Being Intentional with Your Time

Business Brain, episode 584 for Casual Friday, September 20, National String Cheese Day 2024. Greetings, folks, and welcome to Business Brain. Welcome back to Business Brain, the show where we take several ideas, we crunch them, we analyze them, we use them to tune our business brains and each and every episode. Our sponsor for this episode is keepertax.com business. This cool service where it helps you uses AI to track expenses and find deductions and get a bigger tax refund. And you can get 10% off@keepertax.com business. We'll talk more in depth about that in a little bit. For now, here in Durham, New Hampshire, I'm Dave Hamilton, and I'm still out.

Here in Lafayette, California. How's it going, man?

It's going on. It is. Happy Friday. Yeah, yeah, for sure. I have a question for you. For me, that I've been sort of struggling with. I maintain a presence on many different social NETWORKS. X, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Threads. There's gotta. There's one more. Yeah, Yeah. I don't know. Oh, and Mastodon, like, I've got. And Threads is linked to Mastodon now, too. Anyway, and my. I. This is not going to come as a great surprise, Shannon. I don't have unlimited time. I have to limit the amount of time, just by definition, that I spend on anything, including on social media. And the problem is I have different audiences in different places. Um, yeah, you know, I like Facebook is friends, family, certainly musicians and nerds. Okay. I have three podcasts that I do. I do this one for, you know, business people. I do gig gab for musicians, and I do Mac geek gab for, like, tech nerds. Everybody's a nerd in all those things. But tech, right. My presence on X is all my, like, the followers that I have on X is almost exclusively the tech side. The macgeekab stuff. I know that the audience for giggab is primarily going to be on Instagram.

Musicians.

Yep. Because that's where musicians tend to live. Yep. I know that a lot of the tech audience is moving to Threads. There's a big, like, the business audience is developing on X. The tech audience is moving from X to thread. Not to say all of it. Like, there's still a healthy tech audience there.

But yeah.

And it's like, well, where am I supposed to spend my time? And. And there's no simple answer to that question. I think for gigg, the answer is pretty simple. It's like giggab should be using Instagram. Okay, great, fine. But for the Rest of it, it's like, well, and, and I think for this show business brain, I think X and LinkedIn are probably the places to be for Mac Geek Up. It sort of spread around, so, But I have to make choices. I think, I don't think this sort of what I'm calling a shotgun approach, but it's a pretty weak shotgun because I, you know, I've only got, I've only got so much propellant here. So is it sniper or shotgun? I don't know if those are the right words to use in today's, you know, fragile world. But yes, given everything on this. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I, I, I have been studying this because I have some vested interest in this and I'm working on growing some stuff on social media and everything.

Yes.

And from my take, there's, there's two aspects of it. I believe you need to divide and conquer, that you sh, you should focus. Now it's a little different with you because you have a, you know, let's say three channels that you're trying to. So that's why I have a second part of this. But the divide and conquer is that.

It is just me.

Well, that's the second part.

Okay, so divide, okay.

Divide and conquer is you focus on one channel until you really get that one figured out. And you know, what the, you know, how the post things should be curated, what kind of feedback gets, how much time each platform takes. You'll have a much better idea. Let's say you focused on Instagram. It's like, man, I'm just going to put focus on this right now. I'm going to learn everything I can over the next time frame.

So this is interesting. You're, you're not saying just focus there for the content. You're, you're saying focus there to learn the logistics of the platform, how it works. Yes. Yeah.

Because I don't think, you know, at least like, I don't know certain platforms and you know, it's taken me months and months to learn how to, on X and how to what, what sort of engagement I want. Because followers for the sake of followers and views for the sake of views is not the way to go. You know, you want fans, right? Correct. And you want people that value your, your stuff. And so learning one at a time. And I, I know this works because I just had a conversation with someone that has like, you know, quarter of a million followers on one platform and then they left and went to another one. And because they had all those followers on one platform and it accelerated their growth on the next platform that they targeted and that was very beneficial to them. Yes, but they're in one. It's like one vertical, one channel.

Sure, sure.

You've kind of got multiples.

Yeah.

Which leads me to. My second thing is that you need a content manager.

Yeah, I have.

And yeah, okay. Yeah, they need to take that.

Yes.

You focus on one platform and they take your content and push it to the others.

Got it.

You don't do them all.

Got it.

You like. I don't go on LinkedIn at all anymore. I just can't. I don't have time. So my ex. Content, I have a content manager. They don't write content for me, but they curate it to work on the various platforms.

No, and this is, this is the thing that I changed recently, which was I, I told Sadie, I was like, listen, yeah, I work for you now.

There you go.

You tell me, I'm going to dedicate an afternoon a week to creating content for you. You tell me what you want and it's up to me to make it. And if I don't make it, you get to yell at me. But that's how that's going to work.

