What is up everyone.
Welcome back to my channel V a number one place for new coaches, content creators and
entrepreneurs.
In today's video, I really want to share with you 10 real productivity hacks that I use
in order to keep myself efficient as a super busy entrepreneur.
Now I'm going to be the first to tell you here that I am not the type of entrepreneur
who wakes up at 5:00 AM, walks my dog, meditates journals, does my affirmations, works out
all before 10:00 AM.
I simply am not wired for that.
However, I've managed to be able to run my business efficiently, still fit personal development,
and also managed to find time to stay consistent when it comes to creating content on youtube
and on Instagram and even on Facebook.
So if you want to learn my tips and tricks on how I stay productive, even as someone
who is really busy and also a little bit naturally lazy.
Then keep on watching.
Now to kick off this video, the first question that I want to answer when it comes to productivity
is Vanessa, I noticed that you are a very busy person.
You're running a business and you're a content creator and you have clients and you have
students, how you actually managed to find time for personal development.
How do you find time to take courses?
How do you find time to read your books and all of that?
Now to answer that question, I have a lot of tools and hacks up my sleeve, but the first
tool that I want to mention to you guys is an app called Blinkist and Blinkist, is actually
a sponsor for today's video and you all know how picky I am when it comes to sponsorships
and the apps that I recommend to you guys.
However, this is the first time that I actually found a partner that I like, that I use and
that I would recommend.
Now, like I mentioned earlier, I am not just a business owner, but I'm also a coach, a
content creator of course, educator and all of that and it gets really busy in my life.
However, on the flip side, I have a wishlist of books that I always want to read and I
can never find time to truly read the full book.
That's why I really like to use the app Blinkist because what it does is that it condenses
the most popular nonfiction books into 15 minutes only, and I love this because by doing
so, it cuts out all the fluff that you see in books and it gets straight to the point
so that I can get a good summary of what all these books are about.
Now obviously reading a book from Blinkist is never going to replace the real experience
of reading a book page to page.
However, as someone who is super busy lately, I realized that I don't really have a lot
of time to even listen to podcast episodes that are 30 to 60 minutes long.
And so what I do is I listen to books off Blinkist because it's only 15 minutes.
No book generally goes over 15 minutes and it's so structured and to the point that within
those 15 minutes you are guaranteed to learn something.
Now, as you can see, there are tons of categories and books for you to choose from.
And even for me, I like to use Blinkist to reread some of the books that I've read in
the past in order to get the quick 15 minute refresher so I never forget the key concepts
and of my favorite books are grant Cardone, 10 x rule, Tim Ferris', four hour work week,
Napoleon Hill's think and grow rich.
So many classics and also new books that you can find within Blinkist.
Now since this video is sponsored by Blinkist, we wanted to give a gift to you guys.
Meaning that the first 100 people who click the link in my description box below, you're
not just going to get seven days of unlimited free access to blankets that you can cancel
any time, but you're also going to get 25% off if you choose to invest in the full membership.
So again, if you really want to try this awesome app out, then make sure you click the link
in my description box below.
Now speaking of condensing information and making sure that you are fitting personal
development in your busy schedule.
The second hack or tool that I have to share with you is speeding up your videos.
Now a tool that I want to recommend to you is a Google chrome plugin called video speed
controller, and what this does is that it allows me to speed up any type of video that
I see on the Internet, whether it's on youtube, whether it's on someone's website, whether
it's in a course, whether it's on Facebook, I'm able to speed up this video at whatever
pace that I want.
Now you might be wondering, what does speaking videos have anything to do with being productive?
Well, for me, it allows me to take courses twice as fast and allows me to consume content
twice as fast so that I can consume even more content that's going to improve my learning.
And by doing this, it's allowed me to really learn a lot faster and be able to fit this
type of learning within my busy schedule.
Now obviously if you are someone who prefers the pace to be a little bit slower and you
find that maybe some courses or even maybe my videos are a little bit too fast for you,
you can always adjust the speed at using video controller as well so that it's adapted to
your pace of learning.
Now, beyond video speed controller, even within your youtube settings, you can do this and
for a lot of courses you can do it as well, but I do like having this plugin because it's
universally adapted and any video on any website I'm able to speed up or slow down.
Now, so far in this video I've shared with you apps like Blinkus, I've shared with you
apps like video speed controller in order for you to consolidate your learning and be
able to speed up the process when it comes to personal development hacking.
Now the next productivity tool that I have is a little bit of a controversial one, but
that is buying an Amazon Alexa.
Now, I know that a lot of people do not want to buy Amazon Alexa is because they're worried
that Amazon is listening to their conversations and their privacy and all of that.
