Introduction
Do you ever get tired of working all the time and filling your weekends with even more to dos?
Chances are, you didn’t get into the entrepreneurial life to work MORE than your 9-5 job, but here you are toiling away. This week, we are going to talk about the concept of hustle, flow, and keeping things simple. I’ll even share a little of my philosophy of spending money to save time and energy.
If this sounds like an enticing idea, grab a cup of tea and join me inside the podcast, but before you do, be sure to subscribe to the podcast so that you get notified of our special guest episode with Dr. Vic Manzo coming out on Thursday.
The Hustle Culture
I thought when I became an entrepreneur I would have to work hard, but I didn’t envision spending all of my waking hours thinking about and working on my business. I didn’t envision our kiddo learning about business in quite so much detail or getting good at understanding when to invest, when to walk away from an opportunity, and when to say maybe later.
So often though, we are told to hustle. TO do more. TO post more. TO go live more. TO send more emails. TO launch more. The key word in all of those statements is more. What if we could actually do less and see the same or BETTER results?
That is what this week’s episodes are all about.
Say Hello to Flow
I have three ideas that you can implement today to take action in simplifying your business and thrive.
1. Find systems that work for you and save time.
A lot of times these systems do come with a little bit of a price tag, and what you’re going to have to do is think about how much your time is really worth what that time savings is worth.
If you can find a system that saves you hours a week that you can then go play with your kids or have a wonderful conversation with your partner or your spouse, or just take time to go to your annual well checks, it might be worth it, right? Even if you’re not quite making money yet, sometimes you might find that spending money actually gets you to the profitable zone faster.
Let me give you an example. One of the services or one of the systems that I’ve implemented in my business is PodMatch. PodMatch is a paid service that helps match me with podcasts that I can speak on as well as guests that want to come on my podcast. When we started 2023, one of my big goals for the business this year is to build a podcast.
I wanted to grow downloads, I wanted to grow listeners, I wanted to welcome guests onto the podcast multiple times a month. In fact, I really wanted to create a format where you get a solo episode from me on Tuesdays and a guest episode that really brings home the point that we talk about on Thursdays. That’s not going to happen every week, of course, but it gives me something to work toward. However, the idea of coming up with 52 places or 52 posts or 52 questions to find guests was really not enticing. It was not something I was looking forward to. There are, you always see these posts in groups on Facebook. They say, I’ve got a podcast and I’m looking to talk about this topic. I’m looking for some guests. Is anyone up for this? And what happens is you don’t really know the people in those Facebook groups and they say, sure, sign me up. And then maybe they stand you up, they don’t show up for the appointment, or they come and they talk about something completely different than what you had in mind and had discussed previously.
I didn’t want to do that. I don’t have the time for it, and I didn’t really have the bandwidth for it mentally, emotionally, any of the things. And so I started looking and there are some services out there, and I went with PodMatch. And honestly, it is the best investment I’ve made recently in my business because there is a synchronicity to it.
You have this opportunity to build your profile, whether you’re a podcast host or a guest, and talk about who you’re looking for, who you want to have on your show, or what kinds of shows you wanna be on, what topics you’re gonna talk about, and people can get matched with you. It’s kind of like a dating app for podcast hosts and guests, I guess. And what happens is you can say, Hey, yeah, that’s a really great fit. I’d love to have you, you on my podcast, or you can pass and maybe you take ’em up on that request later on. Honestly, I’ve had amazing guests because the system checks in on you. The system, the people at PodMatch, Alex Sanfilippo and Alecia Sanfilippo have done a great job of allowing guests and hosts to rate the experience, provide feedback. So there is a lot of accountability to do good, to be good, to show up, to serve with an open heart and mind when you are guesting on podcasts or when you are having guests onto your podcast as a host.
One of the systems that I’ve implemented this year is to use PodMatch, and even in creating my podcast each week that you guys listen to, I have a system for that. I have a transcription of the podcast that I also use as a blog post. I have a whole process for how to fill that out. I have audiograms and videos for the guest episodes and the audiograms go with the solo episodes so that I can post about it on social media. I have a specific template I use when I do that. I use a program called Kapwing and I have a template that I just pop the stuff in there and it’s done. The key here is that I’ve got systems in place to save me time that work for me.
Sometimes those services, those systems are paid, sometimes they’re free, but it’s always a great balance to pay attention to. So the first thing to kind of save you time to get more done in your business without spending a whole lot of extra time is to find some systems that work for you.