The flipping the script where they're telling you what to do is awesome. The other concept that I really like is there's a guy on X who I follow Gurdley at G I R D Y Business guy, very successful. And his, he shares his concept because he faces the same time constraints that we all do and he does a, A, like a one to two hour meeting on Monday and all his team, he's got like four people that work for him that manage all this. They basically interview him and that is the content they create each week. They talk about certain topics, they ask certain questions, he brings up things he wants to focus on that week and they glean all that audio that they're recording and that's the content that they're pushing out on all these various platforms. And they, and he meets with them once a week. It's interesting, right?

I love this. And yeah, because it's accountability too. It's like it's hap. It's not like, well, I'll do this when I have time. It's like we have scheduled this together. I gotta be there.

Yeah, it's the start of the week. Yeah, we meet, we do it now with AI taking notes and stuff and all that kind of stuff. You can have some great conversations and then they take off. And of course in between there you could dip in and do things.

It just keeps the system going.

Yeah, keeps the system going. And so they're creating YouTube shorts out of it. YouTube videos, Instagram posts, X posts, threads, I'm sure everything Facebook. And you know, there's some great technology like Cast Magic is another one that that castmagic I, I O or AI.

I don't know, it is.IO you are.

Correct, IO that you know you can push any of your your feeds, your social feeds to it and it'll create an abundance of content based on that to push to other platforms. It's an amazing piece of technology. You could I push our our feed from this podcast to it to help me get content ideas?

Yep.

And it makes up so two things. Focus on one at the beginning till you really get it figured out. And then the second one is let your content manager manage the other stuff for you.

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Yeah, we did. And there's a lot to that. That's such a. You know, it's a easy sentence, but it's. It. It's massive. And when we. Before we started recording, I mentioned to you that I was stepping down from a volunteer organization that I'm involved in. And that's exactly right. And you nailed it. You're like, oh, you know, because I said, maybe we should talk about on the show. And you said, yeah, because it's all about being intentional with your time. So I. I guess I assign, obviously, value to my time, and I'm. I'm an energy monster. I'm always looking for energy, and I have a lot of energy to give, and I. I'm all in, man, when I'm ready to go. That's why we've. We still record after 10 years, because both of us have a lot of energy to keep this thing going. Right?

Yes.

Ups and downs.

Of course.

Things work. Things don't try new things, you know, you got to cut, you know, record four show episodes in one day. All. All those challenges. But like, this particular organization that I've spent about three years being involved in kind of got lost in the bureaucracy, you know, in trying to get things done. It would be as if we sat and talked for three years before we recorded our first episode of Business Brain.

Oh, no, no, no, no, no.

Correct.

Oh, yeah. I've been in bands like that where it's like, oh, yeah, we rehearse every week. I'm like, okay, well, what's the schedule? What's the plan? Yeah, well, we'll figure that out. You let me know when you do.

Yeah, it's a bad system, and there's no bias to action.

And that's the bias to action.

That's the thinking about how you spend your time. You know, we talk about time a lot in various, you know, formats here on the show. Time you spend in your business, time you car. You know, you spend with your family, the way you manage your health. I mean, all these things are impacted. And I just found myself having so much kind of negativity piled up in this concept of me being involved in helping run this organization that I finally. And I'm. Maybe it's part of the too. It's like I'm. I always consider myself the opposite of someone that quits. Right? Because, yes, I'm the opposite, man. I'm the dude that never stops. But at this, you know, my mental health was starting to really take a toll or this. This organization. And I was so frustrated. Finally I said, you know what? I've Done a lot of good for this group. I brought in a bunch of very qualified people to help run it. And after three years, someone else can take over now and get it. And because the energy I was getting is very negative, not positive. And I'm looking for. I do this show because we get to talk every week.

Yes.

That's it.

That's it.

That's the main reason.

Yep.

Yeah.

This is interesting. So you're. You and I, I do the same thing. I have, I have massive FOMO of opportunities. Right. I want to say yes to every opportunity that comes across my desk. And often I often do. Sometimes. Oftentimes to my detriment. Time wise. Yep. And. And then occasionally I have to sit myself down, as I did several weeks ago, and sell myself on quitting. And you just described the same thing. Like, you and you just went through it. You, you just justified why.

And it's like, talk to my wife about it.

You don't have to like, if. Do you want out?

Just out.

But I'm the same way. I'm not. Like, I resemble this.

Yes, yes, yes.

And. But you're right, being in tune with your mental health and like that gut check of like, if I feel like I'm going to do something and I'm dreading it, that's a good indicator of like, well, is it just this one time that I'm dreading it? Because that happens sometimes, you know, you're not in the mood. Yeah. Right. But if it's happening every time, you know, Steve Jobs had that thing where he looked in the mirror every morning and said, if this were the last day of my life, would I do what I'm about to go do today? And while that's a somewhat morbid way to look at. Does send a message, like, be intentional with your time. Do the things that bring value to you.

