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41: Work-Life Integration as an Entrepreneur · The Rave Social Podcast

• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the Rave Social Podcast.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Jaden, and today I am doing an interesting podcast episode.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: It's something I've never really talked about before in terms of myself.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I'm gonna be sharing how I have created more work-life balance.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't even want to say balance, I want to say integration in my life.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: Over the last year of being a business owner, I have been doing this full-time for over two years now.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I've been doing social media for two and a half years, and as you probably know, if you're listening to this and you're an entrepreneur, there are just so many ups and downs.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: There are times when you're just burning out and you feel like you're drowning, and times when things feel really good.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: And my goal has been over the past year to really come to a place where I feel solid.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: I'm getting married, I want to start a family, and I know deep in my core that I can't do those things without having a foundation in my business that feels supportive and good to me.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: So let's just dive right in.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, for context, I just want to draw a comparison between the words integration and balance.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: The reason I don't want to say work-life balance is because I feel like that is difficult.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like, when are things really ever balanced, you know?
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: And you're not just all of a sudden gonna have a perfectly balanced life.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: Like that just is impossible.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: You don't know what every day is gonna look like.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: You don't know when a client could cancel.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: You don't, you can't predict everything enough to be able to live in like a perfect balance where the scales are 50% fun, 50% work, you know?
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm choosing to use the word blend and integration because I feel like that more encompasses what it's like to live a harmonious life, have your business, have your fun, have your financial freedom, all of those things.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: It really feels like an integration to me.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I also feel like it's deeper than separating work from life.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's something that we've been, we kind of the pendulum swung.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: And it was like, okay, there needs to be work and life separation, you know, put your office in a different room.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: Don't, don't look at it.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: Even working from home kind of like made that more confusing for people.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but really, my business is integrated with my life, and I like that.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: I actually love that.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: I am proud of what I do, I'm happy about what I do, and I don't need it to be so black and white.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: If I wanted it to be black and white, I would just go get a nine to five, right?
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so, anyways, I just wanted to draw that point before we jump in.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then also just wanted to share with you guys a little bit about how I've gotten to this point.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I want to say, like in full transparency, I still sometimes struggle with this.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't think anyone is perfect at it.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I think if they're telling you they are, to question them.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: Because at the end of the day, like we are humans and we're constantly evolving.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: Our businesses are evolving.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: There are things happening outside of our control that can throw things off.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: So I want to say, full transparency, I still struggle with it sometimes, um, but not in the way that I used to.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I'll share with you how I used to feel.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: So I would say a year ago, maybe a year and a half ago, I had like physical symptoms of distress in my body.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like a client would text me because they wanted an edit on a reel and my heart would sink, and or my my heart would drop to my stomach, and my heart would start racing, and my blood pressure would go up, and my aura ring would be like, uh, are you stressed?
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: Are you breathing?
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I knew that that was not normal or an appropriate way to be reacting to these situations, but my nervous system was so frazzled because I felt like at any second I was gonna lose everything, which is funny because really I wasn't.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: And all it was, all that I really needed was a mindset shift there.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't even like, oh, you need to build up your savings account, you need to do this or that.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: Like I had all of those things.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: It was just my mind being like, you're gonna lose it all.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so I would get these physical symptoms, and also anytime I would go on a trip, literally, it would be hell leading up to it.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: And and just all these difficult things that I feel like I've really kind of overcome and come to a really good balance and slash integration on.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um so let's just dive right in.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I do think that there is something to be noted here that entrepreneurship is a choice that you make for most people.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it it is a lot different than being a traditional employee.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: And something that's funny, and probably a lot of you relate to this, but like my fiance works a nine to five job uh that's very just like corporate, like he's an engineer, so it's very corporate structured hours, logging times, all of those things, PTO, blah, blah, blah.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I used to kind of look at him and be like, oh, I'm so jealous that you just get to clock out, or that you can just take PTO and your team can handle it, and you get health insurance and all these things.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: But I do think that after you really see the success of being an entrepreneur, and I mean, I've taken so much time, way more time off than I would have had PTO for in the last two years.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, when you get to that point, it's you sometimes look at the traditional employees and you get jealous, but you know deep down, like I could never have someone telling me what time to have my ass in my chair, um, where to be, how to dress.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: No, we can't do that.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but at the same time, I think it's important to kind of touch on the unique challenges that entrepreneurs have.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: And one of those being constantly being on, right?
