hello hello welcome back to the
freelance friday podcast today we are
talking about how i quote get it all
done this topic comes from a comment
that i got on a recent vlog which reads
i'd love to watch a video about how you
managed to get so much done i really
wish i had your work ethic at times i
know comparison is the thief of joy and
all but i've been so uninspired lately
so we're gonna dive in we're gonna
unpack that i wanna share all of my
productivity secrets and really how i do
keep my business running during the
busiest of times but before we hop into
that i want to take a second to remind
you that the doors to the social media
management accelerator are closing this
weekend so run don't walk to the link in
the show notes if you are a freelance or
corporate social media manager who is
looking to up level your career learn
some advanced strategy and just how to
make your clients or your job absolutely
love the work that you're doing this is
a course that i only offer once or twice
a year not sure if i'll offer it again
in the fall or if it won't be until
early 2023 but it is limited and i'm
super super excited um to get started
and dive in with some of you my dms have
been blowing up with people saying that
they can't wait for class to start and i
can't wait either let's talk about the
productivity thing and before we hop
into the tips and my advice i do want to
take a second to acknowledge that piece
about comparison being the thief of joy
and i want to just acknowledge like we
all have different lives we all have
different goals you know i say that all
the time but i really do mean it my
goals are not yours and vice versa and
my sort of time privileges if you will
are that my time is really my time i
don't have children i don't even have a
dog or a pet or anything like that i'm
in a partnership that is very
egalitarian that is very i think
non-traditional in a lot of ways than
that like one of us is not more
responsible for household stuff or
cooking or anything like that than the
other so truly like my time is my time i
am able to work a lot let's be honest i
also will acknowledge that i am somebody
who for better or for worse because this
is definitely not a healthy thing but
like i've never needed to sleep a lot i
can wake up early and stay up late if i
need to i don't like to be in the habit
of it but when i am like trying to crash
a launch or you know trying to like
finish a course or something oh yeah
like i just a few weeks ago i stayed up
until 4am editing course slides you know
it doesn't happen all the time but i
know not everybody can do that just
naturally their bodies will not allow
them to do that right i'm 30 almost 31
years old so i'm still relatively young
and healthy right so we all have these
different things that do influence our
output and that is just a fact of life
and i think it is important that we
acknowledge that i also think it's
important that we acknowledge different
financial goals i am at a point right
now where i'm kind of starting to slow
down like i'm kind of like all right i
need to prioritize health a little bit
more and sleep and family and all that
but i still am going pretty aggressively
towards some financial goals and i know
that not everybody who listens and tunes
in is in that same place some of you are
like i'm just trying to chill i'm trying
to like protect my energy my mental
health i'm just trying to spend time
with my partner whatever that's cool i
don't want to say that you know you
shouldn't watch people who are going
aggressively after these different goals
and things like that but it is important
to just temper that to keep that in your
mind that they are going to look like
they're being super aggressively
productive if they're going after a
million or a billion dollar goal while
yours is you know eighty thousand
dollars and that is okay so i just wanna
make that abundantly clear that it's
okay we're all on different paths and we
are all crushing it in our own way but
my first secret is not really much of a
secret but i calendar block i am a big
calendar blocker i'm pretty sure i've
done a video about this maybe a couple
years ago now so i'll try to dig that up
and link it in the show notes but i use
google calendar and i simply block time
for every single task that i am going to
do the other day i had to reach out to a
member of a mastermind that i'm in so i
blocked off a little 30-minute block to
be able to do that and
quite simply if it's not on my calendar
it doesn't get done so it kind of serves
as like a task manager for me but it
also just
gives me that time i mean it doesn't
take 30 minutes to send the voice note i
sent like a text voice note or whatever
didn't take me 30 minutes to do that but
stopping whatever task i was doing
before that getting unfocused getting
focused on the new task and then getting
focused back into the new test i mean
that really does take about 30 minutes
altogether you know to really move from
task to task like that and to actually
record the thing and send it right so
that's really important but i also block
off time every single week for kind of
those staple priority pieces i have on
my calendar to write every single
morning for at least an hour so if
nothing else if i don't get to write any
other time during the week at least know
that i wrote five hours for the week
