . . . it’s a miracle of precision.” In this week’s episode, you will learn how to shift from a sense of time scarcity to spacious serenity, how to overcome “horror vacui” and guilt when creating a more open schedule, the importance of margin and creating back-up slots (”rain dates”) for building a resilient a calendar, and committing to time that’s just for you. More About Laura: Laura Vanderkam is the author of several time management and productivity books, including Off the Clock, I Know How She Does It, What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast, and 168 Hours, and her newest book, Tranquility by Tuesday: 9 Ways to Calm the Chaos and Make Time for What Matters. She hosts two podcasts Best of Both Worlds and Before Breakfast. Her 2016 TED talk, How to Gain Control of Your Free Time has been viewed more than 12 million times. 🌟3 Key Takeaways: Plan on Fridays: Create a 3-category priority list for the upcoming week for career, relationships, self. Create back-up slots: Build in “rain dates” for important events makes it more likely they will happen, even when unexpected events arise. Laura’s mantra, ‘If I plan tight, then light.’ Having space in a schedule is the psychological equivalent of sitting on a large emergency fund.” Do effortful fun Before effortless fun: When you get an unexpectedly free moment, make the effort to do something more meaningful to you than screen time on social media or Netflix. As Laura says, “Daydreaming counts, whereas wasted time is time spent mindlessly on things we don’t care about.” 📝Permission: Give up the idea that you need to book yourself solid and that the busier you are, the more important you are. Leave room for things to come up, whether they are interesting ideas or full-blown opportunities.  ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: List some activities you’d like to do regularly. Choose one for the next week and aim to tick the “three times a week is a habit” box. Bonus: Create a 100 Dreams list with items large and small. Super bonus: Take one night (or full day!) just for you, just for fun. No working, care-taking, or people-pleasing for anyone else. 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Off the Clock: Feel Less Busy While Getting More Done Tranquility by Tuesday: 9 Ways to Calm the Chaos and Make Time for What Matters 🔗Resources Mentioned:  Laura on the web, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook Laura’s Podcasts: Best of Both Worlds, Before Breakfast Articles: Laura’s NYT Op-Ed — There’s a Better Way to Reclaim Your Time Than ‘Quiet Quitting’ TED Talk: How to gain control of your free time 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  003: Liberate Your Life Force with Christine Arylo 027: Time Management for Mortals with Oliver Burkeman  123: “Pricing is Branding” — Anti-Time Management with Richie Norton   💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit  💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/151 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome Deep Questions with Cal Newport listeners! I had so much fun recording the "Help me do less!" episode — check it out here if you haven't already :) This episode originally aired on January 7, 2022. 🎁 We're bringing back BOGOGO! Give the gift of free time to yourself and others in the new year by participating in our Buy One, Get One, Give One bonus—back for a limited time. Here's how it works: Buy One: Order the hardcover edition and submit proof of purchase at http://itsfreetime.com/bogogo Get One: Within one business day, you'll get audiobook access via private feed and the Free Time Toolkit Give One: You will get details on how to gift audiobook access to a friend :) [ 03:28 ] Shifting from specific goals toward surrender, surprise, and serendipity [ 06:07 ] The problem with the Druckerism that "You can't manage what you don't measure" [ 06:49 ] Why I find systems much more motivating; Scott Adams on goal-setting people vs. systems people [ 08:07 ] James Clear: "You don't rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems." [ 10:45 ] Book sales as an example of balancing intention, vision, and systems [ 13:48 ] Setting a compass for the year ahead — Healthy, Wealthy, Wise, and Grateful — did I add something to every bucket every day? [ 16:15 ] Also experimenting with Traction's EOS with my team by creating a weekly metrics scorecard so we can run split tests and improve our systems [ 18:00 ] Closing reflection questions and Thoreau quote 📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One How to Be, Do, or Have Anything Outrageous Openness How to Fail at Almost Anything and Still Win Big Atomic Habits Traction 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Author Toolkit Scott Adams on The Tim Ferriss Show James Clear on Brené Brown's Dare to Lead podcast: Part 1, Part 2 Featured on CNBC: Kick-start your new year with a mind map like this Adele on Oprah: "It was never about losing weight. I'm an athlete." 🎙 Related Episodes: 012: Generating Personal MBA Momentum with Josh Kaufman Check out the full Free Time podcast archives here » 🎁 Give yourself (and a friend) the gift of Free Time as we head into 2022: Preorder and submit proof of purchase to get early access to the audiobook as part of the Buy One, Get One, Give One holiday bonus! ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, along with a private feed and community forum for Heart-Based Business Owners.. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/056 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"I never serve from my reserves" is just one of countless gems from one of my wisest friends, Christine Arylo. It is time for us to unhook from the over-culture operating system that produces burnout. Christine teaches us how to lead from the heart with a “pace of grace” by changing our relationship to time, energy, and flow (focus + fluidity). This episode originally aired on March 21, 2021. More about Christine: For more than a decade, through her transformation-based consulting company, Expanding Possibility, Christine Arylo has been a catalyst, mentor, and advisor for established and emerging leaders on 6 continents. The author of three previous bestsellers, her latest book is Overwhelmed and Over It: Embrace Your Power to Stay Centered and Sustained in a Chaotic World. ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener supported—consider donating to become a podcast Insider and you’ll get access to a private monthly Q&A call with Jenny. 📘 Books Mentioned: Pivot, Overwhelmed and Over It, Choosing ME Before WE, Madly in Love with ME, Reform Your Inner Mean Girl 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Christine on the web, Instagram: christinearylo, Podcast: Feminine Power Time, Am I Overgiving? Quiz: Overwhelmed & Over It Self Care Quiz 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com 💸 Enroll in the Mini-Course: Free-up Founder Time 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts: http://pod.link/freetime 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! http://itsfreetime.com/episodes/003 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Free Time for Your Future Self: For any area of your business that causes friction, run through these systems-thinking questions to inspire small steps today that will save time far into the future.  This is from our BFF community’s private feed, with an excerpt from the Free Time book and toolkit. If you want to join a group of smart, heart-centered, generous and successful business owners who are committed to our “take a penny, leave a penny” Brilliance Barter philosophy, I encourage you to learn more and join us! This episode originally aired on June 17, 2022. 🎁 We're bringing back BOGOGO! Give the gift of free time to yourself and others in the new year by participating in our Buy One, Get One, Give One bonus—back for a limited time. Here's how it works: Buy One: Order the hardcover edition and submit proof of purchase at http://itsfreetime.com/bogogo Get One: Within one business day, you'll get audiobook access via private feed and the Free Time Toolkit Give One: You will get details on how to gift audiobook access to a friend :) 🌟3 Key Takeaways: Prioritize designing processes for the critical systems in your business, and let the ‘nice to have’ systems be good enough for now.  Break your calcified habits by stepping back (or jumping back in!) and looking at your processes with fresh eyes at least twice a year. Freeing time is a muscle we build. It takes practice and adopting a way of thinking about how you document and delegate. 📝Permission: To take a break or a walk. Solutions to our most vexing challenges don’t often come to us while we’re sitting at our desk, so get up and drop a bucket into the wishing well of your brain, then trust that it will pop up with solutions when it’s time!  ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: If this, then what? For friction area in your business, consider what the trigger action is, what next step needs to happen first, and whether it can be automated through a service like Zapier.  📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business, Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One  🔗 Resources Mentioned:  Free Time Toolkit, Private BFF Community Automation tools: Zapier, IFTTT Publishing Company: Get it Done Related Podcast Episodes:  002: Eliminate Email with Cal Newport 042: How I Run My Business Without Social Media (Pivot Replay) 062: Made By Monday 🐸 On Content "Frog" Batching 092: Train the System, Then the Person 101: Run Your Business with Exquisite Greatness and Tiny Art Projects with Alexandra Franzen  Pivot 076: On Plan Z, Creative Finish Lines and the Graceful No—with Alexandra Franzen Pivot 183: Cultivating Opposites and Checklists with Alexandra Franzen 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe »  ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, a private feed, and access to a community forum with fellow Heart-Based Business Owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/tools 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/102 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is your relationship to information? Scattered and chaotic, or clear and navigable? Do you have streamlined systems for saving, distilling, and crafting original thought-leadership from what you encounter and store, or are you stuck when it comes time to create order from the chaos? Our guest this week, Tiago Forte, is here to teach you how to develop a second brain—a mindset that transcends toolset—through information-wrangling habits that will change the way you think and create. This episode originally aired on July 19, 2022. More About Tiago: Tiago Forte is a leading productivity expert who has taught thousands of people around the world how timeless principles and the latest technology can revolutionize their productivity, creativity, and personal effectiveness. Today we’re talking about his new book, Building a Second Brain: A Proven Method to Organize Your Digital Life and Unlock Your Creative Potential. Learn more at Fortelabs.co, and subscribe to his Building a Second Brain podcast. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways: Building a Second Brain is not about any one piece of software; it is about acquiring a new set of tools in your relationship to information, such as the practice of distilling marginalia or highlights after you read a book or clipping articles you find interesting even if you don’t plan to do anything with them yet. Apply the “campsite rule” to information in your business—leave notes better than you found them. You can do this by adding things like commentary, highlights, bullets a heading, etc. “Only start projects that are already 80 percent done.” By the time you sit down to make progress on something, all the work to gather and organize the source material should already be done. 📝 Permission: Not to be everywhere on all channels. Pick just one place that best fits your personality and style. Treat that channel as a place for your unique artistic expression. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: What do people ask you about most? Build out an FAQ by answering that question thoroughly, and posting it somewhere on your website, in Google Docs, or Notion. Then send future inquirers the link instead of one-off email messages. 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Building a Second Brain 🔗Resources Mentioned:  Tiago on the web, Instagram: @fortelabsco, Twitter, LinkedIn Building a Second Brain Book Resources Building a Second Brain Course Tools Mentioned: Readwise, Notion, Evernote, Instapaper, Pocket, Loom 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  034: Organizing Research and Ideas - Notion Walkthrough #1 036: Shaping Big Ideas - Notion Walkthrough #2 038: Tracking Progress Toward Finishing a Book (or Big Idea) with an Essay Tracker - Notion Walkthrough #3 101: Run Your Business with Exquisite Greatness and Tiny Art Projects with Alexandra Franzen Pivot 135: The Bliss Engine with Jim Blake (aka Daddy-O!) Pivot 281: Feeling Impostery? Become a Qualified Curator Instead of an Expert Pivot 183: Cultivating Opposites and Checklists with Alexandra Franzen   💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit  💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/111 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This best of episode is a replay of the 100th episode of this show since launching on March 21, 2021. I gave myself the tricky task of pairing down the top ten lessons learned this last year and a half. I wish I could’ve pulled an excerpt from every single guest, but alas! These are the lessons that stuck most, sparking new insights and ahas.  This episode originally aired June 10, 2022. 🎁 We're bringing back BOGOGO! Give the gift of free time to yourself and others in the new year by participating in our Buy One, Get One, Give One bonus—back for a limited time. Here's how it works: Buy One: Order the hardcover edition and submit proof of purchase at http://itsfreetime.com/bogogo Get One: Within one business day, you'll get audiobook access via private feed and the Free Time Toolkit Give One: You will get details on how to gift audiobook access to a friend :) ✨ Top Ten Lessons from 💯 Episodes ✨ #1: See yourself as a star performer, and challenge yourself to delegate ever-more of the rest. [01:54] 006: Going Pro on Podcasting with Jordan Harbinger 011: Pitching Shark Tank with Sarah Apgar 019: Most Valuable Activities with Dave Crenshaw #2: Focus on building process, not reactive replies, to reduce incoming noise. [04:39] 002: Eliminate Email with Cal Newport #3: An abundance mindset is bigger than money; remember, we are “Funded by Source.” [07:27] 029: Funded By Source with Ksenia Avdulova #4: Zoom out to see brand as an investment, not a cost. [09:53] 005: Brand Obsessed with Emily Heyward 045: Behind the Free Time Brand with Adam Chaloeicheep 093: How to Sell Your Online Business with Alexis Grant #5: Build redundancy by stepping back from being the bottleneck; if you’re running a “body shop” find ways to leverage your IP to create greater scale and reach. [14:24] 057: You vs. You 2.0 with MBS 061: Scaling Boutique Businesses with Greg Alexander #6: Say no to people-pleasing and invitations that don’t spark joy. [19:57] 003: Liberate Your Life Force with Christine Arylo 035: The Long Game with Dorie Clark 071: Cues - On Charisma with Vanessa Van Edwards #7: Go beyond a launch project (after which energy inevitably fizzles) to create a more sustainable sales system. [24:59] 012: Generating Personal MBA Momentum with Josh Kaufman #8: Buyer’s remorse is inevitable; create a strategic plan and supporting processes to address it. [26:43] 083: Breaking through Buyer’s Remorse—Never Lose a Customer Again with Joey Coleman #9: You’re doing extra work if you’re not creating evergreen email sequences! Save your best newsletters as part of an ongoing welcome series for new subscribers. [29:45] 069: Epic Evergreen Email Sequences with Allan Dib #10: When it comes to taking risks and taking on new projects, don’t worry about competition: ask what’s safe to try, and remember that there is room for you. [33:05] 081: DAOing and Prioritizing Progress over Perfection with Aaron Dignan 089: Is the Podcast Market Too Saturated? Featuring Megan Dougherty of One Stone Creative 📝 Permission: To keep hitting publish on your projects and ongoing public original thinking, no matter how awkward or imperfect.  📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business, Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One  💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe »  💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/tools 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/100 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How has Alexandra Franzen built two thriving businesses without social media? By delivering work with a quality I like to call “exquisite greatness.” She treats every marketing initiative like a tiny art project, something to get excited about rather than a draining chore to dread—and no, it doesn’t require social media. As Alex shares, according to a Nielsen study, 92% of customers purchase products or services because of a recommendation from someone they know. This episode originally aired on June 14, 2022. More About Alex: Alexandra Franzen is a bestselling author, award-winning editor, and entrepreneur based in Hawaii. She’s the co-founder of Get It Done, a company providing writing coaching, editing, proofreading, cover design, publishing, and distribution services for clients who want to write a book. She writes one of my favorite newsletters at AlexandraFranzen.com, and runs her popular Tiny Book Course. Alex deleted all of her social media accounts eight years ago as she describes in her forthcoming book, Marketing Without Social Media. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways: Being excellent at what you do is the best way to get more clients and revenue. Do less and do it better. There is always another layer of simplicity you can reach with your work. Flex your asking muscle. Remember that what you are asking for is usually a win-win and you will be giving as much as you receive.  📝 Permission: Give yourself a raise! If you are excellent at what you do, significantly increase what you charge.  ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: If you’re stressed by social media, take a break; stop for a week and see how it feels. It’ll be fine. It might even be great, allowing you to focus on creating tiny art with your business communications instead.  📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Marketing Without Social Media: 100 Marketing Ideas (No Social Media Required) for Business Owners, Founders, Freelancers, Authors, Artists, Musicians, and Creatives   The 3-Day Effect 🔗 Resources Mentioned:   Alex on the web, Get It Done, Tiny Book Course, Marketing Without Social Media Program Ben Wendel  Brand Strategist: Jennifer Kem  Erin Haag: Pricing Overhaul  Video: Adele on Oprah Related Podcast Episodes:  183: Cultivating Opposites and Checklists with Alexandra Franzen 076: On Plan Z, Creative Finish Lines and the Graceful No—with Alexandra Franzen 075: Coaching Through the Free Time Framework with Wade Brill 020: Pricing Psychology with Jacquette Timmons   💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, a private feed, and access to a community forum with fellow Heart-Based Business Owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/tools  💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/101 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Just a few days after launch, Free Time topped many Amazon charts! Although "making the lists" is not something I lose sleep over, it does go a long way toward raising awareness and generating lasting launch momentum. Here are some early category stats—I couldn't do any of this without you! #1 New Release in Time Management #1 New Release in Small Business #1 New Release Organizational Change #1 New Release Business Structural Adjustment Enormous thanks to all of you who have read the book and posted reviews on Amazon and Goodreads already! Every one has warmed my heart. ❤️ This episode originally aired on April 1, 2022. 🎁 We're bringing back BOGOGO! Give the gift of free time to yourself and others in the new year by participating in our Buy One, Get One, Give One bonus—back for a limited time. Here's how it works: Buy One: Order the hardcover edition and submit proof of purchase at http://itsfreetime.com/bogogo Get One: Within one business day, you'll get audiobook access via private feed and the Free Time Toolkit Give One: You will get details on how to gift audiobook access to a friend :) ⭐️ Key Takeaways: Make a list of how you’re spending your time for a week. If you see repeated tasks — those are prime candidates for automation. Notice the mortifying moments in your business. We all have them, and as uncomfortable as they are, they are great chances to fix our systems. Are your processes and systems ready for a big break? If Oprah came out of retirement and wanted to talk to you tomorrow — could you meet the increase in demand that would ensue? 💌 Permission: Relinquish your role as all-seeing question answerer. Let someone else answer the questions (and maybe your email!) — you are juggling way too much to remember all of the little things. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next:  Double it! Double how much you delegate. What is your comfort zone for allowing other people to take things over? Stretch it to accommodate more.   📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One  The Extended Mind: The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain Building a Second Brain: A Proven Method to Organize Your Digital Life and Unlock Your Creative Potential Giftology: The Art and Science of Using Gifts to Cut Through the Noise, Increase Referrals, and Strengthen Client Retention Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity The Four-Hour Work Week: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich  The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey  The 1-Page Marketing Plan: Get New Customers, Make More Money, And Stand Out From The Crowd 🔗 Resources Mentioned:  Review Writing Quick Start chat Leave a review on Amazon and Goodreads Free Time Dashboard VIP Group Free Time Coach: Chris Wilson Podcast: Entrepreneurs On Fire Podcast: Deep Questions with Cal Newport Article: The Saturday Morning Test by Neil Pasricha Podcast Production: One Stone Creative Related Podcast Episodes:  Free Time Episode 62: Made By Monday On Content “Frog” Batching Deep Questions Episode 157: JENNY BLAKE: Help Me Do Less! ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, a private feed, and access to a community forum with fellow Heart-Based Business Owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/080 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Stab the Hydra in the heart.” Cal Newport is not pulling any punches with his latest treatise on how we can combat Hyperactive Hive Mind with smarter systems for communication. Email has become a constant source of guilt and stress for so many of us — listen in for strategies to reclaim your peace and focus. This episode originally aired on March 21, 2021. About Cal Newport: Cal Newport is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Georgetown University. He is the author of six books, including Deep Work, which argues that focus is the new I.Q. in the modern workplace. His latest, A World Without Email: Reimagining Work in an Age of Communication Overload, is in many ways his magnum opus on the topic of technology and the workplace. Be sure to also check out his podcast, Deep Questions. Key questions: How can you approach email as a process observer (and architect), not a do-er? What people or workflows can you put in place to eliminate email? Where are you still reacting to the Hyperactive Hive Mind? What experiment can you run this week? ❤️ Enjoying the show? Please leave a rating or review. Free Time is listener supported—consider donating to become a podcast Insider and you’ll get access to a private monthly Q&A call: 📘 Books Mentioned: Pivot, A World Without Email, Digital Minimalism, Deep Work, So Good They Can’t Ignore You 🔗 Links Mentioned: Cal on the web...and he’s not on Twitter! Or Facebook. 🎙Related Podcasts: 122: Digital Minimalism with Cal Newport, 29: Deep Work: Ditch Cognitive Junk Food with Cal Newport 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💸 Enroll in the complimentary Free-up Founder Time mini-course 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts: 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! http://itsfreetime.com/episodes/002 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What steps can you take now to free your time far into the future? Long-time listeners know this is one of the central questions and strategies throughout Free Time, my book that helps you build the muscle of continually freeing more of your time. Today I’m sharing three strategies to set your time free in 2023. For added accountability in freeing your time in the year ahead, I encourage you to check out the Free Time Leader Kit—you can work through the sections of the book with your team or in a mastermind group (or join us in BFF!) for even more support. 🎁 Give the gift of Free Time! Buy the book for your team members and business besties. We’ve reopened our BOGOGO promo for the holidays: Buy One, Get One, Give One.  🌟3 Key Takeaways: Set a Time Goal first, then work backward. How much is your time worth? Calculate it. What is your billable rate if you break down your income on an hourly basis? Here is how I estimate:     How much would you be *thrilled* to earn this year? ________________     How many work hours per week is *ideal* for you to achieve that? ____     Multiply that number by 42 weeks (to account for time off) = ______     Divide line 1 (a) by line 3 (c) to get your ideal billable hourly rate: _________ Fill in Strategic Goals within your time framework: How can you achieve them in half the time? Identify a friction area, then work through the Free Time Framework: Align, Design, Assign Design your Calendar for the entire year ahead (now) with DNS Blocks: Parkinson's Law is the old adage that work expands to fill the time allotted for its completion, first coined by Cyril Northcote Parkinson in a humorous essay he wrote for “The Economist” in 1955.  📝Permission: Aggressively block off time for the entire year ahead, only making exceptions in the moment for what’s joyful from week to week.   ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Pick one area that’s important to you but where you’re experiencing friction. Fill out the Free Time Framework guide to work through improvements resulting in greater flow, joy, and ease.  📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One  The 4-Hour Work Week: Escape the 9-5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich by Tim Ferriss 🔗Resources Mentioned:  Free Time Toolkit, Leader Kit, Free Time Framework Quick Reference worksheet Private BFF Community Holiday BOGOGO promotion—Buy One, Get One, Give One Parkinson’s Law Paul Graham on Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  148: How to Build a Business Operations Dashboard 149: Tips, Tools & Must Have’s for Content Creators with Kim Kaupe 126: Creating Time Buffer—7 Strategies for Spacious Scheduling 134: How I Prepare for In-Person Speaking Engagements 056: Set Your Compass—Systems vs. Goals Pivot 277: Expansive Impact and Spacious Scheduling with Sarah Young 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟 Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️ Join Jenny’s private BFF community for access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit  💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/150 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

According to SignalFire, the fastest growing type of small business is one that revolves around content creation, also known as the creator economy. In this conversation, Kim Kaupe and I explore favorite tips and tools for designing our calendar to support creative work, strategies for staying consistent, paying for accountability, “fishing where your fish are,” batching to get more done in less time, and how Kim prepared for her successful Shark Tank pitch several years ago. Watch the full conversation via video (YouTube) and our previous conversation on Time Blocking. 🧰 If you want more help getting organized for the year ahead and freeing up dozens of hours each week, get your Free Time Operations Dashboard » More About Kim: Kim Kaupe is an accidental entrepreneur, who at 24 years old researched how to start a company. Fast-forward ten years later, she’s worked with Oprah and secured 4 out of 5 sharks on Shark Tank. On her Coffee with Kim show, she has meaningful conversations with fascinating, thought-provoking and successful CEOs, celebrities & influential individuals in business. She is an educator, speaker, and chocolate chip cookie aficionado who believes in hard work, short emails, and showing others how to showcase their strengths. 🌟3 Key Takeaways: Set up creative blocks on your calendar, and collect inspiration prior to those sessions. Create a cloud-based Collection Bucket if you don’t already have one. For high-stakes situations: Find people who have recently done what you’re trying to do and “copy their homework.” How did it go? What surprised you? What helped you most? What were you unprepared for? As far as where to publish content, ”You’ve got to fish where your fish are.” What pond are your people swimming in? 📝Permission: Pivot away from projects that are no longer a fit. People do business with people, not any one product.   ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Open your calendar and block off the time you want to be unavailable before during and after holidays and other annual events. Make those blocks recurring so that your rest and relaxation time will be built in next year. 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College How to Take Smart Notes: One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and Thinking by Sönke Ahrens 🔗Resources Mentioned: Kim on the web, Bright Ideas Only, IG: @kimkaupe, LinkedIn, Facebook Kim’s podcast: Coffee with Kim LinkedIn Learning course Creator Mode Video: Kim’s Shark Tank pitch for ZinePak Newsletters: Kim’s Copy My Notes, Sarah Young’s Friday Favorites, #PivotList, The What Article: Paul Graham on Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule Tools: Captio (iOS), Superhuman, Boomerang, Kajabi, ConvertKit, Notion 🎧Related Podcast Episodes: 011: Pitching Shark Tank with Sarah Apgar 111: Building a Second Brain with Tiago Forte 069: Epic Evergreen Email Sequences with Allan Dib Jenny on Coffee with Kim: Time Blocking: Creating More Free Time With Jenny Blake, Freeing Up Time In Your Life & Business with Jenny Blake   💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟 Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️ Join Jenny’s private BFF community for access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit  💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/149 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Your creativity and entrepreneurial spirit got you here. Smarter systems will take you there. There is less friction in your operations and a greater focus on joyful work. There is a spacious calendar where you are free to dedicate time to your most compelling, strategic projects — the ones that best express your unique talents, powered by a Delightfully Tiny Team. It’s time to stop working full time and start working free time: by applying agile operating principles toward building smarter systems, starting with a centralized business operations dashboard if you don’t already have one. Today I’m sharing the key elements that a strong dashboard has; you’ll know because it makes running your business much easier—to the point where you may even find that you don’t need as many team members to power your operations.  You and your team will know exactly how to find what you need and run the business smoothly, reducing pressure, removing yourself as Chief Everything Officer, and preventing “death by a thousand question cuts.” 🌟3 Key Takeaways: Make sure the software you choose to run your dashboard is searchable, customizable, and interlinkable. 5 must-have elements: centralized task tracker, manager manual (with SOPs), content calendar, business areas, and meeting notes. 7 nice-to-have elements: CRM, client tracker, gift tracker, operating principles, metrics scorecard, idea collection bucket, and weekly updates. 📝Permission: Not to build this dashboard yourself! It’s already done for you :) Check! ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Learn more and start freeing your time today » Apply promo code PODCAST for 10% off 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One  Giftology: The Art and Science of Using Gifts to Cut Through the Noise, Increase Referrals, and Strengthen Client Retention by John Ruhlin 🔗Resources Mentioned: Done-for-you Free Time Operations Dashboard Free Time Toolkit with Manager Manual Entry and Weekly Updates templates Private BFF community JB’s 4-minute Collection Bucket walkthrough 🎧Related Podcast Episodes: 088: Why I Moved from Asana to Notion for Task and Project Management 104: Save Someone Next Steps 125: How to Create Your Own CRM with Alex Sherwood 002: Eliminate Email with Cal Newport 034: Organizing Research and Ideas - Notion Walkthrough #1  036: Shaping Big Ideas - Notion Walkthrough #2 038: Tracking Progress Toward Finishing a Book (or Big Idea) with an Essay Tracker - Notion Walkthrough #3   💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe »  🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners.  💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/148 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you’re a business owner thinking, “My platform is too small to land sponsors,” today’s guest will encourage you to think again. Instead of counting yourself out purely because of the numbers—consider shifting your mindset from how you can help brands to how you can serve your audience best.  In this conversation, sponsorship coach Justin Moore shares his hard-earned wisdom on forming mutually beneficial partnerships between brands and creators. He shares tons of tactics on the power of specificity, creative partnership approaches, why you shouldn’t put prices in your media kit, the halo effect, and so much more. As Justin says when it comes to working with brand partners, “You’re not just a creator, you are a consultant.” More About Justin: Justin Moore is a Sponsorship Coach and founder of @CreatorWizard, a school and community dedicated to teaching others how to find and negotiate dream brand deals. He has a unique perspective on how brands choose which influencers they will partner with and those they will not. Justin is on a mission to enable creators to land 1 million paid brand partnerships by 2032. 🌟 Key Takeaways: What brands will help solve the problems that you know (from asking them!) that your audience has? The brand can become the conduit to help solve those problems via your community’s relationship with you.  Pricing for sponsorships depends on which of three goal types the brand has in mind: conversions, content repurposing, or brand awareness. Do not list prices in your media kit! Instead, you can include three tiers of deliverables (good, better, best) and first ask for their budget range for those tiers. If you believe brand partnerships are an important marketing tactic for your business, develop in-house competency in negotiating and delivering the deals. 📝Permission: Take a breath and think about the present moment. Celebrate the business success you have already achieved.   ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Conduct a survey or run a poll on IG to ask your audience about their lives: What is keeping them up at night? Where are they consuming your content? What brands and products are you using and loving right now that might help your audience with where they’re at?  📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business, Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One 🔗Resources Mentioned: Justin on the web, YouTube, IG: @creatorwizard, Twitter, Facebook, newsletter  CreatorWizard Courses: Brand Deal Wizard, Gifted to Paid Tools: ConvertKit, The Sponsorship Wheel: 8-Step Framework  🎧Related Podcast Episodes: 139: Paid Newsletter Secrets and Organizing Knowledge with David Elikwu 020: Pricing Psychology with Jacquette Timmons 107: How to Know When You’ve Gotten Pricing Wrong with Jacquette M. Timmons  The Nathan Barry Show: 068: Justin Moore – Game-Changing Newsletter Sponsorship Strategies   Pivot 262: Why I Decided To Run Ads   💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit  💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/147 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There’s a missing chapter in Free Time that, over the course of editing, got condensed down into a single bullet point. When someone new joins your team, even part-time, those first few days, weeks, and months have potential to transform your manager manual—in ways that you would otherwise miss. I encourage you to share this episode with your new team members as they join! 🌟Key Takeaways for New Team Members: The business owner is up to their ears in responsibility. Improving onboarding documentation is a huge gift (and quick win) you can give to your new team. Make sure your questions “live three lives.” 1. The first time you ask (if you’ve already checked all internal documentation and external help centers first), 2. Capturing the reply internally, and 3. On any public-facing pages to help clients or community. 📝Permission: Business owners, not to have everything buttoned up and perfect before bringing someone into your business. Team members, you have permission to take the reins of the onboarding process, whether or not you’re being asked.   ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: New? Help us welcome the next you: Look for ways to improve our onboarding documentation as you get up to speed. With fresh eyes, you are best equipped to update processes that are out-of-date and add new FAQs and answers to questions that we didn’t previously think to include. What else would the next new person find helpful? 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One  The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It by Michael E. Gerber Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business by Gino Wickman 🔗Resources Mentioned: Done-for-you Free Time Operations Dashboard, Free Time Toolkit 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  104: Save Someone Next Steps 086: The Cyrano Strategy for Delegating Important Comms 066: Tasks vs. Templates 092: Train the System, Then the Person 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe »  🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners.  💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/146 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For many of us running Delightfully Tiny Teams, the ideal team set-up is one where no one works full time — including the owner. Today Kaneisha Grayson returns to the pod to share with her signature transparency her lessons learned about onboarding part-time team members, designing effective hiring and vetting processes, teaching sales skills, and scaling without breaking the bank. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out our previous conversation in episode 131: Scaling Your Joy While Streamlining Business Overhead and Navigating ADHD. More About Kaneisha: Kaneisha Grayson is the founder of The Art of Applying, an agency that aids graduate school applicants to get accepted into top-tier schools and achieve funding. She is the author of Be Your Own Boyfriend: Decide to Be Happy, Unleash Your Sexy, and Change Your Life and host of the Scale Your Joy podcast. Kaneisha is dedicated to sharing her journey with like-minded people who are ready to forge their own path, creating a life and business that brings them joy instead of suffering through the corporate grind. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways: Pyramid of Executive Assistance: VAs who can accomplish tasks you know how to do → Executive Assistants who can own total areas of responsibility → Chief of Staff/ Chief Operating Officer who can make decisions on their own. Make a Loom video of you completing each task: Keep them under 10 minutes. Tasks of more than five hours are projects. Create a to-do list for each new hire for them to track and for you to see their progress. Don’t hire people to solve problems that you haven’t been able to solve yourself (that’s what experts are for). Hire people to help with areas you have already solved and you know what correctly done looks like. 📝Permission: Keep some of the tasks that you are excellent at and bring money into the business on your own desk, and let go of the feeling that you’re not acting like “the CEO.” Similarly, if there’s something you love that doesn’t take a huge amount of time, do it yourself, even if it doesn’t make the most mathematical sense.  ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Set up the Delegation Task Tracker and observe over the next two weeks (particularly when you’re in email response mode) what you could delegate that you aren’t already, personal and professional.  📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Be Your Own Boyfriend 🔗Resources Mentioned:  Kaneisha on the web, Instagram: @kaneishagrayson, LinkedIn, Facebook,  Kaneisha’s podcast: Scale Your Joy Jenny’s Delegation Task Tracker and 75+ Things I’ve Delegated in the Last Year, the full Free Time Toolkit Join the BFFs Community Tools: Loom, Kajabi, Basecamp, Notion 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  Kaneisha’s Hire an Extraordinary Executive Assistant: A Conversation with My Executive Assistant (YouTube version) 054: Ten T's of Successful Delegating 006: Going Pro on Podcasting with Jordan Harbinger  Jenny’s first ever Pivot podcast from 2014 (!) 6: How I Work with My VA: Systems and Strategy   💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit  💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/145 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How do you define enough? Today, Jenny is sharing a bonus episode from the private BFF podcast feed where she’s talking about how to refocus on what enough looks like, and how you can celebrate exactly where (and who) you already are—in business and in life. 🌟3 Key Takeaways: Mirroring, or looking at others, can be motivating, but be wary of falling into the compare pit of despair. My friend Melissa shared a line from Brooke Castillo: “There isn’t better than here.” As Brooke often says, life is 50/50 between the good and the bad, and that won’t change whether you hit particular milestones or become a multi-millionaire. Flip your internal script from “I want to be” to “I am.” Try on the identity of having accomplished your highest aspirations, and see how that shifts your energy and resulting outcomes. 📝Permission: Let go of reaching for more, the business FOMO that says you need more or better. Enjoy right where you already are. ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Picture yourself 5 years ago. Could you have imagined that you would be where you are now, doing what you’re doing? Take a moment to appreciate how far you’ve come. 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Manson Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life by Luke Burgis The Status Game: On Human Life and How to Play It: On Social Position and How We Use It by Will Storr Enough: True Measures of Money, Business, and Life by John C. Bogle The Gap and the Gain by Benjamin Hardy and Dan Sullivan 🔗Resources Mentioned: Join the private BFF community (promo code PODCAST for 50% off your first month!) Mark Manson on The Diary of a CEO podcast (episode 111) Brooke Castillo's episode: Secrets of My Success 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  093: How to Sell Your Online Business with Alexis Grant Pivot 277: Expansive Impact and Spacious Scheduling with Sarah Young 123: “Pricing is Branding” — Anti-Time Management with Richie Norton The Penney & Jenny Show 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe »  🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners.  💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/144 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do we really all have the same 24 hours as Beyoncé? That’s our tongue-in-cheek title, pulled from Tara McMullin’s new book, What Works: A Comprehensive Framework to Change the Way We Approach Goal Setting, for a recent Spotify Live conversation. In this replay, Charlie Gilkey, Tara McMullin, and I explore the nuances of calculating time, money, and energy capacity so that we don’t tip into boredom or burnout. We share strategies for saying no, and discuss the costs of saying yes when we shouldn’t. One caveat: pardon our less-than-perfect audio quality! Because we’re calling in via mobile, this one is a little rougher around the edges than typical episodes. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out my previous conversations with Tara and Charlie in episodes 091: Quarterly Planning and 141: Process, Permission Slips, and Business Pivots. Your Cohosts: Tara McMullin, host of the What Works podcast and author of What Works: A Comprehensive Framework to Change the Way We Approach Goal Setting Charlie Gilkey, host of the Productive Flourishing podcast and author of Start Finishing: How to Go From Idea to Done Jenny Blake, host of the Free Time podcast and author of Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business and **Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways: Consider capacity across T.E.A.M: Time, Energy, Attention, and Money. On saying no: try to communicate before you are overcommitted, so you can address any issues before they become problems. If you’re leaning towards saying yes when you really should say no, remember that it often feels worse to disappoint someone with subpar work and/or missed deadlines than it does to say no in the first place. 📝Permission: Shift your request evaluation default from, “Do I have time to squeeze this in?” to “Do I have time to do this well?” ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Look ahead to the next month on your calendar and cancel one (if not two!) items you no longer have the bandwidth for. Bonus: Create a game-plan with your team (and scheduling tools) to allow for even more margin moving forward.  📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One What Works: A Comprehensive Framework to Change the Way We Approach Goal Setting by Tara McMullin Start Finishing: How to Go from Idea to Done by Charlie Gilkey 🔗Resources Mentioned:  Tara on the web, IG: @tara_mcmullin, Twitter, LinkedIn, podcast: What Works Charlie on the web, IG: @momentumplanner, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, podcast: Productive Flourishing Articles: Is the Scope of Your World Too Big?, Spoon Theory, “Ought implies can,” Beyonce and Jay Z Reportedly Give $6.4 Million in Bonuses to Employees 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  052: Perceived Capacity vs. Actual Capacity 091: Quarterly Planning with Charlie Gilkey  141: Process, Permission Slips, and Business Pivots with Tara McMullin Pivot: 136: Start Finishing—Pricing, Projects, and Momentum Planning with Charlie Gilkey, 277: Expansive Impact and Spacious Scheduling with Sarah Young   💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit  💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/143 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You’ve heard the term low-hanging fruit: the easiest thing you can do to make the biggest possible impact in your business. But not all fruit is created equal!  Sometimes, those low-hanging fruits are modest peaches or distracting, underperforming pumpkins (in Mike Michalowicz parlance) that might not be worth pursuing.  Other times, you’re so close to your own business that you can’t see the enormous, juicy, low-hanging watermelon you’re about to walk right into. 🌟3 Key Takeaways: Look for low-hanging watermelons in your business: opportunities that won’t take a lot of time or energy but could make a huge impact in your business, hanging so close in front of your face that you don’t see them.  The best ones are based on work that you’ve already done: repackaging content or material that has product-market fit and that you know will create great value for your community Be discerning about whether the project you’re considering is a juicy low-hanging watermelon or an undersized pumpkin worth cutting off the vine. 📝Permission: Stop investing in small, overripe (or worm-ridden!) fruit. Whether they’re shiny shoulds or clients who drain your time and energy, snip them out of your business so you can focus on higher-value projects that are even more fulfilling.   ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Make a list of your products, services, and clients, and identify the best of the best. Identify the ones that are taking more of your time and energy than they are giving back in terms of joy or profit. For the next quarter, focus your energy on the most lucrative and worthwhile ones. What falls at the intersection of revenue, ease, and joy?  📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College The Pumpkin Plan: A Simple Strategy to Grow a Remarkable Business in Any Field by Mike Michalowicz Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life Through the Power of Storytelling by Matthew Dicks 🔗Resources Mentioned:  Leanne Hughes First Time Facilitator Podcast  Matthew Dix Asynchronous communication: Voxer Video: Career in the Age of the App  🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  129: The $10K Work Framework with Khe Hy 017: Serendipity as Business Strategy with Leanne Hughes 140: How to License Your IP (Intellectual Property) 122: My Top 5 Sources of Recurring Revenue 117: Tiny Marketing Actions with Pamela Slim 016: IP Licensing with Lee LeFever 037: The Ultimate Marketing Engine with John Jantsch Pivot 164: Fix This Next (And Stop Keeping Up With The Entrepre-Joneses) Jenny on First Time Facilitator #74: Pivoting into public speaking with Jenny Blake 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe »  🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners.  💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/142 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What do you do when your business model is no longer working for you? When your current income streams and activities are not just tiring but draining you to the point of exhaustion? My guest today, Tara McMullin, is someone I have long admired for her willingness to question dominant narratives about how things should be done, instead emphasizing what works for each individual person and business. In this conversation, Tara shares her journey of making one of the toughest decisions in her business. As heart- and gut-wrenching as it was to make, it freed her energy for deep work that is even more aligned with her interests, energy, and identity of who she’s most excited to become. She gave herself permission long ago to drop the “expert/guru” model and focus on asking bigger, bolder, better questions instead. More About Tara: Tara McMullin is a writer, podcaster, and producer. For over 13 years, she has studied small business owners—how they live, how they work, what influences them, and what they hope for the future. She’s the host of What Works, a podcast about navigating the 21st-century economy with your humanity intact. Today we’re talking about her first book, What Works: A Comprehensive Framework To Change The Way We Approach Goal Setting. 🌟3 Key Takeaways: Our society is obsessed with goals and achievement; try emphasizing the process instead.  Break the content marketing mold by asking bigger, bolder, better questions. Let go of the need to be someone who has the answers. Consider: Can you live with less? Can you be happy and thrive with less? Think about whether or not the work you are doing and what you are offering to the world aligns with what you really need to be happy.    📝Permission: To rebuild your business model from the ground up.  ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Design an “earning” sabbatical, even if it’s far into the future. What elements of your craft would you be excited to dig back into? How would you spend your time differently?  📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One What Works: A Comprehensive Framework to Change the Way We Approach Goal Setting by Tara McMullin The Four Tendencies: The Indispensable Personality Profiles That Reveal How to Make Your Life Better (and Other People's Lives Better, Too) by Gretchen Rubin Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May 🔗Resources Mentioned:  Tara on the web, IG: @tara_mcmullin, Twitter, LinkedIn Tara’s Podcast: What Works Online Education Platform: Creative Live The Four Tendencies Quiz  🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  121: How to Steer Through a Downturn and Stop Micromanaging with Annie Hyman Pratt 114: “Failure is the Frame, Not the Picture” 040: It's Not Free Time If You're Exhausted 101: Run Your Business with Exquisite Greatness and Tiny Art Projects with Alexandra Franzen   💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit  💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/141 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Licensing your IP to companies can be lucrative and a tough nut to crack. Pricing is opaque, deliverables and tracking can get complicated, and companies with a smaller Learning and Development function may call it by another name (such as Train-the-Trainer).  After many years working with a small handful of joyful clients—bolstered by many mentoring sessions, lessons learned the hard way, and a whole lot of experimentation—today, I’m sharing a few pointers on how to get started. I am not an expert, but I do believe in the power of licensing to help your ideas reach even more people who can benefit without you being the bottleneck.  Because I get the “can I pick your brain” question often on this, more than any other topic: I no longer work with clients one-on-one, so if you are interested in learning more about licensing and implementing it in your business in 2023, I invite you to join the BFF community. Keep an eye on Pamela Slim too, who will also be releasing more resources on this in the year ahead. 🌟3 Key Takeaways: Be choosy about your end customer. Do you want to offer a public-facing certification that results in 1,000+ trainers and coaches who are your clients? Or would you prefer to work with a small handful of large companies instead? Both? Neither? When pricing, communicate the value of your training in terms of benefit to the organization. What bottom-line metrics will you improve, and what is the value of that to the company? Less is more. Don’t cram weeks' worth of content into a Train-the-Trainer program. Keep the material simple, streamlined, and easy to grasp, customize, and deliver. 💌Permission: Stop being the bottleneck for speaking engagements by empowering organizations to teach your material themselves, on-demand, through licensing. ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Create a page on your website that demonstrates the path to licensing with different scalable learning options. For example: kick-off keynote, online courses, Train-the-Trainer, unlimited use licensing.  📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One The New and Complete Business of Licensing: The Essential Guide to Monetizing Intellectual Property by Craig Battersby Fix This Next: Make the Vital Change That Will Level Up Your Business by Mike Michalowicz  Evaluating Training Programs: The Four Levels (3rd Edition) by Donald Kirkpatrick Built to Sell: Creating a Business that Can Thrive Without You by John Warrillow Value-Based Fees (3rd Edition): How to Charge What You're Worth and Get What You Charge by Alan Weiss Million Dollar Consulting Proposals and Million Dollar Consulting by Alan Weiss 🔗Resources Mentioned:  Pamela Slim Jenny’s LinkedIn Learning Pivot Method Workbook Examples of Licensing Programs: Getting Things Done Practitioner Certification, John Jantsch's Duct Tape Marketing Certification, Box of Crayons, Pivot in the Classroom, Pivot Programs Overview (Made in Canva) 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  122: My Top 5 Sources of Recurring Revenue 117: Tiny Marketing Actions with Pamela Slim 016: IP Licensing with Lee LeFever 037: The Ultimate Marketing Engine with John Jantsch Pivot 164: Fix This Next (And Stop Keeping Up With The Entrepre-Joneses) 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe »  🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners.  🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 📝 Check out full show notes at https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/140 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Build an email list,” is business advice equivalent to “Make sure you breathe.” We all know it’s a best practice to communicate consistently with our communities, but coming up with something interesting on a regular basis is easier said than done! As is building out a paid newsletter subscription in parallel to the baseline missives. Thank goodness for our guest today, David Elikwu (also a fellow Notion nerd), who is taking us behind the scenes of his business to share how he organizes information and builds automation into his newsletter sequences, and the strategy and software behind his paid subscription. More About David: David Elikwu is a writer, speaker, and startup operator with a background spanning technology, corporate law, and marketing. He is the founder of The Knowledge, a platform helping curious people think deeper and work smarter. David also founded Democratic Republic, a social impact brand supporting global artisanship through African coffee and biodynamic wine. He hosts The Knowledge with David Elikwu podcast, where he is joined by the best and brightest minds in business, entrepreneurship, and beyond. 🌟Key Takeaways: Price affects perceived value: Sometimes, people are willing to pay more for higher-priced products, so don’t assume that lower prices lead to more subscribers! Try the Costco Sample Strategy for business development: With gated content, people don’t always get to see the value of the offer—look for ways to bundle relatively lower-cost programs as a sample (with an expiration date) with higher-priced programs. Assign a Velocity Score of 1 through 5, where 1 is something that could just be an idea, 3 is something that you have a few sentences on, and 5 is a few paragraphs and/or structure ready to move into a finished state. This will allow you to jump right into creating content with whatever time and creative energy you have available. 📝Permission: “You are born a thousand men and die only one.” In other words: shut down projects on purpose, so you don’t kill them by accident. Be intentional about curating the possibilities you leave open for yourself.   ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Create a collection bucket for saving snippets that you want to add to a future newsletter. See Jenny’s Loom on Notion for CRM & Idea Collection »  📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business, Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One 🔗Resources Mentioned:  David on the web, LinkedIn, Twitter: @Delikwu, Democratic Republic Podcast: The Knowledge with David Elikwu David’s Notion Life Wheel Template and Career Overdrive course Tools: ConvertKit, Ghost, Substack, Midnight, Digital Ocean, Sam Harris’ subscription-based podcast 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  JB on The Knowledge: Creating Free time with Jenny Blake 125: How to Create Your Own CRM with Alex Sherwood 147: How to Set-up Brand Partnerships with Justin Moore 107: How to Know When You’ve Gotten Pricing Wrong with Jacquette M. Timmons 069: Epic Evergreen Email Sequences with Allan Dib 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit  💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/139 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today I’m sharing a section from Free Time about one of the topics interviewers ask me about most: Sailing the Sea of Shiny Shoulds. You’ll hear why I’m such an advocate for writing permission slips to do the things we really want to and dropping the things we don’t. 🌟Key Takeaway: If you want to dabble in something that might be a Shiny Should, treat it like an experiment. Set rules for engagement that respect your time, including firm start and end dates, then evaluate the impact on your energy and your business. Is the juice worth the squeeze? 📝Permission: Stop sailing the sea of shiny shoulds! ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Observe your calendar, projects, and primary revenue streams for the next two weeks: What is most energizing? What’s most draining? Within the most energizing streams of income, conduct a second audit (you can do this by drawing three columns on a blank piece of paper or digital note): What are your shiny shoulds? The coulds? The so goods? 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One  The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level by Gay Hendricks The Genius Habit: How One Habit Can Radically Change Your Work and Your Life by Laura Garnett Find Your Zone of Genius: Break Free from Burnout, Reduce Career Anxiety, and Make the Work Your Doing Matter by Making Your Job The Right Job for You by Laura Garnett 🔗Resources Mentioned:  Article: NYT Workologist feature: Climbing Down the Corporate Ladder Without Alarming Your Boss  Strategic Social Media Experimenter: Stephanie Huston Podcast: SPARKED by Jonathan Fields 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  JB on SPARKED with Jonathan Fields: How to Choose Freedom Over Familial Responsibility, How to Scale While Staying True to Yourself, and How to Know When to Jump Into Your Side Hustle 134: How I Prepare for In-Person Speaking Engagements  075: Coaching Through the Free Time Framework with Wade Brill 012: Generating Personal MBA Momentum with Josh Kaufman Pivot 292: True Fun vs Fake Fun with Catherine Price 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe »  🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners.  💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/138 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As you all may well know by now, I am a social media curmudgeon. But that doesn’t mean I’m not inspired by success stories of business owners applying these tools joyfully to create leverage in their business marketing! My guest today is one of my longtime IRL besties, Inna Aizenshtein, who has been successful at filling her coaching and hypnotherapy practice primarily with leads from TikTok. In this conversation, we discuss energy ebbs and flows and creating authentic content without letting appeasing The Almighty Algorithm suck joy out of the process.  More About Inna: Inna Aizenshtein is a hypnotherapist and coach who examines the role that shame and fear play in the unfolding of our lives. Prior to her career in hypnotherapy, Inna worked in the fashion industry for 14 years, most recently as a creative director. She now helps people work through and release outdated subconscious blocks so they can reclaim their worthiness and become more magnetic, primarily through TikTok shorts (where she has over 1.5 million views) and in 1:1 sessions with clients. 🌟3 Key Takeaways: Scripting and capturing your content over many takes works well on Tiktok because of the way the software is designed, and what viewers seem to appreciate. Trying to work with the algorithm on TikTok (or any other platform!) is a recipe for getting burned out. Instead, think of how you can connect with and contribute to the people you want to work with, and don’t stress about CTAs. What are your authentic codes? These are the principles that are the most important to you and drive your decisions. When you have identified them, you can apply them to analyze different situations and challenges you find yourself in and create a path forward. 📝Permission: Drop whatever shame or fear you have around creating something imperfectly. Step into the fear and remember that this is a superpower, and the fear is going to make it meaningful. [Hitting publish] is also probably a lot lower stakes than it feels in the moment.  ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: The next time you’re feeling stuck on a social platform, spend a few weeks just consuming content. Engage with people, notice what you like and find compelling, and connect with other creators on the platform. This might give you the creative ideas (and additional insight!) you need. 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Nonviolent Communication by Marshall Rosenberg 🔗Resources Mentioned:  Inna on the web, Instagram, TikTok Divine Feminine School of Hypnosis Podcast: JB on SPARKED with Jonathan Fields: How to Scale While Staying True to Yourself Dr. Kristen Neff: Self-Compassion Marissa C. Knox, PhD 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  117: Tiny Marketing Actions with Pamela Slim 124: JB’s 5 C’s System for Content Curation and Production 048: Ten Timeless Content Principles Pivot 295: Create a Memory of Your Future Self — On Hypnotherapy with Inna Aizenshtein    💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit  💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/137 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the spirit of “truth while it’s fresh,” one of my core values for this podcast, today I’m sharing a truth that has been on a low simmer for two years but that I’ve never quite shared publicly. I’m taking you behind the scenes of my explorations around potentially selling the Pivot side of my business—and why I chose not to (for now, unless you know of any $5 million to 10 million buyers around! ;) 🌟3 Key Takeaways: I think about three types of knowledge workers: builders, maintainers, and optimizers. Builders love to create new things, Maintainers like to continue and grow what exists, and Optimizers look at what exists and improve it. Knowing which one you are can help you decide what to do with your business, or how to delegate aspects of current projects Your business will be more desirable to buyers if you focus on building recurring revenue, eliminating key person risk, diversifying your client base, and documenting process that becomes part of your unique IP. It may be counterintuitive, but treating your business like you are planning to sell it gives you a chance to fall back in love with it.  📝Permission: Explore what exiting your business could look like, even if you don’t do anything with that information. ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: What is one strategic area for improvement that would make your business more sale-able, even if it’s to yourself? For example: diversifying your client base, reducing key person risk by delegating more, and shifting client payments to recurring revenue.  📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Built to Sell: Creating a Business That Can Thrive Without You The Automatic Customer: Creating a Subscription Business in Any Industry The Art of Selling Your Business: Winning Strategies & Secret Hacks for Exiting on Top Finish Big: How Great Entrepreneurs Exit Their Companies on Top Buy Then Build: How Acquisition Entrepreneurs Outsmart the Startup Game Exit Rich: The 6 P Method to Sell Your Business for Huge Profit Lost and Founder: A Painfully Honest Field Guide to the Startup World Small Giants: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big, 10th-Anniversary Edition 🔗Resources Mentioned:  Podcasts: They Got Acquired Podcast, Built to Sell Radio Newsletter: TGA Newsletter Article: A Spotlight on Tech’s Invisible Start-ups, Andrew Wilkinson on Medium Business Investors: Tiny 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  093: How to Sell Your Online Business with Alexis Grant 001: All-in On Heart-Based Business 051: How to Replace Yourself as CEO with Michael Bungay Stanier 115: Successfully Taking Over as CEO from a Founder (MBS) with Shannon Minifie 061: Scaling Boutique Businesses with Greg Alexander Pivot: 276: Behind the Free Time Pivot  SPARKED: On Putting Yourself in the Path of Pivot Diary of a CEO: Moment 48 - 3 Core Principles For A Better Life: Mark Manson 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe »  🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners.  💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/136 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Creating online courses does not require a huge investment in time or money. Although they certainly can cost tens of thousands of dollars to produce, with professional video editing and branding, they don't have to. In fact, my favorite way to create and launch a course is with my future students! This follows agile design principles (check out the agile manifesto here). The goal is developing rapidly, with frequent input from key stakeholders, not building so much behind the scenes that what you’re working on becomes out-of-date or out of touch with what your audience and potential future students actually need. This is one of the episodes I reference most frequently from the Pivot podcast (originally aired December 1, 2019), so I’m replaying it here for you today in case you’re newer to the JB universe! I break down all the details of how I love launching and creating courses, and you can also read a summary of the steps on this page of the Pivot website. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways: Keep Kirkpatrick’s four levels of evaluation in mind when designing evaluation strategies: smile sheet (did you enjoy this course and would you recommend it?), knowledge transfer, behavior change, and results to the organization Make sure you have pre- and post-surveys to further customize and improve the course with each subsequent launch 📝 Permission: To create courses that aren’t perfect or even polished; focus on delivering value for your students in real time. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: For the next big project you’re tackling, create a Know/Feel/Do/Refer To grid to map out the modules that will help your students achieve the transformation you’re looking to inspire. Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at Work by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson Outrageous Openness: Letting the Divine Take the Lead and It's Not Your Money: How to Live Fully from Divine Abundance by Tosha Silver The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, Is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz Jenny’s LinkedIn Learning Courses: LinkedIn Learning—Figuring Out Your Next Move LinkedIn Learning—Holding 1:1 Career Conversations With Your Team Managing Introverts Coaching New Hires Coaching New Managers Resources Mentioned: Jenny’s private BFF Community Agile Manifesto & Principles (He)art of Podcasting (He)art of Book Publishing Pivot in the Classroom Rapid Prototype a Course Four Levels of Training Evaluation by **Don Kirkpatrick Alexandra Franzen Copy this spreadsheet and create a Know/Feel/Do/Refer Grid for your course Excerpt of the Pivot Workbook Pivot Toolkit here Descript for audio transcription (and magic one-click filler word removal) Related Podcast Episodes: 036: Shaping Big Ideas — Notion Walkthrough #2  072: How to Start Writing a Book, Course, or Workshop  060: Triangle of Tradeoffs  Pivot 128: Ultralearning with Scott Young  Pivot 196: Agile Original Public Thinking   💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit  💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/135 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My heart was thumping out of my chest as I sat at the front of the room for my first paid, in-person speaking engagement since February 2020—two and a half long years ago. Could I still do this? What if the content doesn’t resonate? I hope this goes well so it can help generate future work! I’m grateful to share that the event was a smashing success—with enormous thanks to my cohost, who brought me in. Today I’m sharing the strategies that help me prepare for high-stakes speaking engagements like this one. 🌟3 Key Takeaways: Keep your slide deck in Google Slides, so they are easily accessible from any computer. When (abundantly!) pricing speaking engagements, include all travel expenses and one pre-event strategy session so that you minimize logistical back-and-forth.  Make sure to ask for post-session participant feedback from the organizer to help you improve for future sessions (if they don’t already have a survey, create one). 📝Permission: Not to prepare too far in advance. Trust yourself to receive what would be most beneficial for this particular group, at this particular moment in time, once it’s closer to the event.  ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: If you are part of a larger event and you’re not the kick-off keynote, ask to attend any/all sessions on that same day to help you weave key themes, stories, and language from that organization into your session. 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Confessions of a Public Speaker 🔗Resources Mentioned:  reMarkable Tablet, New Yorker feature Michael Bungay Stanier’s MBS.Works 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  126: Creating Time Buffer—7 Strategies for Spacious Scheduling 123: “Pricing is Branding” — Anti-Time Management with Richie Norton 079: Behind the Launch with Antonio Neves (Part 2) Pivot: 155: Becoming a Successful Speaker with Grant Baldwin Pivot: 077: 21+ Travel Tips, Tools and Apps — with Jenny Blake Pivot: 065: Master Public Speaking and Performance with Michael Port Pivot: 276: 276: Behind the Free Time Pivot 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe »  🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners.  💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/134 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are the systems I share on this show and in Free Time just a “Jenny Blake Thing?” Rest assured, the answer is no! If you don’t see yourself as a tech geek or systems person, have no fear—Terri Trespicio is here to share her journey with implementing the principles and the difference she is seeing in her life and business as a result. More About Terri: Terri Trespicio is an award-winning writer, speaker, brand advisor, and author of Unfollow Your Passion: How to Create a Life That Matters to You (Atria / Simon & Schuster, December 2021). Her TEDx talk Stop Searching for Your Passion has more than 7 million views, and Hubspot named her one of the Top 18 female speakers who are killing it. 🌟3 Key Takeaways: Sometimes you need to hire before you can really afford to if you want to grow.  If you hire an experienced expert to take over some of your work and then “hop into help” you are as likely to disrupt their process or even offend them as actually help.  Be intentional about whether you want to productize your offerings or make them bespoke. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all-businesses solution.  📝Permission: Stop taking pleasure or pride in doing everything yourself. Delight in the fact that you need help and support to do your best work, and you can get it.  ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Look at how you’re spending your time and how that impacts your energy. Find one thing that makes you think, “I probably shouldn’t be doing this,” and either delegate it now or prepare to do it soon.  📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Unfollow Your Passion: How to Create a Life That Matters to You Rocket Fuel: The One Essential Combination That Will Get You More of What You Want from Your Business Subscribed: Why the Subscription Model Will Be Your Company's Future - and What to Do About It 🔗Resources Mentioned:  Terri on the web, Unfollow Your Passion, Instagram: @ttrespicio TEDx talk: Stop Searching for Your Passion Marketing Mentor: Ilise Benun Communities: BFF Community, Terri’s The Club  Design Software: Canva Recording Software: Riverside.fm Writer’s Training: American Writers and Artists Institute 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  269: How to Stand Out When Everyone is Peddling the Same Sh*t with Terri Trespicio 294: Confidence Conundrums and Attention Budgets with Terri Trespicio 122: My Top 5 Sources of Recurring Revenue 104: Save Someone Next Steps 086: The Cyrano Strategy for Delegating Important Comms 054: Ten T's of Successful Delegating   💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit  💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/133 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It is a small miracle of motivation that you are listening to this episode. When it was time to record, I had just come out of a foggy, groggy week at HHQ: Hooky Headquarters. Hooky Headquarters is where you go when you need a break—and if you don’t take it, you might find yourself in full-on BIADM (Burn It All Down Mode), burned out and no longer working in a sustainable way. Today, I’m sharing five reminders to honor your need for deep rest when HHQ beckons. 🌟 5 Key Reminders / Notes to Self: Your body and mind must need the rest. Take stock of all that you have been doing, any recent project sprints or travel, and consider any coming up. HHQ is likely recharging you in between.  Trust yourself to bounce back, but only if you rest enough. Martha Beck describes it as an infinity loop: rest until you feel like playing (ideally, you align your work to feel like play), and play until you feel like resting. Refocus on what is truly urgent. Give yourself permission to set the rest aside. Does it need to be done at all? Who can help if so? Rethink your approach to the work. Tackle items one by one, starting with what’s most urgent and important, perhaps with a different perspective. How would _______ (someone you admire) approach this task or deadline? Put down your quiver of second arrows–the Buddhist term for the feelings and stories you tell yourself about your initial feeling or current state. Give yourself permission to be where you are, and to need what you need. 📝Permission: Join me at HHQ when you, too, need deep rest! Without firing any second arrows at yourself: drop any guilt, shame, blame, or shoulds and have faith in the process.   ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Create extra spaciousness in advance by blocking off a few extra “DNS” (Do Not Schedule) days in your calendar, even if you can’t think of an exact need for them at the moment. 99% of the time, you’ll be thankful when they arrive! 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One The Work Revolution: Freedom and Excellence for All  The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, Is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal  A World Without Email: Find Focus and Transform the Way You Work Forever  Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World 🔗Resources Mentioned: Martha Beck’s Article: I Rest My Pace 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  002: Eliminate Email with Cal Newport 028: When the Financial Tides Recede 126: Creating Time Buffer—7 Strategies for Spacious Scheduling 046: Time Margin—Are You Drowning, Treading Water, or Gliding? Pivot: 045: Post-Launch Pivot Point + Visit From the Furry Rest Monster Pivot: 251: Listener Q&A on (Furry) Imposter Monsters 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe »  🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners.  💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/132 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Would earning $1 million dollars in revenue this year solve all of your problems? It might, but it could also cause a whole set of new ones, inspiring you to scale back. That’s the story behind the business of today’s guest, Kaneisha Grayson. She shares how she built a seven-figure business, and why she later restructured to one that better honors her energy and goals.  More About Kaneisha: Kaneisha Grayson is the founder of The Art of Applying, an agency that aids graduate school applicants get accepted into top-tier schools and achieve funding. She is the author of Be Your Own Boyfriend: Decide to Be Happy, Unleash Your Sexy, and Change Your Life and host of the Scale Your Joy podcast. Kaneisha is dedicated to sharing her journey with like-minded people who are ready to forge their own path, creating a life and business that brings them joy instead of suffering through the corporate grind.  🌟3 Key Takeaways: Be mindful of what financial metrics matter most on the route to your broader business goals. What is more important: high top-line revenue, or profit and owner take-home pay? Facebook Ads can be a great fit for people selling high-ticket programs that later roll into a recurring revenue model; but buyer beware—they may not be your most profitable channel. Set up a “body double”: Kaneisha has learned that for those navigating ADHD, having real-time support and accountability, such as virtual coworking, makes a huge difference. 📝Permission: Ignore business advice that doesn’t work for you, or that—for whatever reason—you just can’t do. Stop internalizing failures you’re experiencing without further investigation about alternate routes. ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: What are you tracking to tell you whether or not you’re successful? Are those metrics aligned with what is making your life joyful? Re-evaluate the metrics you monitor and match them to what you value most.  📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Be Your Own Boyfriend 🔗Resources Mentioned:  Kaneisha on the web, Instagram: @kaneishagrayson, LinkedIn, Facebook Kaneisha’s podcast: Scale Your Joy Flow Club Get it Done Zoom Sessions for ADHD women  The Flow Tribe Marie Forleo’s B-School 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  The Get Paid Podcast: Kaneisha Grayson: Hitting 7 Figures and Reducing Your Revenue Goal Hello Seven Podcast: A Masterclass in Million Dollar Mindset with Kaneisha Grayson  053: Facilitated Focus with Jake Kahana Pivot: 115: "People are People" — Exploring Neurodiversity with Mark Rufino   💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit  💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/131 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Consistently creating high-quality content can be challenging. To practice what I call ongoing original public thinking, I am often brainstorming how to make the processes involved as smooth, simple, and searchable as possible. This episode originally aired as a Loom video for the private BFF community, where I walked through my Notion podcast production dashboard and content calendar. Here’s what I have learned (and optimized!) in these last seven years of podcasting. You can also watch the video walkthrough of this episode here. Want more where this came from? Set yourself up for even more abundant ease, joy, and time in 2023 by joining us in the private BFF community and Free Time Operations Dashboard with promo code PODCAST. If you join as a result of this episode, you will receive complimentary access to the full (He)art of Podcasting Course.  Last but not least, if you’ve read the book, please leave an Amazon review if you haven’t already! 🌟3 Key Takeaways: Use Amazon’s advanced search feature to find books that will be releasing in the next few months, when authors are most likely to say yes to interview requests. Create specific templates in your project management system for the different types of content you create so your team knows exactly what information to collect. If you use Riverside.fm: Create one recording studio or room for podcast conversations, so you don’t need to create a new event every time you record; just send a link to the permanent one. Even better? Turn that into a bit.ly or a vanity URL that redirects from your domain (i.e. yourdomain.com/riverside) 📝Permission: Stop tediously typing up notes! Use voice dictation, iOS’s Live Text feature, and Your Kindle Highlights to copy and paste key takeaways from books and articles more easily. ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Set up Readwise.io with a connection to import your Kindle highlights if you haven’t already! If you are a Notion’er, set up a Readwise export of those highlights to a Library database.  📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling 🔗Resources Mentioned: Watch a video walkthrough of this episode (Loom) Free Time Operations Dashboard  BFF private community Pivot podcast One Stone Creative  Amazon advanced search for upcoming book releases,  Software: Calendly, Zapier, Your Kindle Highlights, Readwise.io, iOS—Live Text: How to copy/paste text from images (h/t Tim Ferriss), Dropbox, Riverside.fm, pod.link, Send to Kindle Chrome extension TEDx Video: Matthew Dicks’ Homework for Life 🎧Related Podcast Episodes: 121: How to Steer Through a Downturn and Stop Micromanaging with Annie Hyman Pratt 123: “Pricing is Branding” — Anti-Time Management with Richie Norton 111: Building a Second Brain with Tiago Forte 109: Winning the Week with Demir Bentley 062: Made by Monday On Content "Frog" Batching 124: JB’s 5 C’s System for Content Curation and Production 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe »  🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners.  💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/130 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Think of your day-to-day work as fitting into one of four quadrants, as defined by today’s guest Khe Hy in a recent issue of his fantastic RadReads newsletter:  $10 Work is low-leverage, low-skilled work that you can do when you’re hungover. $100 Work is when you leverage the wrong thing – and get overwhelmed by meta-work. $10K Work consists of high-leverage skills that exponentially grow your business and bring you closer to your dream life. As Khe writes, “The quadrant people high-performers really get stuck in is the $1,000/hour quadrant . . . the domain of unique skills that have no leverage.” That’s what we’re discussing in today’s episode so you can learn strategies to stop struggling and do more of your best work. More About Khe: Khe Hy is the founder and CEO of RadReads, an online education company that helps over 36,000 professionals lead productive, examined, and joyful lives. He has been called Oprah for Millennials by CNN, is the creator of the $10K Work productivity method, and teaches the popular cohort-based course Supercharge Your Productivity. Before founding RadReads, Khe spent 15 years working on Wall Street and was one of the youngest Managing Directors at BlackRock.  🌟3 Key Takeaways:  $10K tasks combine skill and leverage, as well as unique IP. Getting good at just one or two promotional channels lets you leverage the power of constraints and align with the way you like to work. When you look at your business activities, do they fit into your long-term goals—or your $10K tasks? Make sure your effort is aligned with the outcomes you seek.  📝Permission: Stop the struggle; great things can still happen in your business without it. Remember: It doesn’t have to be hard to be worthwhile. ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Make a list of five $10K Tasks at the intersection of your unique skills, IP, and leverage.  📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College: The Complete Guide to Getting What You Want Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life With the Heart of a Buddha 🔗Resources Mentioned:  Khe on the web, Twitter, LinkedIn, Supercharge Your Productivity (course) Articles: The Magic of Doing $10,000 Per Hour Work, How to be the Chief Unblocking Officer, High Performers Routinely Make This Mistake Newsletter: Stratechery Free Time Operations Dashboard Software: Substack, Medium, JustWorks, Notion 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  111: Building a Second Brain with Tiago Forte The Nathan Barry Show: 026 Keh Hy - How You Can Do $10,000/Hr Work 108: How to Run a Scaled Coaching Team with Notion 088: Why I Moved from Asana to Notion for Task and Project Management 034: Organizing Research and Ideas - Notion Walkthrough #1 036: Shaping Big Ideas - Notion Walkthrough #2 038: Tracking Progress Toward Finishing a Book (or Big Idea) with an Essay Tracker - Notion Walkthrough #3 098: How to Build Your Minimum Viable Team (MVT)   💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit  💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/129 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nothing makes me more frustrated than poorly run companies that essentially steal time and money from the customers through bureaucracy and botching the basics. If you’re a longtime listener of this show, you might remember episode 83: Breaking Through Buyers Remorse, Never Lose a Customer Again with Joey Coleman. Today, I am sharing a tale of two contrasting customer service stories: one that devolved into disappointed buyer’s remorse, and the other that surprised and delighted my family and me, while creating memories of a lifetime. 🌟3 Key Takeaways: Decide if you want to be a luxury brand or not; price and create processes accordingly. When you or your team makes mistakes—as everyone does—over-deliver and get creative to make it right. Respond even if there’s nothing you can do: The “table stakes” of customer service are to listen and empathize. 📝Permission: To make mistakes, so long as you design processes that help you and your team to apologize creatively and make it right. ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Review how you operationalize your company values. Are you aiming to provide a luxury experience or not? Are you pricing accordingly, and do you have the systems and processes in place to match?  📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One  The Road Less Stupid: Advice from the Chairman of the Board Radical Candor: Fully Revised and Updated Edition: How to Get What You Want by Saying What You Mean  Raving Fans: Revolutionary Approach to Customer Service 🔗Resources Mentioned:  Itinerary App: TripIt Pro Travel Points Card: Delta AmEx  The Tea House at Los Rios 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  083: Breaking through Buyer’s Remorse—Never Lose a Customer Again with Joey Coleman 068: Are You Running a Grumpy Business? 104: Save Someone Next Steps 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe »  🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners.  💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/128 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s guest is an expert in cultivating creativity — and in remaining consistent over the long arc of content creation. Todd Henry is the author of six books, and today we’re talking about how to stay motivated in the publishing industry, where the market reflects winner-take-all dynamics, and the long tail is verrrry long.  More About Todd: Todd is the author of six books, including The Accidental Creative, Die Empty, Louder Than Words, Herding Tigers, and Motivation Code, and host of The Accidental Creative podcast and the Herding Tigers podcast. He empowers companies and teams to be creative, prolific, and brilliant in their work through his books, podcasts, and keynote speaking. He is the host of the 17-year-running Accidental Creative podcast, and today we’re going behind the scenes His new book, Daily Creative: A Practical Guide for Staying Prolific, Brilliant, and Healthy, encourages you to thrive as a creative through daily practice. 🌟3 Key Takeaways: Solve a problem that people know they have; frame your products and services in terms of how they accomplish a job that people need done. Your creativity is one of your most precious resources. Protect your Idea Factory and measure the quantity and quality of ideas you generate Set Wildly Important Goals; Todd’s are: quality, awareness, and revenue diversity. Every day you should be figuring out how your work will help you achieve them. 📝Permission: Practice pruning; there’s probably something you’re doing right now that has already served its purpose and run its course. You hereby have permission to drop it! ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Outline your business model as a flywheel. For help with this, read Jim Collins’ fantastic monograph, Turning the Flywheel. 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One The Accidental Creative: How to Be Brilliant at a Moment's Notice Die Empty: Unleash Your Best Work Every Day Louder than Words: Harness the Power of Your Authentic Voice Herding Tigers: Be the Leader That Creative People Need The Motivation Code: Discover the Hidden Forces That Drive Your Best Work Turning the Flywheel: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't The Practice: Shipping Creative Work 🔗Resources Mentioned:  Todd on the web, Instagram: @toddhenry, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook Todd’s Podcasts: The Accidental Creative podcast, Herding Tigers podcast Articles: NYT on the long tail of book publishing: Will the Biggest Publisher in the U.S. Get Even Bigger? Video: Elizabeth Gilbert’s TED Talks: Your Elusive Creative Genius, Success Failure and the Drive to Keep Creating   🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  111: Building a Second Brain with Tiago Forte 123: “Pricing is Branding” — Anti-Time Management with Richie Norton Pivot 051: Die Empty with Todd Henry Pivot 088: Artist Seth Price on Finding Freedom in Bad Ideas, Balancing Commerce and Creation in Business Pivot 254: The Practice—On Generosity, Peculiarity, and Showing Up with Seth Godin    💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit  💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/127 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“If you’re on time you're late.” That’s one of my favorite mantras that I picked up from my dad, second to, “These are the grrrreat times!” (no matter what is going on in his life or the world).  My dad was always early for our meet-ups, something I experienced as a sign of respect and ease. This relationship to punctuality has stayed with me as an adult, and I’m not the only one. I once bumped into a first date who was killing time at the same west village park as me around the corner from the restaurant where we were set to meet fifteen minutes later, since we were both sticklers for showing up early! The bigger point—especially once you have time autonomy when running your own business—is recreating that early ease by building in spacious time buffers. This means you’re not skidding in or out of calls or meetings feeling crunched for time, the heavy clamp of time scarcity pressing down, adding pressure and resulting in scattered, frantic energy.  Today I’m sharing seven of my strategies for building in time buffer. I’d love to hear yours, too! Send me an email at hi@itsfreetime.com or leave me a voice memo at http://itsfreetime.com/ask. 🌟 7 Types of Time Buffer to Build into Your Calendar: Before your first call of the day Between calls (ideally 30 minutes, if not a full hour) Before and after weekends (either making sure Monday and Friday are unscheduled, or you could even consider a DNS block on Wednesdays!) Before and after holidays (federal days off and/or full holiday weeks) Before, during, and after work travel One night hotel before seeing family After a big launch 📝Permission: Block off way more Do Not Schedule (DNS) time on your calendar than seems reasonable or typical, and only make exceptions for what’s joyful once that date gets closer. ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Look out three months from now: What holidays can you create buffer around? What days of the week can you make off limits starting now? Bonus: update your scheduling software to incorporate these changes, and to include buffer time before and after meetings if you don’t already.  📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🔗Resources Mentioned:  Scheduling Software: Calendly, Clara Labs Private BFF Community Article by Jonah Lehrer: Why We Travel 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  018: Workcation in the City 027: Time Management for Mortals with Oliver Burkeman 040: It's Not Free Time If You're Exhausted Pivot 045: Post-Launch Pivot Point + Visit From the Furry Rest Monster Pivot 077: 21+ Travel Tips, Tools and Apps — with Jenny Blake Pivot 097: Conscious Business, Superconscious Capitalism, and The Meaning Revolution with Fred Kofman: a Teacher Who Changed My Life Without Knowing It Pivot 250: Staycation in the City   💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe »  🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners.  💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/126 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If there’s one software question that invokes a near-universal groan among small business owners, it’s “What do you use for a CRM?” Much of the existing software is clunky, expensive, or at worst—both. Today I’m chatting with Notion pro Alex Sherwood, a former Salesforce CRM manager, on how he built his own Customer Relationship Manager tool in Notion, and inspired me to do the same. Because even the acronym CRM gives me shudders, I renamed mine “K.I.T.”, Keep In Touch, in a nod to high school yearbook sign-offs. More About Alex: Alex Sherwood, also known as A Notioneer, is a full-time Notion Certified Consultant, ambassador, and creator, who helps Notion users structure their system with his 50+ templates, guides, and consulting. Previously, he managed a Salesforce CRM for more than 3 years that started with 9 users and scaled to more than 75. He is the resident expert for our Free Time Operations Dashboard, a done-for-you guide to your entire business, helping all of our new Dashboarders get up-to-speed.  You can use the code PODCAST for a special deal on the Free Time Operations Dashboard (which includes two 1:1 sessions with Alex!) 🌟3 Key Takeaways: Ideally, you have one central, searchable storage spot to keep tabs on people you connect with regularly, whether for clients or your broader professional community.  When building your CRM, focus on the outputs you want it to provide: Help tracking your sales pipeline? Keeping up with friends? Networking with colleagues? Additional questions to consider: What processes do you need to manage? What information do you need to record about those processes to make them as simple as possible? What reports would be most helpful for your business? 📝Permission: Set up a simple CRM that works for you. Start with keeping light notes and reminders for the people you care most about! Then allow it to organically grow in scope and complexity over time. ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Create a “referred by” or “how we met” note or relation (Notion-speak) in your CRM to remember how you first connected with someone.  📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business, Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One 🔗Resources Mentioned:  Alex on the web, IG: @aNotioneer, Twitter: @anotioneer Notion Resources: Free Time Operations Dashboard (promo code PODCAST), Marie Poulin’s Notion Mastery course, Alex’s Advanced CRM Template, How to build a CRM in Notion (video), meme: “Just taking notes” Tools Mentioned: Make, Zapier, Stripe, Stripe Sigma, Glide 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  108: How to Run a Scaled Coaching Team with Notion 088: Why I Moved from Asana to Notion for Task and Project Management 034: Organizing Research and Ideas - Notion Walkthrough #1 036: Shaping Big Ideas - Notion Walkthrough #2 038: Tracking Progress Toward Finishing a Book (or Big Idea) with an Essay Tracker - Notion Walkthrough #3 083: Breaking through Buyer’s Remorse—Never Lose a Customer Again with Joey Coleman 111: Building a Second Brain with Tiago Forte Pivot 287: Solving Pivot Puzzles with A.J. Jacobs    💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit  💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/125 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How often do you feel blocked when it comes to creating new content? If you want to be more consistent and confident, today I’m sharing the 5 C’s System that I use to create 12 podcast episodes a month, two newsletters, and bonus content for my private BFF community. Ongoing Public Original Thinking is a central part of my business, and this is my ever-evolving system that facilitates it.  🌟 JB’s 5 C’s System for Content Production: Carve out time for consuming content that energizes you each day - it doesn’t have to be directly related to your business. Follow your curiosity and set things aside in an “inspiration box” for physical items, or a folder or board for digital.  Add snippets to a collection bucket, and tag them with topics and categories so you can find things easily later. Tag content in your collection bucket specifically for your content calendar so you know what you’ll be sharing when. See yourself as a qualified curator and share regularly!  📝Permission: Not to be a genius in the moment you’re trying to create content. You also have permission not to be an End-All-Be-All Expert. Lean on the identity of Qualified Curator instead. ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Create a collection bucket if you don’t already have one!   📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One  The 1-Page Marketing Plan: Get New Customers, Make More Money, And Stand Out From The Crowd 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  111: Building a Second Brain with Tiago Forte 034: Organizing Research and Ideas — Notion Walkthrough #1 069: XYZ with Allan Dib  The Tim Ferriss Show Transcripts: Tim Urban (#283) Pivot 146: How to Rapid-Prototype a Course Pivot 281: Feeling Impostery? Become a Qualified Curator Instead of an End-All-Be-All Expert (5/29) Pivot 196: Agile Public Original Thinking 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe »  🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners.  💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/124 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Time collapses when something you think takes 100 steps takes only one.” That’s just one of many gems from this week’s guest, Richie Norton. Richie is teaching us how to optimize for time flow and cash flow; to act from our future, not toward it. As he says, “It’s time to rescue your meta-goal from the ledge of your long-distance timeline and bring it home by placing it directly at the center of your life.” More About Richie: Richie Norton is an award-winning author and serial entrepreneur. An executive coach (one of the Top 100 as honored by MG100) to CEOs, and one of the world’s leading thinkers, Pacific Business News recognized Richie as one of the Top Forty Under 40 “best and brightest young businessmen” in Hawaii. He is the CEO and Cofounder of PROUDUCT—an INC. 5000 company—a global entrepreneurship solution helping businesses go from idea to market with full-service sourcing, product strategy, and end-to-end supply chain. He is the author of several books including Anti-Time Management, The Power of Starting Something Stupid and Résumés Are Dead and What to Do About It. He and his wife Natalie have four boys (one son already made his way to Heaven) and they have cared for three beloved foster children. They live on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii, with their little dog, Velzy. 🌟3 Key Takeaways: Work from your goals, not toward them. Anti-Time Management is about autonomy, availability, and ability. Bthinking about the goal first, you can often eliminate a lot of time and work in getting there. “Experts do not require training.” If you charge higher prices and hire experts as you need them to help you fulfill that demand, you can deliver more value while working less.  Time collapses when something you think takes 100 steps takes only one. 📝Permission: Rethink projects with too many steps or obstacles toward creating the lifestyle you want. How can you bake your dream into the process from day one? ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Reflect: Are you paying as much attention to your time flow as your cash flow? On what area of your business do you spend the most time? Does it make sense for you to be doing that work, or can you delegate or outsource it to someone who could do it better?  📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One The Power of Starting Something Stupid: How to Crush Fear, Make Dreams Happen, and Live without Regret  Résumés Are Dead and What to Do About It Anti-Time Management: Reclaim Your Time and Revolutionize Your Results with the Power of Time Tipping 🔗Resources Mentioned:  Richie on the web, Twitter, Instagram: @ritchie_norton, LinkedIn Ritchie’s Podcast: The Richie Norton Show Tedx Talk: Richie Norton TEDx Talk (ft SIRAH + Moldova) Part 2 of 3 SIRAH: A Light in the Dark on The Richie Norton Show JLD’s Freedom Journal 🎧Related Podcast Episodes: 100: Top Ten Lessons from 💯 Episodes, 006: Going Pro on Podcasting with Jordan Harbinger 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit  💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/123 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As I ask in the introduction to Free Time: What revenue streams are in that oh-so-sweet-spot of profit, ease, and joy in your business? Recurring revenue is one of the holy grails within a sustainable, scalable business. It’s an area that I have focused intently on since 2015, so in a follow-up episode 112: My 3 Biggest Business Regrets, today I’m sharing more about the recurring income streams in my business. The primary recurring streams of income in my business are (in order of size):  Corporate licensing, primarily of the Pivot IP  Coaching powered a network of subcontractors My private BFF community Royalties from my three books (not much, but they still count!) and LinkedIn Learning video courses Podcast ad revenue, and  Affiliate sales (okay, so I snuck in a sixth! These aren’t quite recurring on a monthly basis, but a small-yet-active ongoing activity)  Some of these are more passive than others, but together they combine to create a diversified business model that supports both Fortune 5 clients and “Fortune Five Million” as the basecamp founders would say :) 🌟3 Key Takeaways: You can batch service delivery like you batch other tasks. Consider putting all of your coaching (or equivalent!) calls on certain days of the week or weeks of the month to maximize your free space. Sometimes “passive” income is really just asymmetric income, where you front-load the effort, and see the results later on. Ideally, a business will have a small mix of recurring opportunities so you’re never completely dependent on a single stream or client. I aim for three primary focus areas when it comes to recurring revenue: licensing, coaching, and community.  📝Permission: To renegotiate how you invoice clients, shifting from one-off project-based billing to recurring retainer-based billing. You might be surprised at how much easier this makes things for your clients too, by reducing decision-fatigue and scheduling complications!  ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Reevaluate one of the revenue streams in your business: How could you “productize” a service, making a one-off or ad-hoc stream more predictable by shiting it toward a subscription model?  📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Subscribed: Why the Subscription Model Will Be Your Company's Future-and What to Do About It Built to Sell: Creating a Business That Can Thrive Without You 🔗Resources Mentioned:  Jordan Gill’s Systems Saved Me Free Time Programs: BFF Community, Free Time Operations Dashboard, Voxer Coaching Waitlist Turning the Flywheel (Monograph) 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  112: My 3 Biggest Business Regrets  Pivot 066: Create Multiple Streams of Income with Dorie Clark 016: IP Licensing with Lee LeFever 111: Building a Second Brain with Tiago Forte Pivot 283: What Are You Here to Do? How to Find a Path That Fits with Adrian Klaphaak Pivot 288: Embracing Uncertainty — Mic Flip with Adrian Klaphaak 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe »  🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners.  💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/122 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Take it from a self-described “recovering micromanager,” Annie Hyman Pratt: people are the most underleveraged, underutilized asset you have in your business. And once you see it, she says, you won’t be able to unsee it.  Today we’re talking about the people side of your business—how to get out of the weeds as a leader to prevent burnout and build a high-performing, trust-based team, even while steering through shaky economic conditions. More About Annie: Annie Hyman Pratt specializes in developing leaders, teams, and infrastructure to drive business growth through her company Leading Edge Teams. Her career started with her family’s business, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, and sky-rocketed from there. After decades of success and experience as a C-level executive and business adviser, she recently launched her new book, The People Part: Seven Agreements Entrepreneurs and Leaders Make to Build Teams, Accelerate Growth, and Banish Burnout for Good. 🌟3 Key Takeaways: Micromanagement often comes from a leader trying to dial down their own discomfort, judgments, and assumptions. “What we need from people now is thinking—hands are not enough.” Delegation starts on the premise that it’s a two-way street: the other person needs to take on discernment, responsibility, and results, not just say “yes” automatically. The thing about downturns: as long as you survive with any kind of decent health at the end, you will automatically be there to grab the new opportunities — which you can’t see yet! A stormy season isn’t the time to try and reach your destination, but just to keep the ship upright and your team reasonably okay. Have faith that the skies are going to clear. 📝Permission: Drop the self-blame and self-disappointment. If you are a business owner, your self-compassion must exceed your ambition.  ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: For the next big project you want to delegate, consider (and capture!) the outcomes you are looking to achieve as a result (not just tasks).  📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One The People Part: Seven Agreements Entrepreneurs and Leaders Make to Build Teams, Accelerate Growth, and Banish Burnout for Good Built to Sell: Creating a Business That Can Thrive Without You 🔗Resources Mentioned: Annie on the web, Instagram: @anniehymanpratt, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter Leadership Assessment Quiz Leading Edge Teams 🎧Related Podcast Episodes: 007: Million-Dollar One-Person Business with Elaine Pofeldt 093: How to Sell Your Online Business with Alexis Grant Pivot: 096: The Million-Dollar, One-Person Business with Elaine Pofeldt 086: The Cyrano Strategy for Delegating Important Comms 054: Ten T's of Successful Delegating 067: Tiny Business, Big Money with Elaine Pofeldt    💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit  💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/121 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is your to-do list piled to the sky with uninspiring tasks? Wait until you hear this listener submission from Leanne, sharing one of many favorite gems from participating in mastermind groups and 1:1 coaching with the legendary “Million Dollar Consultant” Alan Weiss. More About Leanne: Leanne Hughes is an international facilitator, trusted advisor, and speaker who loves creating unpredictable workshop experiences that predictably work. She combines her experience in marketing and her passion for group dynamics, with her education in psychology to help leaders dramatically improve their teams' performance. Based in Brisbane, Australia, Leanne has partnered with organizations all around the world (in-person and virtual) and believes in a strengths-centered approach to learning and development. Check out her two podcasts: First-Time Facilitator and Work and Live Large. What’s your favorite time-saving system? Share with fellow Free Timers by leaving us a voice note at http://itsfreetime.com/ask or recording a brief voice memo on your phone and emailing it to hi [at] itsfreetime.com. We can’t wait to hear from you! 🌟 Key Takeaway: If your to-do list isn’t sparking joy, eliminate the items you can first. For ones that remain: visualize the benefits of accomplishing the items—the ideal end state—and write down your vision for how you will feel after completing them. Be vivid and irresistible in your description! 📝Permission: Drop annoying tasks and to-dos. Focus on what’s most compelling instead. ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Look at your current to-do list: For the five most critical items, reframe them into results you are going to enjoy once the logistical steps are complete. 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Alan Weiss’ Million-Dollar Consulting, Million-Dollar Speaker  🔗Resources Mentioned:  Leanne on the web, Instagram: @leannehughes, LinkedIn: Leanne Hughes Leanne’s Podcasts: First Time Facilitator, Leanne Hughes’ Work and Live Large Jenny’s private BFF Community for Heart-Based Business owners 🎧Related Podcast Episodes: 017: Serendipity as Business Strategy with Leanne Hughes 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe »  🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners.  💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/120 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Why would someone fly you across the world to do business with them?” That powerful question from a mentor in March 2020 gave today’s guest, Marquis Murray, the courage to go all-in on his passion of helping business owners create order from chaos through greater operational efficiency.  More About Marquis: Marquis Murray is the CEO and Founder of Ditto, a systems and processes consultancy for organizations who need help creating clarity around the work inside their companies. His goal is eliminating team burnout, so people can focus more on the work they do without the stress of not knowing where or how the work is happening. He is also the host of the In Systems We Trust podcast where owners and leaders of businesses talk about the systems, processes, and operational efficiency practices they use every day. 🌟3 Key Takeaways: If you’re not updating your systems and processes as your business grows, then you might be en route to burnout. Make sure your foundation can support your growth.  Just because you can do something better or faster yourself, doesn’t mean you should.  What happens immediately after a client signs on the dotted line? That is the very last place you want something to fall through the cracks. 📝Permission: Stop apologizing for wanting perfection, or wanting to improve. Don’t be afraid to say no in order to protect your time and spend more energy working in your zone of genius. ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Ask, “How can I make this easier?” This is often the best starting place when you want to improve your systems and automated processes.  📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One  The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It  The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level  Alignment: Overcoming Internal Sabotage and Digital Product Failure  Radical Candor: Fully Revised & Updated Edition: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity  Vivid Vision: A Remarkable Tool for Aligning Your Business Around a Shared Vision of the Future 🔗Resources Mentioned:  Marquis on the web, Twitter, LinkedIn Marquis’ Podcast: In Systems We Trust  Think Ditto’s Vivid Vision for 2022  Personality Test: 16 Personalities, Enneagram Tools: Loom, Asana, Zapier, IFTTT, Integromat, Burb, HubSpot, PandaDoc, DocuSign, HelloSign, Lucid.app Podcast: The Talking to Tech People Podcast with Jason Frazell: Marquis Murray-CEO and Founder of Ditto 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit  💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/119 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Living in New York City for over a decade, I’ve woken up to many a strange sight over the years: sirens, helicopters overhead, a pre-dawn police chase through the backyard, and a drone buzzing where the birds should be. But never have I woken up to someone doing their job with such delight (who also happened to be smokin’ hot and shirtless) that he drew out fellow neighbors to stand at attention in their windowsills, with coffee mugs in hand, also chatting him up and taking in the view. Today’s episode takes a page out of this memorable man’s customer delight handbook. Daymaker: wherever you are, thank you.  📝Permission: Be over the top. Let your inner child out and loosen up. Be giddy with delight that you get to do what you do for the people you do it for (and lucky passersby).   ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Who is the last person who made your day? Who made you smile and memorably shifted your mood? Reach out and thank them for spreading their abundant joy in the world :) 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business, Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One  🔗Resources Mentioned: Architect Breaks Down 5 of the Most Common New York Apartments (Video), Chris Jenner’s Masterclass on Personal Branding 🎧Related Podcast Episodes: For the flip-side, listen to 068: Are You Running a Grumpy Business? 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe »  🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners.  💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/118 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do you shy away from marketing and metrics, or have trouble figuring out more of your ideal clients? If so, this conversation will give you just the boost you need! Join me and longtime friendtor Pamela Slim (the one who gave me the courage and encouragement to leave my comfy corporate life back in 2011) as we discuss shifting out of empire culture toward ecosystem culture, identifying watering holes for your ideal community members, working with “PB&J partners,” being the weirdo in the room, and prioritizing outreach even if you’re introverted. More About Pam: Pamela Slim is an award-winning author, speaker and business coach who works with small business owners ready to scale their businesses and IP. She is the author of Escape from Cubicle Nation, Body of Work, and The Widest Net: Unlock Untapped Markets and Discover New Customers Right in Front of You, and TEDx speaker on Finding Purpose in the New World of Work. She also hosts The Widest Net podcast where she shares the many ways entrepreneurs and small business owners can build a thriving business. 🌟3 Key Takeaways: Empire culture vs. ecosystem culture: Focus on creating an environment of amazing, related services to help your ideal client solve their problem/s. Brainstorm a list of Tiny Marketing Actions: “Small daily marketing actions, delivered consistently over a long period of time, to build your brand, your business, and your bank account.” Don’t be afraid to be the weirdo in the room: “Instead of clustering with the same group of friends who all promote each other's stuff for years on end in a tightly controlled environment with rigid rules for participation...look for places where [you] can learn as much as [you] can from customers who have problems that interest [you].” 📝Permission: Drop the socialization that tells you that you should be in a different place than you are, doing more, feeling guilty for what you haven’t done; the shame that builds up around making a plan and falling off course. Release and drop anything you didn’t do and look forward. ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Make a list of three possible PB&J partners—ones that offer highly complementary services to your ideal customers. Bonus: Send a love note to someone whose work you admire!  📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Escape From Cubicle Nation: From Corporate Prisoner to Thriving Entrepreneur Body of Work: Finding the Thread That Ties Your Story Together The Widest Net: Unlock Untapped Markets and Discover New Customers Right in Front of You 🔗Resources Mentioned:  Pam on the web, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook Pam’s Podcast: The Widest Net Ted Talk: Finding Purpose in the New World of Work Article: Are You Squeezing Through the Eye of a Needle? 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  101: Run Your Business with Exquisite Greatness and Tiny Art Projects with Alexandra Franzen 111: Building a Second Brain with Tiago Forte 108: How to Run a Scaled Coaching Team with Notion   💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit  💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/117 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“If you think you’re too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito in the room.” That’s a gem I found in MBS’s book, How to Begin, from Body Shop founder Anita Roddick. It came to mind last night while I was being plagued by a particularly elusive mosquito my husband dubbed “Maverick.” (Yes, after the Tom Cruise movie.) In my sleep-deprived state I searched for the meaning—and the business metaphor—behind this pesky, pernicious little beast. Thus, after a midnight brainstorm, I bring you this solo episode on finding (and eradicating!) the mosquitoes* in your business.  *Don’t get them confused with the Butterfly Effect—tiny moments (supposedly) sparking massive change, or Splatology—low-stakes time clutter accumulating until you can’t see through the windshield any longer. 🌟3 Key Takeaways—Business Mosquitoes are: Persistent interruptions that interfere with much more important goals (i.e. sleep, peace). Often hard to see, and harder to catch (until they’re perched on the headboard resting fat and happy after feasting on you) Relentless in waking you up to deal with the problem (unless you resort to bury every inch of your body under the covers, the proverbial head in the sand) 📝Permission: Put boundaries in place that prevents others from interrupting your peace! ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Identify your biggest business mosquito: What’s keeping you up at night? How can you put a solution in place that doesn’t just squash one, but prevents many more “bites” in the future?  📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One How to Begin: Start Doing Something That Matters The Mosquito: A Human History of Our Deadliest Predator Radical Candor: Fully Revised & Updated Edition: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less 🔗Resources Mentioned:  Article: The Mosquitoes Are Coming for Us Indoor Mosquito Trap (scroll down to the hilarious reviews): Katchy Sleep and Fitness Tracker: Whoop Jenny’s private BFF Community Gotham Production Studios 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  057: You+ vs. You 2.0 with MBS 106: Splatology—On Clearing Time Clutter 062: Made by Monday On Content "Frog" Batching 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe »  🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners.  💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/116 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We talk about The Fiji Test often here at Free Time HQ on documentation and making ourselves replaceable every day. The central question: Could a stranger to the business take over without much disruption? That’s exactly what Shannon Minifie and longtime friendtor MBS put to the test several years ago. As he stepped aside as CEO of the company he’d been building for nearly 20 years, Box of Crayons, Shannon took the reins through a two-year transition process. If you haven’t listened yet, be sure to pair this with episode 051: How to Replace Yourself as CEO with MBS. Today we hear about Shannon’s side of the experience—navigating a pandemic while parenting young children as a newly minted CEO, and the inevitable imposter syndrome that comes with any leadership role. I chuckled at her reminders-to-self about not trying to impersonate Michael or “build a museum frozen in place” with his ways of operating. More About Shannon: Shannon’s career began in academia, where she wrote a dissertation on David Foster Wallace. In 2016, she embarked on a new path, starting a career in corporate learning and development, and took over as CEO at Box of Crayons (founded by previous guest Michael Bungay Stanier) in 2019. She encourages in her team an enthusiastic discernment that brings a depth of thinking to bear on everything Box of Crayons does. 🌟3 Key Takeaways: The focus changes when you move from working with contractors to having a core team. It’s important to keep the client front and center.  Have an identity outside of work: your job is what you do, not all of who you are. Go on a listening tour with your clients and team members. Be curious, listen carefully and make connections to better understand what is happening at your company. Remember that something can be real and true, but not need immediate action.  📝Permission: To “earn your paycheck” over a long period of time.  ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Take the advice a fellow CEO gave to Shannon—divide your time into four buckets: staying close to the client, staying close to the competition, calibrating your top team, and making your team and organization smarter.  📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever 🔗Resources Mentioned:  Shannon on the web, Instagram: @boxofcrayonsinc, Twitter, LinkedIn,  Page Two Publishing MBS.works  Coaches: Ernest Oriente, Jill Murphy 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  051: How to Replace Yourself as CEO with MBS Brave New Work Podcast: When the CEO’s Fires Themselves with Michael Bungay Stanier and Shannon Minifie  2 Pages Podcast: Brave Choices: Channon Minifie x “A Supposedly Fun Thing I Will Never Do Again” 073: From CEO (Back) to Creator with Pat Flynn 081: DAOing and Prioritizing Progress over Perfection   💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit  💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/115 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’ve got a Grab Bag this week with three favorite time-saving techniques, starting with an image I can’t get out of my mind by @jackbutcher of Visualize Value, followed by two listener submissions for the My Favorite Time-Saving System series. What’s your favorite tip or tool? Leave a review for the pod to share with fellow Free Timers at lovethepodcast.com/freetime, or submit it as a voice memo at http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🌟 Key Takeaways:  “Failure is the frame, not the picture.” Remember that the specific event or experience you’re looking at isn’t the whole story; don’t judge something as a failure too soon. Create a virtuous circle by nurturing your current clients and encouraging word-of-mouth referrals. Improve retrievability in your business and your life by thinking your tasks through to their final outcomes and making sure the single next step after a current task is either already done, or so obvious it doesn’t have to be thought about. 📝Permission: From Karen—Not to take on new clients this quarter! Appreciate the ones you have, and watch as word-of-mouth magic grows as a result :) ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: From Lauren—put your trash bags (real and proverbial) where they will instantly save time for your future self.  📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business, Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One  🔗Resources Mentioned:  VisualizeValue.com Karen LePage Podcast Production: One Stone Creative 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  028: When the Financial Tides Recede 104: Save Someone Next Steps 095: From Scavenger Hunts to Retrievability Speed with Nick Sonnenberg 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe »  🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners.  💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/114 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sometimes it seems like being a jerk pays off. Society often seems to reward the leaders who don’t mind stepping on others en route to the top. But if you don’t want to live that way, you’re among friends here and with today’s guest Julien Smith. We’re talking about avoiding leadership traps and creating positive boundaries in your business. More About Julien: Julien Smith is the co-founder and CEO of Practice, a business management platform for coaches. He was the co-founder of Breather, and is a New York Times bestselling author of three books. Two of these, Trust Agents and The Impact Equation, were written with Chris Brogan, and his third, The Flinch, was published with Domino Project in 2011. 🌟3 Key Takeaways: Listen to people—more of them, and more often. Your clients and customers often tell you exactly what they want and need from your business. Consider reducing instead of expanding your income streams. Each brings new processes and systems to manage. You might see great success with fewer offerings. Experiment until you find what works, then kill everything else! 📝Permission: Look up: Have you experienced the sacred recently? Connect to something bigger than you, especially when you’re feeling stressed or stuck.  ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Open up your life again by eliminating drudge work through software. Create a boundaries document that contains the things you do and don’t want in your life: the people you want to work with, the things that matter to you, the things you no longer want to deal with. 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust The Impact Equation: Are You Making Things Happen or Just Making Noise? Find Your Red Thread: Make Your Big Ideas Irresistible 🔗Resources Mentioned:  Julien on the web, Twitter: @trypractice, LinkedIn, his article: Open Coaching: $100,994 in 18 months as a part-time executive coach (3 hours/week) 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  097: How to Find Your Perfect Problem with Jim McKelvey, author of The Innovation Stack (Part One) 099: How to Find Your Perfect Problem with Jim McKelvey (Part Two) 043: From Start-Up to Grown-Up (and Coach to Author) with Alisa Cohn 057: You+ vs. You 2.0 with MBS 085: Building an Aligned Audience with Brian Clark The Accidental Creative Podcast: Advice for Builders (with Julien Smith)   💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit  💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/113 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As tough as it is to stomach sometimes, regret can be a helpful catalyst. As Daniel Pink shares in his latest book, The Power of Regret: How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward, regret is better understood less as a thing and more as a process; one that doesn’t just make us human, it makes us better.  “By making us feel worse today, regret helps us do better tomorrow,” he says. “Understanding its effects hones our decisions, boosts our performance, and bestows a deeper sense of meaning.” Today I’m sharing three big regrets, or strategic errors, in 11+ years of running my business. Special shout out: Thank you MoneySmartMom from Canada for the glowing review! What’s your favorite time-saving strategy? Share as a review on LoveThePodcast.com/freetime If you enjoy this episode, please share it with a friend! Visit pod.link/freetime 🌟 3 Key Takeaways from Daniel Pink’s book: Foundation regrets sound like this: If only I’d done the work. Boldness regrets sound like this: If only I’d taken that risk. Moral regrets sound like this: If only I’d done the right thing. 📝 Permission: Forgive yourself and drop the guilt about what you coulda, shoulda, woulda done in your business (thank you SATC for that episode title!). Today is a new day, and you probably had valid reasons at the time for making the decisions you did. Celebrate the wins, too! ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: What are your biggest business regrets? Leave me a voice memo and let me know at http://itsfreetime.com/ask. 