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: You're always on the clock, is what it can feel like.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: And this is this is a boundary that I've set, and we'll get into that shortly.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: But it can feel like you're never clocking out, right?
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: You wake up in the morning, you have DMs, you're constantly checking your email, your clients have your phone number, they're able to text you.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like you're out at dinner with your girlfriends, but you're trying to get content to post something on Instagram.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like you're just constantly, constantly working.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: And it that in and of itself causes burnout, but that can be hard, even just mentally being like constantly thinking about your business.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: What's my next offer?
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: Do I need another client?
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like these things we have in our brains really can take on a big part of our brain capacity.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: You know, the mental load is big.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, another big challenge is feeling responsible for other people's livelihoods.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, whether or not you have employees, I think there's two parts to this.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: One is having employees.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: When you have employees, you feel a responsibility to keep them employed, right?
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: I've been here, I'm still here.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: And that can feel like a huge burden.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: When you work at nine to five, it's like, great, I did my tasks, I'm clocking out, moving on.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: But when you are responsible for paying payroll and making sure people can put food on the table for their families, that can add another layer of difficulty and a challenge that is big.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's a heavy load to carry.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and the other side of that is that I think when you're a service provider, for example, when I'm providing social media management services to clients, I am trying to get them more reach, get them more sales, get them more clients.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: And that can feel like a big responsibility too that, you know, they're paying me this amount of money.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I would like to give them obviously an ROI on that, which can be a big load to carry as well.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: If you are in this industry, you probably have felt that.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then another big one is just the blurred boundaries between your personal and your professional life.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: I think for me too, I a lot of my clients are my friends, or my friends are my clients.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: You know, maybe they were my friend first, then they become my client, or they are my client and then they become my friend.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I think that's the name of the game working in an industry where you are one-on-one with a lot of people.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: I really am careful about who I work with.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so those lines can get blurry and it can feel like, okay, well, if my friend texts me, who's also my client on a Friday, where what am I responding to?
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: If it's a work question, if it's a personal question, I don't want to offend them.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want to ghost them on something work-related and then go get drinks with them later in the day, you know, and I think this all comes down to communication, which we can definitely dive into that in just a bit.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: But um, I think it's important to recognize that there are some different challenges that come with entrepreneurship that don't really exist in the nine-to-five world.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um I I have some notes here and I'm just checking over them, and it's just funny because I think sometimes you, as an entrepreneur, it can feel nostalgic about the working in the office and things like that.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: But um when I really think about my corporate positions that I held, I'm so grateful for what I do now, where I do have the choice to go to yoga at 10 o'clock if I want, uh, carve out some extra time to go for a walk between clients.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: I can go walk around my beautiful neighborhood.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not stuck in a high-rise building with I don't even know.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: I can't imagine working in like New York or something like that.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: You're like, I gotta get on the elevator.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: And their elevators probably take forever because they're so tall.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: Anyways, um, I just think about the things that I'm so grateful that I have now that I didn't have in corporate.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that alone creates some gratitude, which makes that integration of working and and living more effortless.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: So uh as we dive into this, I wanted to touch on I I feel like what is kind of bringing this up for me is I'm remembering how in those times where I've felt like my boundaries are being pushed, my fault or not my fault.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I have too much to do, just that burnout is creeping in.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I remember about a year and a half ago, I was so grouchy, like so grouchy and so grumpy to my partner.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I feel like this was a really big turning point for me.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: So my partner had come home from work.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: I I mean, I think I've seen this film before, right?
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: Comes home from work, I'm still working, I'm burned out, I still have four hours of work to do.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: He's just clocked out because he works his nine to five and he's done and he's gonna go work on music.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm resentful towards him because I still have work to do and he just gets to be free.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: Hello.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: Can you even resent someone if you're the reason?
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like, hi, I'm the problem.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's me.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I remember we kind of got into a fight and I was, you know, thinking about why did this happen and why do I feel this way?
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: And we're we were talking through it, and I came to this point of like, I'm just overwhelmed.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I have more than I can do every day.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: I constantly feel like I'm behind.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: I don't feel good, I don't have time to work out, I don't have time to eat good, like I'm just fucking busy and miserable.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, that's why we got in the fight, right?