essentially um same thing for filming
days there are certain days when i have
the house to myself and it's nice and
quiet and i can do what i want and so i
block off that day for filming and so on
i also try to block my meetings together
when i can just to minimize the you know
the the
changes in flow like the shifts in flow
i guess because meeting latasha and
creative writer video scripter or video
subject video host whatever those are
all very different people in a way which
sounds creepy and weird i know but they
are like they're different energy states
that i'm in so i try to have meetings on
just a couple days out of the week that
also means that i only have to get ready
a couple of days out of the week the
rest of the days i can be you know just
in my sweatpants hanging out and be
comfy and things like that so that's my
my first tip is to calendar block if you
don't already my second tip is to
prioritize which is easier said than
done especially when we have a lot going
on pretty much all my friends who are
business owners or freelancers have told
me that they're just like so busy right
now and it happened to be too i feel
like every q2 this happens i'm like how
am i so busy in march and april and it
always happened i don't know what
happens but i feel like something
happens so it's hard right now because
there are a lot of moving pieces there
are a lot of things that i'm working on
there are a lot of commitments that i've
made so how do i know which ones are the
ones that i need to honor first and
foremost and it really goes back to the
video that i just made on monday which
i'll also link in the show notes and
that is to know your numbers you have to
be able to say you know what this thing
is making me money this thing is not you
know or this one's making me a lot of
money this one's making me a little bit
of money so i need to push this one back
i need to push out the deadline i need
to do less of it i need to eliminate it
whatever that means for you now i also
can say that of course not all of my
projects make me money a great example
of that is my book another great example
is you know if you're somebody who's
maybe working on a course or developing
some other type of material like that
that's not gonna make you money on day
one i don't write every day and like go
to an atm and pull out money or anything
like that it's going to take me a long
time before i ever make any money and it
even long term might not be a huge
revenue generator for me but there's
another reason why i'm doing it which is
a more strategic brand reason so you
have to be able to say okay what are my
projects that are like keeping the
lights on that are paying the bills and
then is there a project or two i
personally don't recommend it having too
many of these kind of passion strategic
branding projects because that can get
confusing is there a project or two that
is important for another reason either
just create a fulfillment or maybe it is
like a long-term part of the strategy or
whatever the case may be and then like i
said put time on the calendar for those
important things for my book i have time
every week and then for the work that i
do that i actually get paid for i have
time on the calendar for that but yeah
you have to prioritize you can't be like
or at least let me say i can't my
working style does not allow me to be
doing little bits and bobs here and
there i really need to be like focused
on a couple of big priorities the next
thing that's really been helping me be
productive over the past i would say a
year and a half or so you know has been
co-working i mean really i guess
throughout my freelance journey this has
been helpful i used to do this a lot
back before you know things changed in
the world the world was a different
place i used to do coffee co-working i
would meet up with one of my friends who
also freelanced and we'd just like hang
out at a coffee shop or even i would
just work by myself at a coffee shop or
a co-working space i used to do that a
lot obviously things have changed a lot
and went very virtual and for a while i
wasn't doing that at all and i was
wondering why i felt like so lost and
confused i mean obviously there were a
lot of reasons for that but i think
that's definitely one of them and i
recently started discovering some
virtual ways to co-work and this just
helps so much with my productivity i
mean it's kind of just like peer
pressure right i mean if other people
are sitting there online with you
working like you're kind of a jerk if
you don't also work i'm not gonna get up
and get a snack or scroll on my phone or
just stare off into space or whatever if
i have these dedicated times and then it
also falls into the whole time blocking
thing because there are certain
co-working sessions that i attend every
single week so i know no matter what um
you know monday at 10 a.m or whatever i
have this session so i better get to it
there's a website that actually my
operations manager megan introduced me
to and i am quite liking it it's called
focusmate it is free to at least get
started i think you get three sessions
per week on the free plan and the paid
plan is actually really affordable as
well so you basically get matched up
with a random person it's very much like
that one website uh omengle i think is
what it's called or one of those kind of