But I actually bought an Amazon Alexa myself and I've been loving it.
Now there are a lot of ways that you can use your Amazon Alexa.
And right here I have the Amazon Alexa Echo dot.
And it's one of the cheaper ones.
And I am literally obsessed with this thing.
So basically the reason why I bought an Amazon Alexa in the first place, it was inspired
by one of my friends, Tiffany, and a linker channel right here.
But basically a big challenge that I had was I always will glued to my phone and, and whenever
I woke up in the morning, the first thing that I would do was check my phone as well.
And what Tiffany helped me with is she told me to buy a Google smart home or an Amazon
Alexa and use it as an alarm clock instead so that I can put my phone somewhere else
and even turn it off overnight so that I'm not tempted to check my texts or my emails
or social media.
The first thing when I wake up.
Now some of you guys that might be wondering, Vanessa, why did you buy an Amazon Alexa if
you could have just bought an alarm clock?
Well, I definitely could have done that.
However, with the Amazon Alexa, I'm able to do so much more.
For example, one of my favorite features is linking Alexa to my Google calendar and when
I wake up in the morning I ask Alexa, how does my day look like?
And she'll actually read out every single meeting that I have so that I can feel prepared
going into the working day.
Not only this, I've also turned to my office slash bedroom into a smart home, meaning that
I can just simply tell Alexa to turn on my lights and she'll do it for me.
And I know that it sounds very lazy of me, but it honestly has saved me so much time,
especially when I'm in bed and I don't want to get out of bed.
I can simply tell Alexa to turn off all my lights.
Now some of you guys might be wondering how exactly do you turn your bedroom or your office
into a smart home?
And it honestly isn't as complicated as you think.
All it takes is buying smart plugs, just like this one that have kind of like an on and
off button here.
And what it does is that this will actually speak to your Alexa and anything that is plugged
into this outlet is automatically going to turn into something that is smart.
So for me, I have my office lamp attached to a plug like this.
I have my floor lab attached to a plug like this.
And I also have my night lamp that is attached to this.
And for a while I also have my hair curler attached to this.
So all I have to say was Alexa, turn on my hair curler and she would turn it on.
And it was super fun.
But anyways, what I'm trying to say is that little things like this really have helped
me become a little bit more productive and has also helped me save a lot of time.
So if you are someone who is in the market for something that is just a little bit fun
to have, that will really save you a little bit of time.
I highly recommend getting an Amazon Alexa.
Now on the topic of the reason why I bought my Amazon Alexa was really to be used as an
alarm clock so that when I woke up I wasn't glued to my phone.
Well, I want you to remember that earlier on in this video I mentioned how I wasn't
someone who typically wakes up at 5:00 AM.
And the reason for this is because I am naturally a night owl.
However, unfortunately, society doesn't really benefit us night owls.
All of my meetings need to be earlier in the day.
I need to benefit from the daylight in order to fill my youtube videos.
So naturally there are some days where I really do need to wake up at five or 6:00 AM.
That being said, the next hack that I have for you is going to sound super gimmicky,
but I swear it works on the days that I do need to get up early.
What I do is I put a spray bottle near my alarm clock.
Yes, you heard me.
Right.
I am honestly someone that could sleep for 10 to 12 hours a day.
I've always had issues with waking up early in the morning and so for me, I finally found
a way to tackle this and I've tried a lot of things and this seems to be the only thing
that truly works for me and that is having a spray bottle near my alarm clock so that
when the moment my alarm clock rings, I take the spray bottle and I spray my face and the
moment my face is sprayed with water or with missed or with a toner, I immediately wake
up.
Now, I first started to use this hack when I was working in corporate and I needed to
wake up early.
Obviously to go to work.
So what I had was a traditional spray bottle with water and what I would do is I would
just miss my face with water, but over time I've gotten a little bit more creative and
now I have a lot of different sprays I use.
Now obviously I don't want to turn this video into a beauty tutorial, but here are some
of my recommendations like I like to use Pixie now during the times where my skin is really
dry, I'll wake myself up with this mist, which is basically in a hylauronic acid and it allows
me to have a super, super soft skin during the summer.
I like to use this one.
This is one of my newer ones.
It's from Pixie as well.
It's called the wake up vitamin mist.
And what it does is it kind of tones my face and also wakes me up like it, it, there's
a tingly feeling after I use this.
And then also I use urban decays B6 as well on the days where I just want to have even
more mist on my face.
So this one is a little bit more intense than these two, but basically this has vitamin
B6 in it and it just gives my face vitamins.