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business  The Power of Regret: How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward 🔗Resources Mentioned: Jenny’s private BFF community 🎧Related Podcast Episodes: 058: Look for Measurable Loops Pivot: 021: Reinvent Yourself With James Altucher The James Altucher Show: Pivot: The Difference Between Making Millions and Failure…Episode #183 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe »  🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners.  💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/112 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is your relationship to information? Scattered and chaotic, or clear and navigable? Do you have streamlined systems for saving, distilling, and crafting original thought-leadership from what you encounter and store, or are you stuck when it comes time to create order from the chaos? Our guest this week, Tiago Forte, is here to teach you how to develop a second brain—a mindset that transcends toolset—through information-wrangling habits that will change the way you think and create. More About Tiago: Tiago Forte is a leading productivity expert who has taught thousands of people around the world how timeless principles and the latest technology can revolutionize their productivity, creativity, and personal effectiveness. Today we’re talking about his new book, Building a Second Brain: A Proven Method to Organize Your Digital Life and Unlock Your Creative Potential. Learn more at Fortelabs.co, and subscribe to his Building a Second Brain podcast. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways: Building a Second Brain is not about any one piece of software; it is about acquiring a new set of tools in your relationship to information, such as the practice of distilling marginalia or highlights after you read a book or clipping articles you find interesting even if you don’t plan to do anything with them yet. Apply the “campsite rule” to information in your business—leave notes better than you found them. You can do this by adding things like commentary, highlights, bullets a heading, etc. “Only start projects that are already 80 percent done.” By the time you sit down to make progress on something, all the work to gather and organize the source material should already be done. 📝 Permission: Not to be everywhere on all channels. Pick just one place that best fits your personality and style. Treat that channel as a place for your unique artistic expression. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: What do people ask you about most? Build out an FAQ by answering that question thoroughly, and posting it somewhere on your website, in Google Docs, or Notion. Then send future inquirers the link instead of one-off email messages. 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Building a Second Brain 🔗Resources Mentioned:  Tiago on the web, Instagram: @fortelabsco, Twitter, LinkedIn Building a Second Brain Book Resources Building a Second Brain Course Tools Mentioned: Readwise, Notion, Evernote, Instapaper, Pocket, Loom 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  034: Organizing Research and Ideas - Notion Walkthrough #1 036: Shaping Big Ideas - Notion Walkthrough #2 038: Tracking Progress Toward Finishing a Book (or Big Idea) with an Essay Tracker - Notion Walkthrough #3 101: Run Your Business with Exquisite Greatness and Tiny Art Projects with Alexandra Franzen Pivot: 135: The Bliss Engine with Jim Blake (aka Daddy-O!) Pivot: 281: Feeling Impostery? Become a Qualified Curator Instead of an Expert Pivot 183: Cultivating Opposites and Checklists with Alexandra Franzen   💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit  💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/111 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are your business activities at the intersection of revenue, ease, and joy? If not, are you aware of what does fall into that sweet spot? Are you a bona fide Free Timer, Bordering on Bottlenecked, or Chief Everything Officer? Those are the three potential outcomes of the Free Time Quiz, and upon reviewing the data, it sounds like a lot of us are still holding onto tiny, tedious, and time-consuming tasks. Today I’m sharing the initial post-book launch quiz results with insights on how Free Timers are navigating their businesses. Alongside every data point, I give an antidote solution to help move the needle in the right direction. 🌟3 Key Takeaways: Be aggressive about making your time for deep work! Create big (recurring) blocks of time in your calendar, and make them inviolable. Protect them even from your procrastinating self! Get to know your ideal customers a little bit better. How do they describe the problem you solve in their own words? What do they share over coffee with a friend? Your team and clients are better served when you are well rested. It’s not worth the thousand tiny cuts of saying yes when you don’t really want to.  📝Permission: Decline, reschedule, or remove three things from your calendar in the next two weeks. Really. Use that time for deep, pleasurable work instead.  ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Run an experiment, ideally an A/B test, for a metric in your business that you’d like to improve.  📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One  Value-Based Pricing: Drive Sales and Boost Your Bottom Line by Creating, Communicating and Capturing Customer Value Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business Clockwork, Revised and Expanded: Design Your Business to Run Itself Work the System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less (4th Edition) The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It 🔗Resources Mentioned:  Free Time Operations Dashboard Organization: Zapier, Notion, Calendly Podcast ads: Overcast Plugin: Just Not Sorry 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  086: The Cyrano Strategy for Delegating Important Comms 034: Organizing Research and Ideas - Notion Walkthrough #1 036: Shaping Big Ideas - Notion Walkthrough #2 038: Tracking Progress Toward Finishing a Book (or Big Idea) with an Essay Tracker - Notion Walkthrough #3 032: Courageous Marketing With Mike Michalowicz 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe »  🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners.  💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/110 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“A big life can weigh a lot . . . That’s why I was overworked—I was chasing the long-tail of my tasks into infinity. This is when the music stops and there aren’t enough chairs for everyone.”  If the logistics of life and work are gobbling up your equanimity, listen to today’s conversation with Demir Bentley on how to turn things around and “win the week,” with joyful rewards baked directly into the planning process. More About Demir: Demir Bentley helps successful people who secretly struggle with their productivity. Demir has personally coached executives from Facebook, Google, Uber, PepsiCo, and Lexar. Along with his wife, Carey, Demir founded The Lifehack Method and their podcast Freedom Decoded: A Podcast from Demir and Carey Bentley. Today we’re talking about his new book, The Winning the Week Method: How to Plan a Successful Week, Every Week. 🌟3 Key Takeaways: Your time is your inventory: in your weekly planning session, match your time demand to your time supply. Calendarize your task list, and add the good stuff first! Self-care, play, creative, quiet, social, time with a significant other. Build in flex time for UUW: Unplanned, Unwanted Work — and gamify your work through the Sticky Focus Game (timed sprints) 📝Permission: To add your “code patch” to the world’s knowledge base, even if you aren’t the world’s leading expert (yet!). And put the good stuff into your planning process. What ritual or fun or reward can you add to your weekly planning that will change it from a chore to be avoided into one of your most treasured tasks?   ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Carve out time to plan your week, every week. Pre-plan with your team as well, so that you’re truly digging into what is coming and stopping the unexpected things from becoming emergencies.  📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One  The Winning the Week Method: How to Plan a Successful Week, Every Week 🔗Resources Mentioned:  Demir on the web, LinkedIn, Twitter: @jokeye, YouTube Demir’s podcast: Freedom Decoded: A Podcast from Demir and Carey Bentley Selena Soo  Article: Here's What's Next for Chamath Palihapitiya's Social Capital SPACs Social Capital The Tim Ferriss Show Transcripts: Graham Duncan (#362) 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  016: IP Licensing with Lee LeFever 062: Made by Monday On Content "Frog" Batching    💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit  💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/109 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you’re the bottleneck in a service-based business, consider freeing your time by building your bench. That is what I’ve done with the Pivot and Free Time coaching teams, through partner contractors who I pass coaching clients to while taking care of the marketing and back-end operations. Today I’m sharing a walkthrough of the six Notion systems powering these programs. If you’d like more detail on exactly how to scale your business with a coaching team, sign-up to access the full workshop at http://itsfreetime.com/scalecoaching. Notion Boards We Use to Run Our Coaching Team: Potential Clients Active Clients Coach Bios Coach Payouts Resource Hub Client-facing Pages 🌟3 Key Takeaways: Being ready to scale from a systems and offerings standpoint (even for services like coaching!) gives you flexibility, and lets you be ready for a big break. Sticker shock is unpleasant for everyone, so give a sense of what the investment is going to be at the beginning of a potential client’s interest process Less is more when it comes to tracking tools: Set up an active client tracker if you don’t already have one. 📝Permission: Not to fulfill all the 1:1 services in your business by yourself. Create a scalable service offering to retain potential clients by collaborating with, and directing work to, qualified subcontractors.  ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Make a list of five trusted providers who you could partner with in a revenue share model. Consider how you’d want to vet, train, and onboard them to your method and systems, even if you’re not quite ready to launch into this full swing yet. Just having people in mind may open up possibilities. Could you run a small pilot with just one or two people as a next step? What’s the worst that happens if it doesn’t work? What’s the best that happens if it does?  📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business, Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One 🔗Resources Mentioned:  Workshops: How to Scale a Coaching Team, Free Time Operations Dashboard Demo Tools: Typeform, Notion, Zapier, Kajabi, Calendly, Google Groups, Descript Programs: Career Pathfinder, Jenny’s private BFF Community, Pivot Coaching, Free Time Coaching, Jenny’s 1:1 Voxer Coaching 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  075: Coaching Through the Free Time Framework with Wade Brill Pivot: 283: What Are You Here to Do? How to Find a Path That Fits with Adrian Klaphaak 34: Organizing Research and Ideas - Notion Walkthrough #1 36: Shaping Big Ideas - Notion Walkthrough #2 38: Tracking Progress Toward Finishing a Book (or Big Idea) with an Essay Tracker - Notion Walkthrough #3   🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners.  💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/108 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are you pricing your products and services in an abundant sweet spot or a scarcity-inducing sink hole? How can you tell when your prices are too low or too high? How much of pricing is math, and how much is mindset?  Or, perhaps you’ve been ruminating on these two most common questions: What should I charge for this? Is now the time to raise my prices? We're digging into all of this and more during this juicy follow-up conversation with financial behaviorist Jacquette M. Timmons. Listen to our previous conversation in episode 20 on Pricing Psychology. More about Jacquette: Jacquette focuses on the human side of money to help you see that you don't manage money—you manage your choices around money. She is the author of Financial Intimacy: How to Create a Healthy Relationship with Your Money and Your Mate, and creator of programs like The Comfort Circle™ dinner series and her semi-annual Pricing Made Human™ workshop. She hosts the More Than Money podcast, a show that explores the psychology, emotions, and math of money so that you can make better, smarter choices regardless of where you fall on the income or wealth spectrum. 🌟3 Key Takeaways: When a launch doesn’t go as planned, change one thing at a time; changing your pricing should be the last variable you tweak Ask for feedback from customers who don’t purchase: is it price, format, timing, or something else altogether? Practice intuition in small moments, especially celebrating milestones, to build trust for taking bigger risks and decision-making 📝Permission: Quote a price that feels scary and uncomfortable. Detach yourself from the outcome and treat it as an exercise. Even if you get a “no” in response, know that just doing this at least once will already make it easier to say next time. ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Identify the purpose of each program in your business: What is its job within your overall portfolio of offers? Is it a lead magnet, a major revenue driver, or something else? 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Financial Intimacy: How to Create a Healthy Relationship with Your Money and Your Mate 🔗Resources Mentioned:  Jenny's Voxer Coaching (add your name to the waitlist) Jacquette on the web, Instagram, Facebook Jacquette’s podcast: More Than Money Monthly Comfort Circle dinners Financial Wheel Video: Essential Financial Planning for Couples on GMA 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  020: Pricing Psychology with Jacquette Timmons  These Three Biases Cost Her More Than Money   💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit  💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/107 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Have you ever driven down a highway and gotten a whole bunch of bugs sadly splattered on your windshield? Eventually, there are so many that you can't see the road in front of you.  The same thing can happen with little bits of time clutter throughout your week. No one is a big deal, but in total they obstruct foresight and forward motion. Today I’m sharing how to identify the ways you may be creating time clutter and how to start reducing it. With only a few tidbits about the science of bug splatters. Special shout out to Shelley Hitz—thank you for the podcast review! I’d love to know: what has been your biggest aha from these first 100+ episodes? Leave a review and let me know! 🌟3 Key Takeaways: It’s easy to interrupt yourself. A lot. Emails, questions, distractions… they all add to time clutter, so try to be mindful of when it’s happening so you can cut it down. Sometimes we work so hard at documenting and delegating that we go backwards in terms of creating time clutter! Look at your processes, and see if you should be re-batching anything that has been split up.  Make room for periods of deep observation so you can hear what your business is trying to tell you beneath the day-to-day juggle. 📝Permission: You have permission to try living on the uncomfortable side of free time; creating too much of it (or as close to that as you can get) just to see how it feels, and what it unearths for you. ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Look at each item on your to-do list. Does this task spark joy? You have permission to Marie Kondo your time, not just your possessions. 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One  Expansive Impact: An Invitation to Lead in Everyday Moments The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing 🔗Resources Mentioned: Splatter-gories: Those bugs on your windshield can tell volumes about our environment, Mark Hostetler Thinks Gunk Can Teach Us About Insects, RescueTime research  🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  028: When the Financial Tides Recede 054: Ten T's of Successful Delegating Pivot 277: Expansive Impact and Spacious Scheduling with Sarah Young 104: Save Someone Next Steps 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe »  🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners.  💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/106 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are you winding down the path of writing the wrong book? What does it take to create a marketing tipping point? What separates good books from platform books? Make sure you listen to part one of this conversation first, then dive into part two of this conversation with “bookitect” David Moldawer.  More About David: David Moldawer spent over a decade as a book editor at a slew of New York publishing houses including St. Martin’s Press, McGraw-Hill, and Penguin, acquiring and editing bestselling nonfiction in the areas of business, technology, health, and memoir. Today, he’s an independent writer and editor. He also writes the Maven Game, a newsletter for experts, authors, publishers, and agents on making ideas and knowledge public—writing, speaking, sharing—without hating yourself in the morning.   🌟3 Key Takeaways: Most books fail, and most people don’t read books—but it’s much more useful to think about what would happen if your book is wildly successful. If you had a smart friend who wrote to you and said, “I know you’re an expert on XYZ, can you explain this to me?” You would do so clearly and directly. That is the kind of energy that should go into writing a non-fiction book. There’s a difference between a platform book and a good book; if you have a slow-build book, it’s like a marathon — pace yourself accordingly. 📝 Permission: To build an audience in ways that resonate with you; go all-in on one or two platforms that energize you, and ditch the rest of the “shiny (social) shoulds”!  ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: If you didn’t do this after listening to part one, create an idea capture file. I use Notion for this - check out the Loom walkthrough here, and the full Author Toolkit here » 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College  Girl Wash Your Face  Perennial Seller  The Personal MBA  Atomic Habits  The Tipping Point  Exactly What to Say  Books by 37 Signals co-founders Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson 🔗Resources Mentioned:  David on the web, Twitter, LinkedIn  Newsletter: The Maven Game Jenny’s Author Toolkit (including the book marketing spreadsheet) MBS’s article on selling over 100,000 copies of The Coaching Habit Video: Exactly How to Sell 1 Million Books (Phil M. Jones) Chandler Bolt’s Self-Publishing School podcast 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  036: Shaping Big Ideas — Notion Walkthrough #2 012: Generating Personal MBA Momentum with Josh Kaufman  038: Tracking Progress Toward Finishing a Book (or Big Idea) with an Essay Tracker — Notion Walkthrough #3 057: You 2.0 with MBS     💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit  💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/105 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

So you’re getting good at saving yourself time; but what about saving other people’s time? How creative are you at reducing their next steps? The latter is a gift that keeps on giving. Visualize the final outcome, and work backward to envision how you can take the few next steps to save time and effort for fellow stakeholders. 🌟3 Key Takeaways: Take a few extra minutes to reflect before marking a task “done.”  Do the work upfront of thinking about what someone will need next. What happens after this next part is done? Can you do any more for them? Visualize the final outcome of the task you’re working on - what can you do to get as close to that outcome as possible before throwing the ball into the next person’s court?  📝Permission: Do a little bit of extra work now, knowing it will save the next person next steps. ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Review your customer journey. After somebody purchases, what’s next? Whatever the answer, see if you can design a process to do it for them; or if not, simplify, clarify, and communicate so that the next onboarding steps run smoothly. 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business, Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One  🔗Resources Mentioned: Free Time Dashboard  🎧Related Podcast Episodes: 102: 12 Systems-Thinking Steps for Moving from Friction to Flow and 054: Ten T's of Successful Delegating 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe »  🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners.  💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/104 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What takes a book proposal past the slush pile onto a publisher’s deal sheet? How do you get the attention of literary agents who might also be looking for you?  In the first half of this two-part conversation, I’m chatting with longtime publishing, editing, and ghostwriting maven David Moldawer about what makes a great “big” book idea.  More About David: David Moldawer spent over a decade as a book editor at a slew of New York publishing houses including St. Martin’s Press, McGraw-Hill, and Penguin, acquiring and editing bestselling nonfiction in the areas of business, technology, health, and memoir. Today, he’s an independent writer and editor. He also writes the Maven Game, a newsletter for experts, authors, publishers, and agents on making ideas and knowledge public—writing, speaking, sharing—without hating yourself in the morning.   🌟3 Key Takeaways: Get to the heart of your goals for your book by visualizing yourself taking your current draft and putting it on Kindle within an hour. Is that what you want to be presenting? Why or why not? If you want to write a book in your category, read books in your category to better understand the challenges and possibilities. People are more likely to buy your book because you wrote it than because of the content, so emphasize your audience and platform. 📝 Permission: Go ahead and reach out to agents with a concise query email—don’t forget they are in the business of meeting new authors and finding great books! Just make sure to find one who specializes in the kind of book you want to write. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Create an idea capture file. I use Notion for this - check out the Loom walkthrough here, and the full Author Toolkit here » 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College, Girl Wash Your Face Perennial Seller  The Personal MBA Atomic Habits The Tipping Point  Exactly What to Say  Books by 37 Signals cofounders Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson 🔗Resources Mentioned:  David on the web, Twitter, LinkedIn  Newsletter: The Maven Game Jenny’s Author Toolkit (including the book marketing spreadsheet) MBS’s article on selling over 100,000 copies of The Coaching Habit Video: Exactly How to Sell 1 Million Books (Phil M. Jones) Chandler Bolt’s Self-Publishing School podcast  🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  036: Shaping Big Ideas — Notion Walkthrough #2 012: Generating Personal MBA Momentum with Josh Kaufman  038: Tracking Progress Toward Finishing a Book (or Big Idea) with an Essay Tracker — Notion Walkthrough #3 057: You 2.0 with MBS     💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. ❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit  💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/103 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Free Time for Your Future Self: For any area of your business that causes friction, run through these systems-thinking questions to inspire small steps today that will save time far into the future.  This is from our BFF community’s private feed, with an excerpt from the Free Time book and toolkit. If you want to join a group of smart, heart-centered, generous and successful business owners who are committed to our “take a penny, leave a penny” Brilliance Barter philosophy, I encourage you to learn more and join us! 🌟3 Key Takeaways: Prioritize designing processes for the critical systems in your business, and let the ‘nice to have’ systems be good enough for now.  Break your calcified habits by stepping back (or jumping back in!) and looking at your processes with fresh eyes at least twice a year. Freeing time is a muscle we build. It takes practice and adopting a way of thinking about how you document and delegate. 📝Permission: To take a break or a walk. Solutions to our most vexing challenges don’t often come to us while we’re sitting at our desk, so get up and drop a bucket into the wishing well of your brain, then trust that it will pop up with solutions when it’s time!  ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: If this, then what? For friction area in your business, consider what the trigger action is, what next step needs to happen first, and whether it can be automated through a service like Zapier.  📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business, Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One  🔗 Resources Mentioned:  Free Time Toolkit, Private BFF Community Automation tools: Zapier, IFTTT Publishing Company: Get it Done Related Podcast Episodes:  002: Eliminate Email with Cal Newport 042: How I Run My Business Without Social Media (Pivot Replay) 062: Made By Monday 🐸 On Content "Frog" Batching 092: Train the System, Then the Person 101: Run Your Business with Exquisite Greatness and Tiny Art Projects with Alexandra Franzen  Pivot 076: On Plan Z, Creative Finish Lines and the Graceful No—with Alexandra Franzen Pivot 183: Cultivating Opposites and Checklists with Alexandra Franzen 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe »  ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, a private feed, and access to a community forum with fellow Heart-Based Business Owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/tools 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/102 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How has Alexandra Franzen built two thriving businesses without social media? By delivering work with a quality I like to call “exquisite greatness.” She treats every marketing initiative like a tiny art project, something to get excited about rather than a draining chore to dread—and no, it doesn’t require social media. As Alex shares, according to a Nielsen study, 92% of customers purchase products or services because of a recommendation from someone they know. More About Alex: Alexandra Franzen is a bestselling author, award-winning editor, and entrepreneur based in Hawaii. She’s the co-founder of Get It Done, a company providing writing coaching, editing, proofreading, cover design, publishing, and distribution services for clients who want to write a book. She writes one of my favorite newsletters at AlexandraFranzen.com, and runs her popular Tiny Book Course. Alex deleted all of her social media accounts eight years ago as she describes in her forthcoming book, Marketing Without Social Media. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways: Being excellent at what you do is the best way to get more clients and revenue. Do less and do it better. There is always another layer of simplicity you can reach with your work. Flex your asking muscle. Remember that what you are asking for is usually a win-win and you will be giving as much as you receive.  📝 Permission: Give yourself a raise! If you are excellent at what you do, significantly increase what you charge.  ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: If you’re stressed by social media, take a break; stop for a week and see how it feels. It’ll be fine. It might even be great, allowing you to focus on creating tiny art with your business communications instead.  📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Marketing Without Social Media: 100 Marketing Ideas (No Social Media Required) for Business Owners, Founders, Freelancers, Authors, Artists, Musicians, and Creatives   The 3-Day Effect 🔗 Resources Mentioned:   Alex on the web, Get It Done, Tiny Book Course, Marketing Without Social Media Program Ben Wendel  Brand Strategist: Jennifer Kem  Erin Haag: Pricing Overhaul  Video: Adele on Oprah Related Podcast Episodes:  183: Cultivating Opposites and Checklists with Alexandra Franzen 076: On Plan Z, Creative Finish Lines and the Graceful No—with Alexandra Franzen 075: Coaching Through the Free Time Framework with Wade Brill 020: Pricing Psychology with Jacquette Timmons     💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, a private feed, and access to a community forum with fellow Heart-Based Business Owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/tools  💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/101 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dearest Free Timers: I can’t believe it, but this marks the 100th episode of this show since launching on March 21, 2021! Today I've given myself the tricky task of trying to pair down the top ten lessons learned this last year and a half. I wish I could’ve pulled an excerpt from every single guest, but alas! These are the lessons that stuck most, sparking new insights and ahas.  🌟 If you enjoy this round-up, I’d be so grateful for you to share in a review for Free Time: What insights have stood out to you most these last 100 episodes? 🔗 Super bonus? Please also share this episode with a friend! Visit pod.link/freetime to easily send the link to this episode or any other favorites, with handy buttons to open in your recipient’s favorite podcast player. ✨ Top Ten Lessons from 💯 Episodes ✨ #1: See yourself as a star performer, and challenge yourself to delegate ever-more of the rest. [01:54] 006: Going Pro on Podcasting with Jordan Harbinger 011: Pitching Shark Tank with Sarah Apgar 019: Most Valuable Activities with Dave Crenshaw #2: Focus on building process, not reactive replies, to reduce incoming noise. [04:39] 002: Eliminate Email with Cal Newport #3: An abundance mindset is bigger than money; remember, we are “Funded by Source.” [07:27] 029: Funded By Source with Ksenia Avdulova #4: Zoom out to see brand as an investment, not a cost. [09:53] 005: Brand Obsessed with Emily Heyward 045: Behind the Free Time Brand with Adam Chaloeicheep 093: How to Sell Your Online Business with Alexis Grant #5: Build redundancy by stepping back from being the bottleneck; if you’re running a “body shop” find ways to leverage your IP to create greater scale and reach. [14:24] 057: You vs. You 2.0 with MBS 061: Scaling Boutique Businesses with Greg Alexander #6: Say no to people-pleasing and invitations that don’t spark joy. [19:57] 003: Liberate Your Life Force with Christine Arylo 035: The Long Game with Dorie Clark 071: Cues - On Charisma with Vanessa Van Edwards #7: Go beyond a launch project (after which energy inevitably fizzles) to create a more sustainable sales system. [24:59] 012: Generating Personal MBA Momentum with Josh Kaufman #8: Buyer’s remorse is inevitable; create a strategic plan and supporting processes to address it. [26:43] 083: Breaking through Buyer’s Remorse—Never Lose a Customer Again with Joey Coleman #9: You’re doing extra work if you’re not creating evergreen email sequences! Save your best newsletters as part of an ongoing welcome series for new subscribers. [29:45] 069: Epic Evergreen Email Sequences with Allan Dib #10: When it comes to taking risks and taking on new projects, don’t worry about competition: ask what’s safe to try, and remember that there is room for you. [33:05] 081: DAOing and Prioritizing Progress over Perfection with Aaron Dignan 089: Is the Podcast Market Too Saturated? Featuring Megan Dougherty of One Stone Creative 📝 Permission: To keep hitting publish on your projects and ongoing public original thinking, no matter how awkward or imperfect.  📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business, Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One  💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe »  ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, a private feed, and access to a community forum with fellow Heart-Based Business Owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/tools 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/100 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Finding the perfect problem is like falling in love. You can’t always choose the when or the what, but when it happens, you need to be ready to take action. In the second half of this two-part episode with Jim McKelvey, author of The Innovation Stack, we dive into the ways that finding your perfect problem parallels falling in love, and why having a lot of money doesn’t solve all business problems; often it creates more. More About Jim: Jim McKelvey is a glassblower, father, entrepreneur, author, aviator, computer programmer, chairman of the St. Louis Federal Reserve, and inventor, and that is just scratching the surface. As for where to connect? As he puts it, “Please don’t ask me to connect on Facebook, WhatsApp or Instagram. I’m not there. I’ve got better things to do. And frankly, so do you.” 🌟 3 Key Takeaways: The right problem chooses you. Be aware enough of your process to know when a problem is calling you. The problem with expertise is that it only reflects what has been done. Don’t disqualify yourself from picking up tools and trying to fix new problems. You have gifts in a wide variety of different areas, so think about how you can mix and match them to help you solve the problems you’re passionate about.  💌 Permission: Charge people for your time, and bill for your attention. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Put your time into a new perspective. Are you spending too much time on things that don’t matter instead of solving your perfect problem? 📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One The Innovation Stack: Building an Unbeatable Business One Crazy Idea at a Time Resources Mentioned:  Jim on the web, Twitter, LinkedIn PayMail Chrome Extension Gotham Podcast Studio VICE special on 🐍 Burmese Pythons in the Everglades Related Podcast Episodes: 043: From Start-Up to Grown-up (and Coach to Author) with Alisa Cohn 097 How to Find Your Perfect Problem with Jim McKelvey 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, a private feed, and access to a community forum with fellow Heart-Based Business Owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/tools  💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/099 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There is a Goldilocks quality to designing a Delightfully Tiny Team, a horseshoe of team happiness. Too small, and you are taxingly tiny: in many cases when you have fewer than three people, and certainly if you are entirely solo, the burden of moving the business forward falls entirely on you. It is hard to get the rest and recharging you need to do strategic work. On the other end of the horseshoe, if your team is too big, you may feel burdened by pressure and complexity. If you’re a business owner oriented toward High Net Freedom, you might be interested in today’s topic: creating Minimum Viable Teams (MVTs). Minimum Viable Teams are as small as possible, while reducing owner-as-bottleneck and enabling each person to work with ease and joy. MVTs enable your best work, a personal sweet spot of efficiency and freedom as the owner. The perfect team size for you feels, on the whole (even if not every day), delightful. You delegate the details and have automated and systematized enough of them that even your team is not overwhelmed by minutiae. Processes are clearly defined, and team members are clear on their role and responsibilities, freeing them to take on more creative projects in the business. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways: What makes a team delightful tiny is up to you, the leader, to decide based on the intersection of 3 things: your strengths and energy, your current strategic projects, and desired outcomes for your team and business. If your team is too big or too small for your personality and preferences, you may feel the Downer D’s: dread, despair, depressed, drained, or distracted. 7 Key Ingredients that enable an MVT: Clarity, focus, metrics, software, communication cadence, process (and Manager Manual), regular time audits. 📝 Permission: Build the smallest viable team, with no intention or desire to expand, that still frees you from being the bottleneck in your business. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Conduct a time audit. What is taking disproportionate time for diminishing return on results? How can you take a cookie dough approach instead, where you let good enough be good enough, without something being fully baked?  📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One  Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business  Rocket Fuel: The One Essential Combination That Will Get You More of What You Want from Your Business Start Finishing: How to Go From Idea to Done 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Free Time Resources: Toolkit, Operations Dashboard  Tools: Notion, Zapier, Podscribe Podcast Production: One Stone Creative Social Media Scheduling: Meet Edgar, Buffer Article on Flow: Increasing the ‘Meaning Quotient’ of Work Related Podcast Episodes:  045: Behind the Free Time Brand with Adam Chaloeicheep 069: Epic Evergreen Email Sequences with Alan Dibb 091: Quarterly Planning with Charlie Gilkey Pivot 136: Start Finishing: Pricing Projects and Momentum Planning with Charlie Gilkey Chill and Prosper: Why I love Batching Content Creation 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe »  ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, a private feed, and access to a community forum with fellow Heart-Based Business Owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/tools 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/098 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How can you find — and attempt the great feat of solving — your perfect problem? That’s what I’m talking about today with my guest, Square co-founder Jim McKelvey. His book, The Innovation Stack: Building an Unbeatable Business One Crazy Idea at a Time, is one of the funniest and most engaging business books I’ve read. We met at TED through our mutual friend Jon Levy, and had the great joy of recording together in person at a studio in midtown Manhattan. In the first half of this two-part episode, we delve into fending off an attack from “the perfect predator” of competition, Amazon. More About Jim: Jim McKelvey is a glassblower, father, entrepreneur, author, aviator, computer programmer, chairman of the St. Louis Federal Reserve, and inventor, and that is just scratching the surface. As for where to connect? As he puts it, “Please don’t ask me to connect on Facebook, WhatsApp or Instagram. I’m not there. I’ve got better things to do. And frankly, so do you.” “People who want to build something new often feel they lack sufficient expertise. Their assertion is correct, but not complete. The same lack of expertise applies to everyone on the planet. Innovation has no experts.” —Jim McKelvey 🌟 3 Key Takeaways: No expert has to tell you that something is a problem, you just know. A real problem is obvious. A perfect problem is one that excites you, has never been solved, and with enough work and the right team, can be solved by you.  Change and innovation is messy, which means that great solutions are usually many tiny solutions that all work together.  💌 Permission: Charge people for your time, and bill for your attention.  ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Be an observer this week: what problems are consuming your energy and attention, perhaps with a zing of excitement and possibility`? Could you be in a unique position to solve them?   📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One The Innovation Stack: Building an Unbeatable Business One Crazy Idea at a Time Resources Mentioned:  Jim on the web, Twitter, LinkedIn PayMail Chrome Extension Gotham Podcast Studio Video: VICE special on 🐍 Burmese Pythons in the Everglades Related Podcast Episodes: 043: From Start-Up to Grown-up (and Coach to Author) with Alisa Cohn 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, a private feed, and access to a community forum with fellow Heart-Based Business Owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/tools  💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/097 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today I’m sharing the recording from our second-to-last book launch team Q&A one month after Free Time launched. I share post-launch stats, lessons learned, how I think about investments I’ve made, and share more about how helpful my “Author Support Group” (ASG) calls were with friends along the way.  Save the Date: I'm excited to partner with Caveday (featured on p. 266 of Free Time!) for a deep-dive conversation about the book, followed by a guided work sprint, their specialty :) Think of it like virtual coworking aimed at helping you make meaningful progress on a deep work project :) It's on Thursday, June 9 at 11 a.m. ET. Learn more and register to join us here »  🌟 3 Key Takeaways: Set up an Amazon Author Central Account to see helpful data during your launch, and run experiments on the Amazon Ads platform. Ask Amazon to add additional categories to your book; they only assign three by default, but you can request 8 to 10. Schedule your own “ASG” calls with fellow writers and/or business owners; set-up a Google doc, then split your call in half as you help each other bounce ideas around and make tough decisions on elements that you’re too close to. 📝 Permission: To launch in waves, and take a break after you initial activity burst. Then reemerge recharged for a second (and third!) launch phase. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: For your next big launch, block out at least two weeks of Do Not Schedule (DNS) time in your calendar immediately following (do this far in advance, or your far more likely to schedule over it). Your future self will thank you! 📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One  Turning the Flywheel (Monograph), and Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't Expansive Impact: An Invitation to Lead in Everyday Moments How to Begin: Start Doing Something That Matters The Power of Fun: How to Feel Alive Again 🔗 Resources Mentioned:  Free Time Programs: BFF Community (Use code JBFriend for 50% off your first month’s enrollment!), Operations Dashboard, Coaching Amazon Author Central Amazon Ads Manager How to Run a Goodreads Giveaway Listen Notes Podscribe.ai Circle Descript Authors Who Lead Jessica Snyder Edits Asynchronous communication apps: Marco Polo, Voxer  Related Podcast Episodes:  064: The Vulnerability of Launching 063: On Burnout and Business Intuition with Azul Terronez of Authors Who Lead 057: You+ vs. You 2.0 with MBS 031: Eleventh-Hour Creative Gremlins Pivot: 277: Expansive Impact and Spacious Scheduling with Sarah Young 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe »  ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, a private feed, and access to a community forum with fellow Heart-Based Business Owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/tools 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/096 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do you feel like you are wasting precious moments just finding things? Today, I’m speaking with Nick Sonnenberg, CEO of Leverage, about the importance of optimizing your business for retrievability. Nick’s sweet spot is teaching companies how to reinvent the way their work gets done by focusing on building a culture of team productivity, instead of merely focusing on individual efficiency. More about Nick: Nick Sonnenberg is the founder and CEO of Leverage, a business efficiency consultant, Inc. columnist, and author of Idea to Execution: How to Optimize, Automate, and Outsource Everything in Your Business. He hosts the Leverage Podcast, where he and his guests discuss how we can live a better life, build a fruitful business, and be more productive. His next book, Come Up for Air: How Your Team Can Leverage Systems and Tools to Stop Drowning in Work is in progress as we speak. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways: Being productive and efficient as an individual can conflict with the necessary ingredients for teams to be effective. Switch from speed of transfer as the measure of operational efficiency to retrievability Assign work levels to tasks and projects in your business, with 1 being the easiest (and ripe for automation) and 5 the most complex. 📝 Permission: To share links, not answers when your team or clients ask you a question. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Set up a Zapier alert to send you a text or Slack message when customers purchase your highest-priced product so you can roll out the red carpet as soon as they enroll.  📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business, Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One 🔗 Resources Mentioned:  Nick on the web, Instagram: @nicholassonnenberg, LinkedIn, Facebook Nick’s podcast: Leverage Podcast Nick’s column: Inc.com PDF: Work Levels Tools: Asana, Zapier, Slack, HelpScout, Notion, Free Time Operations Dashboard, HubSpot, Text Expander Related Podcast Episodes:  066: Tasks vs. Templates 058: Look for Measureable Loops Moving from Friction to Flow with Jenny Blake Dynamic Role Optimization, with Nick Sonnenberg   🛠 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe »  ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, a private feed, and access to a community forum with fellow Heart-Based Business Owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/tools  💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/095 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s time to stop Franken-stringing software together. If you've read Free Time or been listening to this podcast, you know I am obsessed with software. Tools are my default go-to team member, given how much they do for my business. Today I’m sharing the top five tools that power my business . . . plus a few bonus “utility” tools that are always running in the background (I couldn’t resist). 🌟 3 Key Takeaways: A useful software service is one that directly replaces routine work that you or a team member would otherwise have to do. Invest in brand strategy for your business first to bring cohesion to your message, and then to make delegating smaller project work in in Canva much easier. Establishing communication protocols with your team helps you prioritize your time. For example, a Slack message might require an urgent reply, but email does not. 📝 Permission: “Go pro” by paying for services that function as your first (or main) assistant.   ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Create a Zapier “zap” that alerts you via Slack or text message when a new customer buys your highest level product (or any other VIP action that you’d want to roll out the red carpet of responsiveness for). 📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Tech Toolkit Jenny’s Top 5 Tools Free Time Toolkit Notion Kajabi Zapier HelpScout Canva TextExpander Slack Dropbox Riverside.fm Garage Band for Mac Descript Calendly Related Podcast Episodes:  034: Organizing Research and Ideas - Notion Walkthrough #1 036: Shaping Big Ideas - Notion Walkthrough #2 038: Tracking Progress Toward Finishing a Book (or Big Idea) with an Essay Tracker - Notion Walkthrough #3 🛠 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe  ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, a private feed, and access to a community forum with fellow Heart-Based Business Owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/tools 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/094 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Could you sell your business? Would you even want to once it’s optmized enough to make selling an option? Today I’m discussing the practical and emotional considerations of selling an online business with my longtime friendtor, Alexis Grant.  More about Lexi:  Alexis is the founder and CEO of They Got Acquired, a media company telling the stories of “small” acquisitions. She has sold two companies herself—a digital marketing agency to The Penny Hoarder as a full acqui-hire, and The Write Life to a third party. She lives with her husband and two young kids in Harpers Ferry, WV. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways: People are more likely to trust a person over a brand, so it’s okay for you to start as a front-facing part of your business, featured prominently, and then transition to more behind-the-scenes over time.  Hire help on a project-basis before a permanent one; testing the waters is valuable on both sides.  Create recurring revenue and systems to support that wherever you can in your business. Ensure that it wouldn’t fall apart without you at the helm.  📝 Permission: Drop the traditional work-week. Establish a schedule that works for you and that makes sense for your season of life. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Take a hard look at the attic (and under the stairs, and maybe in the garage) of your business: What have you been putting off streamlining and systematizing? Pick an issue, and start tidying! Even if you have no plans to sell your business, making it sellable will reduce the stress you carry as the owner. 📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Built to Sell: Creating a Business That Can Thrive Without You The Automatic Customer: Creating a Subscription Business in Any Industry The Art of Selling Your Business: Winning Strategies & Secret Hacks for Exiting on Top Finish Big: How Great Entrepreneurs Exit Their Companies on Top Buy Then Build: How Acquisition Entrepreneurs Outsmart the Startup Game Exit Rich: The 6 P Method to Sell Your Business for Huge Profit Lost and Founder: A Painfully Honest Field Guide to the Startup World Small Giants: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big, 10th-Anniversary Edition 🔗 Resources Mentioned:  Lexi on the web, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn Podcast: They Got Acquired Newsletter: They Got Acquired Newsletter Article: A Spotlight on Tech’s Invisible Start-ups, Andrew Wilkinson on Medium Business Investors: Tiny Startup Parent Related Podcast Episodes:  051: How to Replace Yourself as CEO with Michael Bungay Stanier 061: Scaling Boutique Businesses with Greg Alexander 027: Time Management for Mortals with Oliver Burkeman Lexi Grant on the acquihire and 6-figure asset sale that led to They Got Acquired Can you sell a business based on a personal brand? Lauren Gaggioli did From hot dog stand to 8-figure exit: How Sam Parr built and sold The Hustle ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, a private feed, and access to a community forum with fellow Heart-Based Business Owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/tools  💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/093  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stress, frustration, overwhelm: These are systems flags from your business asking for renewed attention on a bottleneck or inefficiency. In my case, it was repeating myself for the fourth time in as many months to different team members in answering the same small email-related process question. This is no one person’s fault (other than mine!).  My aha moment: a strategy for training the system to get smarter first, then teaching the team how to better leverage that system, which makes their life and work easier and more frictionless too! 🌟 3 Key Takeaways: Create a Manager Manual and separate Email Guide Save links to email guide entries in TextExpander Using filters in Gmail (or workflows in HelpScout): Automatically label incoming email messages with the short-link to the Email Guide process entry. Here’s what my v1 looks like. 📝 Permission: Stop repeating yourself! That’s a sure sign that the business area is ripe for systems reinvention. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Start an Email Guide with your most common decisions and process questions. 📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business, Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One   🔗 Resources Mentioned:  Shared Inbox CRM: HelpScout Voice Messaging App: SpeakPipe Transcription Software: Descript Knowledge Base App: TextExpander Project Management Software: Notion Related Podcast Episodes: 086: The Cyrano Strategy for Delegating Important Comms ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, a private feed, and access to a community forum with fellow Heart-Based Business Owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/tools 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/092 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“I’m always stumping quarterly planning for business owners. It’s the Goldilocks horizon for strategy execution, project scoping, and team alignment.” Today I’m talking with Charlie Gilkey about why the quarter is an ideal time unit for strategic planning, how to apply his stepwise Momentum process to mapping projects and goals, and striking the balance between visioning and planning. Charlie also had an interesting response on why tracking metrics matters . . . and it’s not what you might think. More About Charlie: Charlie Gilkey helps people start finishing the stuff that matters. He's the founder of Productive Flourishing, author of the book Start Finishing (2019) and The Small Business Lifecycle (2012), founder of the new Momentum app, and host of the Productive Flourishing podcast. Before starting Productive Flourishing, Charlie worked as a Joint Force Military Logistics Coordinator while simultaneously pursuing a Ph.D. in Philosophy. He lives with his wife, Angela, in Portland, Oregon. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways: 18 months is a typical “now” horizon for established businesses, whereas three years can get mysterious. There’s a difference between your visioning horizon and your planning horizon; when deciding what to work on, consider cash flow, visibility, and opportunity. When you hit a strategic, urgent, recurring logjam, ask: “What experiments can I try?” instead of obsessing over numbers. It’s so that we can build alignment with the team and take pressure off of the owner to be the Chief Prioritization Officer. 📝 Permission: Drop at least one project that does not create cash flow, opportunity, or visibility. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Identify the next two quarter-sized projects that will move you toward your biggest 18-month business goal. 📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Start Finishing: How to Go from Idea to Done The Small Business Life Cycle: The No-Fluff Guide to Navigating the Five Stages of Small Business Growth The Road Less Stupid: Advice from the Chairman of the Board Making Ideas Happen: Overcoming the Obstacles Between Vision and Reality 🔗 Resources Mentioned:  Charlie on the Web, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn Charlie’s podcast: Productive Flourishing podcast App: Momentum App Free Planners: Momentum Planners Article: Cashflow, Opportunity, and Visibility: The 3 Goals of Any Business Activity Related Podcast Episodes: 035: The Long Game with Dorie Clark Pivot 136: Start Finishing—Pricing, Projects, and Momentum Planning with Charlie Gilkey ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, a private feed, and access to a community forum with fellow Heart-Based Business Owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/tools  💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/091 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There is a chicken-and-egg problem in the early days (and transitional moments) of any business: you need to earn more money in order to hire help, but hiring help is one of the only ways you can free your time to do the highest revenue-generating activities. Today I’m sharing the best investment I made in Q1 of 2022, even though it wasn’t a direct line to profitability (but pretty dang close). 🌟 3 Key Takeaways: Bet on yourself. You can easily become the bottleneck if you don’t invest in outside, expert help to handle areas that aren’t your key focus. Treating your business as a hobby will leave you frustrated. Show up for yourself by paying for dedicated space or support when you need it. Consistency leads to growth, and accountability helps you be consistent. 📝 Permission: To pay for accountability and consistency even before “earning” it, especially if it frees you up for bigger strategic thinking, problem-solving, and content creating.  ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: What’s the task area you know you should delegate but haven’t yet because it feels too big, too important, or too expensive? Start exploring how you can move it from your desk to someone else’s. 📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business, Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Podcast Production: One Stone Creative, Podcast hosting: Megaphone, Recording: Gotham Podcasting Studio Leader Toolkit Related Podcast Episodes:  001: All-in On Heart-Based Business 087: Why Podcast? Featuring Megan Dougherty of One Stone Creative 089: Is the Podcast Market Too Saturated? Featuring Megan Dougherty of One Stone Creative Pivot 073: What is More Important To You Than Perfection? ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, a private feed, and access to a community forum with fellow Heart-Based Business Owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/tools 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/090 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Don’t bother starting a {business, blog, podcast}, the market is already too saturated! That limiting sentiment gets thrown around a lot—not least of which by our own mind. But just as there is always room to make new friends, so too can you find your best fit audience.  This week Megan Dougherty, co-founder of One Stone Creative and host of The Business Podcast Blueprint, takes over the pod again to share the benefits of podcasting, even within a seemingly-saturated topic.  More about Megan: Megan Dougherty is a digital market strategist with a background in online business development and course creation. She joined forces with Audra Casino, a veteran of 20 years in broadcast radio to create awesome company podcasts that meet business objectives for entrepreneurs and marketing professionals. One Stone Creative recently launched the Podcast Social Club, where people who like making content more than sharing it get the support and instruction they need to build traction on social media. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways: More podcasts mean more of all of the variables that lead to success in podcasting. Don’t be afraid of a crowded market! Become a member of the podcasting community in your space by inviting other hosts on your show, and pitching yourself as a guest on theirs. Determine what specificity you can add to even a crowded space: what unique talents and interests will you build into your show? 📝 Permission: To enter the fray of a popular topic area, knowing your success in podcasting is measured by much more than downloads. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Find the top ten podcasts on your topic and listen to a few episodes. Pull two ideas from each to create a well of episode ideas for your own show.  📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business, Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One  🔗 Resources Mentioned:  Megan on the web, LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram  Megan’s podcast: The Business Podcast Blueprint Article: Edison Research Podcast Guest Booking Apps: Podbooker, Podmatch Blog Post: Turn Your Business Goals to Content Metrics Related Podcast Episodes: 006: Going Pro on Podcasting with Jordan Harbinger  ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, a private feed, and access to a community forum with fellow Heart-Based Business Owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/tools  💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/089 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you’ve been in business for more than a few years, you’re probably well-versed in the perils of switching costs and shiny object syndrome when it comes to trying new software, especially if there’s a high learning curve.  Today I’m sharing more context on a conversation I’ve been having repeatedly behind-the-scenes with people who are curious about switching to Notion for their business operations, but a little hesitant to make the time and energy investment. I share three reasons I am grateful to have made the switch: functionality, simplification, and customization. 📝 Permission: To reinvest time and energy into new software—even if what you have is working fine—especially when you know what’s possible on the other side. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Sign up for Notion’s free personal account and “geek out” on this fun and powerful software.   📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business, Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One 🔗 Resources Mentioned:  Tools: Kajabi, Notion, Trello, Asana, Zapier Free Time Resources: Free Time Toolkit, BFF Community, Operations Dashboard Related Podcast Episodes:  034: Organizing Research and Ideas—Notion Walkthrough #1  036: Shaping Big Ideas—Notion Walkthrough #2 038: Organizing Research and Ideas—Notion Walkthrough #3 Pivot 197: Should You Start a Podcast? "It's A Love Game"—Interview by Petra Kolber 🎁 Last call! Give yourself (and a friend) the gift of Free Time: Order your copy and submit proof of purchase to get complimentary audiobook access to the audiobook—this offer goes away May 1! ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, a private feed, and access to a community forum with fellow Heart-Based Business Owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/088 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What are your business goals for your current or potential podcast? If you are like many business owners, you may not have set them set in stone before getting started. Today’s episode is the first of two crossover episodes from Megan Dougherty, co-founder of One Stone Creative, a podcast production agency, and host of The Business Podcast Blueprint. I asked her to take over the pod because I loved this advice so much! Listen in to find out what the three high-level company podcast archetypes are, and how they will help your business :)  More about Megan: Megan Dougherty is a digital market strategist with a background in online business development and course creation. She joined forces with Audra Casino, a veteran of 20 years in broadcast radio to create awesome company podcasts that meet business objectives for entrepreneurs and marketing professionals. One Stone Creative recently launched the Podcast Social Club, where people who like making content more than sharing it get the support and instruction they need to build traction on social media. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways: Should I start a podcast? isn’t the first question you should ask. Focus instead on: What are your business goals? There are three high-level podcast archetypes: business development, audience engagement, and thought leadership; each have different benefits for your business. Be intentional about how you are re-using the content generated by your podcast—your website, your sales process, your social media accounts—they are all potential secondary destinations for podcast-related material. 📝 Permission: Reformat your show so it moves you closer to your business goals. Just because you started a show with a certain format doesn’t mean you have to stick with it if it’s not performing the way you need it to.  ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Take some time to assess your near-to-medium business metrics, then evaluate if a podcast can help you meet them.   📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business; Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One 🔗 Resources Mentioned:  Megan on the web, LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram  Megan’s podcast: The Business Podcast Blueprint eBook (opt-in): Will a Podcast Work for Your Business? Related Podcast Episodes: Pivot 197: Should You Start a Podcast? "It's A Love Game" — Interview by Petra Kolber  🎁 Last call! Give yourself (and a friend) the gift of Free Time: Order your copy and submit proof of purchase to get complimentary audiobook access to the audiobook — this offer goes away at the end of April! ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, a private feed, and access to a community forum with fellow Heart-Based Business Owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/087 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How valuable is your time? Are you conveying that value to your potential clients? In the first five years of running my business, I spent way too long thinking I was the only one who could handle important communications with current and potential VIP corporate clients. Taking inspiration from Cyrano De Bergerac, today I’m sharing a mindset and process that enables a team member to take on the heavy-lifting of client communications.  There is only one week left for the Buy One, Get One, Give One promotion! Get (and give!) your copies before the end of April.    🌟 3 Key Takeaways: Delegate does not mean abdicate. Work with a trusted team member, or hire one, and start by having them reply, even if you’re reviewing and guiding every draft at the start. Document all of your standard responses somewhere central (we use TextExpander), and document the stages of communications along a client’s journey in your manager manual from the sales process to onboarding to wrapping up. Make yourself available behind the scenes for the tricky situations that will inevitably arise, and make sure your team knows the best way to reach you for a fast response. 📝 Permission: To “hide in the bushes” and let your team shine as they handle the up-front communications, even if you’re still heavily involved at the start.  ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Choose a tool like TextExpander or Notion (or a combination of the two) to start saving your common communications, and start populating it with templates. 📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One  Happy Money: The Science of Happier Spending 🔗 Resources Mentioned:  Summary: SparkNotes for Edmond Rostand’s play, Cyrano de Bergerac Movie: Roxanne starring Steve Martin and Daryl Hannah Apps: TextExpander, HelpScout, Slack, Notion Related Podcast Episodes:  034: Organizing Research and Ideas—Notion Walkthrough #1 036: Shaping Big Ideas—Notion Walkthrough #2 038: Tracking Progress Toward Finishing a Book (or Big Idea) with an Essay Tracker—Notion Walkthrough #3 🎁 Last call! Give yourself (and a friend) the gift of Free Time: Order your copy and submit proof of purchase to get complimentary audiobook access to the audiobook—this offer goes away at the end of April! ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, a private feed, and access to a community forum with fellow Heart-Based Business Owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/086 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“If you build an audience, you can figure out how to build a business.” That has been the guiding mantra behind Brian Clark’s pioneering business-building throughout his career. He is someone I’ve long admired, from his early days founding Copyblogger to his many new ventures. Today, we’re talking about building the audiences that make it all possible. More About Brian: Brian Clark is a writer, traveler, and serial digital entrepreneur. He’s the founder of the pioneering content marketing website Copyblogger, the midlife personal growth newsletter Further, his course Freedom Future, and Unemployable, an educational community that provides smart strategies for freelancers and entrepreneurs. His podcast, 7-Figure Small, highlights entrepreneurs making it big while enjoying a small lifestyle. He’s also co-founder of Digital Commerce Partners, a content marketing and SEO agency for digital business owners.  🌟 3 Key Takeaways: Take your next logical step based on what your audience is interested in. There is always an indication of what they need. Focus on attracting people who are similar to you in worldview and values. Think of your niche as your mission. You are starting a movement, not just talking to a narrow segment of the population. 📝 Permission: You don’t need permission for anything, that’s the beauty of this environment. Do stuff and see what happens. Don’t be afraid to start because of fear of mistakes—mistakes give you answers. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Survey your audience if it has been a while. Bonus: offer one day of 20- to 30- minute time slots per month for community members to schedule calls with you.    📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future Free Agent Nation: The Future of Working for Yourself Permission Marketing The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses 🔗 Resources Mentioned:  Brian on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram Brian’s Companies and Projects: Copyblogger, Further, Unemployable, Future Freedom, Digital Commerce Partners,  Brian’s Podcast: 7-Figure Small Packy McCormick’s Not Boring On creating for 10,000 “yous” in a stadium: Tim Urban on MeaningRing and Tim Urban on The Tim Ferriss Show Related Podcast Episodes:  012: Generating Personal MBA Momentum with Josh Kaufman 7-Figure Small: How to Find Your Next Big Thing with Jenny Blake REACH: Brian Clark of Rainmaker Digital “It’s Never Too Late to Start”   🎁 Last call! Give yourself (and a friend) the gift of Free Time: Order your copy and submit proof of purchase to get complimentary audiobook access to the audiobook — this offer goes away at the end of April! ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, a private feed, and access to a community forum with fellow Heart-Based Business Owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/085  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There's so much energy and attention that swirls around during a launch, and I cannot thank you enough for helping create the momentum that we did!  I've talked a lot about launching with ease and joy, generating magic and serendipity, not muscling through book marketing. I’ve also talked about sprinting through the finish, and the overwhelm that comes from wanting to give a big creative project every last drop of energy to help it succeed.Today I’m sharing my strategy of sending the first 1,000 serendipity seeds out into the world. There are two weeks left for the Buy One, Get One, Give One promotion! Get (and give!) your copies before the end of April. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways: Consider how you can generate early momentum with activities that are aligned with your values and strengths, the ones that energize you most. Be interested in and aware of your success metrics, but not obsessed by them. Surrender to the joys of surprise as well. Once you have planted your serendipity seeds—let them breathe. 📝 Permission: To give away more for free than you might be comfortable with at first. Trust that it will revv up your word-of-mouth engine.  ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Precrastinate part of your next big project—what steps can you take now to clear up your schedule for surprises (good and bad) during the more intense deadline windows? 📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One  Your First 1,000 Copies  Published: The Proven Path From Blank Page To 10,000 Copies Sold 🔗 Resources Mentioned: BFF Community Article: 1,000 True Fans by Kevin Kelly Tim Grahl’s podcast: The Story Grid Podcast Chandler Bolt’s podcast: Self Publishing School Book Launch Strategist: Courtney Kenney Amazon’s New Releases in Time Management Related Podcast Episodes:  077: Happy Launch Day! Antonio Neves Guest Hosts (Part 1) 079: Behind the Launch with Antonio Neves (Part 2) 076: Seven Elements that Can Amplify Launch Stress 025: The Joys of Precrastination 028: When the Financial Tides Recede Pivot 045: Post-Launch Pivot Point + Visit From the Furry Rest Monster Deep Questions: Jenny Blake, Help Me Do Less! 🎁 Last call! Give yourself (and a friend) the gift of Free Time: Order your copy and submit proof of purchase to get complimentary audiobook access to the audiobook—this offer goes away at the end of April! ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, a private feed, and access to a community forum with fellow Heart-Based Business Owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/084 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Brain science teaches that even if a prospect knows, loves, and believes in a company’s offerings, after they become a customer, fear, doubt, and uncertainty will plague their thoughts.” That familiar feeling is buyer’s remorse—and if you’re not building systems to directly address it within customers’ first 100 days, you are far more likely to lose them.  Regardless of where your business operates, what industry you work in, or the size of your operation, you are likely losing approximately 20 to 70 percent of your newly acquired customers in the first 100 days of the relationship. As Joey Coleman explains in this conversation, most are structured around customer acquisition, not customer experience. Today we’re talking about how to flip the script and never lose a customer again. More About Joey: Joey Coleman is the author of the #2 Wall Street Journal bestseller, Never Lose a Customer Again: Turn Any Sale into Lifelong Loyalty in 100 Days. He helps organizations retain their best customers and turn them into raving fans via his entertaining and actionable keynotes, workshops, and consulting projects. He is an award-winning speaker and co-host of the Experience This! podcast. He’s also a former criminal defense lawyer and one of the most generous, energetic people I know.  🌟 3 Key Takeaways: Ask your customers “What should I stop doing, what should I start doing, and what should I continue doing?” Make sure you get at least two responses—the second one will tell you the most. Acknowledge where your customer is. If you have made a mistake, say so, and that you understand the harm it has caused. Do this before trying to fix things. “It’s almost impossible to expect a team member to ‘wow’ a customer if they have never personally experienced being wowed. The impact of an experience has very little to do with the cost of the experience. It’s not about the dollars; it’s about the thoughtfulness.”  📝 Permission: Be more gentle with yourself. ✅ Do or Delegate this next: Design a check-in for the early stage of a new customer’s journey with you, one that can preempt or reassure them during the inevitable buyer’s remorse phase. 📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Never Lose a Customer Again: Turn Any Sale into Lifelong Loyalty in 100 Days Giftology: The Art and Science of Using Gifts to Cut Through the Noise, Increase Referrals, and Strengthen Retention The Five Love Languages: The Secret to Love That Lasts 🔗 Resources Mentioned:  Joey on the Web, Twitter, LinkedIn Joey’s Podcast: Experience This! Related Podcast Episodes: 069: Epic Evergreen Sequences with Allan Dib, Experience This! Revisiting, Refining and Revising 🎁 Last call! Give yourself (and a friend) the gift of Free Time: Order your copy and submit proof of purchase to get complimentary audiobook access to the audiobook — this offer goes away at the end of April! ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, a private feed, and access to a community forum with fellow Heart-Based Business Owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/083  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we have a favorite time-saving strategy from listener Liron on keeping a Mess Page at your desk to free your mind during deep work sprints. Now that Liron has kicked off this series, I encourage you to submit your favorite time-saving tip so that we can all continue learning from each other and freeing time together! You can record a voice memo on your phone and send it to hi@itsfreetime.com or visit itsfreetime.com/ask. 📝 Permission: To be messy while you work! Not to put pressure on yourself to file perfectly as you go. ✅ Do or Delegate This Next: Set-up the Delegation Task Tracker (in the Free Time Toolkit) and keep it open in the background as you work, observing what you could delegate, even if you don’t know how or to whom yet. 📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business, Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One  🔗 Resources Mentioned: Morning Pages from The Artist’s Way Jenny’s favorite Moleskine notebook Task Tracking and Project Management Apps: Notion, Asana, Trello Submit your favorite Time-Saving Strategy Free Time Toolkit (includes Delegation Task Tracker template) Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business 🎁 Last call! Give yourself (and a friend) the gift of Free Time: Order your copy and submit proof of purchase to get complimentary audiobook access to the audiobook — this offer goes away at the end of April! ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, a private feed, and access to a community forum with fellow Heart-Based Business Owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/082  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Leadership and org design always involve tradeoffs. Which ones are you willing to make? Are you building traffic lights in your business or roundabouts? Do you want to maintain power and control, deriving identity from your role, or are you interested in exploring and creating a self-managing organization where there is no CEO? Today we’re talking about the new wave of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs), bolstered by the blockchain, but something Aaron Dignan has been practicing for over a decade. More About Aaron: Aaron Dignan is the author of Brave New Work: Are You Ready to Reinvent Your Organization?, host of the Brave New Work podcast, founder of The Ready, and his new company Murmur, a collaborative decision-making tool that gives everyone a voice in how to make work better, no meetings required. He is also a cofounder of Responsive.org, an investor in purpose-driven startups, and a friend to misfit toys. He lives in Colorado with his wife and son, and their dog Kaiser. 🌟Key Takeaways: Prioritize progress over perfection, the adjacent possible. Decide what you are creating from the outset. Is it a community garden, a whole foods, a living room? What you want to create should dictate how you organize it. Aim for solutions that are safe to try. Ask, “What will it cost us to find out?”  📝Permission: To not have all of the answers. Ask more, listen more, talk less.  ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Instead of trying to get 100% buy-in for your next group decision, ask if a proposal is safe to try.  📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Brave New Work: Are you Ready to Reinvent Your Organization? 🔗Resources Mentioned:  Aaron on the web, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn Aaron’s Podcast: Brave New Work Video: The Murmur Method and Walkthrough Company: Basecamp, Article: Basecamp Blowup: Banning Politics At Work Prompts Over A Dozen Employees To Quit Company: Outdoor Voices, Article: Ty Haney Speaks Out About Outdoor Voices’ Missteps - and What Comes Next HBR Article: Who’s Got The Monkey? Related Podcast Episodes: 039: Permission to Glow with Kristoffer (KC) Carter) 🎁 Last call! Give yourself (and a friend) the gift of Free Time: Order your copy and submit proof of purchase to get complimentary access to the audiobook — this offer goes away at the end of April! ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, a private feed, and access to a community forum with fellow Heart-Based Business Owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/081 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Just a few days after launch, Free Time is already topping many Amazon charts . . . although "making the lists" is not something I lose sleep over, it does go a long way toward raising awareness and generating lasting launch momentum. Here are some early category stats—I couldn't do any of this without you! #1 New Release in Time Management #1 New Release in Small Business #1 New Release Organizational Change #1 New Release Business Structural Adjustment Enormous thanks to all of you who have read the book and posted reviews on Amazon and Goodreads already! Every one has warmed my heart. ❤️ In Free Time, I share operating principles to help you run a more agile business. Each chapter is a call to action—ways of working smarter, teaching ourselves and team members to operate with greater joy, ease, and efficiency. There are ten vital guiding principles that can transform your business. These will free up hours of time and energy each week, multiplied by every team member in your ecosystem—that’s what I’m sharing with you today. Key Takeaways: Make a list of how you’re spending your time for a week. If you see repeated tasks — those are prime candidates for automation. Notice the mortifying moments in your business. We all have them, and as uncomfortable as they are, they are great chances to fix our systems. Are your processes and systems ready for a big break? If Oprah came out of retirement and wanted to talk to you tomorrow — could you meet the increase in demand that would ensue? ⭐️ Permission:  Relinquish your role as all-seeing question answerer. Let someone else answer the questions (and maybe your email!) — you are juggling way too much to remember all of the little things. ⭐️ Do (or Delegate) This Next:  Double it! Double how much you delegate. What is your comfort zone for allowing other people to take things over? Stretch it to accommodate more.   📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One  The Extended Mind: The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain Building a Second Brain: A Proven Method to Organize Your Digital Life and Unlock Your Creative Potential Giftology: The Art and Science of Using Gifts to Cut Through the Noise, Increase Referrals, and Strengthen Client Retention Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity The Four-Hour Work Week: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich  The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey  The 1-Page Marketing Plan: Get New Customers, Make More Money, And Stand Out From The Crowd 🔗 Resources Mentioned:  Review Writing Quick Start chat Leave a review on Amazon and Goodreads Free Time Dashboard VIP Group Free Time Coach: Chris Wilson Podcast: Entrepreneurs On Fire Podcast: Deep Questions with Cal Newport Article: The Saturday Morning Test by Neil Pasricha Podcast Production: One Stone Creative Related Podcast Episodes:  Free Time Episode 62: Made By Monday On Content “Frog” Batching Deep Questions Episode 157: JENNY BLAKE: Help Me Do Less! 🎁 Last call! Give yourself (and a friend) the gift of Free Time: Order your copy and submit proof of purchase to get complimentary access to the audiobook — this offer goes away at the end of March! ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, a private feed, and access to a community forum with fellow Heart-Based Business Owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/080 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thank you all so much for the incredible book launch support this week!! Because of you, Free Time is topping the Amazon charts! Here are some early stats: #1 New Release Organizational Change #1 New Release Business Structural Adjustment #1 Best Seller in Office Automation Business #1 Most Wished For in Office Automation Business #1 New Release in Office Automation Business #3 New Release in Systems and Planning Today my friend Antonio Neves hosts part two of our launch week conversation (listen to episode 077 first if you haven’t already). In this second half, we’re talking about evolutions in business and personal revolutions in parallel. This is diving deep into the real personal realm, and it is the most vulnerable I have been in over six years of podcasting. I am so grateful to Antonio for holding this space, and to you for listening—I hope it serves you in some way. More About Antonio: Antonio Neves is the author of four books including Stop Living On Autopilot: Take Responsibility for Your Life and Rediscover a Bolder, Happier You (Penguin Random House/Rodale Books, 2020) He’s also the host of The Antonio Neves Show podcast where he reminds people that no matter where they stand today, their story is far from over. He’s an award-winning journalist, keynote speaker at companies, conferences, and events, and is the father of twins.  Key Takeaways: You can take control of your time by shaping your week. Having specific days and times when you do what needs to be done for your business. Stand by your prices. They are what they are, and if that means a certain client or opportunity isn’t a fit, so be it.  Are there demons you are ignoring? Muster up your courage and invite them to sit down for a conversation, they have something to teach you. ⭐️ Permission: To share what scares you, too. Whatever secret you are terrified people will find out — or are embarrassed to say out loud — let it surface; it’s freeing to let the light in.  ⭐️ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Good friends remind you to bet on yourself. Who in your circles might need a word of encouragement today? Reach out and be the friend you want for yourself. 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College Stop Living on Auto Pilot: Take Responsibility for Your Life and Rediscover a Bolder Happier You 🔗Resources Mentioned: Antonio on the web, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Antonio’s Podcast: The Antonio Neves Show Related Podcast Episodes: Free Time Episode 77: It’s Launch Day with Antonio Neves 🎁 Last call! Give yourself (and a friend) the gift of Free Time: Order your copy and submit proof of purchase to get complimentary access to the audiobook — this offer goes away at the end of March!! ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Consider becoming a BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, a private feed, and access to a community forum with fellow Heart-Based Business Owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/079 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I love mastermind groups, and how they create the space to support and learn from fellow business owners. They come in all shapes and sizes, paid and unpaid, and illuminate ideas and questions we might not always find simply from reading books and attending conferences. Today, I’m sharing some of the forms these groups can take, and how you can initiate powerful small-group connections with other professionals.  Key Takeaways: You don’t have to spend thousands of dollars on mastermind groups — invite peers at a similar level Be the one to curate cool peeps and send the invitations ⭐️ Permission: Invite people you admire from your industry to a small-group round table, virtual or in person, even if you’re not sure if they’ll say yes.  ⭐️ Do (or Delegate) This Next: A Brilliance Barter (an exchange of 30 minutes each of insight and advice) — even better, join us in BFF! 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One  You’re Invited: The Art and Science of Cultivating Influence by Jon Levy 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Jon Levy, Dorie Clark, asynchronous communication apps: Voxer, Marco Polo 🎁 Last call! Give yourself (and a friend) the gift of Free Time: Order your copy and submit proof of purchase to get complimentary access to the audiobook — this offer goes away at the end of March! ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, a private feed, and access to a community forum with fellow Heart-Based Business Owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/078 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today kicks off another exciting chapter of life and business because the Free Time book is officially out! There’s no one I’d rather hand over hosting duties to than my long-time friend, fellow author, and podcast host, Antonio Neves, to take the lead on this celebration conversation. We’re talking about creating art, investing in yourself, and the incredible journey of going all-in on something you’re passionate about. More About Antonio: Antonio Neves is the author of four books including Stop Living On Autopilot: Take Responsibility for Your Life and Rediscover a Bolder, Happier You (Penguin Random House/Rodale Books, 2020) He’s also the host of The Antonio Neves Show podcast where he reminds people that no matter where they stand today, their story is far from over. He’s an award-winning journalist, keynote speaker at companies, conferences, and events, and is the father of twins.  Key Takeaways:  Consider sharing the true costs, financial and otherwise, that go into doing what you do— it’s a gift to fellow business owners.  Go for the ribbon. Something doesn’t need to be strictly necessary to be valuable. The ribbon in Free Time represents key values behind the message. Consider: When is something an investment rather than an expense? ⭐️ Permission: Go all in. As Antonio and several of my friendtors told me: Be your own biggest angel investor.  ⭐️ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Order a copy of Free Time! If you already have one: it would be a huge help to build launch week momentum if you could leave a rating and a review on Amazon!   📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One  Life After College Stop Living on Auto Pilot: Take Responsibility for Your Life and Rediscover a Bolder Happier You 🔗Resources Mentioned:  Antonio on the web, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn  Antonio’s Podcast: The Antonio Neves Show Article: Investments and Expenses by Seth Godin Together Agency Related Podcast Episodes: The Antonio Neves Show Episode 28: What You Can Learn from a Pandemic 076: Seven Elements that Amplify Launch Stress 004: Take a Stand with Antonio Neves Pivot 241: Get Off Autopilot & Be Your Own Benefactor with Antonio Neves 045: Behind the Free Time Brand with Adam Chaloeicheep 🎁 Last call! Give yourself (and a friend) the gift of Free Time: Order your copy and submit proof of purchase to get complimentary access to the audiobook — this offer goes away at the end of March!! ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Consider becoming a BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, a private feed, and access to a community forum with fellow Heart-Based Business Owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/077 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hi friends! Just a quick four-minute thank you message to celebrate the official launch day for my brand new book—the one that you've all been listening to! Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business. 📝 If you have a few extra minutes to spare, I would be super grateful if you could leave a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads today — these go such a long way toward informing future readers (and the Amazon algo') about whether or not Free Time is worth their precious time and energy :) Bonus: Take a shelfie! Include a video or photo with your review. 👉 If you need help jogging your thoughts, try this handy Review Writing Quick Start bot that I created :) I hope your copy arrives in the mail soon, and huge thanks again for helping give me and this book such a burst of energy by listening early!! As I share at the end of Pivot, in Shadow of the Wind, author Carlos Ruiz Záfon writes: “Every book . . . has a soul. The soul of the person who wrote it and of those who read it and lived and dreamed with it. Every time a book changes hands, every time someone runs [their] eyes down its pages, its spirit grows and strengthens.” Thank you Penney Peirce who first surfaced this beautiful line, and to you for helping nurture the early spirit and momentum behind this book! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Without conscious reframing, launching can quickly tip toward stressful. Writing and launching a book is a privilege, so I hesitate to harp too much on how hard it can be. Whenever I feel stress climbing, I remind myself to find the joy and ease, to reconnect with gratitude for that exact stage of the process. That said, launches still have a way of snowballing stress! Today I’m breaking down seven reasons why, and five strategies for reducing the inevitable stress at the edge of a major—and majorly rewarding—challenge. Key Takeaways: Is your business ready to catch the interest that goes along with a launch? Invest in your systems and processes in advance so you are ready for the influx. Gamifying short term goals, like counting reviews and shares, can be fun - but if it adds to your stress, let go of them, and the outcomes they represent.  Acknowledge and accept the stress you want to keep in your work. Some stress is worthwhile, so be intentional about what creates it and remember it is short term.  ⭐️ Permission: Drop half of the nice to haves for whatever project you are currently stressing out about.   👉 Do (or Delegate) This Next: Book in your breaks. At least a week (and preferably two) before and during your next big launch or project. Take even more time afterwards. You won't regret having that time set aside; in fact, your future self will be thanking you! 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot Life After College How to Begin Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience 🔗Resources Mentioned:  Book Launch Consultant: Courtney Kenny Social Media Team: Huston.love Podcast Production: One Stone Creative Article: What is an MVP by Eric Ries Article: The Dip and Knowing When to Quit by Seth Godin Related Podcast Episodes:  2 Pages with MBS Episode 79: How to Begin: MBS interviews MBS Free Time Episode 031: Eleventh-Hour Creative Gremlins Free Time Episode 052: Perceived Capacity vs. Actual Capacity Free Time Episode 064: The Vulnerability of Launching 🎁 Give yourself (and a friend) the gift of Free Time: Preorder and submit proof of purchase to get early access to the audiobook as part of the Buy One, Get One, Give One bonus! ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, along with a private feed and community forum for Heart-Based Business Owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/076 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Have you fallen out of love with something in your business? Something you want to be doing in theory, like sending newsletters, but you’re hitting a wall of resistance? In this episode, I'm coaching a long-time friend and founding BFF community member, Wade Brill, through the Free Time Framework. Wade is also featured as the kick-off story for the Align stage of the book. More About Wade: Wade Brill is a mindfulness coach who helps people experiencing stress and overwhelm be more present, productive, and energized. She hosts the popular Centered in the City podcast, offering modern meditations for busy professionals, and is a recognized speaker at conferences, companies, and retreats. Wade loves helping people create calm amid chaos and realize the importance of their one mind, one body, and one life. ⭐️ Permission:  Rethink something in your business that has gotten stale. What fresh approach would enable you to look forward to this activity again?  ⭐️ Do (or Delegate) This Next:  Conduct an energy audit: rate your most important recurring tasks on a scale of 1-10. For the lowest-energy areas that you still feel are important for the business: look for one next aspect you can delegate that would make the biggest impact toward reducing friction in that area. 🔗Resources Mentioned:  Wade Brill on the Web, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook Wade’s podcast: Centered in the City Josh Allan Dykstra, #lovework, LoveWork Asynchronous communication apps: Voxer, Vocaroo, Marco Polo Related Episodes: Centered in the City Episode 63: Conversation with Jenny Blake on Claiming Attention & Time with Heart 🎁 Give yourself (and a friend) the gift of Free Time : Preorder and submit proof of purchase to get early access to the audiobook as part of the Buy One, Get One, Give One bonus! ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, along with a private feed and community forum for Heart-Based Business Owners.. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/075 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If the thought of success sometimes feels more stressful than exhilarating, you’re not alone. Many business owners are interested in scale only if they’re not scaling stress and headaches at the same time. In fact, some even subconsciously hold back from earning more, fearing that any more income might bring with it increased headaches. The early days of every business are scrappy. You’re building something out of nothing, and that means doing things that aren’t sustainable long term. Today’s episode is about how to grow your business and create more freedom and abundant earnings without scaling stress-inducing habits at the same time. Key Takeaways There are three common friction points for solopreneurs trying to scale: pressure to take on more clients, prices that are too low, and porous boundaries that leave you feeling burned out.  Productize your services by creating processes for everything repeatable. Bonus: Train team members to help with client communications, onboarding, and even delivery. Creative systems for managing and maintaining your home are as important as for your business! Take the pressure off wherever you can :) ⭐️ Permission:  Give yourself a raise! You have permission to raise your rates to make sure your three T’s as an owner are covered: taxes, team overhead and your time. ⭐️ Do (or Delegate) This Next:  Ensure that every question lives three lives. The next time a client or team member asks you a question, ask them to document it internally for yourself and your team, and externally for other clients who might find that information helpful in the future.  📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot Built to Sell Million Dollar Consultant The Work Value-Based Fees 🔗Resources Mentioned:  Free Time Operations Dashboard 1:1 Coaching: Free Time , Pivot Podcast: Pricing is Positioning (Now Bizable TV) Book and Podcast: Built to Sell Article: I Want a Wife  Related Podcast Episodes:  Free Time Episode 16: IP Licencing with Lee LeFever Free Time Episode 61: Scaling Boutique Businesses with Greg Alexander 🎁 Give yourself (and a friend) the gift of Free Time as we head into 2022: Preorder and submit proof of purchase to get early access to the audiobook as part of the Buy One, Get One, Give One holiday bonus! ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, along with a private feed and community forum for Heart-Based Business Owners.. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/074 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What if this is the moment that changes everything? That question can be exhilarating or terrifying—or both. And there are going to be moments like that in your business: crossroads where you have to make a choice. Today’s guest, Pat Flynn recently made one of the biggest decisions of all, to step aside as CEO of his company, while still playing an active role, so he could devote more time to the creative work he loves. More About Pat: Pat Flynn is a father, husband and entrepreneur who lives and works in San Diego, CA. He owns several successful online businesses and is a professional blogger, keynote speaker, Wall Street Journal best-selling author of three books (Superfans, Will It Fly?, Let Go), and host of the Smart Passive Income and AskPat podcasts.  Key Takeaways: Companies go through changes like people do. Growth spurts and growing pains, temper tantrums and quiet periods. Adapt the work you’re doing to meet the new needs. It’s easy to lose track of what you actually want to be doing with your life and business. As your business changes, your role in it might need to as well. Transitioning from working alone to working with a team can be awkward; learning how to manage the people you bring on board takes time, honesty and experimentation. ⭐️ Permission: To fail. “There is no better learning than failure, so go ahead, try something new, do your best and learn from the results.” ⭐️ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Let go of something. Maybe a negative story you’re telling yourself, the need to control a particular outcome, or a task or project you no longer need to do alone.. Bonus: figure out how to delegate the one thing in your business that would free up the most time and energy. 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot Superfans Will it Fly? Let It Go Platform: Get Noticed in a Busy World Clockwork: Design Your Business to Run Itself What Got You Here Won’t Get You There 🔗Resources Mentioned:  Pat Flynn on the Web, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter Smart Passive Income The Smart Passive Income Podcast Ask Pat 2.0 How to Stand Out from the Crowd (Ted Talk) SPI Pro Community The CX Podcast The Switch Pod People Mentioned: Selena Soo Ramit Sethi Matt Gartland John Lee Dumas Related Podcast Episodes:  Free Time Episode 51: How to Replace Yourself as CEO with Michael Bungay Stanier SPI 249: Pivoting: How, When & Why to Do It with Jenny Blake SPI 155: 9000 Unread Emails to Inbox Zero SPI 345: The Next Big Steps in Business - With Matt Gartland from Team Flynn 🎁 Give yourself (and a friend) the gift of Free Time as we head into 2022: Preorder and submit proof of purchase to get early access to the audiobook as part of the Buy One, Get One, Give One holiday bonus! ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, along with a private feed and community forum for Heart-Based Business Owners.. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/073 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Going from “zero to one” on a big creative project can be intimidating. If you want to write a book or create a course, where should you begin? Hint: grab a pen and paper and a stack of index cards, not your laptop. Key Takeaways: Start big projects by asking: what is the key transformation I am hoping to inspire? There is magic to the number 3: it fits in with how we understand the world. When shaping the main pillars of the transformation you’re creating, see if you can break it down into 3 key parts.  People learn in many diverse ways, and as a communicator, try to give them as many different methods for understanding a concept or idea as possible including memes, metaphors, mantras, quotes, statistics, diagrams, research etc.  ⭐️ Permission:  Forget being linear. You don’t have to start at the beginning and end at the end. Dive into the sections that energize you the most first.   ⭐️ Do (or Delegate) This Next:  Indulge your desire for stationary — purchase a tall stack of index cards and start breaking your next big project idea into smaller, bite-sized chunks, then move them around on a big surface (like your dining room table) until themes emerge.    📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot  Life After College Resonate: Present Visual Stories That Transform Audiences How to Begin: Start Something That Matters 🔗Resources Mentioned:  Free Author Toolkit MBS.Works Alexandra Franzen  Alexandra Franzen’s Feel, Know, Do Framework Related Podcast Episodes:  Free Time Episode 34: Organizing Research and Ideas - Notion Walkthrough #1 Free Time Episode 36: Shaping Big Ideas - Notion Walkthrough #2 Free Time Episode 38: Tracking Progress Toward Finishing a Book (or Big Idea) with an Essay Tracker - Notion Walkthrough #3 🎁 Give yourself (and a friend) the gift of Free Time as we head into 2022: Preorder and submit proof of purchase to get early access to the audiobook as part of the Buy One, Get One, Give One holiday bonus! ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, along with a private feed and community forum for Heart-Based Business Owners.. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/072 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Did you know that we can predict a leader’s charisma based solely on five seconds of exposure? That nonverbal signals account for 65 to 90 percent of our total communication? Today we’re talking about cues, specifically the formula for charisma (hint: a combination of cues that project warmth and competence). As a self-described “recovering awkward person,” Vanessa’s secret sauce is combining the latest research, real-life case studies of success, and fascinating examples of notable figures (like Oprah and Britney Spears) with practical strategies you can start using immediately. More About Guest Vanessa: Vanessa Van Edwards is a speaker, researcher, and national bestselling author. More than 50 million people have seen her engaging YouTube tutorials and in her viral TED Talk, You Are Contagious. Vanessa is Lead Investigator at Science of People. She is the bestselling author of Captivate: The Science of Succeeding with People, translated into 16 languages. Today we’re talking about her new book, Cues: Master the Secret Language of Charismatic Communication.  Key Takeaways: Your all-important first impression starts at the very first moment of an experience with someone: when you walk into the room, or when the camera flips on, and not with the first word you speak. We all have patterns for when we feel awkward and out of place, which are not the ingredients for charismatic communication. But we also have patterns for when we are at our most confident and natural. Tracking those and taking advantage of them to give yourself more comfort and ease in your communications can immediately increase your charisma. It’s extremely hard to lie with your voice, so spending time (and creating the best environment) for your body is going to make your competence and warmth much more evident in the subtle cues of your voice.  ⭐️ Permission: Skip the happy hour! Drop the scheduled phone calls! Think about the times and places where you feel the happiest and most confident, and engage with people then, instead of sticking to the ‘normal’ times and places you feel you should.   ⭐️ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Practice “I see you” acknowledgments when you first start talking to people in person or over video. A wave, a nod, or a smile all show the people you are talking to that they belong.  📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business,  Pivot,  Captivate: The Science of Succeeding with People Cues: Master the Secret Language of Charismatic Communication 🔗Resources Mentioned:  Vanessa on the Web, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn Charisma Diagnostic Cues Bonuses Learn the Secrets Behind the Best Shark Tank Pitches of All Time  8 Powerful Ways to Tap Into Your Intuition (That Work!) Sarah Apgar’s Shark Tank Pitch The First Year of Parenting—What I Wish I Had Known Related Podcast Episodes:  Pivot Episode 59: Secrets from Viral Ted Talks with Vanessa Van Edwards Pivot Episode 155: Becoming a Successful Speaker with Grant Baldwin Free Time Episode 11: Pitching Shark Tank with Sarah Apgar 🎁 Give yourself (and a friend) the gift of Free Time as we head into 2022: Preorder and submit proof of purchase to get early access to the audiobook as part of the Buy One, Get One, Give One holiday bonus! ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, along with a private feed and community forum for Heart-Based Business Owners.. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/071 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do you fret about why your own work never seems to be as good as what you read, watch, or listen to? Today’s episode is an important reminder for all of us: Don’t compare your first draft to someone else’s finished product.  Rarely is a finished product created by a single genius working alone. Far more often, great work comes from collective effort, and our rough drafts are just the first tiny chip away at what ultimately becomes a finished carving. ⭐️ Permission: To hire a professional editor that makes you sound far better than your scrappiest rough draft self.  ⭐️ Do (or Delegate) This Next: To practice writing and getting feedback on a micro-scale, conduct an A/B test for headlines you're considering for an upcoming newsletter or course. You can even pay $50 to run it by total strangers on PickFu.  📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business,  Pivot,  Sex and the City and Us: How Four Single Women Changed the Way We Think, Live, and Love  🔗Resources Mentioned:  Origins Podcast SATC series,  And Just Like That…The Writer’s Room  Ira Glass Idea Press Publishing  Portfolio  Big Fish Media  Take Me Out to the Ballgame (SATC script) Writing for Television Masterclass Related Podcast Episodes: 031: Eleventh-Hour Creative Gremlins 🎁 Give yourself (and a friend) the gift of Free Time as we head into 2022: Preorder and submit proof of purchase to get early access to the audiobook as part of the Buy One, Get One, Give One holiday bonus! ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, along with a private feed and community forum for Heart-Based Business Owners.. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/070 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“If you don’t have a system…you are the system.” That’s just one of Allan’s brilliant gems from this conversation on creating a “marketing oil well” for your business. Income comes from assets, and there’s one area right under your feet that’s ripe for reinvention: your email newsletters and welcome autoresponder series. Listen in for the 5-minute tip that changed my business life, and tons of other juicy tips and ideas to make your business easier and more profitable. More About Allan: Allan Dib is a serial entrepreneur, rebellious marketer, and #1 bestselling author of The 1-Page Marketing Plan: Get New Customers, Make More Money and Stand Out From the Crowd. He has started, grown and successfully exited multiple businesses in various industries, and is the founder of Successwise.com, where the focus is on Mastering Marketing to fuel high-growth businesses. Key Takeaways: Consider augmentation vs. automation - we can create systems and save time while still keeping the relationships we’re building personal. “The 30 seconds that follow the question, “What do you do?” is one of the most commonly wasted marketing opportunities. The response is almost always self-focused, unclear, and nonsensical.” Focus on the problem you help others solve instead.   One is the most dangerous number in your business - having one key person, or product or channel, or anything else makes you fragile. ⭐️ Permission Slip: You’re allowed to suck. To do good work and good marketing, and build a good business, you have to start at the bottom and suck at the beginning. 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot  The 1-Page Marketing Plan: Get New Customers, Make More Money and Stand Out From the Crowd 🔗Allan on the Web: Successwise, Instagram, LinkedIn 🔗Resources Mentioned:   1-Page Marketing Plan Canvas VideoAsk.com  Seth Godin Chandler Bolt Paul Graham Related Podcast Episodes:  Free Time Episode 12: Generating Personal MBA Momentum with Josh Kaufman Free Time Episode 16: IL Licensing with Lee LeFever 🎁 Give yourself (and a friend) the gift of Free Time as we head into 2022: Preorder and submit proof of purchase to get early access to the audiobook as part of the Buy One, Get One, Give One holiday bonus! ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, along with a private feed and community forum for Heart-Based Business Owners.. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/069 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Every interaction with your customers offers an opportunity to be warm and welcoming. It's also easy to make them feel alienated or put off. Where in your business are you being unintentionally grumpy? Key Takeaways: Some rules come across as cold, particularly if they are reflections of the worst customer experiences you’ve had, rather than the excellent ones you are cultivating. What tone do you want to set? You can be clear and precise while still kind and friendly All of the touchpoints you have in your business are opportunities to create small moments that build connection.  ⭐️Do or Delegate: Look over the client touchpoints in your sales process - is there an opportunity for you to add surprise and delight to the process to make people feel welcome? 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business, Pivot 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Employees Only, Emily P Freeman, The Next Right Thing Podcast 🎁 Give yourself (and a friend) the gift of Free Time as we head into 2022: Preorder and submit proof of purchase to get early access to the audiobook as part of the Buy One, Get One, Give One holiday bonus! ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, along with a private feed and community forum for Heart-Based Business Owners.. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/068 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For founders who value freedom, one question looms large: How do you keep overhead low while still generating abundant revenue? That’s what Elaine Pofeldt, self-professed “data nerd” is sharing with us today based on her new book, Tiny Business, Big Money: Strategies for Creating a High-Revenue Microbusiness.  More About Elaine: Elaine Pofeldt Is an independent journalist specializing in Entrepreneurship. Elaine’s previous book is The Million-Dollar, One-Person Business, where she looks at how entrepreneurs scale to $1 million in revenue prior to hiring employees. Her new book is Tiny Business, Big Money: Strategies for Creating a High-Revenue Microbusiness. Elaine’s work has appeared on CNBC and in Fortune, Money, Forbes, and many other publications. She lives in New Jersey with her husband and four children. Key Takeaways: To scale a business while staying tiny, find a way to charge premium prices by providing unusual value. Whether or not you have a team, it’s nearly impossible to scale without systems and automation. One of the best things you can do for your business as it evolves and your life changes is stepping back and asking: “What can you remove yourself from?” ⭐️ Give yourself permission: to do less out of obligation and spend more time doing things out of love and joy.  🔗 Elaine on the web: Website, Forbes, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter 📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot Four-Hour Work Week, The Million-Dollar, One-Person Business: Make Great Money. Work the Way You Like. Have the Life You Want Tiny Business, Big Money: Strategies for Creating a High-Revenue Microbusiness 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Free Time Toolkit, powered by Notion  Alibaba  Adobe Stock Canva Click Funnels ConvertKit Podia TXT180 People Mentioned:  Dana Derricks  Jenna Kutcher Jeffrey Stern, Voice Express Corp  Brian Dean, Backlinko Julian O’Hayon, BLVK Paris  Laura Belgrave, Talking Shrimp Tiffany Williams, Rich Girl Collective Doug Wick, Positioning Systems Vanessa and Kish Jeswani, Nomad Lane Related Podcast Episodes:  Pivot Episode 96: The Million-Dollar, One-Person Business with Elaine Pofeldt Free Time Episode 16: IP Licensing with Lee LeFever Free Time Episode 61: Scaling Boutique Businesses with Greg Alexander 🎁 Give yourself (and a friend) the gift of Free Time as we head into 2022: Preorder and submit proof of purchase to get early access to the audiobook as part of the Buy One, Get One, Give One holiday bonus! ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, along with a private feed and community forum for Heart-Based Business Owners.. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/067 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are you working in tasks or on templates? For anything you repeat, take a little time up-front to design a process that will save you time for future sessions. Books Mentioned:  Eat That Frog! The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It Resources Mentioned: Free Time Dashboard Beta Free Author Toolkit Related Episodes:  Episode 34 Organizing Research and Ideas - Notion Walkthrough #1 Episode 36: Shaping Big Ideas - Notion Walkthrough #2 Episode 38: Tracking Progress Toward Finishing a Book (or Big Idea) with an Essay Tracker - Notion Walkthrough #3 Episode 62 - Made by Monday 🐸 On Content “Frog” Batching 🎁 Give yourself (and a friend) the gift of Free Time as we head into 2022: Preorder and submit proof of purchase to get early access to the audiobook as part of the Buy One, Get One, Give One holiday bonus! ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, along with a private feed and community forum for Heart-Based Business Owners.. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/066 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How do you decide what to delegate, and what to keep doing yourself? What are the best ways to build flexibility into our businesses for ensuring we have plenty of free time for family and creativity? This week's guest is Evan La Ruffa, a father and artist-turned entrepreneur who is passionate about shaping a better world through new solutions to big problems. He is the founder of IPaintMyMind.org, a nonprofit focused on art, equity, and impact. One of my favorite projects of theirs is matching Chicago artists with companies for creating large-scale mural commissions in lobbies or the exterior. Resources Mentioned: Evan La Ruffa on Web | LinkedIn | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook Good Life Project Podcast Bench Accounting Services Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters is Your Next One Fair Play: A Game-Changing Solution for When You Have Too Much to Do (and More Life to Live) Related Episodes: Pivot; Episode 47 - Live Fiercely, Study Deeply… While Earning a Living - with Jonathan Fields 🎁 Give yourself (and a friend) the gift of Free Time as we head into 2022: Preorder and submit proof of purchase to get early access to the audiobook as part of the Buy One, Get One, Give One holiday bonus! ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, along with a private feed and community forum for Heart-Based Business Owners.. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/065 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When is good enough good enough? When is it important to stick to a creative vision, down to every last meticulous detail? Hitting publish means welcoming praise and criticism, and today I’m sharing the nerve-wracking feeling leading up to both, as well as an audio adventure to the book’s unboxing at the Rochester Warehouse! 📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College: The Complete Guide to Getting What You Want Pivot: The Only Move That Matters is Your Next One 🔗 Resource Mentioned: Pivot Coaching (use promo code PODCAST at checkout), Celebrities Read Mean Tweets 🎙 Related Episodes: 062: Made By Monday 🐸 On Content "Frog" Batching, and 019: Most Valuable Activities with Dave Crenshaw 🎁 Give yourself (and a friend) the gift of Free Time as we head into 2022: Preorder and submit proof of purchase to get early access to the audiobook as part of the Buy One, Get One, Give One bonus! ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, along with a private feed and community forum for Heart-Based Business Owners.. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/064 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The mic tables are turned this week, with Azul Terronez, cofounder of Authors Who Lead interviewing me for his fantastic podcast. With so many mutual friends in common, it was such a joy to finally connect directly! I hope you enjoy this conversation on burnout, spacious work boundaries, delegating, and doubling down on business intuition. 📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Authors Who Lead Authors Who Lead podcast Jadah Sellner in conversation with Azul about his book coaching process: Writing a Book That Changes You First, #BTS: Behind the Scenes of My Next Book Part 2 with Azul, #BTS: Behind the scenes of my next book part 3 🎙 Related Episodes: 062: Made By Monday 🐸 On Content "Frog" Batching 019: Most Valuable Activities with Dave Crenshaw 🎁 Give yourself (and a friend) the gift of Free Time as we head into 2022: Preorder and submit proof of purchase to get early access to the audiobook as part of the Buy One, Get One, Give One bonus! ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, along with a private feed and community forum for Heart-Based Business Owners.. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/063 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mark Twain once said, “Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.” Brian Tracy adapted this for his productivity book, Eat That Frog! to say, "If you have to eat two frogs, eat the ugliest one first," and "If you have to eat any frog at all, it doesn't pay to sit and look at it for very long." What if you turned this into a content batching template, and tackled all creative tasks in a Monday sprint every week? That's the experiment I've been running that I share more about in this episode . . . of course, created during my own Made-By-Monday sprint :) 📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Eat That Frog! The One Thing 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Pivot podcast, #PivotList newsletter, Time Well Spent newsletter, WeWork On Demand, Gotham Podcast Studio 🎙 Related Episodes: 025: The Joys of Precrastination, 010: Batching & Boundaries with John Lee Dumas, 055: How to Free Your Calendar Now for Next Year 🎁 Give yourself (and a friend) the gift of Free Time as we head into 2022: Preorder and submit proof of purchase to get early access to the audiobook as part of the Buy One, Get One, Give One bonus! ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, along with a private feed and community forum for Heart-Based Business Owners.. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/062 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's the difference between a lifestyle boutique and one that is built to scale and sell? Between a commoditized "body shop" and a unique boutique? There are approximately 1.47 million firms in professional services (industry code NAICS 54). Four thousand have reached scale, with more than 250 employees. This is one-quarter of one percent—these are the market leaders. The other 99.75% have between 1 and 249 employees; these are what Greg Alexander calls boutiques. Greg sold his professional services firm, SBI, after eleven years for $160 million, and is now focused on helping others grow, scale, and sell their own boutique professional services firms. He is now the founder of Capital 54, author of The Boutique: How to Start, Scale, and Sell a Professional Services Firm, and a frequent contributor to The Boutique podcast based on his book and business. Greg’s purpose is to live a fulfilling life by taking risks and competing for extraordinary accomplishments, like helping members of Collective 54 achieve and maintain financial success.  🎙 Related Episodes: 016: IP Licensing with Lee LeFever 🔗 Organizations Mentioned: EO, YPO, Strategic Coach, Genius Network 📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business The Boutique: How to Start, Scale, and Sell a Professional Services Firm Built to Sell: Creating a Business That Can Thrive Without You Finish Big: How Great Entrepreneurs Exit Their Businesses On Top 🎁 Give yourself (and a friend) the gift of Free Time as we head into 2022: Preorder and submit proof of purchase to get early access to the audiobook as part of the Buy One, Get One, Give One bonus! ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, along with a private feed and community forum for Heart-Based Business Owners.. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/061 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As my dad (an architect) always reminded me when I was growing up, clients often want it all — quality, speed, and the best prices. The reality? Pick two. It's nearly impossible to optimize for all at once, so what do you want to be known for as a business? 📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One The Road Less Stupid by Keith Cunningham 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Article on the Project Management Triangle 🎙 Related Episodes: 056: Systems vs. Goals 🎁 Give yourself (and a friend) the gift of Free Time as we head into 2022: Preorder and submit proof of purchase to get early access to the audiobook as part of the Buy One, Get One, Give One bonus! ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, along with a private feed and community forum for Heart-Based Business Owners.. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/060 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is the difference between uniqueness, talent, and onlyness? Nilofer Merchant is here to help us figure out how the room changes when we walk in, how to turn feeling othered or overworked into opportunities to help ourselves and everyone around us shine, and the powerful question that shifted how she leads others. More About Nilofer: Nilofer Merchant is ranked by Thinkers50 as one of the world's leading business thinkers. In 2013 she gave a top-ranking TED talk, "Sitting is the Smoking of Our Generation." This conversation is about her book, The Power of Onlyness: Make Your Wild Ideas Mighty Enough to Dent the World (2017). Check out Nilofer's substack newsletter, Fully Alive at Work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's episode builds on 56: Systems vs. Goals. Now let's talk about how to build smarter systems by looking for measurable loops in your business, then split testing with small experiments. For some of you, this is automatic, especially if you're familiar with growth hacking principles. For others, it will be a helpful reminder for you and your team about how to simplify and systematize making improvements in your business. 📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One The Ultimate Marketing Engine Growth Hacker Marketing The Cold Start Problem Traction 🔗 Resources Mentioned: PickFu for running polls among target audiences, Adele on Oprah: "It was never about losing weight. I'm an athlete." 🎙 Related Episodes: 056: Systems vs. Goals, 037: The Ultimate Marketing Engine with John Jantsch 🎁 Give yourself (and a friend) the gift of Free Time as we head into 2022: Preorder and submit proof of purchase to get early access to the audiobook as part of the Buy One, Get One, Give One holiday bonus! ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, along with a private feed and community forum for Heart-Based Business Owners.. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/058 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If it weren't for my longtime mentor MBS and our tiny sprints, sending each other daily check marks via Marco Polo to clock in our (minimum) 100 words of writing, the new Free Time book would not exist. In keeping with his new podcast format, in honor of his book launch (today!!) he gave me permission to replay a recent episode from his show. In it, MBS reads two pages of his new book, How to Begin: Start Something That Matters, and I ask him follow-up questions about the nitty gritty of navigating the massive shifts into an entirely new self—what he calls "You 2.0." Be sure to also sign up for his upcoming summit, Begin, Grow, Pivot, and Learn! Enroll at HowToBegin.com. More About MBS: Michael Bungay Stanier is the author of six books which between them have sold over a million copies. He’s best known for The Coaching Habit, the best-selling coaching book of the century and already recognized as a classic. His new book, How to Begin, helps people be more ambitious for themselves and for the world. 📘 Books Mentioned: How to Begin: Start Doing Something That Matters Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business, Pivot 🔗 Resources Mentioned: MBS.works, howtobegin.com, Register for the Begin, Grow, Pivot, and Learn Summit (Jan. 20), 2 Pages with MBS 🎙Related Podcast Episodes: 051: How to Replace Yourself as CEO with Michael Bungay Stanier ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener-supported—consider donating to become a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny and private feed. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts: http://pod.link/freetime 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/057 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome Deep Questions with Cal Newport listeners! I had so much fun recording the "Help me do less!" episode — check it out here if you haven't already :) [ 01:49 ] 🚀 I'd love to invite you to the Free Time book launch team! Learn more and join us for a pop-up private community and 5 bonus AMA behind-the-book calls at http://itsfreetime.com/launch-team [ 04:12 ]🎙I'm starting a new featurette for the podcast called "My Favorite Time-Saving System." Do you have a cool little tip, trick, or sequence that helps you save time at home or work? If so, please record a short voice memo on your phone and send it to hi@itsfreetime.com. [ 07:13 ] Shifting from specific goals toward surrender, surprise, and serendipity [ 13:53 ] The problem with the Druckerism that "You can't manage what you don't measure" [ 16:25 ] Why I find systems much more motivating; Scott Adams on goal-setting people vs. systems people [ 18:39 ] James Clear: "You don't rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems." [ 21:53 ] Book sales as an example of balancing intention, vision, and systems [ 23:38 ] Setting a compass for the year ahead — Healthy, Wealthy, Wise, and Grateful — did I add something to every bucket every day? [ 26:01 ] Also experimenting with Traction's EOS with my team by creating a weekly metrics scorecard so we can run split tests and improve our systems [ 27:11 ] Closing reflection questions and Thoreau quote 📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One How to Be, Do, or Have Anything Outrageous Openness How to Fail at Almost Anything and Still Win Big Atomic Habits Traction 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Author Toolkit Scott Adams on The Tim Ferriss Show James Clear on Brené Brown's Dare to Lead podcast: Part 1, Part 2 Featured on CNBC: Kick-start your new year with a mind map like this Adele on Oprah: "It was never about losing weight. I'm an athlete." 🎙 Related Episodes: 012: Generating Personal MBA Momentum with Josh Kaufman Check out the full Free Time podcast archives here » 🎁 Give yourself (and a friend) the gift of Free Time as we head into 2022: Preorder and submit proof of purchase to get early access to the audiobook as part of the Buy One, Get One, Give One holiday bonus! ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, along with a private feed and community forum for Heart-Based Business Owners.. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/056 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today I'm sharing an easy technique (and some of my favorite tools) for claiming your free time now for the year ahead, before everyone else haphazardly (even if unintentionally) fills in the cracks with scattershot scheduling. In taking my own advice, this will also be the last episode of 2021! My email autoresponder is live and my bags are packed—I'm heading to California to spend some quality time with family. See you in early January! 🎁 Give yourself (and a friend) the gift of Free Time as we head into 2022: Preorder and submit proof of purchase to get early access to the audiobook as part of the Buy One, Get One, Give One holiday bonus! ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener supported—consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, along with a private feed and community forum for Heart-Based Business Owners.. 📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business and Pivot 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Blue Yeti travel mic and case Calendly Clara (use this link for $100 off your first month) Magnetic Fridge Pads and Magnetic Pen Holder The brand new Free Time Toolkit including my scheduling parameters and Delegation Task Tracker template — preorder the book and submit proof of purchase here for early access! 🎙 Related Episodes: First (Free) Time Facilitator #201, Free Time #034: Organizing Research and Ideas — Notion Walkthrough #1 check out the full Free Time podcast archives here » 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/055 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Early reviews are in! Kirkus calls Free Time, "An entertaining, instructive reading experience . . . an invigorating and informative time-management manual." In perfect timing, I read this just before recording today's episode: "All three parts of the book are well written, applicable, and actionable. Stylistically, Blake is a master of alliteration and rhyming; she’s also adept at employing numbered and bulleted lists." Hah! Well, I won't pick today to disappoint; in perfect coincidence, I'm delivering both: an alliterative Ten T's of successful delegation techniques :) 🎁 Give yourself (and a friend) the gift of Free Time as we head into 2022: Preorder and submit proof of purchase to get early access to the audiobook as part of the Buy One, Get One, Give One holiday bonus! ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener supported—consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, along with a private feed and community forum for Heart-Based Business Owners.. 📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business and Pivot 🔗 Resources Mentioned: the brand new Free Time Toolkit and Delegation Task Tracker template — preorder the book and submit proof of purchase here for early access! 🎙 Related Episodes: 006: Going Pro on Podcasting with Jordan Harbinger 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/054 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