things where you just get matched up
with a random person and you have your
camera on you greet each other you say
hey what's up what are you working on
today and then you just go heads down
work you can mute your i always mute my
mic some people keep them on but that's
like no that's too personal for me so i
mute my mic and then you just work
together and then you regroup at the end
hey how'd it go did you achieve your
goal awesome have a good day it sounds
super weird and i was really nervous
about it because i'm like what if i get
some you know creepy person but
everyone's been super nice and super
respectful and yeah it's just the
weirdest thing like i i was so in a funk
the other day with writing i don't know
i just couldn't motivate myself to write
and i turned on focus mate and
i whipped out like 600 words in 30
minutes which is pretty good for me so
yeah i love that but i also am a part of
some other just like self-organized
groups as well for certain things uh
like a writing group i'm a part of and
other things like that you can also just
work with a friend one of my friends
who's in a different mastermind her and
i just sometimes get on facetime
together and like get work done so
whatever that looks like for you
of course you can do like the coffee
shop and co-working space thing too but
if you're just looking for something
virtual i highly recommend those
resources and then on a similar note and
back to the whole peer pressure note i
think it's really important to have some
accountability when you're alone and
you're working on an island it's just so
easy to get overwhelmed to get confused
to be working on the wrong things to be
working on nothing
and so having different groups or
different people who you can go to for
genuine accountability in your business
i think is just so incredibly valuable
i'm a part of many i am a part of i
think three masterminds two or three
masterminds i'm a part of the freelance
friday club which is my membership
community we do both co-working and we
do accountability sessions in that group
so we do two co-working sessions a month
and then two mastermind sessions per
month as well i'll of course leave the
link to the freelance friday club in the
show notes if you're interested in
joining but that's pretty much all that
the group is we have a forum and then we
have these different uh co-working and
mastermind sessions and the masterminds
are really there for you to hold each
other accountable and of course i
participate as well but it's not like a
q a session it's not an ask me anything
session it's there for people to say hey
here's what i've been working on this
week here's what i'm really proud of
this week and here's what i want to
achieve next week i have some questions
i have some roadblocks can we work
through some of these things together on
this call then we come back in two weeks
and you do the same thing you report on
the success that you had or that you
didn't have and it's just really helpful
to have a group of people to you know to
lean on in that way so i'm also a part
of a creative accountability group that
i joined just one of my friends from
twitter invited me to this one and i've
just found it super super valuable and
helpful to like encourage each other and
stay up to date on what one another is
working on in terms of any type of
creative work whether that's a book a
course um i don't know any of the videos
any of the things that we work on in
that group so i love that one and then
i'm also a part of i kind of started a
like a full-time course creators
mastermind because i found it's really
hard to find other people who are doing
courses full-time there's a lot of
people who have a course that aren't
like on the side or whatever but uh yeah
it was really hard for me to find people
who were running courses in like an
elevated level so i reached out to some
people who i saw were doing really well
with their courses and we have been
meeting as well so yeah i know that it
probably sounds like a lot that's like
three hours of my my week there i think
all of them are bi-weekly though so i
guess it's not that much it's like an
hour and a half a week but yeah it's
really really helpful to know like oh
shoot i have my freelance friday club
call or my creative accountability group
call next week i can't show up and not
have done anything because i always show
up something about me i always show up i
understand that people who are joining a
group with me are saying no to something
to say yes to meeting with me so i take
that seriously and i i don't want to
flake on them so i'm always going to
show up but
i definitely don't want to show up with
nothing to
say so it really does motivate me to do
that so if you're looking to do
something similar like i said the
freelance friday club is there for you
but you can also just self-organize
things on your own like i said one of my
favorite groups is one that i just like
joined randomly from people that i met
on the internet so if there are people
that you look at and you say okay they
look like they're kind of in a similar
season of business as me or or not like
i mean you don't even have to be like in
the exact same place as each other i
think there's so much value in learning
from people who are you know a little
bit ahead or a little bit behind where
