Free Time with Jenny Blake: Recent Episodes
Jenny Blake
Welcome to Free Time, your home for Heart-Based Business. How can we earn twice as much in half the time, with joy and ease, while serving the highest good? Join Jenny Blake, author of Free Time: Lose the Busywork and Love Your Business (Ideapress, 2022) and Pivot (Portfolio/Penguin Random House, 2016) for conversations with authors, friends, and fellow business owners as we explore ways to free your mind, time, and team to do your best work. Subscribe now so you don’t miss an episode! If you're enjoying the show, please leave a review and share with a friend—word-of-mouth is the most joyful way to grow the show :) View show notes and keep in touch by subscribing to the Time Well Spent newsletter at ItsFreeTime.com.
“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
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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)
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“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
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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)
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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 ✂️
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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 »
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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
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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
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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
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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
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“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, 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 Ottomon
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 with software like HelpScout if you don’t already have one!
🔗 Resources Mentioned
Apps: HelpScout, TextExpander, Descript, SpeakPipe
Articles: Free Time Tools, 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)
💻 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 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. Play around with that level to give yourself 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
Pivot book launch podcast tour: Spotify playlist
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 2! 🎉 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
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“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
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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
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, AssignDesign 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 worksheetPrivate BFF CommunityHoliday BOGOGO promotion—Buy One, Get One, Give OneParkinson’s LawPaul Graham on Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule🎧Related Podcast Episodes: 148: How to Build a Business Operations Dashboard149: Tips, Tools & Must Have’s for Content Creators with Kim Kaupe126: Creating Time Buffer—7 Strategies for Spacious Scheduling134: How I Prepare for In-Person Speaking Engagements056: Set Your Compass—Systems vs. GoalsPivot 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/150Learn 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, be sure to communicate the value of your training in terms of direct 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
🔗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, Danielle LaPorte's Desire Map 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. 💌 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/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, 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. https://www.dropbox.com/s/48nohqyku4awn62/failure-is-the-frame-not-the-picture.png?dl=0 —By @jackbutcher of Visualize Value
🌟 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
💻 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/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: 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