2. Create boundaries.
I often stink at this one, but I’m getting better. After years of working at night after my kiddo went to bed I have gotten used to my work day spilling into all the little nooks and crannies. But one thing you can do is to set specific work hours and this doesn’t have to look traditional. For me, it is a 6-7:30am co-working session, a lunchtime check in on my email, and then I start working around 3pm and will work for about 2 hours and then I’ll finish up if my husband is helping our kiddo to bed that day.
This means that I get about 4 hours max per day when I can work on my business. BUT if I have students taking tests then I have to slide grading 90 or so tests into that time before I work on my business. It means being ok with to do lists that don’t get finished AND it means that creating those to do lists has to be more intentional.
For example, I have a founding member launch for the Entrepreneurs in Flow membership coming up in March. This means that I’m writing emails, researching and creating a masterclass, updating sign up pages for the masterclass and the webpage to join the membership all while still doing the normal everyday stuff in my business. I use a big desk calendar for launches to keep track of what needs to be done. I mapped out what needed to happen each day and I only wrote one item on each day. I’m being really intentional with my time and staying focused. This also helps me hold boundaries so that I can be present for my family and during the school day for our kiddo.
3. In being intentional, I also set up opportunities for flow to happen.
If flow is new to you, it was first named and researched by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and is the concept of getting into the groove so that you don’t even notice the passage of time. Think about the last time you worked on a task and suddenly looked up and two hours had passed. That was flow. When you are in flow, you are more productive, more creative, and more satisfied with your work because what you are doing is the right amount of challenge matched to your skill level. I seek out these opportunities. For me, it is more often found in the co-working sessions because we set an intention and then start working. I stay on track and get work done. At the end of the 90 minutes, over and over, everyone comes back and states that they were super productive and the time flew by. This is what you want as an entrepreneur NOT hustle.
When you have systems that save you time, boundaries that allow you to rest and re-energize, and opportunities for flow, you don’t have to live the 70 hour work week as an entrepreneur. In fact, there is some research showing that we aren’t highly productive for more than 3ish hours a day. Why not set yourself up to get a LOT done in those high productivity times and then go enjoy life?
Action Item
There you have it, three things that you can do to say goodbye to hustle in your business and start embracing the less is more concept of being an entrepreneur. And that brings us to our action item for the week. And I’ll give you a choice.
- Do you want to think about what systems you can put in place to simplify your day-to-day business?
- Would you like to create boundaries? Or
- Find opportunities for flow to happen?
If you are looking at systems, think about the next steps in your business that you need to take and what will need to be done over and over again. This is a good candidate for a system.
If you want to create boundaries, explore where you feel most out of alignment with your business. Maybe a simple boundary will bring things back into alignment. If you are feeling like you are neglecting your family, what time boundaries can you set on your work? Could you leave your phone in a different room while everyone eats dinner? Or perhaps you can set the boundary of no work after dinner.
Finally, if you are looking for flow opportunities, this will be different for everyone, but I can guarantee that you won’t find it with your phone front and center. If you want to get into the zone, leave your phone in a different room and get down to work. With one less distraction you are much more likely to get in the zone and create.
Conclusions
That’s all I have for you today.
As a quick recap, hustle doesn’t have to have a seat at your business table. There are going to be seasons that are busier than others in your business. Like I said, I have the launch of the Entrepreneurs in Flow membership at the end of March. This is one of my busier seasons, but then it will slow down again for a bit. The key is that hustle and fast seasons don’t take over your ability to live and enjoy life. Entrepreneurship doesn’t mean that you have to chain yourself to a computer. There are no awards for working 70 hours, but I can guarantee that you will miss out on some precious moments in life.
Now, I don’t want you to take my word for it though. On Thursday, in Episode 114, you will hear from Dr. Vic Manzo on how he shifted his business to be more in alignment with his vision for life and the importance of vision in your business as well. I can’t wait for you to hear this conversation and the easiest way to be alerted is to subscribe to the Entrepreneur Mindset podcast on whatever podcast provider you are using right now.
Finally, if you have been following along with me on Facebook and Instagram, you’ll notice that my handles changed. Don’t let the name change throw you for a loop. It is just in better alignment with what I already share and how our memberships help entrepreneurs to thrive and build profitable businesses. I’d love to reconnect with you on social media @DigitalCourseCreatorGuide on both Instagram and Facebook.
I’ll see you back here on Thursday for another episode of the Entrepreneur Mindset Podcast, where a focus on mentoring and community and implementation removes the overwhelm of building your successful and profitable business and adds in a dose of momentum.
Until next time, have a healthy, safe, and happy week.
Show Resources
- PodMatch: https://www.joinpodmatch.com/coachinghive
- Learn About Flow: https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-flow-2794768
- Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/DigitalCourseCreatorGuide/
- Connect on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DigitalCourseCreatorGuide