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: Because I did not have the capacity to be a good person.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: And that really was a turning point for me because in that moment and the days after, I was thinking I have to change something in my business.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: If my business is causing a problem with the person that I love the most because no fault of their own, only my fault.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: I simply can't exist because I'm too overwhelmed.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: Like that is on me.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: That's my responsibility, and I need to change something.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: So that was kind of my initial turning point.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: And then now I think it's a great time to kind of get into what how I how I redefined what I wanted my business to look like and what I did about that.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: So, as like many of you, my definition of success has definitely changed throughout the years.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I think when you start a business, you have these goals, right?
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: You want maybe you want to work less, which is hilarious because you pretty much always have to work more to get your business off the ground.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but that's a different story for a different day.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but you want to work less, you want to have more time freedom.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's that you want to make more money.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: Like you, you get into entrepreneurship because you want something that you don't have.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I feel like when I got into entrepreneurship, I was, I mean, not even entrepreneurship, but when I started this business, I was leaving a job that, truth be told, the work weeks were 40 hours, but I wasn't working necessarily 40 hours, right?
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: I was maybe clocked in for 40 hours, but I was able to do a load of laundry.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: I was flowing through my day, right?
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, if I didn't have a meeting, I could kind of do this or that.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: It was definitely more flexible.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: And when I started this, I was like, I wasn't making good money at that job.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: So I was like, I want to make more money, I want to have more freedom, and I want to have more peace.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: Lol.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know that it's possible to get all of those three things at once.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: If it is, DM me.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: But then I started kind of growing my business and the money, I was making good money.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: But then I was like, okay, I'm making good money, but I'm working 60 hours a week.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like, how do I even navigate that?
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not having fun.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just working.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: The money's good, but I'm just working.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: And then it kind of evolved into peace.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: I remember there was a period I was going to yoga, and they're like, Set your attention.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I want to feel peace.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: Ah, please, my life is chaos.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I did kind of get to a point where that felt good.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: And then now I feel like I'm in a place where I just want, I just want freedom.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: So what that looks like for me is um building a team.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I want to have the freedom to be able to not clock in one day just because I feel like it.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I want to run down to St.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: George and hang out with my mom for a day if I want to.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want my my life to fit in around my work.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I want my life to exist first and then my work to fit in and integrate well with that.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: So that's kind of where I'm at now.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I do think that it's really important to um connect with what your vision of success is.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: And it's okay if your idea of success isn't the same as what you're seeing people on Instagram talk about.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: Some people want to live like this feminine, flowy life.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: That's beautiful.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: I also love that.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: That may not actually vibe that well with you.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you enjoy working hard.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: You just only want to work hard for four hours a day instead of 10 hours a day, you know?
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: And it's also great if your goal isn't money.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: I think a lot of people on Instagram are like, money, money, money, how to be a millionaire, six figures, all of these dollar amounts.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: And like that may also not be your thing.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you don't even care as much about the money.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: You just care about feeling fulfilled and being creative.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: So for you, that's gonna look like you need more white space in your day to just free flow.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um I think another thing that we see a lot on social media is like people are like, go, go, go, scale your business, build out an agency, like outsource, outsource.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: And that may not be your goal.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_00: I got tricked into this before too.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like when I first started my business, I scaled really quickly and early on and I hired someone full-time.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: I don't feel like that was a mistake, but then I learned, oh, maybe I'm actually not in the place to be a leader for a full-time employee, and contract workers would be better for me.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: So I think you just have to be clear on what you want and know that it's okay if that's different from what your peers are doing, what you're seeing online on the internet.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_00: I also feel like there's a time when I came to a crossroads of I have to choose my well-being over my business before I burn out and crash out so bad that I burn everything to the ground and move to Evisa.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: And now that's a choice I make all the time.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: I am a girly who has PMDD.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: So there is about a week, sometimes two weeks out of the month, which sounds insane, but it is real.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: And if you suffer, you know that I have to choose my well-being over my business growth.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I have more hours in the day that I could be developing a new offer, recording a masterclass, doing a freebie, et cetera, et cetera.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: I I do, there is a time for me to do that, and I have to choose not to do that.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, I choose to clear everything off my schedule that is not absolutely necessary.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_00: Client work, that's staying.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: Anything else, absolutely not.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: I need to rest, I need to lay down and do nothing.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: And ultimately, that is me choosing my business, right?