So if I'm gonna spray myself with water in the morning, why not just upgrade myself to
make my skin beautiful as I wake up?
Now obviously the trick here is you gotta spray your face the moment in your alarm rings
so you don't hit snooze and you spray your face so hard that you can't even go back to
sleep.
Now I know some of you guys might be like, what the heck?
I thought I signed up for a productivity video.
Why am I getting these gimmicks and these hacks and all these things?
Well, the reason why I'm sharing it with you guys is because I'm someone who is really
busy and I've always struggled with waking up early with sleeping well, with finding
time to consume content so that I can learn and grow as a person.
And these are things that have just really worked for me.
There is no, you know, mindset trick or life changing routine.
These are hacks that I actually use now on the topic of sleeping and everything like
that.
I am someone who has also struggled a lot with sleep.
I don't sleep until 2:00 AM or 3:00 AM and I think the reason for this is because as
a content creator, as an online entrepreneur, I am always on social media.
I'm always on my phone and I think that because of all the blue screen and all the activity,
naturally, it's really hard for me to fall asleep.
That's why the next hack that I want to share with you is something that has actually helped
me in the last few months and that is taking magnesium pills before I go to bed.
Now obviously I'm not a naturopath, I'm not a doctor, I'm not a scientist, I don't know
much about supplements, but someone did recommend this to me in order to help me wake up to
feel well rested and also helped me sleep a little better and it has actually worked.
So before I go to bed, maybe about an hour or two, I will take two pills of this.
And what I found is when I wake up in the morning, I don't feel as groggy and I'm also
able to achieve deep sleep a lot faster.
So this has really helped me lately in terms of getting better sleep.
And I've noticed with this coupled with spraying my face and everything like that, it's really
helped me to become more of a morning person even though I'm technically hacking my way
through it now obviously anything related to medicine, health, supplements, all that
stuff, make sure you are doing your own due diligence and googling this.
I've done that for myself based on my lifestyle and my health and I found that it is safe
for me, but it might not be the same for you.
So make sure you are doing your due diligence.
Now, so far in this video, we've been talking a lot about sleep and there's a reason for
this.
As you get busier as an entrepreneur or even as a content creator, you're not going to
prioritize sleep anymore.
And the problem is, is that over time, if you're not getting your full eight hours of
every single day, you're going to start to see the quality of your work decrease and
that absolutely sucks.
That's why the next hack that I have that is still related to you getting better sleep,
is wearing blue blockers.
Now when you wear blue blockers, about three to four hours before you go to sleep, you're
going to be able to block all the blue light that comes from your TV, your smartphone,
your monitors, even your general lights.
And what that's going to do is that it's going to increase your melatonin levels so that
you can sleep a lot faster and get better quality sleep.
So as a digital entrepreneur, I'm always staring at my screen and like I said earlier in this
video, because I always stare at a screen, it's been really hard for me to fall asleep
and therefore I sleep super late and over time it becomes a habit and therefore I really
don't get good sleep.
So ever since implementing the blue blockers, the magnesium pills, and also obviously my
little hack of spraying, my face in the morning.
It's really combed to become a more of a morning person and that allows me to fit a little
bit more in my day, especially when it comes to filming youtube videos.
Now off of the topic of sleeping and now talking about actual work, the next hack that I have
for you that's truly helped me become a little bit more efficient and a little bit more productive
is having a dual screen monitor.
Now as you can see from all of my youtube videos, or at least most of my youtube videos,
you see that I have another monitor in the back and this is actually the second screen
that I have that I plug into my Mac books.
So when I'm working I not only have the screen of my Mac book, but I also have this screen
of my monitor and honestly it doesn't cost too, too much.
You can find a used monitor anywhere, even on, you know, Ebay, Kijiji or craigslist.
And what you can do is buy a simple adapter and plug your Mac book with this monitor together
so that you can either have your screen blown up largely or you can have two screens activating
at once.
By having a dual monitor, it obviously allows me to multitask and also get some things done
a lot faster and more efficiently.
For example, when I'm on client calls, I'm not just on zoom with my client on my math
book, but I'm also looking at my dual monitor referencing the things that we're talking
about, showing her files, all of these things, or even when I'm scripting my videos on one
monitor, I'm writing my script on the other and maybe I'm doing some research.
Even when I was editing my videos on one monitor, I would have my IMovie up and then on the
second monitor I would be maybe on Google getting images and all these things.
So I really highly recommend to get a second monitor if you are a busy entrepreneur because
it's really going to save your time and make your life so much easier to allow yourself
to multitask and also get stuff done a lot more efficiently and faster.