Yep. And I think you can think like that in your personal life and your professional life too, you know.

Well, because they're intertwined. They are. Like we were talking about at the beginning of the episode, I can have three different types of audiences, but it's. It's all me at the end of the day, it's all me.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it was a, it's a, it's still a challenge because I just did this, you know, this last week and, you know, you have to deal with every person that then reaches out, you know, and, oh, no, why, you know, this, that, the other thing. So it's coming with, coming up with the right way to frame it because you know, you don't want to talk bad about anybody, right?

No. But you also don't want to leave it nebulous. Correct?

I tell them why. Yeah.

Well, you do want to tell them why, but not in a way that leads them to think they can open the door to solve the problem. Because you and I are salespeople, right? If somebody puts an objection on the table, it is our job to take the objection away.

Right?

That's sales. I mean, it's a big part of sales anyway, so you have to be really careful. You know, I tell people I need to stop doing this. I'm happy to tell you why, but the decision has been made.

I'm already done.

Yeah, it's already done.

I've been through a little bit of that here. This for sure.

I'm sure you have. When I tell, like, you know, bands that either. I auditioned for a bunch of bands this summer. I only chose one of them in the end, which was the point of it. But I was offered gigs by probably five different bands, which is flattering and a nice validation of my skills, and all of those things is great. But I had to turn down, you know, four of them, and one of them I was very careful to be clear about. Yes, it's a no for me right now. But, like, it's not you, it's me. I'm looking for something very specific, and you're not it. And so I want to remain on good terms. Like, there's, you know, there was no reason for it to turn ugly because there was nothing ugly about it. It was. You've offered me this thing.

Same with.

I've chosen. It's. Every audition is a mutual audition. And, you know, it's all that stuff. And I had one of them that, like, just kept kind of begging and it was like. And. And I finally had to tell them what. What was the truth. But it took me a little while to. To phrase it. It was like, if I join your band, I am going to SAP you of the joy of what you're doing because you're doing this more for fun then you are. Not that I. I mean, for me, it is all fun too, but the productivity of the band is part of what is fun for me. And just getting together and hanging out for the sake of hanging out. I already have that covered in my life.

You're looking for something different.

I don't need a new group of friends. I anticipate that if I'm in a band with people, we probably will become friends. But I. But Like, I'm not looking for a new group of friends. I'm looking for a productive band. And, and I'm gonna SAP you of that joy if I, if I join. And I explained it to him, like, here's the four things. And he was like, I appreciate that. Like, you're. Yeah, you're welcome.

Like, yeah, yeah, I, I was. Made it pretty clear of, hey, this is, you know, this is where we're at. I'm, you know, I, I, I, I don't, I, I can't put any more energy into this. My energy is better focused doing something else and helping another different, different group. And I still want to be involved and those kinds of things. But the, the, it brings up an interesting question from a business standpoint. And you're pushing on a, on an experiment, on a new business, on a side hustle. When do you know when you should throw in the towel? And you got to think about, what are the opportunity costs that I'm missing because I'm focused on this thing. How is it impacting my mental health, my financial health, all these kinds of things. So you really have to think about it. And I think there's a way to, the way you frame it to yourself and the discussion you have in your head is very important.

Yes.

Especially if you're like us, where we just can't. I barely can live with the concept that I would stop doing something right because I preach it every day of never stopping and just grinding, grinding, grinding.

Yep.

But at some point, you do have to make a, you gotta make a decision.

You gotta pull the plug or not pull the plug. Well, for me, it was obvious that I was getting to a tipping point for myself this summer where I had too much and I, I, I was not able to keep up. Like, I found a version of my limit and, and it was like, okay, so if I stay on this path, I will wind up not doing something by default. And I don't want default to be the thing to figure that out. I want to intentionally choose the thing I'm taking out. And so I did like, it was, but it was. That was part of my experiment for the summer, was to kind of overdo it with the, the music thing and, and figure some things out and then settle it in, which is what I've done. And it's, I, so far, I think it's worked great.

Yeah, that's good. So, yeah, thanks for some good. That's some good business therapy. And, you know, if it's what we do. Being intentional with your time how. Where are you focusing it every day? How much, you know, you carve out for your family, all those kind really critical stuff that we just will continue to talk about here because impacts us all.

That's what we do. Yep. Thanks for hanging out, folks. Feedback at BusinessBrain Show. We want to hear from you, Shannon. I think we need to do a giveaway. I think we need to.

I'm all for it.

Yeah, we need to figure something out here. So we'll figure that out. We'll let you know. Have a great weekend. Keep on living that charmed life. We'll see you next week.