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: Because if I am not well, my business is not going to be well.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: But at the same time, it's me choosing to rest.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: Like, yeah, I'm not gonna go, go, go.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: I don't have the time, I don't have the bandwidth.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I do have the time, I don't have the bandwidth because I don't feel good.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I think you have to really approach that with the mindset of rest is productive.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: If I were to bust out a masterclass right now or another freebie, it's not gonna be good, it's not gonna feel good, and it's probably not gonna sell good because it didn't come from a nourish place.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: I think this will surprise you as well.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's surprised me that the more I prioritize myself, like I realized I don't I don't work good before 9 a.m.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: So to me, that means I'm not scheduling calls for 9 a.m.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: or 8 a.m.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: I'm scheduling calls for 10 a.m.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_00: That's doable for me.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: But it's made my work so much better and more valuable.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: When I am centered, I can then teach my team better.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: I can then create better content for myself.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: I can then create better content for my clients and tasks that would, you know, should take me two hours.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: They take me an hour and a half because I'm feeling great about it.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: Instead of the other way around, when you're going into things from a place where you're tired and grumpy and not feeling well, a task that might normally take you two hours is gonna take you four hours.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: I think both ways, it compounds and it builds upon itself.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: So you get to choose which way you want to go, the hard way or the feeling good way.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: And now we're gonna jump into some of the strategies I've implemented.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: And now that we've gotten through, you know, what the different challenges are and kind of what I've done to redefine success in my business, with which, which, if I wasn't clear about that, success for my business feels like freedom, not feeling like so tied down, um, feeling like I could have a baby and manage my business at the same time and not completely crash out.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: So that is my definition of success.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's not 30k months, it's not million dollar years, it's freedom.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I do think that money is part of that, but I'm choosing not to focus on the dollar amount at this time and instead focus on how I feel in my business.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, let's go through some of the things that I do to help set my business up to reach that goal and vision of what I think success is.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: And the number one thing that I've done is time block my calendar.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: I'm absolutely psychotic with this.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I come across people all the time that are like, I'm just not a calendar person.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_00: Structure makes me feel stressed out, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: If structure makes you feel stressed out, I have a feeling that you're structuring your things incorrectly.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: I structure my day so that there is plenty of time for play, for ease, for flow.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: I have it, I have my morning time blocked from when I wake up to basically when I go to bed.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: And that includes time for working out, time for getting ready, buffer time in case my workout takes longer than I thought it was, in case I sleep in 30 minutes.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: Like I love to do that.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I give myself buffers.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: I take a lunch every single day.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: I have white space between uh calls.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: And another thing I do is I call stack.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: So all of our client calls are the first Tuesday of every month, and they're boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, back to back.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I think for a lot of people, they might look at that and be like, are you insane?
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna be on the phone for nine hours today.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_00: I would rather have one nine-hour day of calls, which by the way, I still take a lunch on those days and I still do my workout those days.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um that to me is so it's way more efficient because if I have two random calls on a Wednesday, I look at that and I'm like, my day's shot.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_00: And that's a mental thing for me, but it might be that way for you too.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_00: So I would encourage you to play with what feels good to you.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um I can yap for those nine hours.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: And then yeah, I do sleep good that night and I am tired, but I give myself plenty of time to rest that evening.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_00: I don't plan things for the rest of the day.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: I just chill and then I don't have to worry about calls for the rest of the month.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: So that is one thing I do.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I would encourage you to do and make sure that you're blocking in time for play, your workout classes, going for a walk, and plenty of buffer time because if you're putting things back to back and something goes longer than you think, that can immediately make you feel bad, like you're not doing enough, like you're behind.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_00: But if you give yourself some buffers, hell, maybe one day you thought something was gonna take eight hours, it only took six.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_00: Go play, you know.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: That buffer time is really useful for having that um balance in your life.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_00: Another thing I do is I have boundaries with technology.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: One is that I'm always on do not disturb.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're my friend and you're listening to this, I'm sorry I didn't answer your call.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_00: I was on do not disturb.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: You need to call twice.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: But seriously, I'm always on do not disturb because I want it to be my choice who and what I respond to.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_00: If I responded to everything constantly, I would get nothing done.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_00: I would just be constantly texting people back, calling people, responding, responding, responding.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: That's not a healthy way to live.