Now the eighth hack that I have for you is something that my mentor Aaron Taught me when
she was coaching me to become a more efficient entrepreneur.
And that is to treat your business like a real organization.
And what I mean by this is what you want to do is see your business as a real organization
with multiple departments.
So for example, in my business I have a department called the CEO Department and underneath this
department I'm going to list down all the things that a CEO does.
So for example, the CEO is the visionary, meaning that I'm probably reading books, I'm
probably doing some competitor analyses, I'm probably out there networking.
I'm probably doing a lot of the strategic work in order to move the business forward
and for me to strategize and get cool ideas from external resources that I can implement
back in my business.
Now on top of the CEO Department, I need to ask myself, what are the other departments
within my business?
Maybe there's a sales department and within the sales department it's all about doing
sales calls.
Maybe it's refining my sales process.
Maybe it's practicing my sales training, all of that stuff.
I'm another department and my business could be a PR department.
Maybe that's when there's a community engagement underneath.
Maybe there's also reaching out to other influencers or entrepreneurs to collaborate.
All these things.
Essentially what you want to do is list down all the departments that are within your business.
Now, after you've done that, you then assign each day of the week to a certain department.
For example, every Sunday is my CEO day and that's when I allow myself to listen to podcasts,
to read books, to watch educational documentaries in order to spark my creativity and allow
that innovation to happen so that I can create a good vision for my business.
Then maybe on Mondays it's my client days.
These are the days where I have my coaching department and I only take all my client calls
on Monday.
On Tuesday, maybe that's my sales day and I only take discovery calls or sales calls
on Tuesdays alone.
I also have a youtube day, so every Thursday that's when I do anything and everything that
falls under the youtube umbrella such as filming videos, scripting videos, organizing videos,
all of that.
Basically, the idea is that instead of spreading yourself thin and trying to do everything
all at once, what's going to happen is you're only going to end up doing 10% within each
department.
However, if you allocate an entire day to a specific department, you're going to at
least be able to finish 80 to 90% of all the things that need to be done within that cohort.
So at the end of the day you're going to feel a lot more accomplished rather trying to put
your feet into every single thing and not really getting anything done at all.
That's why if you are someone who struggles with organization at the end of the week,
you're always feeling defeated that you're not really moving the needle in the business.
I highly recommend that you reframe your schedule or your calendar this way because personally
for me, I feel a lot more accomplished in my business knowing that at least a full department
is done and I don't really have to worry about it for the rest of the week.
Now, speaking of departments and all these projects within your business that need to
get done, the ninth tip or tool that I have for you is using a project management system
called a sauna.
Now a sauna is basically a place where I organize my entire Youtube workflow and if you want
to learn more about that, make sure you check out this video right here and it's a place
where I organize all of my projects and the things that need to be done both in the short
term and in the longterm with my team.
Again, like I said earlier, if you really want to take a behind the scenes look of my
entire Asana project planning, make sure you check out this video right here.
Why go really in depth?
I share my screen and I go through it all.
Now with that out of the way, something that I did mention was having a team, which leads
me to the 10th productivity hack that I have for you and that is outsourcing.
Now, a common that I get is Vanessa.
How do I know when I'm ready to hire someone on my team?
Now for me, what I like to tell people is the moment you see yourself making really
silly mistakes is probably a good indication that you need some help.
In my case at some point I was sending the wrong files to clients.
I was late.
All my videos, just simple mistakes that should not have happened and then that's when I realized
I really needed the helping hand.
And since then I now have three people on my team.
I have my assistant who helped me a lot with the administrative roles within my business.
I have my video editor who obviously does the editing for these videos and I recently
hired an online business manager that basically acts as a project manager to keep everything
organized within my business and also communicates with the rest of the team.
So that for me as the business owner, I can focus on doing the things that I do best,
which is creating content, coaching my clients, and being a great course instructor to my
students.
Now if you want more videos about outsourcing or what it's like having a team or anything
related to this topic, make sure you thumbs up this video or leave a comment below so
that I know to make those videos in the future.
With that being said, it's so exciting that this video is actually sponsored by Blinkist
and that's why in my next video I really want you to hit the notification bell because I'm
going to walk you through how you can actually land brand deals and partnerships with big
brands.
So if you're interested in learning about this, because I have a feeling many of you
are, make sure you hit that notification bell so you don't miss it.
Anyways, guys, I really hope that you enjoy today's video where I literally gave you 10
no bs hacks on how I stay efficient and stay productive in my business.
Make sure you leave a comment and tell me which one was your favorite.
As always, guys, I hope you guys have a great day, a great week, and a great life, and I'll
see you in the next one.
Bye guys.