you're at as well but anyway if there's
anybody that you know that you like that
you feel like you get along with just
ask them just say hey do you want to
like get together and meet on zoom once
in a while and kind of hold each other
accountable you'll be surprised i think
a lot of people are looking for things
like that so just make the ask there's a
book i've recommended in the past but
it's called a tribe called bliss by lori
harder she kind of talks about how she
created masterminds for herself as well
if you want to read that it gives like a
whole framework and like a structure i
definitely don't follow that to a t but
if you are looking for like a step by
step it can be a good one for you to
check out and the last one that i want
to talk about is you know i hire good
people now i will say that i still do a
lot in my business i think sometimes
people are surprised when like i'm the
one answering the dms or whatever like i
don't outsource everything at all i do a
lot in my business still but i do
strategically outsource and this goes
back to the whole prioritization and all
of that like i have to make smart
decisions with my energy as well there
are certain things in my business that i
have to do nobody else can do this right
here of course other people can record
podcasts yes but that would be a huge
test i think to see if somebody else um
could replace me on my channel that's
named after me right so in the state
that it exists now for my youtube and my
podcast i'm the only one who can be the
talent on this show right so that is a
non-negotiable i have to make sure that
i have enough energy that i have enough
time and resources in my week to be able
to shoot these things but there are
pieces of this like the editing that i
can outsource there are things with
emails and things with course production
and all of those things that my
operations manager can be handling and i
don't need to be so in the weeds with
another great thing about hiring an
amazing team is that i have team
meetings and i also feel held quite
accountable when i have my team meetings
uh you know just had one with my
partnerships manager and i was like oops
yep sorry should have sent this thing to
this person and you know it just keeps
me on my toes and keeps things moving
forward because that it's very easy for
things to kind of get lost in the
shuffle so again i understand that not
everyone is in the same place where they
are ready to hire a team but this is
where having like an accountability
partner can come in handy or you know
even just outsourcing like one thing off
your plate a week you know when i talk
about outsourcing by the way this is
like not really related to productivity
i guess it kind of is i think when i say
outsourcing people think you know hire
like this full-time person and it has to
be this giant huge thing you know the
first thing okay my hair this is funny
timing my hair is like itching my face
cause i'm about to talk about my hair um
the first thing that i outsourced
honestly which didn't feel business
related but was totally helpful to my
business was like doing my hair i know
this probably sounds so superficial but
um anyone with really long hair
understands the struggle very curly hair
knows what i'm talking about and i was
like i can't spend two and a half hours
three hours blow drying my hair every
week and so i started going to get it
done and then i can read emails while
i'm in the chair i can listen to a
podcast or i can do whatever i need to
do so for you maybe that's the same
thing maybe that's hiring a babysitter
for half a day on fridays so you can get
your admin stuff knocked out maybe that
is hiring somebody to deep clean your
home once a month or once a quarter or
whatever makes sense financially for you
so i just want to say that because you
know if you're looking for more
productive hours in the day some of
those investments can be very worth it
and they don't have to be you know
hiring like a social media manager or
hiring a you know i don't know a virtual
assistant or whatever that might be
charging you thousands of dollars per
month it might be just buying back a
couple hours of your time where you
would be spending them doing your hair
or watching your kid or cleaning your
house or whatever so do keep that in
mind as well just my two cents there so
those are my tips if you're watching on
youtube be sure to leave me a comment
let me know what some of your
productivity secrets are is there
anything that you do or that you
outsource that has helped you buy back
time in your day or week i'm really
curious to know and i love hearing from
you in general and if you're listening
in on the podcast platforms as always
i'd love it if you left me a review and
a rating on spotify or apple podcast and
last but not least don't forget to check
out the social media management
accelerator we're closing the doors here
in the next day or two so be sure to
secure your spot we're to be starting
april 4th on monday and i'm so excited
to start teaching and just to get to see
some of your faces and it's going to be
a good time so thanks for tuning in to
this episode i will see you next friday
for a new one and i post videos on
youtube on mondays and fridays so you
can check me out over there as well bye
[Music]
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