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_00: You need to have boundaries around that.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and you can even set up do not disturb with like an exception.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_00: So if you want your partner's messages or calls to come through, your mom, your dad, whatever, you can do that.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but another thing I've done there is my clients don't have my phone number.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_00: All of my client communication is done through email or WhatsApp.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_00: I really love WhatsApp because all of my clients are in the technology space, they're on social media, they're on their phone constantly, and texting is easier for them than emailing.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_00: However, I don't want that notification on my phone if I don't want that on my phone.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_00: When I'm on vacation, WhatsApp notifications off.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_00: At the end of the day, WhatsApp notifications off.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: I don't even look at the app unless it's my designated time to be responding to clients every day.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_00: That has given me so much space mentally and time-wise, especially because I'm sure you know how this feels, but you get a message from a client that's like, hey, I have so-and-so problem.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, I want to cancel my contract.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, I have a payment issue, whatever it is.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_00: And if they're texting you that, oh my God.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: At least for me, it was like, that's so stressful that you have direct access to me and can just tell me anything you want at any time.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I need to want to hear what you have to say in order to respond in a healthy way.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_00: So I would highly recommend that.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I also have a really good morning routine, and you could say I have an evening routine, but uh my morning routine is an absolute non-negotiable.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_00: No days off.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_00: I don't care if I slept in, I'm doing my morning routine.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_00: You just can't expect to have a good day if you don't start your day good.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_00: And my morning routine is basically I wake up.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I don't really wake up with an alarm.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_00: My fiance has an alarm, which he's gonna be editing this podcast, but I'm like, every time his alarm goes off, I die inside a little.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: But I don't wake up really to an alarm.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_00: I wake up naturally around 7, 7:30.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: I will slowly get up.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: I write in my gratitude journal.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: I think about all the things I'm grateful for in this current moment, all the things that I would be so grateful to have.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I just write, right, right, right, right.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: I dump until my hand hurts, basically.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_00: And then I will read a little bit of my book.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_00: And right now I'm reading Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_00: You can read whatever you want.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: You also don't have to have the same morning routine as me, but you do have to have, I feel like, a morning routine that feels like nourishing and supportive to you.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_00: Then I get up, I roll my booty out to the front room and I do my workout.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_00: I think one thing that used to really hold me back from having a healthy relationship with my body and working out was that I felt like I had to go to hot yoga, I had to go to a workout class, I had to go do something extreme.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_00: No, you don't.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_00: I promise you also don't need the matching sets.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_00: You also don't need it.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_00: I don't brush my teeth.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: I don't brush my hair.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_00: I roll out of bed, I put on the nearest sweatpants, a sports bra, and I go to my little Amazon mat, my Target, actually, I think those are Amazon 2 weight rack, and I do my workout.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_00: The app is$14 a month.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_00: It takes me 20 to 30 minutes a day.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_00: I have a great workout and I can start my day.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_00: Instead of feeling like I have to go to hot yoga, which to me was taking two hours out of my day.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_00: It was 30 minutes before getting ready, getting in the car, getting there, an hour-long class, 30 minutes to get home.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_00: You have to shower because you're so sweaty and all of that.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_00: And I still love going to hot yoga, but to me, doing that in the morning was taking too much out of my day.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_00: It was making me feel like I was behind before I even got started.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm encouraging you to choose something that really works well for you there.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_00: And the next thing is I mean, I guess I didn't touch on my evening routine, but my evening routine is really my fiance does music, so he kind of goes down and does that for a while in his studio.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_00: I will cook dinner if I feel like it, read a book.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I work at night if I want to, but it's definitely a choice.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_00: I'm making not an I have to do this, it's an I want to do this.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um and or like I'll just get in the shower or go for a walk or go for a run or something like that.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_00: I don't do, I don't I don't force myself to do anything.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_00: I'll go out to dinner with my friends.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_00: I my evening routine isn't very structured.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then I always end the night with my fiance.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_00: We hang out on the couch, we yap, we just chat before we go to bed.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_00: So that's kind of how I cap my days.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_00: But um, another really important thing that I do is I have learned to delegate and as a Capricorn, stellium, if you know what that means, it means I have three planets, three placements in Capricorn, which makes me low-key psychotic, um, and a control freak.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_00: So releasing control and delegating is really hard for me.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_00: Has been in the past, but I'm learning how to do it.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_00: And oh my god, will it make your life so much better?
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_00: As soon as I delegate a task, one week later, I'm like, why was I doing that?
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_00: Like, why was I doing that?
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's so hard for me, and it's so easy for my assistant, my social media manager, my OBM, whatever.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's so easy for them.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_00: Why was I taking that on?
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_00: That's crazy.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I do think it's also something that um you have to practice.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like, and I think you also have to hire the right people, right?
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you're not gonna be able to delegate to somebody who is flaky.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but that has really helped open up my capacity for taking on new clients, doing creative projects, taking time off, spending more time with my fiance, whatever it is.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then finally, I put a note here.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, how do you communicate boundaries to clients, team members, and partners?
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_00: I think communication is the number one problem people have.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_00: When I see my friends struggling, when I see business owners struggling, I'm like, ooh, we're having a communication problem.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not perfect at this by any means either, but I communicate and I write out in my contracts what it's like to communicate with me and my clients.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I have certain hours, a certain responding time to be in touch with my clients.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_00: So I never feel pressured like I have to respond in 30 minutes.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_00: I have 48 hours to get back to you before you can complain to me, which I usually respond faster than that, anyways, but I at least give myself more time so that I'm not feeling that pressure to be constantly available to everyone.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_00: I also communicate very clearly on our calls what I need from them, when I'm going to be gone, what they can expect when I'm gonna be gone.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_00: Will I will I be responding in my normal range or will I need more time?
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_00: What is it?
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm very clear about that from the beginning so that people know and understand.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, my clients are so respectful, they always respect our boundaries, but um, that's kind of how I approach that.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_00: And then I remember I put on here um communicating with partners.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_00: I think one thing is that I've gotten better with my fiance is like telling him, I have a really big week, I'm super busy.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, could you help with the dishes?
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_00: Can can I have more support in this area or that area?
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_00: And he's really good about that, regardless.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_00: I don't always have to ask, but um just asking for the support or honestly, even just warning him.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm going into a hard week.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_00: We are going on vacation in a few months.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_00: Not a few months.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_00: We are going on vacation in a few weeks.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_00: I have to front load my work.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna be a little busier this week.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_00: I might have to work some late nights or a Saturday.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, just so he's not like sitting there like, ugh, why is she working all the time?
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and he he doesn't do that, but just to be clear and have that um communication with him.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_00: I also communicate, you know, when I'm gonna be on calls and when I have a podcast recording.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_00: I just really am open with him about what my day-to-day looks like, what my calendar looks like, so that he can then step in and support me in other ways, which he always does.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_00: He's incredible.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, okay, that's enough with the strategies.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_00: I just have a couple more notes here that I wanted to touch on about um how we handle or how I handle like when things don't go exactly to plan, or like when I am going on vacation or things like that.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll dive into that and then um we'll wrap up.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_00: So essentially there are always going to be times when work suddenly increases.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe that's um a client has a launch and that requires more energy or time from me.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's because I'm going on vacation, which is happening a lot this year.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm really being tested in this area.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, if you would have asked me a year ago, I would have said never take time off.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's nearly impossible and you're gonna hate your life.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_00: But I have kind of come up with a system of like, I will look out.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_00: So I know that my bachelorette is at the end of May, and then a week after that, I'm going to Kauai.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm looking at those dates.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_00: This is six weeks in advance.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_00: I'm looking at those and I'm saying, okay, I'm gonna be taking all of these days off.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_00: I have client work those days, so where can I put that client work now so that I'm not hustling my ass off right until the moment we leave.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_00: I just tested this when I went to Coachella a couple weeks ago and it was so good.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_00: I had so much more fun at Coachella.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_00: I had way more fun when I got home because I didn't have like a massive workload like awaiting me when I got home.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_00: So how I do this is, I mean, if I'm managing five clients, I will take one client per week and double up their work.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm not doubling up on five clients all in one week because that would be insane, right?
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_00: If I'm already working eight hours a day, that would mean I have to work 16 hours a day.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_00: That's crazy.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_00: You can't do that to yourself.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_00: So I just look ahead at when I'm traveling and I plan better and farther in advance.
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_00: That might mean I'm planning people's content.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm I'm doing two weeks of content four weeks before my vocal vacation.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, what's the big deal?
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_00: My client doesn't care about that.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_00: They're like, great, I have content in there and I'm able to slowly get ahead without massively increasing my workload at the time.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then also any work that has to be done, like posting stories, actual like work work that has to be done while I'm on vacation, I outsource that to one of my assistants or um another social media manager that I've met on the internet, you know, something like that.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_00: We come up with a partnership.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_00: I pay them obviously, they handle that while I'm on vacation.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_00: So I feel like I've really been able to handle that pretty well.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then when things come up like, you know, some you don't always have your travel plan super far in advance, but I feel like when trips have come up that are more like spontaneous, they're usually like a weekend trip.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not that big of a deal.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_00: I try to have Friday be my lightest day of the week, anyways.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_00: So a lot of times I can just bump whatever I was gonna do Friday to Thursday afternoon and take the weekend off.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I also think it's important to note that like you may not be, you may still be in that like fight or flight burnout phase right now.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_00: And trust, I've been there too.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_00: But I think what's important when you're in that space of like, this is not working, I'm going insane.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_00: You need to look at your calendar.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_00: So be brutally honest with yourself.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_00: Delete anything off of your calendar or your workload that isn't absolutely necessary to the function of your business.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_00: So for me, that's like if I have to record a podcast that week, I'm gonna delete that.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_00: Because here's the thing I can record a podcast anytime.
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_00: I don't need to do it that week when I'm not feeling good.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_00: I there's just no reason.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_00: There is no reason.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_00: And also, if my podcast was a week late, big freaking deal.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like nobody's gonna care, nobody's gonna notice.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's not my number one revenue or lead generator.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_00: That's going off.
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_00: Extra emails, delete it.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_00: We're not sending, we're not, maybe we're not doing a newsletter this week.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_00: If it's not absolutely necessary to your business, it's gotta go.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I think you have to do that until you've come to a place where you have enough capacity to honestly look at what you're doing with fresh eyes and say, is this what I want to be doing?
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_00: Are there any clients I need to let go of?
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_00: Am I being honest about how long all these tasks are taking me?
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_00: And then re-kind of calibrate from there and move forward.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_00: Trust me, I've been in those places so many times.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_00: And like I said, with like I'm a PMDD girly, so this honestly happens to me at least once a month.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I just don't get upset with myself.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_00: If I was planning to record a masterclass and I am in the depths of depression, I'm gonna move that to the next week.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I think if you are an entrepreneur and you are driven and you have your eyes set on whatever version of success you wanna be, you're not just gonna keep bumping that off your calendar until and putting it off and putting it off and putting it off forever and ever.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like, that's not what I'm telling you to do.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you have to do the hard thing, period.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_00: But what I am saying is like, if you have no capacity for growth whatsoever, you're going to have to cut back on the fluff so that you can start from a clean spot and move forward and create things that are actually worth creating, not just because you have to.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_00: Anyways, that's kind of my take.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_00: I just felt like now was a really good time to talk about this.
• 39:54
  SPEAKER_00: We're getting into the summer.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_00: I know a lot of entrepreneurs are taking vacations and that can bring up a lot of struggle.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I just want you to know that you are, for one, not alone.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_00: And for two, my DMs are always open.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_00: You can always respond to my emails.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_00: You can always DM me on Instagram if you're kind of in these places.
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_00: And um, I'm happy to just be like a listening ear or help out in any way that I can.
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, I can tell you on the other side of the depths of hell, because now I'm in a really good spot, that like it genuinely does get better, but not without a little effort.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_00: And if you would have told me 18 months ago that like I'd be working out every day and have a really good morning routine and feel healthy and feel really good about my business, I would have been like, huh?
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_00: What do you mean?
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_00: This feels like it's gonna be hard forever.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_00: I'm now on the other side of that, and I can tell you that like it really does get better, and it might take a little work, it might take a little grit, but you can do it, and I'm so proud of you.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening, and I will see you in a couple weeks.