🎉 Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business launches on 3/22/22!  Give the gift of free time to yourself and others in the new year by participating in our Buy One, Get One, Give One bonus. Here's how it works: Buy One: Preorder the hardcover edition and submit proof of purchase at http://itsfreetime.com/bogogo Get One: Within one business day, you'll get early access to the audiobook and brand new Free Time Toolkit with over 15 new templates to free your mind, time, and team! Give One: You will get details on how to gift early audiobook access to a friend :) Thank you in advance for your support! I can't wait to hear how you start freeing up time, and what you do with it! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What gets in the way of deep, intentional focus? Hint: the phone sitting right at your desk. Even though we know the apps blinking on screen are designed for distraction and shallow work—we don't always know how to best facilitate our own focus. Jake and cofounders at Caveday are taking a stand for social connection while carving out and facilitating group sessions dedicated to deep work. More About Jake: Jake Kahana is a designer and entrepreneur who teaches creative leaders the tools and skills to build thriving creative teams. He is a cofounder of Caveday, a company that facilitates deep focus sessions and deep work training. As a founding U.S. faculty member with The School of Life, Jake also teaches workshops in emotional intelligence for corporate teams. ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener supported—consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, along with a private feed and community forum for Heart-Based Business Owners.. 📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business and Pivot Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing Better Than Before: What I Learned About Making and Breaking Habits 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Jake on the web, Caveday, Instagram: @jakekahana, LinkedIn, The Email Refrigerator (Jake's monthly philosophical email), Caveday's holiday gift guide 🎙 Related Episodes: Free Time: 002: Eliminate Email with Cal Newport, Pivot Podcast: 131: Indistractable with Nir Eyal 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/053 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jon Kabat Zinn says, "Overwhelm means life is unfolding at a rate that neither my psyche or my nervous system can handle.” Sometimes life (and work) is like a yummy buffet: it all looks delicious, but our eyes are bigger than our stomach. Today I'm sharing a few reasons our perceived capacity can be misaligned with our actual capacity: invisible roles, poor role fit, taking on new exciting projects without first cutting back elsewhere, and broader contextual seasons and collective influences. 📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business — If you want to join the book launch team to get insider access and community leading up to the launch, sign-up at itsfreetime.com/join and you’ll be the first to know when that kicks off! Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life Admin: How I Learned to Do Less, Do Better, and Live More Drop the Ball: Achieving More by Doing Less Do Less: A Revolutionary Approach to Time and Energy Management for Ambitious Women Fair Play: A Game-Changing Solution for When You Have Too Much to Do (and More Life to Live) Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience 10-10-10: 10 Minutes, 10 Months, 10 Years: A Life-Transforming Idea 🎧 Podcast Episodes Mentioned: Free Time: 035: The Long Game with Dorie Clark, 046: Time Margin—Are You Drowning, Treading Water, or Gliding? Super Soul Conversations: Brené Brown Part 1: Daring Greatly 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Free Time Quiz, Buy One → Get One → Give One ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener-supported—consider donating to become a podcast BFF Insider and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny and private podcast feed with bonus episodes. 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! http://itsfreetime.com/episodes/052 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After building Box of Crayons for nearly twenty years, Michael Bungay Stanier hit a fork-in-the-road: he knew that for his business to continue growing, it would be wisest for him (and more energizing) to step aside. For two years he trained his successor, Shannon Minifie, then navigated the identity void of "standing in the valley of Box of Crayons" before launching into his new direction, including a new book and podcast. I hope you enjoy this week's conversation on navigating replacing what often feels irreplaceable—you!—the owner, but the possibilities it opens up for all involved on the other side. More About MBS: Michael Bungay Stanier is the author of six books which between them have sold over a million copies. He’s best known for The Coaching Habit, the best-selling coaching book of the century and already recognized as a classic. His new book, How to Begin, helps people be more ambitious for themselves and for the world. 📘 Books Mentioned: How to Begin: Start Doing Something That Matters, The Coaching Habit, Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business, Pivot, Fierce Conversations (Susan Scott), Small Giants and Finish Big by Bo Burlingham, Virgil Wander (Leif Enger), Flawless Consulting and The Answer to How is Yes (Peter Block) 🔗 Resources Mentioned: HowToBegin.com, MBS.works, Box of Crayons, Instagram: @mbs_works, Erin Weed ("The Dig" sessions), Andrew Wilkinson's articles on Medium 🎙Related Podcast Episodes: Self-Publishing School—#129: How I Self Published My Way To 1M+ Copies Sold And $10M+ In Business From My Book, Two Pages—Brave Choices with Shannon Minifie, Pivot—156: MBS on Tipping Points and Pivoting Out of CEO (From His Own Company), Free Time—019: Most Valuable Activities with Dave Crenshaw ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener-supported—consider donating to become a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny and private feed. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts: http://pod.link/freetime 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/051 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Metaphors are powerful drivers for our mind—they allow us to quickly convey complex information to better understand abstract ideas. How do you think about business-building? Are you building a machine, managing a house, running a restaurant, or something else altogether? In this episode, we are discussing helpful aspects of all three analogies, and countering the role of entropy in any organic system. 📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business — If you want to join the book launch team to get insider access and community leading up to the launch, sign-up at itsfreetime.com/join and you’ll be the first to know when that kicks off! Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Shortcut: How Analogies Reveal Connections, Spark Innovation, and Sell Our Greatest Ideas Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life Through the Power of Storytelling The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement Organizational Physics | The Science of Growing a Business Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business Work Clean Life Changing Power Everything In Its Place: The Power of Mise-En-Place to Organize Your Life, Work, and Mind The Boutique: How To Start, Scale, And Sell A Professional Services Firm 🎧 Podcast Episodes Mentioned: Free Time: 044: Are You High Net Freedom?, 046: Time Margin—Are You Drowning, Treading Water, or Gliding?, 048: Ten Timeless Content Principles, high net freedom, 002: Eliminate Email with Cal Newport Pivot Podcast: 29: Deep Work: Ditch Cognitive Junk Food with Cal Newport, 122: Digital Minimalism with Cal Newport Akimbo with Seth Godin The Boutique with Greg Alexander 🔗 Resources Mentioned: The free Author Toolkit (with Your Book and Big Idea workshop), The “10 Things” Rule Keeps My House Uncluttered, Even with a Family of Six, Develop the Art of Mise-en-Place ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener-supported—consider donating to become a podcast BFF Insider and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny and private podcast feed with bonus episodes. 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! http://itsfreetime.com/episodes/050 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"We don't write books, we craft spreads." Dr. Alex Osterwalder and his book co-authors pioneered the landscape, full-color, creative visuals format for simplifying complex business ideas. They consider every page of their books as a user interface, optimizing for simplicity, clarity, and fun. "Visuals don't become lipstick on a pig, they become an essential part of the reader's experience." There's good news and bad news today: the good news, I know you will love what Alex shares about simplifying complexity. The bad news? My track didn't record! So consider this a masterclass of sorts :) More About Alex: Dr. Alexander (Alex) Osterwalder is one of the world’s most influential innovation experts whose work has changed the way established companies do business and how new ventures get started. His company Strategyzer provides online courses, applications, and technology-enabled services to help organizations effectively and systematically manage strategy, growth, and transformation. Alex is the co-author of a suite of beautifully designed bestselling books in the Strategyzer Series including Business Model Generation, Value Proposition Design, Testing Business Ideas, The Invincible Company, and his latest, High-Impact Tools for Teams. ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener-supported—consider donating to become a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny and private feed. 📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business, Pivot, The Invincible Company, High-Impact Tools for Teams. Related Books: The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures, Design the Life You Love: A Step-by-Step Guide to Building a Meaningful Future 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Alex on the web, Twitter: @AlexOsterwalder and @strategyzer, Hemingway Editor App, 🎙 Related Episodes: Pivot—244: Design The Life You Love with Ayse Birsel 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts: http://pod.link/freetime 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/049 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After reflecting on last week’s episode, here’s how I’m reducing friction and designing smarter systems for ongoing content creation.  📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business — If you want to join the book launch team to get insider access and community leading up to the launch, sign-up at itsfreetime.com/join and you’ll be the first to know when that kicks off! Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It Profit First: Transform Your Business from a Cash-Eating Monster to a Money-Making Machine The One-Page Marketing Plan: Get New Customers, Make More Money, And Stand Out From The Crowd Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life Through the Power of Storytelling Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity 🎧 Podcast Episodes Mentioned: Free Time: 017: Serendipity as Business Strategy with Leanne Hughes, 019: Most Valuable Activities with Dave Crenshaw, 002: Eliminate Email with Cal Newport, 045: Behind the Free Time Brand with Adam Chaloeicheep Cal Newport's Deep Questions podcast 🔗 Resources Mentioned: One Page Marketing Plan (website), ZingCollaboartive.com (Friday Favorites newsletter), Tim Ferriss's Five-Bullet Friday, What Works, Mighty Networks, Circle, SpeakPipe, Squared Away ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener-supported—consider donating to become a podcast BFF Insider and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny and private podcast feed with bonus episodes. 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! http://itsfreetime.com/episodes/048 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Steven Morris's new book, The Beautiful Business, is an actionable manifesto to help business leaders and entrepreneurs work and live as human artists. Join us for a conversation on beekeeping, reclaiming beauty, and business building beyond money and metrics. More About Steven: Steven Morris helps business leaders build unignorable brands, cultures, and businesses through his work as an advisor, author, and speaker. He has worked with business leaders from Samsung, Sony, Habitat for Humanity, Amazon, International Trademark Association, NFL, MLB, and over 250 other brands over his more than 25 years in business. When he is not supporting leaders in building beautiful brands, cultures, and businesses, Steven explores his artwork as a painter, is a regular meditator, outdoor enthusiast, surfer, and beekeeper. ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener supported—consider donating to become a podcast BFF Insider and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny and private feed. 📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business, Pivot, The Beautiful Business: An Actionable Manifesto to Create an Unignorable Business with Love at the Core, Orbiting the Giant Hairball 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Steven on the web, Instagram, LinkedIn, Notiv, Films To Be Buried With With Brett Goldstein 🎙 Related Episodes: 199: In Brilliant Conversation with Steve Morris, 173: Beautiful Questions for Challenging Times with Steve Morris 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💸 Enroll in the Mini-Course: Free-up Founder Time 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts: http://pod.link/freetime 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/046 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are you what author Bridget Schulte calls OBL, Overwhelmed By Life? I am this week . . . maybe you can relate. This week I'm putting words to crunched time margin. In a future episode, I'll share what I'm experimenting with to transform to-do list drowning into gliding. 📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business — If you want to join the book launch team to get insider access and community leading up to the launch, sign-up at itsfreetime.com/join and you’ll be the first to know when that kicks off! Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life Admin: How I Learned to Do Less, Do Better, and Live More Overwhelmed: How to Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time Total Immersion: The Revolutionary Way to Swim Better, Faster, and Easier Scarcity: The Science of Having Less and How It Defines Our Lives Who Not How: The Formula For Achieving Bigger Goals Through Accelerating Teamwork 🎧 Podcast Episodes Mentioned: The Tim Ferriss Show: Terry Laughlin—The Master Who Changed My Life (#276) Bewildered: 15: Ten Thousand Spoons Free Time: 031: Eleventh-Hour Creative Gremlins, 003: Liberate Your Life Force with Christine Arylo Rework: Scratch Your Own Itch 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Join the Free Time Book Launch Team, BFF with Jenny Blake, Byron Katie's TheWork.com (Look for the Judge Your Neighbor worksheet), the Knowing-Doing Gap ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener-supported—consider donating to become a podcast BFF Insider and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny and private podcast feed with bonus episodes. 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! http://itsfreetime.com/episodes/044 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What do a flying money emoji, a stray takeaway coffee cup, and a heart have in common? Those were the starting clues I brought to Adam Chaloeicheep and his cofounder Marisol at Together Agency before starting work on the Free Time brand—as now expressed in the podcast, website, and book. Adam is one of my closest friends, and a creative business leader with over a decade of experience in product and service concepting, building teams, and brand strategy. Together Agency is behind every big brand I have launched into the world: JennyBlake.me, Pivot, and now Free Time. Today we're going behind the business, discussing the strategic thinking that goes into brand strategy long before the visual assets are produced, the biggest misconceptions clients have about the investment and process, and why brand is so important for a business. ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener supported—consider donating to become a podcast BFF Insider and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny and private feed. 📘 Books Mentioned: Pivot, Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Go Together Agency, Instagram: @gotogether.agency, LinkedIn 🎙 Related Episodes: 005: Brand Obsessed with Emily Heyward 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💸 Enroll in the Mini-Course: Free-up Founder Time 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts: http://pod.link/freetime 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/045 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a special preview from my forthcoming book: Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business (launches March 22, 2022). I talk in Pivot about pivoters being high net growth; Free Timers optimize for another central value: high net freedom. If you want to join the book launch team to get insider access and community leading up to the launch, sign-up at itsfreetime.com/join and you’ll be the first to know when that kicks off! 📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business, Pivot 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Join the Free Time Book Launch Team, BFF with Jenny Blake ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener-supported—consider donating to become a podcast BFF Insider and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny and private podcast feed with bonus episodes. 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! http://itsfreetime.com/episodes/044 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alisa Cohn has been coaching startup founders to grow into world-class CEOs for nearly 20 years. Today's we're discussing what she calls the "unnatural act of leading other adults" from her new book, From Start-Up to Grown-Up. We also discuss her own journey to becoming a published author, and the resistance roadblocks she had to move past along the way. ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener supported—consider donating to become a podcast BFF Insider and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny and private feed. 📘 Books Mentioned: Pivot, Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business, From Start-Up to Grown-Up, The Long Game, Tools of Titans, Immunity to Change 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Alisa on the web: Alisa Cohn, Twitter: @AlisaCohn, LinkedIn: @AlisaCohn, Immunity to Change process and book 🎙 Related Episodes: 035: The Long Game with Dorie Clark, 190: The Commitment to Create with Michael Bungay Stanier, 031: Eleventh-Hour Creative Gremlins 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💸 Enroll in the Mini-Course: Free-up Founder Time 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts: http://pod.link/freetime 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/043 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If social media drains you, yet continues to dangle itself as a shiny should, this episode is for you. It's a crossover replay from one of the episodes that listeners share most often from the Pivot podcast, so I'm replaying it here for you. I share my own process—mindset shifts and business focuses—that allow me to keep moving, even without platform-building or posting on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, or Tik Tok. From a business perspective, social media is a means to two primary ends: social connections and media (consuming and contributing). I cover how I work toward both in energizing ways, even without directing my attention toward the platforms above. 📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business, When the Body Says No (Gabor Maté) 🎙 Related Episodes: 040: It's Not Free Time If You're Exhausted, Pivot Episodes — 227: Super Extrovert Pivot Strategies with Photographer Phillip Van Nostrand, 196: Agile Public Original Thinking, 183: Cultivating Opposites and Checklists with Alexandra Franzen, 76: On Plan Z, Creative Finish Lines and the Graceful No—with Alexandra Franzen ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener-supported—consider donating to become a podcast BFF Insider and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny and private podcast feed with bonus episodes. 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! http://itsfreetime.com/episodes/042 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Heart of Business founder Mark Silver shares his "pay from the heart" pricing approach, a step beyond "pay what you want" or sliding scale. In working with thousands of heart-centered business owners, he finds that the latter are often done from a place of unconscious money issues, and can lack acknowledgment of the business owner's needs. This method isn't for everyone, but it might be worth experimenting with! Mark also shares the four stages of business development for micro-businesses: Creation, Concentration, Momentum, Independence, and the challenges of moving between the last two. More About Mark: Mark Silver, M. Div, is a fourth-generation entrepreneur who has run a distribution business, turned around a struggling non-profit magazine, and worked as a paramedic in the San Francisco Bay Area. With the introduction of Sufi-based healing work from the Jaffe Institute (now the University of Spiritual Healing & Sufism), the path forward became clear and Heart of Business was born in 2001. Since founding his company, Mark has been a pioneer in integrating spirituality and business, in a way that is effective and nourishing. As one of his Sufi mentors taught him, "If you are in your practices, you can trust your whims." ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener supported—consider donating to become a podcast BFF Insider and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny and private feed. 📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business, Pivot 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Heart of Business, Facebook: Mark Silver, check out his free Heart of Business programs, Tad Hargrave's Marketing for Hippies, Jonathan Fields' The Unfortunate Middle 🎙 Related Episodes: 016: IP Licensing with Lee LeFever, 033: Sparked with Jonathan Fields 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💸 Enroll in the Mini-Course: Free-up Founder Time 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts: http://pod.link/freetime 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! http://itsfreetime.com/episodes/041 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Don't write a check your body can't cash." This is a phrase I remind myself when my to-do list eyes are bigger than my available energy, something that has been happening a lot lately (and I know I'm not alone in this). As Anne Helen Petersen captures so perfectly in her recent newsletter, there are many reasons (we're or) You're Still Exhausted. Today I'm sharing a quick solo riff from the park: a personal "take two" on the day Ryder turned two. 📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business 🗽Photos: Reclining Liberty art installation 📰Article: You're Still Exhausted by Anne Helen Petersen 🎙 Related Episodes: 031: Eleventh-Hour Creative Gremlins, Pivot—45: Post-Launch Pivot Point + Visit From the Furry Rest Monster ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener-supported—consider donating to become a podcast BFF Insider and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny and private podcast feed with bonus episodes. 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! http://itsfreetime.com/episodes/034 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Glowing in the dark is the work of being a patient warrior for our gifts. Our light is the medicine our aching planet needs.” KC flips the traditional leadership script, giving us permission to pause, chill, breathe, and shine. We discuss unicorn symbology, vulnerability in launching big creative projects, identifying work that aligns with your soul, and what we can all learn from the art of making mix tapes. More About KC: Kristoffer Carter is the founder of This Epic Life, a website devoted to conscious leadership, which has created a daily meditation practice for thousands. He is the creator of The 4 Permissions framework, which guide his coaching of executive leaders at Amazon, AT&T, eXp Realty, Edward Jones, and many more. KC is also a professional songwriter, TEDx speaker, and international retreat leader. He lives in Akron, OH with his wife of 22 years and their three children, the "Carter Force Five." We’re discussing his first book, just released, Permission to GLOW— A Spiritual Guide to Epic Leadership. ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener supported—consider donating to become a podcast BFF Insider and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny and private feed. 📘 Books Mentioned: Permission to GLOW— A Spiritual Guide to Epic Leadership, Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business, Pivot, The Big Leap, Every Book Is a Start-Up, The Autobiography of a Yogi 🔗 Resources Mentioned: KC on the web, Instagram: @kristoffer_carter_kc, LinkedIn: Kristoffer Carter, TedX Talk: What if change were fun?, The Four Permissions Manifesto, This Epic Life podcast 🎙 Related Episodes: Pivot—152: Glowing in the Dark with Kristoffer 'KC' Carter 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💸 Enroll in the Mini-Course: Free-up Founder Time 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts: http://pod.link/freetime 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/039 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the third and final (for now!) walkthrough of how I take big ideas from the organizing research stage toward tracking progress toward a final draft of the book. I call this board my Essay Tracker. Be sure to start with the first two episodes in the Notion walkthrough series: 034: Organizing Research and Ideas and 036: Shaping Big Ideas. 📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business, Pivot 🎥 Video: Malcolm Gladwell's MasterClass on Writing, Notion Office Hours, sign-up for the free Author Toolkit to access the screen-sharing video version of this episode. 🛠 Tools Mentioned: Notion, Loom 🎙 Related Episodes: 002: Elimante Email With Cal Newport, 034: Organizing Research and Ideas — Notion Walkthrough #1, 036: Shaping Big Ideas — Notion Walkthrough #2. ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener-supported—consider donating to become a podcast BFF Insider and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny and private podcast feed with bonus episodes. 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! http://itsfreetime.com/episodes/038 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What would it be like if you became the only business that mattered to your customers? How can you get 100 percent of the people who eventually buy your products or services to tell their friends? These are some of the powerful questions John Jantsch poses in his latest book, The Ultimate Marketing Engine: 5 Steps to Ridiculously Consistent Growth. He walks us through how to scale by ensuring transformation for your customers and clients. You grow as they grow. What is the Ultimate Marketing Engine? As John says, "A successful customer." More About John: John Jantsch is a marketing consultant, speaker, and author of Duct Tape Marketing, The Referral Engine, The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur, and The Ultimate Marketing Engine: 5 Steps to Ridiculously Consistent Growth. He is also the founder of the Duct Tape Marketing Consultant Network, which trains and licenses independent consultants and agencies to use the Duct Tape Methodology. ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener supported—consider donating to become a podcast BFF Insider and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny and private feed. 📘 Books Mentioned: Pivot, Pivot, Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business, The Ultimate Marketing Engine, Duct Tape Marketing Revised and Updated, The Referral Engine: Teaching Your Business to Market Itself, The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur, Subscribed, Retention Point, The Practice of Management 🔗 Resources Mentioned: John the web: Duct Tape Marketing, Twitter: @ducttape, Facebook: Duct Tape Marketing, Akimbo Podcast 🎙 Related Episodes: 016: IP Licensing with Lee LeFever, Pivot—145: The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur with John Jantsch and 70: Build a Referral Engine with John Jantsch 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💸 Enroll in the Mini-Course: Free-up Founder Time 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts: http://pod.link/freetime 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/037 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Building on the first episode in the Notion walkthrough series, 034: Organizing Research and Ideas, in this session I'm sharing the next step: starting to shape big ideas. I share categories for notes that you can move across a nonlinear board as you map desired transformation for your future audience, when to map those to paper index cards, and why I don't recommend writing with long audio transcripts as a base. 📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business, Pivot 🎥 Video: Notion Office Hours, sign-up for the free Author Toolkit to access the screensharing video version of this episode. 🛠 Tools Mentioned: Notion, Loom 🎙 Related Episodes: 002: Elimante Email With Cal Newport, 034: Organizing Research and Ideas — Notion Walkthrough #1, What Works: Going All In with Strategist Marie Poulin ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener-supported—consider donating to become a podcast BFF Insider and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny and private podcast feed with bonus episodes. 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! http://itsfreetime.com/episodes/036 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Whenever you have a choice of what to do, choose the more interesting path." (Credit to Dorie's friend Marion's mom) In this conversation with DC, one of my closest friends, we discuss how she "optimizes for interesting," says no to good opportunities, builds relationships by following her "no asks for a year" rule, and when to call on trusted advisors to ensure you don't quit something too soon. We're discussing her fourth book, The Long Game: How to Be a Long-Term Thinker in a Short-Term World—be sure to grab your copy for even more insights on how to apply strategic thinking to your biggest vision. More About Dorie: Dorie Clark helps individuals and companies get their best ideas heard in a crowded, noisy world. She has been named one of the Top 50 business thinkers in the world by Thinkers50, and was honored as the #1 Communication Coach in the world by the Marshall Goldsmith Leading Global Coaches Awards. She is a keynote speaker and teaches executive education for Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and Columbia Business School. Dorie is the author of The Long Game: How to Be a Long-Term Thinker in a Short-Term World (her latest), Reinventing You, Stand Out, and Entrepreneurial You. ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener supported—consider donating to become a podcast BFF Insider and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny and private feed. 📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time, Pivot, The Long Game, Reinventing You, Stand Out, Entrepreneurial You, Decoding Greatness by Ron Carrucci 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Dorie on the web, Instagram: @dorieclark, LinkedIn, Dorie's TEDx Talk: How to Future-Proof Your Career, Russel Brunson's The Marketing Secrets Show 🎙 Related Episodes: Pivot—58: Monetize Your Ideas with Dorie Clark, 66: Create Multiple Streams of Income with Dorie Clark, 33: Find Your Breakthrough Idea and Build a Following with Dorie Clark 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💸 Enroll in the Mini-Course: Free-up Founder Time 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts: http://pod.link/freetime 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! http://itsfreetime.com/episodes/035 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today I'm walking you through my systems for capturing ideas and organizing them, as part of a multi-part series on my favorite tool for organizing life and work: Notion. 📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business, Pivot, Storyworthy (Matthew Dicks), Perennial Seller (Ryan Holiday), The Signature of All Things and Big Magic (Liz Gilbert), How to Take Smart Notes (Sönke Ahrens) 🎥 Video: Matthew's Storyworthy TEDx Talk, Notion Office Hours, sign-up for the free Author Toolkit to access the screensharing video version of this episode. 🛠Tools Mentioned: Notion, Evernote, Web Clipper for Chrome, Zbib.org (for citations), Captio iOS app, Marie Poulin's Notion Mastery course (where I learned everything I know!) 🗽Photos: Reclining Liberty art installation 🎙 Related Episodes: Pivot podcast — Your Book and Big Idea Part 1 (ep 207), Part 2 (ep 208), What Works: Going All In with Strategist Marie Poulin ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener-supported—consider donating to become a podcast BFF Insider and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny and private podcast feed with bonus episodes. 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! http://itsfreetime.com/episodes/034 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What makes you come alive? More specifically, how do you uniquely exert effort—for no other reason than the way it makes you feel? as Jonathan shares in his new book, Sparked, we’re all born with a certain “imprint” for work that makes us come alive. This is your "Sparketype®," your DNA-level driver of work that lets you know, deep down, you’re doing what you’re here to do. More About Jonathan Fields: Jonathan Fields—the Good Life Guy—delivers insights that spark purpose, possibility, and potential. On a decades-long quest to discover what makes people come fully alive, Jonathan is an award-winning author, Webby-nominated producer, business innovator, and host of one of the world’s top podcasts, Good Life Project. He is the author of Sparked: Discover Your Unique Imprint for Work that Makes You Come Alive. ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener supported—consider donating to become a podcast BFF Insider and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny and private feed. 📘 Books Mentioned: Pivot, Sparked: Discover Your Unique Imprint for Work that Makes You Come Alive, Uncertainty, How to Live a Good Life, Career Renegade 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Jonathan on the web, Sparketype.com Assessment 🎙 Related Episodes: 47: Live Fiercely, Study Deeply . . . While Earning a Living — with Jonathan Fields, Ann Patchett | On Solitude, Writing & Indie Bookstores, Elizabeth Gilbert | Back Into the Light 📰Article Mentioned: The Unfortunate Middle 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💸 Enroll in the Mini-Course: Free-up Founder Time 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts: http://pod.link/freetime 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/033 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why are we so afraid of standing out? Being disliked? ****Trying business or marketing experiments that might fail? Jenny's longtime friendtor Mike Michalowicz is back sharing strategies behind his latest book, Get Different: Marketing That Can't Be Ignored! More about Mike: Mike Michalowicz ****(pronounced mi-‘kal-o-wits) is a business author with a clear mission: Eradicate entrepreneurial poverty. Today, Mike leads two new multi-million-dollar ventures, as he tests his latest business research for his books. His latest book Get Different (released September 21, 2021) will give you the tools to stand out in any market. ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener supported—consider donating to become a podcast BFF Insider and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny and private feed. 📘 Books Mentioned: Pivot, Get Different: Marketing That Can't Be Ignored!, The Courage to Be Disliked, Giftology, Atomic Habits, The Comfort Crisis, Rejection Proof, Fix This Next, Clockwork, Profit First, The Pumpkin Plan, Surge, The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Mike's (hilarious!) website: Mike Michalowicz, Instagram: @mikemichalowicz, Twitter: @MikeMichalowicz, Apps: PictureThis and Picture Insect 🎙 Related Episodes: 024: Missing Mojo, Pivot podcasts: 164: Fix This Next (And Stop Keeping Up With The Entrepre-Joneses) with Mike Michalowicz, 37: Surge: How to Spot and Ride Trend Waves 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💸 Enroll in the Mini-Course: Free-up Founder Time 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts: http://pod.link/freetime 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/032 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On navigating the creative gremlins that rushed in at the eleventh hour of finishing the Free Time manuscript editing marathon. Next up: getting ready to send to print! 😵‍💫 ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener-supported—consider donating to become a podcast BFF Insider and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny and private podcast feed with bonus episodes. 📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business, Pivot, The Dip (Seth Godin), Bird by Bird (Anne Lamott), Taming Your Gremlin (Rick Carson) 🎥 Video: Ira Glass on The Gap (between taste and talent) 🎙 Related Episodes: 026: Five Trade-offs of Long-Term Singular Focus 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! http://itsfreetime.com/episodes/031 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Revealing the formula behind Free Time . . . with special guest host Michael Karsouny :) ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener-supported—consider donating to become a podcast BFF Insider and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny and private podcast feed with bonus episodes. 📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business, Pivot, Daily Rituals: How Artists Work 📰 Article Mentioned: Psychology Today: Job, Career, or Calling? 🎙 Related Episodes: Pivot episodes with Michael Karsouny 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! http://itsfreetime.com/episodes/030 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What would your experience of business-building be if you knew you were "funded by source"? Ksenia shares where she heard this powerful phrase, and how it guides every aspect of her life and work, from ceremonial cacao to conscious social media. More About Ksenia: Ksenia Avdulova is the founder of the award-nominated digital platform Breakfast Criminals and the host of Funded by Source podcast, focusing on expanded consciousness and entrepreneurship in the digital age. She created the Conscious Social Media Method to help people "playfully share [their] medicine in the digital realm" and "weave a new story of abundance – one that’s beyond the logic, spreadsheets and hashtags." ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener supported—consider donating to become a podcast BFF Insider and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny and private feed. 📘 Books Mentioned: Pivot, Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business, Outrageous Openness, Finding Your Way in a Wild New World, Sacred Economics, The Yoga of Eating, The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Ksenia on the web, Instagram: @fundedbysource, Apartment Therapy walkthrough of her cabin in the Catskills, BreakfastCriminals.com, CeremonialCacao.org, ConsciousSocialMediaMethod.com, MyHeartBowl.com 🎙 Related Episodes: 52: Martha Beck on Enlightenment and Messages our Bodies Send, Jenny Blake: Systems, Spiritual Surrender, Membership Sites & Social Media Rebellion, Boyd Varty: Following The Track Of Your Life and Creative Process in The Digital Age, Michelle Sinnette: New Paradigm of Business with Legacy Cacao Founder 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💸 Enroll in the Mini-Course: Free-up Founder Time 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts: http://pod.link/freetime 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/029 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Quick Favor! Would you cast a vote for a Free Time book signing at SXSW? Click here or visit https://bit.ly/freetimepanelpicker. You will have to sign-in to vote, but you don't have to be attending in order to give your vote of confidence for my talk to make the schedule. Thank you in advance!! ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener-supported—consider donating to become a podcast BFF Insider and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny and private podcast feed with bonus episodes. 📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time, Pivot, Mudlark: In Search of London's Past Along the River Thames, Creating Money, The Abundance Code, It's Not Your Money 📰 Article Mentioned: NYT—Mudlarkers Scour the Thames to Uncover 2,000 Years of Secrets 🎤 TED Talk: Stefan Sagmeister—The Power of Time Off 🎙 Related Episodes: 024: Missing Mojo, 026: Five Tradeoffs of Long-Term Singular Focus 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! http://itsfreetime.com/episodes/028 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Four Thousand Weeks. Author Oliver Burkeman is asking us to reconsider what it means to “manage time." The conveyor belt of tasks is infinite, but our time most certainly is not. Instead, Burkeman says the most fundamental question is: “What would it mean to spend the only time you ever get in a way that truly feels as though you are making it count? And equally powerful: “In what ways have you yet to accept the fact that you are who you are, not the person you think you ought to be?” More About Oliver: Oliver Burkeman is the author of The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking (2012) and an award-winning feature writer for The Guardian, where he wrote a long-running weekly column on psychology, “This Column Will Change Your Life.” Today we’re talking about his brand new book, Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals. ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener supported—consider donating to become a podcast BFF Insider and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny and private feed. 📘 Books Mentioned: Pivot, Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals, The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking, HELP!: How to Become Slightly Happier and Get a Bit More Done, The Gardener and the Carpenter: What the New Science of Child Development Tells Us About the Relationship Between Parents and Children 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Oliver on the web, Twitter: @OliverBurkeman, The Guardian articles by Oliver, Why You Should Brave the ‘Bad’ Weather 🎙 Related Episodes: 23: Happiness For People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking With Oliver Burkeman 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💸 Enroll in the Mini-Course: Free-up Founder Time 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts: http://pod.link/freetime 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! http://itsfreetime.com/episodes/027 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How long does it take to write a book? That depends: how much else are you juggling? Today I'm sharing five major trade-offs from dedicating my time almost exclusively to writing for these first seven months of 2021. I wrapped final edits just yesterday, and the book goes into typesetting (page layout) next! Singular focus is "the ability to concentrate exclusively on a single task without distraction." I call that short-term singular focus. In this episode we're talking about long-term singular focus: eliminating distraction to focus on one project to the exclusion of just about all else. ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener-supported—consider donating to become a podcast BFF Insider and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny and private podcast feed with bonus episodes. 📘 Books Mentioned: Pivot, Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business, Essentialism 🎙 Related Episodes: 024: Missing Mojo, Pivot Podcasts: 131: Indistractable with Nir Eyal, 207: How to Develop Your Book and Big Idea (Part 1), 208: Your Book and Big Idea (Part 2) 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! http://itsfreetime.com/episodes/026 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are you a precrastinator or procrastinator? In today's solo episode, Jenny riffs on the pros and cons of completing everything you possibly can far in advance of big deadlines, with spacious margin around mid-project benchmarks. This requires a healthy dose of systems, structure, and room for emotional rollercoasters. ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener-supported—consider donating to become a podcast BFF Insider and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny and private podcast feed with bonus episodes. 📘 Books Mentioned: Pivot, Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business, The Deadline Effect 📰 Articles Mentioned: The New Yorker's Clock's Ticking: Can Deadlines Bring Us Back To Life? The Atlantic's Precrastination: Worse Than Procrastination? 🎤SXSW's Panel Picker: currently accepting submissions; community voting starts Aug. 10 (Through Aug. 26) 🎙 Related Episodes: 024: Missing Mojo 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💸 Enroll in the Mini-Course: Free-up Founder Time 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts: http://pod.link/freetime 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! http://itsfreetime.com/episodes/025 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What do you do when your mojo is missing from a creative project you care about? In this solo episode, Jenny riffs on the Free Time gauge: friction versus flow, and her mantra "let it be easy, let it be fun." She shares book updates and an aha! moment about the courage to go all-in. ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener-supported—consider donating to become a podcast BFF Insider and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny and private feed. 📘 Books Mentioned: Pivot, Life After College, The Courage to Be Disliked 🎙 Related Episodes: 017: Serendipity as Business Strategy with Leanne Hughes, Pivot Podcast—223: Stepping up Systems—How I Shifted to Daily Podcasting 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💸 Enroll in the Mini-Course: Free-up Founder Time 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts: http://pod.link/freetime 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! http://itsfreetime.com/episodes/024 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How do you determine your true capacity, one that takes your whole life and family into consideration, and then build a streamlined business model to support it? That's the focus of this conversation with Ashley Gartland, who helps service-based business owners scale sustainably. More About Ashley: Ashley is the host of the Better Than Big podcast, where she shares stories, strategies and solutions to help small business owners run their business with more ease and intention. She runs her six-figure business in 25 hours a week, leaving her plenty of time to enjoy the good stuff in life like trail runs, good books, and adventures with her family. ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener supported—consider donating to become a podcast BFF Insider and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny and private feed. 📘 Books Mentioned: Pivot 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Ashley on the web, Instagram: @AshleyGartland, Course: Do Less, Live More, Better Than Big podcast 🎙 Related Episodes: On the Decision to Quit Social Media with Jenny Blake 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💸 Enroll in the Mini-Course: Free-up Founder Time 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts: http://pod.link/freetime 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! http://itsfreetime.com/episodes/023 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What are you wildly curious about? What types of learning and curating are you doing, even if you have no clue where it's taking you (yet)? In this solo episode, I'm taking the pressure off of becoming an overnight self-declared expert. Instead, I'll share six lenses to help you become a better thought-listener first. ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener supported—consider donating to become a podcast BFF Insider and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny and private feed. 📘 Books Mentioned: Pivot, Life After College 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Parody: TED Talks—"Thought Leader", Jay Acunzo's Unthinkable: Expert vs. Explorer 🎙 Related Episodes: 001: All-in On Heart-Based Business, 006: Going Pro on Podcasting with Jordan Harbinger, 017: Serendipity as Business Strategy with Leanne Hughes 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💸 Enroll in the Mini-Course: Free-up Founder Time 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts: http://pod.link/freetime 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! http://itsfreetime.com/episodes/022 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jo-Ná’s aha-moment came five years into running her law practice, at a time when in theory she was thriving, with 11 employees and more work than they could handle. And yet, that crush of exciting work was also leading to burnout. Unsure how to step out of the operations to take a break, Jo-Ná started subconsciously sabotaging her business—just so she could feel free again. Now, five years later, she is thriving and more energetically aligned with her practice and clients than ever. Jo-Ná reconnected with her love of law and coaching after making crucial business model shifts that put her own joy and wellness back where it belongs: front and center. More About Jo-Na: Jo-Ná’s life in entertainment began 23 years ago as background vocalist and songwriter and it took a fortuitous turn when she was not credited or compensated for her work. As a result, she committed her life to educating and protecting entrepreneurs through her work as lawyer, coach, instructor, and business advisor on entrepreneurship. She’s also a spiritual counselor, currently living in New Orleans after spending many years in New York City. ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener supported—consider donating to become a podcast BFF Insider and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny and private feed. 📘 Books Mentioned: Pivot 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Jo-Na on the web, Instagram: @jwilliamsesq, Pro Bono legal support, Goop feature: A Candle Ritual to Attract Love 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💸 Enroll in the Mini-Course: Free-up Founder Time 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts: http://pod.link/freetime 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! http://itsfreetime.com/episodes/021 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is your relationship to your business? If you look at it as a partnership, how well is it serving you and vice versa? What are the patterns? What are you missing? How much of pricing is math and how much is mindset? That's what we're digging into in this juicy conversation with financial behaviorist Jacquette M. Timmons. Jacquette focuses on the human side of money — to help you see that you don't manage money - you manage your choices around money. She'll also explain why the idea of "charging what you're worth" is toxic. In addition to being the author of Financial Intimacy: How to Create a Healthy Relationship with Your Money and Your Mate, Jacquette is the creator of programs like The Comfort Circle™ dinner series, her quarterly Pricing Made Human™ workshop, and host of the More Than Money podcast. ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener supported—consider donating to become a podcast BFF Insider and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny and private feed. 📘 Books Mentioned: Pivot, Financial Intimacy: How to Create a Healthy Relationship with Your Money and Your Mate 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Jacquette on the web, Instagram: @JacquetteMTimmons, Facebook: Financial Intimacy, Essential Financial Planning for Couples on GMA, monthly Comfort Circle dinners 🎙 Related Podcasts: More Than Money 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💸 Enroll in the Mini-Course: Free-up Founder Time 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts: http://pod.link/freetime 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! http://itsfreetime.com/episodes/020 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The poetic justice of Dave’s mission to help others focus is that it started as a clinical diagnosis of “off-the-charts” ADHD. He took that as a personal challenge and developed simple systems to help us all be more productive. You’re going to love his thoughts on reducing team interruptions, making room for your Most Valuable Activities (and why the business depends on you doing that to grow), and how to remove the BS in your business. More About Dave: Dave Crenshaw develops productive leaders in Fortune 500 companies, universities, and organizations of every size. His courses on LinkedIn Learning have been viewed tens of millions of times, and his five books have been published in eight languages, the most popular of which is The Myth of Multitasking: How “Doing It All” Gets Nothing Done, just recently released in its second edition. ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener supported—consider donating to become a podcast BFF Insider and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny and private feed. 📘 Books Mentioned: Pivot, The Myth of Multitasking, Conscious Business, The Focused Business 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Dave on the web, Facebook: @DaveCrenshawAuthor, LinkedIn: @Dave Crenshaw and LinkDave.com 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💸 Enroll in the Mini-Course: Free-up Founder Time 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts: http://pod.link/freetime 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! http://itsfreetime.com/episodes/019 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How can you justify a luxurious hotel stay in your own city? If you enter it with intention and clear outcomes, the real question becomes how can you not? Even if all you did was rest and recharge, that would be a priceless "win" enough. But workcations can also be powerful for shifting your energy, harnessing focus and flow, and generating your best work. In this solo episode—recorded in a hotel room, where else?!—I'm sharing my thought-process for why these staycations have been so helpful for my most important projects (except for scheduling a batch of podcast interviews on a day when it turns out there's a jackhammer next door to my room). ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener supported—consider donating to become a podcast BFF Insider and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny and private feed. 📘 Books Mentioned: Pivot, Life After College 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Soho House Hotel NYC, Two-Day Strategy Sprint Template, Naadam, The Freedom Journal, Aeropress, Blue Yeti travel mic 🎙 Related Episodes: 250: Staycation in the City, 005: Brand Obsessed with Emily Heyward, 010: Batching & Boundaries with John Lee Dumas, 77: 21+ Travel Tips, Tools and Apps — with Jenny Blake 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💸 Enroll in the Mini-Course: Free-up Founder Time 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts: http://pod.link/freetime 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! http://itsfreetime.com/episodes/018 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Leanne Hughes is a brilliant, bright light in the world based in Brisbane, Australia. Along with her smarts and expertise, she truly embodies putting serendipity to work as a business strategy. You are going to love the origin story that launched her podcast, and how she has connected with some of the most well-known people in the speaking and consulting industries to accelerate her business and personal growth. More About Leanne: Leanne Hughes is an international facilitator, trusted advisor and speaker who loves creating unpredictable workshop experiences that predictably work. She combines her experience in marketing and her passion for group dynamics, with her education in psychology to help leaders dramatically improve their teams' performance. Based in Brisbane, Australia, Leanne has partnered with organisations all around the world (in-person and virtual) and believes in a strengths-centred approach to learning and development. ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener supported—consider donating to become a podcast BFF Insider and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny and private feed. 📘 Books Mentioned: Pivot, Million-Dollar Consulting, Million-Dollar Speaker, Building a Storybrand, Rocket Fuel 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Leanne on the web, Instagram: @leannehughes, LinkedIn: Leanne Hughes, First Time Facilitator (Podcast), The Uncomfortable Truth (Podcast), We Are Podcast event, The Jordan Harbinger Show, Hero on a Mission course 🎙 Related Episodes: SPI 249: Pivoting: How, When, & Why to Do It with Jenny Blake 193: Zoom Pro Tips for Presenters with Leanne Hughes 006: Going Pro on Podcasting with Jordan Harbinger 124: Penney & Jenny Show — Embracing Liminal Space (the In-Between) 483: Jim Collins on The Value of Small Gestures, Unseen Sources of Power, and More 167: How to turn a workshop into a killer keynote speech with Leanne Hughes 128: Stop being so afraid: Nobody wants a humble consultant (and other truth bombs) from the rockstar of consulting, Alan Weiss 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💸 Mini-Course: Free-up Founder Time 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts: http://pod.link/freetime 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! http://itsfreetime.com/episodes/017 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Time is the new wealth." Hallelujah, I couldn't agree more! Lee LeFever is a powerful voice of reason for business owners who want to stay agile and delightfully tiny in terms of overhead, but still lean on smart, scalable streams of revenue to free up time. Listen in for his approach to licensing IP, navigating platform risk, and saying no to services so he and his wife could pursue their long-term vision oriented around freedom and optionality. More About Lee: Lee LeFever is the co-founder of Common Craft and author of two books, Big Enough: Building a Business that Scales with Your Lifestyle and The Art of Explanation: Making your Ideas, Products, and Services Easier to Understand. Since 2007, Common Craft has won numerous awards, worked with respected brands, and created original explainer videos that have earned over 50 million online video views. Lee and his partner Sachi are Common Craft’s only employees, and they work from their home off the coast of Washington State. ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener supported—consider donating to become a podcast BFF Insider and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny and private feed. 📘 Books Mentioned: Pivot, Big Enough: Building a Business that Scales with Your Lifestyle and The Art of Explanation: Making your Ideas, Products, and Services Easier to Understand, It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy at Work 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Lee on the web, Common Craft, Instagram: @Lee!efever, Twitter: @LeeLefever, Lee's Newsletter: Ready for Rain, early Explainer video example: RSS in Plain English, Blockchain Explained 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💸 Enroll in the Mini-Course: Free-up Founder Time 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts: http://pod.link/freetime 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! http://itsfreetime.com/episodes/016 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After four years of writing to the White House during Liz Brunner's news anchor days, they finally said yes: to a three minute interview with President Obama. Although she spent her entire career building toward such a moment, you will hear how Liz tackled the opportunity with humor and grace. As she reminds us during this conversation, "Our voices are the one instrument we all play. Each of our voices is unique. Own who you are." More About Liz: Liz Brunner is the CEO and founder of Brunner Communications and host of the Live Your Best Life with Liz Brunner podcast. She has more than 30 years of media and communications experience, expertise, and leadership. Prior to launching Brunner Communications in 2013, Brunner served as a main news anchor and reporter in Boston. During her tenure, she co-anchored the #1 rated 6pm newscast and covered countless breaking news stories. ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener supported—consider donating to become a podcast BFF Insider and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny and private feed. 📘 Books Mentioned: Pivot, This Is The Voice by John Colapinto (From NYT Book Review: "It may not be over the top to suggest, as he does, that the soul, in some sense, resides in the larynx.") 🔗 Connect with Liz: On the web, Instagram: @LizBrunner 🎙 Related Episodes: Live Your Best Life with Liz Brunner, Liz's interview with Jenny Blake, Liz's interview with Robin Roberts, Pivot Podcast 261: Cosmic Health—Why Your Wound is Your Wisdom with Jennifer Racioppi 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💸 Enroll in the Mini-Course: Free-up Founder Time, How to Be A Rock Star Public Speaker 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts: http://pod.link/freetime 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! http://itsfreetime.com/episodes/015 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Don't make the same mistake I did for a big launch day on a creative project: nothing! Why we should take a page from Oprah who says, "Celebrate what you want to see more of."  📘 Books Mentioned: Pivot, The Bliss Engine 🎙 Related Episodes: 135: The Bliss Engine with Jim Blake (aka Daddy-O!), 196: Agile Public Original Thinking 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💸 Enroll in the Mini-Course: http://itsfreetime.com/foundertime 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts: http://pod.link/freetime 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! http://itsfreetime.com/episodes/014 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How many people can say they’ve never worked for anyone else? Selling eggs door-to-door at 14 years old began a lifetime of self-employment. Jeffrey Shaw is a TEDx speaker, host of The Self Employed Life Podcast with over a million downloads, author of LINGO: Discover Your Ideal Customer’s Secret Language and Make Your Business Irresistible and his latest book*, The Self-Employed Life: Business and Personal Development Strategies That Create Sustainable Success.* ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener supported—consider donating to become a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny and private feed. 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Jeffrey on the web, Instagram: @JeffreyShaw, Twitter: @JeffreyShaw1 SixMonthCheckIn.com Assessment: SelfEmployedAssessment.com Video: Jeffrey's TEDx Talk Podcast: The Self-Employed Life Podcast 🎙 Related Episodes: Pivot #81: Create, Serve, Receive, Be Prosperous: Soulful Business with Jeffrey Shaw 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💸 Enroll in the Mini-Course: Free-up Founder Time 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts: http://pod.link/freetime 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! http://itsfreetime.com/episodes/013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Josh Kaufman is a longtime friendtor who I admire for his streamlined approach to running his business in a way that supports family life and creative solitude. His research focuses on business, entrepreneurship, skill acquisition, productivity, creativity, applied psychology, and practical wisdom. His books have sold over a million copies worldwide, and in this episode we're celebrating and discussing the 10 Year Anniversary edition of his bestselling book, The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business. Josh's unique, multidisciplinary approach to business mastery and rapid skill acquisition has helped millions of readers around the world learn essential concepts and skills on their own terms. Josh's TEDx talk on The First 20 Hours is one of the top 25 most-viewed TED talks published to date, with over 22 million views on YouTube. More About Josh: Josh's research focuses on business, entrepreneurship, skill acquisition, productivity, creativity, applied psychology, and practical wisdom. His unique, multidisciplinary approach to business mastery and rapid skill acquisition has helped millions of readers around the world learn essential concepts and skills on their own terms. Josh has been featured as the #1 bestselling author in Business & Money, as ranked by Amazon.com, and his books have sold over a million copies worldwide. ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener supported—consider donating to become a podcast BFF Insider and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny and private feed. 📘 Books Mentioned: Pivot, The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business, The First 20 Hours: How to Learn Anything...Fast!, How to Fight a Hydra: Face Your Fears, Pursue Your Ambitions, and Become the Hero You Are Destined to Be, and Worldly Wisdom: Collected Quotations and Aphorisms 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Josh on the web, David Moldawer: Bookitect, David's newsletter: The Maven Game, ThreeVirtues.com 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💸 Enroll in the Mini-Course: Free-up Founder Time 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts: http://pod.link/freetime 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! http://itsfreetime.com/episodes/012 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sarah Apgar burst into the Shark Tank and rode out on a tidal wave, earning nearly a million dollars in revenue during the month following her successful pitch. I was awed watching her gracefully throw her signature Steelhouse into the air while seamlessly delivering a two-minute opening pitch, in a fabulous red jumper to boot. Robert Herjavec captured my sentiments exactly, calling her “one of the most impressive human beings we’ve ever seen.” Although it may seem like a lucky break, in this conversation Sarah shares how her years of organic product development, pivoting during the pandemic, and 30 days of diligent practice helped ensure she captured this “lightening in a bottle,” setting her up to become the billion-dollar brand that matches her biggest vision. More About Sarah: Sarah Apgar is the Founder of FitFighter, a way of life that makes you Mission Ready. She originally designed her signature strength training tool, the Steelhose, featured in 2020 on ABC’s Shark Tank, to train firefighters better for the rigors of the job. Now FitFighter is available to all of us, to keep us ready for our everyday mission. In addition to founder and CEO of FitFighter, she is an Iraq military veteran, a Princeton and Dartmouth grad, volunteer firefighter, and mom of two. ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener supported—consider donating to become a podcast BFF Insider and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny and private feed. 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Sarah on the web, FitFighter Life Community, Instagram: @FitFighter and @Sarah.Apgar, Twitter: @FitFighterTrain, The FitFighter Story, How to Win at Shark Tank with Dorie Clark, Sarah Apgar on Shark Tank 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💸 Enroll in the Mini-Course: Free-up Founder Time 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts: http://pod.link/freetime 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! http://itsfreetime.com/episodes/011 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John Lee Dumas (JLD) is the founder and host of the award-winning podcast, Entrepreneurs on Fire. Past guests include Tony Robbins, Barbara Corcoran, and Gary Vaynerchuk, with over 1 million monthly listens of his 3,000+ episodes, His new book is The Common Path to Uncommon Success: A Roadmap to Financial Freedom and Fulfillment. ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener supported—consider donating to become a podcast BFF Insider and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny and private feed. 📘 Books Mentioned: Pivot, The Common Path to Uncommon Success, Shantaram 🔗 Resources Mentioned: JLD on the web: Uncommon Success Book, Entrepreneurs on Fire, Instagram: @JohnLeeDumas, Twitter: @JohnLeeDumas, Podcasters’ Paradise, 🎙 Related Episodes: 61: Virtual Freedom: Overcome Superhero Syndrome and Start Outsourcing with Chris Ducker 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💸 Enroll in the Mini-Course: Free-up Founder Time 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts: http://pod.link/freetime 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! http://itsfreetime.com/episodes/010 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For the first time this month after six years of podcasting, you may notice something new: ads. This week I’m sharing my behind-the-business logic on “going pro,” with ads as one piece of my strategy. That way I can dedicate more time and energy to this show, creating the best possible content for all of you! In this episode, I share why I switched to Megaphone for hosting, and how I made the decision to opt-in their ads marketplace, despite years of resisting ads in general. A big piece of that was not wanting to negatively impact your listening experience! My thoughts on host-read ads haven’t changed: I must authentically love and use that product or service in order to read or talk about something with integrity. ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener supported—consider donating to become a podcast Insider and you’ll get access to a private monthly Q&A call with Jenny. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/ 💸 Enroll in the Mini-Course: Free-up Founder Time 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts: http://pod.link/freetime 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! http://itsfreetime.com/episodes/009 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s the soap with unforgettable packaging: tiny print with big messages. That’s Dr. Bronner’s — a company that instantly captivated me with their 6 Cosmic Principles centered around the idea of “All-One.” Their “Cosmic Principles define our most important relationships, and guide us in everything we do, from soap-making to peacemaking.” Check out the Heal Soul label for just one recent example, on supporting psychedelic-assisted therapies. Join me in conversation with Dr. Gero Leson, VP of Special Operations and author of Honor Thy Label, on navigating the complexity of a global values-based business that truly walks its talk. More about Gero: Dr. Gero Leson is Vice President of Special Operations at Dr. Bronner’s, the top-selling brand of natural soaps in North America. After joining the company in 2005, he helped it transition to sourcing all its major ingredients directly from certified fair trade and organic projects. Under his leadership, Dr. Bronner’s has become a pioneer in the global movement to establish socially just and environmentally responsible supply chains. His new book is Honor Thy Label: Dr. Bronner’s Unconventional Journey to a Clean, Green, and Ethical Supply Chain. Gero even got his own label and soap related to the book! Check it out here :) ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener supported—consider donating to become a podcast Insider and you’ll get access to a private monthly Q&A call with Jenny. 📘 Books Mentioned: Pivot, Honor Thy Label 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Gero on the web, Cosmic Principle, Video: Journey to Serendipol, Article: Can Fair Trade and Organic Soap Fix Capitalism? 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/ 💸 Enroll in the Mini-Course: Free-up Founder Time 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts: http://pod.link/freetime 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! http://itsfreetime.com/episodes/008 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For so many of us, growth is not our driving metric. There are 30 million small business owners in the U.S. who have no full-time employees. We are deliberately keeping operations small to optimize instead for sanity, freedom, and abundance. Elaine has spent the last several years studying the “Olympic athletes of one-person million-dollar businesses,” people who tend to value their time more than money. In 2019, 40,000 “non-employer firms” brought in $1 million to $2.5 million. 585,000 non-employer firms brought in $250K to $500K in revenue, and 2 million non-employer firms earned at least six figures. More about Elaine: Elaine Pofeldt is an independent journalist and speaker who specializes in careers and entrepreneurship. She is author of The Million-Dollar, One-Person Business, where she looks at how entrepreneurs are scaling to $1 million in revenue prior to hiring employees. She is a freelance journalist for CNBC, Forbes, Fortune, and Money, among others. Our first conversation from April 2018 is one of the top ten Pivot podcasts of all time! ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener supported—consider donating to become a podcast Insider and you’ll get access to a private monthly Q&A call with Jenny. 📘 Books Mentioned: Pivot, The Million-Dollar, One-Person Business, Revised: Make Great Money. Work the Way You Like. Have the Life You Want., The 4-Hour Workweek, The E-Myth Revisited 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Elaine on the web, Twitter: @ElainePofeldt, LinkedIn: Elaine Pofeldt, Elaine's Articles 🎙 Related Episodes: 96: The Million-Dollar, One-Person Business with Elaine Pofeldt 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com 💸 Enroll in the Mini-Course: Free-up Founder Time 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts: http://pod.link/freetime 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! http://itsfreetime.com/episodes/007 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After splitting with his business partners of 11 years and hundreds of episodes, Jordan Harbinger needed to start over, from scratch, and stat. But there were many strengths he could take with him: his skills, whip smarts, interviewing experience, team members, and his hard-won systems for “going pro” with podcasting. I know you’ll love this conversation on how Jordan differentiates himself and adds unique value (so as not to be a commodity), why he doesn’t do much on social media, and how he learned to delegate increasingly more to free himself up to do what he — and only he — can do. More about Jordan: Jordan Harbinger is a Wall Street lawyer turned podcast interviewer with an approachable style and knack for securing high-profile guests. His show, The Jordan Harbinger Show, gets over six million downloads per month and was selected as part of Apple’s “Best of 2018.” ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener supported—consider donating to become a podcast Insider and you’ll get access to a private monthly Q&A call with Jenny. 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Jordan on the web, Instagram: @JordanHarbinger, Youtube: The Jordan Harbinger Show, LinkedIn: Jordan Harbinger, Podcast: The Jordan Harbinger Show 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com 💸 Enroll in the Mini-Course: Free-up Founder Time 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts: http://pod.link/freetime 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! http://itsfreetime.com/episodes/006 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My friend Adam describes Emily Heyward as a “genius brand strategist and brilliant badass.” I agree! She is the co-founder and Chief Brand Officer at Red Antler, the leading brand company for startups and new ventures. In this conversation, Emily shares why “messaging rooted in mission means you're more under the microscope,” and why there’s not only room for joy right now, but a need for it. Emily shares why she believes brand has to be seen as an investment, not a cost — and when is the right time for even cash-strapped start-ups to invest in brand strategy. More about Emily: Since 2007, she’s worked closely with founders to develop purposeful, strategic visions for their companies and has led branding efforts for some of the most disruptive brands on the planet such as Casper, Allbirds, Boxed, and Prose. In 2019 Inc. Magazine named her among The Most Important Entrepreneurs of the Past Decade, FastCompany has called her a "brand whisperer," and her first book, Obsessed: Building a Brand People Love from Day One, was published by Portfolio, a division of Penguin Random House, in June 2020. ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener supported—consider donating to become a podcast Insider and you’ll get access to a private monthly Q&A call with Jenny. 📘 Books Mentioned: Pivot, Obsessed: Building a Brand People Love from Day One, Creating an Ironclad Brand 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Emily on the web, Red Antler, Good Moose, Instagram: Emily Heyward, Forbes—Brand Building During Coronavirus: What Emily Heyward Wants You To Know, Brands mentioned: Coursera, Everlane, SoulCycle, Go Together 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com 💸 Enroll in the Mini-Course: Free-up Founder Time 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts: http://pod.link/freetime 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! http://itsfreetime.com/episodes/005 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Antonio’s energy is as contagious as his smile, matched only by his courage in sharing his story as a speaker, author, and father (of twins!). Through his new book, Stop Living On Autopilot, and today’s conversation, Antonio shares how he overcame fears of being too vulnerable (therefore “unhireable” by companies and speaking clients) by connecting to his deepest truth, right down to the clothes he wears onstage. We also get into how he structures his team, and “what happens when the spirit calls him to go deeper.” More about Antonio: Antonio is an author, host of The Best Thing podcast and internationally recognized speaker. A top success coach, Antonio regularly delivers keynotes and trainings at top organizations worldwide. An award-winning journalist, for over 10 years Antonio worked as a business correspondent, host, and producer with top television networks. ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener supported—consider donating to become a podcast Insider and you’ll get access to a private monthly Q&A call with Jenny. 📘 Books Mentioned: Pivot, Stop Living on Autopilot, 50 Things Every College Student Should Know, 50 Ways to Excel in Your First Job (and in Life), Student Athlete 101, The Big Leap 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Antonio on the web, Instagram: @theantonioneves, Podcast: The Best Thing with Antonio Neves, #28 with Jenny - What You Can Learn From a Pandemic 🎙 Related Episodes: 241: Get Off Autopilot & Be Your Own Benefactor with Antonio Neves, 48: Life is Not Scalable: On Ditching Tired Business Rules with Scott Stratten, 220: Protect Your Flame with Michael Karsouny + Adventure Meditation! 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com 💸 Enroll in the Mini-Course: Free-up Founder Time 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts: http://pod.link/freetime 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! http://itsfreetime.com/episodes/004 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"I never serve from my reserves" is just one of countless gems from one of my wisest friends, Christine Arylo. It is time for us to unhook from the over-culture operating system that produces burnout. Christine teaches us how to lead from the heart with a “pace of grace” by changing our relationship to time, energy, and flow (focus + fluidity). More about Christine: For more than a decade, through her transformation-based consulting company, Expanding Possibility, Christine Arylo has been a catalyst, mentor, and advisor for established and emerging leaders on 6 continents. The author of three previous bestsellers, her latest book is Overwhelmed and Over It: Embrace Your Power to Stay Centered and Sustained in a Chaotic World. ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener supported—consider donating to become a podcast Insider and you’ll get access to a private monthly Q&A call with Jenny. 📘 Books Mentioned: Pivot, Overwhelmed and Over It, Choosing ME Before WE, Madly in Love with ME, Reform Your Inner Mean Girl 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Christine on the web, Instagram: christinearylo, Podcast: Feminine Power Time, Am I Overgiving? Quiz: Overwhelmed & Over It Self Care Quiz 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com 💸 Enroll in the Mini-Course: Free-up Founder Time 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts: http://pod.link/freetime 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! http://itsfreetime.com/episodes/003 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Stab the Hydra in the heart.” Cal Newport is not pulling any punches with his latest treatise on how we can combat Hyperactive Hive Mind with smarter systems for communication. Email has become a constant source of guilt and stress for so many of us — listen in for strategies to reclaim your peace and focus. About Cal Newport: Cal Newport is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Georgetown University. He is the author of six books, including Deep Work, which argues that focus is the new I.Q. in the modern workplace. His latest, A World Without Email: Reimagining Work in an Age of Communication Overload, is in many ways his magnum opus on the topic of technology and the workplace. Be sure to also check out his podcast, Deep Questions. Key questions: How can you approach email as a process observer (and architect), not a do-er? What people or workflows can you put in place to eliminate email? Where are you still reacting to the Hyperactive Hive Mind? What experiment can you run this week? ❤️ Enjoying the show? Please leave a rating or review. Free Time is listener supported—consider donating to become a podcast Insider and you’ll get access to a private monthly Q&A call: 📘 Books Mentioned: Pivot, A World Without Email, Digital Minimalism, Deep Work, So Good They Can’t Ignore You 🔗 Links Mentioned: Cal on the web...and he’s not on Twitter! Or Facebook. 🎙Related Podcasts: 122: Digital Minimalism with Cal Newport, 29: Deep Work: Ditch Cognitive Junk Food with Cal Newport 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💸 Enroll in the complimentary Free-up Founder Time mini-course 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts: 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! http://itsfreetime.com/episodes/002 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gulp! Here we go, all-in on a new podcast (that will run in parallel to the Pivot podcast), and I’m thrilled to have you here for the kick-off! Welcome to Free Time: your new home for Heart-Based Business. In this inaugural episode I’m sharing what inspired me to start this show, how I’m handling the Imposter Monster sitting right next to me, and what’s next for Jenny Blake Enterprises. A pivot for Pivot, if you will :) Key questions: In what area of your business and creative projects is done better than perfect? What can you give yourself permission to drop or do differently? What would be possible if you narrowed your focus? ❤️ Enjoying the show? Please leave a rating or review. Free Time is listener supported—consider donating to become a podcast Insider and you’ll get access to a private monthly Q&A call: 📘 Books Mentioned: Pivot, Essentialism, Finite and Infinite Games 🔗 Links Mentioned: Gimlet Media’s StartUp, Pivot podcast episodes 228 (how I run my business without social media) and 251 (Imposter Monsters) 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join 💸 Enroll in the complimentary Free-up Founder Time mini-course 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey 🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts: 📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! http://itsfreetime.com/episodes/001 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices