055: How to Free Your Calendar Now for Next Year + See you in 2022!

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This is your time. How can we earn twice as much in half the time with joy and ease while serving the highest good? That is our guiding question here at the Freetime Cafe, your home for heart based business. I'm your host Jenny Blake. Join me for conversations with authors, friends and fellow business owners as we explore ways to free your mind, time and team to do your best work. Now onto today's show.

Hello. Hello friends. Happy Holidays. This is just a quick mini episode to let you know that I have put up my autoresponder. I am packing my bags and heading to Southern California to celebrate my grandma's 90th birthday. I dedicated pivot to her as one of the most agile people I know. My grandma is definitely one of my sheroes and she is just such a special person. She and her friends. I taught them the word YOLO many years back and they've adopted this name, the yolos. They all hang out together, they go on trips together. It is the best. And in fact we're gonna celebrate. We're gonna kick off her birthday celebrations with tea at the Ritz. I actually haven't seen her since pre Covid December of 2019. It was another lifetime ago. I'm really looking forward to it and in an effort to be as fully present as possible, I just don't think there's going to be a way to do two podcasts a week. And no, I did not get enough episodes in the can in advance in order to make that happen. That said, I do always travel with my YETI travel mic. I wrap it in bubble wrap. I pack it in my suitcase in lieu of another pair. And so you know, you never know when I might be inspired to jump on the mic or I'll start recording a batch of episodes. That will buy me some time heading into the new year. I'm sharing this with you in full transparency as a little bit of the behind the scenes, the thought process, the systems. The other thing I want to encourage you to do. You've probably heard me mention it on this show. Block out your calendar now. Step one toward creating free time in 2022 is to claim it. If you don't claim it proactively, other people will be happy, even inadvertently, unintentionally, to claim it from you before you can get a grip on things. So I'll share what I do, borrow this, modify it, make it work for you. What I would say is block off more time than you think you need without meetings. And then you can always make exceptions and add things back in. But at least your meetings will start out in a nice manageable cluster, batched on certain days and times rather than already heading into the new year a little bit frazzled because things are getting put all over the place.

Right around this time of year. And actually by now I just have them set recurring annually indefinitely and recurring weekly. But I block off December 15 through January 15 as do not schedule and that is recurring annually. So yes, I do start my meetings more closer to January 6th, but I don't do that by default. That way, the first two weeks that I'm back taking calls, I can do them with the most important people like my team, really strategic projects, things that are super important to me to kick off before other networking, not time sensitive, maybe podcast interviews, other things start to fill in those crevices. I also block off the entire month of August. I am taking a page out of my French corporate clients book. They do this. They are adamant about it. Nobody breaks from it. They simply do not schedule meetings in August. I found this so inspiring. I find I'm always in a little bit of a lull in August as well. It's super hot and humid in New York City and it's just nice to take a true break before meeting someone. And fall starts again in earnest. So I block off the entire month of August set to recur annually and then that's set. Now you might move yours to July. You might be going on a trip in June. Set whatever month works for you. But it's nice to by default have at least one of the summer months be for you and you alone. I also block off Mondays and Fridays recurring weekly. So Monday indefinitely is blocked, nobody can schedule for Friday indefinitely is blocked, nobody can schedule for the rest of the week. I rely on scheduling tools. I use two Calendly and Clara Calendly. I can set different event types such as an interview for the free time podcast interview that I'm conducting for the Pivot podcast or an event type where I'm a guest of another person's show or a 30 minute networking call. So I really like calendly for those specific event types with a specific link and specific rules for every single one. For example, I only conduct interviews for my two podcasts on Wednesdays between 10:30 and 3. This allows me to book outside space space outside the house if and when I need to. It gives me the first two days of the week to ramp up, prepare, read the books, get ready for those interviews and it also just helps me get in the zone and stay there. On Wednesdays I know that I'll either be recording solo episodes or with guests, but it's dedicated to the podcast and and then I only need to be a tyrant around the house about total pristine quiet. Which you know I never get on Wednesdays. Something like a more low key networking call or a catch up with a friend. Those I usually schedule for Tuesday or Thursday afternoons somewhere between 12 and 3:30 because I like to dedicate the mornings to work that's more strategic or I really need my brain to flex and work a little harder. Whereas those networking calls it's more casual. Whenever I can I revert to phone, not zoom. And sometimes if people schedule me for a zoom by default I request that we talk over the phone. And I will tell you now more than ever. It is so freeing just not to stare at screen all day unceasingly. The little pinhole at the top of the computer. Oh my goodness, talk about freedom. I just love being able to stand up, walk around, rest my eyes, look out of a window. I love the phone more than ever. I can't say I always love phone calls. I mean sometimes when in moderation, but certainly preferable to zoom. Unless it's for something. You know, if it's an interview and people are attending. If it's an event, of course those are really fun to do on video. If it's something really sentimental like celebrating something big for a friend or a family member. Sure I love to be on Zoom, but as a default no.

We'll be right back just after this.

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Clara the other tool that I mentioned is AI. It's pretty funny. I feature them in free time. Most people have no idea that when I loop in Clara on an email it's actually AI based scheduling. I will put a referral link in the show notes that gives you $100 off your first month. It is a little pricier, but there are many, many benefits. I can loop Clara in on very short notice. You can pay extra each month, which I do, to have Clara on your own email domain and you still set parameters just like Calendly. But it's nice when there are one off exceptions. Nobody can email Clara and get time on calendar without Clara checking with me first. What I like is that she moves me to BCC based on preferences I have set. And it's a little more intelligent custom one off scheduling without me or even my team members needing to be involved. She offers pleasantries when she's emailing with people. She suggests times in their time zones. She asks me when it's okay to schedule outside of the parameters that I've already set. She can schedule virtual phone zoom in person. It's pretty fun. I'm enjoying it. I really like it. And I also love geeking out on new tools like this. So between Clara and Calendly, that has me covered for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday every week. If you hear background noise, it's because. Yes, it's another day in the JB household. I'm recording this on a Monday. So I broke my own rules. It's not a pristinely quiet Wednesday. We have someone here fixing the microwave that I mentioned in the last episode. Oh, and a leaky ceiling and a leaky toilet bowl. And what else? Broken lights around the house. I mentioned collection buckets. Well, recently, speaking of this topic, I bought lined notepads that have a magnet on the back. They stick to the fridge and I have five of them. So now these have become my collection buckets. I gave you some notion walkthroughs about my digital collection buckets search. Those are in the 30s. I'll put those episodes in the show notes. Well, now I have collection buckets that go on the fridge. So Michael and I have one for groceries. But the more innovative, two lists on two separate pads of paper. One is a punch list for the handyman and the other one is a punch list for my future house manager, who does not exist yet in my delightfully tiny team. But a girl can dream. So whenever we have a task that would be appropriate for the house manager, we throw it on that one. Whenever we have a task where we need a handyman, then we throw it on that one. So today when the handyman arrived, oh my goodness, I had this list, this wish list, like 10 items long. And I'm so happy. So yes, I'm a little bit multitasking. I'm here recording Ryder's scratching the wall. Very concerned because if he sees someone getting up on a ladder, he gets very worried for their safety. One time, Michael stood up on a ceramic garden stool and Ryder was already upset, and Michael was trying to show him, look, there's nothing to be afraid of. And then this stool shattered. He fell through the center of it. He got a gash in his leg. My friend Ann zoomed and created an at home tourniquet faster than you could blink and was already vacuuming up shards before Michael was even aware of what happened. She said she developed these skills having raised two boys who are now in college. Anyway, so riders barking, you know, sounds are happening, but that's, that's the soundscape for today. When these things happen, it's just so inevitable. It's like I just come to expect them and appreciate them. And it always reminds me that done is better than perfect. I did not make that phrase up, but, oh, my goodness, this is such a good life motto. All right, this episode, like I said, was just going to be a mini minisode to let you know that there will most likely not be new episodes airing of the podcast until the first week of January. Before I head out, I want to just remind you of a couple exciting things. Number one, I mentioned this bucket of collecting items to delegate whether it's around the house or in your business. I created a brand new delegation task tracker template that is in the FreeTime toolkit. You can get early, instant access to the FreeTime toolkit as soon as you pre order the book. So if you pre order the hardcover@itsfreetime.com book, submit your proof of purchase. You will get early, near instant access to the audiobook. It's a manual process. We can't automate that one. So someone on my team, it will happen within a business day or two. You'll get early access to the audiobook. You can gift the audiobook to a friend. You can give someone else the gift of free time in the new year. And you will get instant access to the brand new FreeTime toolkit that I'm so proud of. I've had so much fun building. I know you're gonna love it. It's more than you could ever want. Like I really gave you, this is my stocking stuffer to you. It's free. It goes with the book. It has things like sample job descriptions for personal assistant, home assistant, business operations, you name it. It has a revamped bottleneck Buster Template two Day Strategy Sprint Template, which I created back in the Pivot podcast. It has a new member Path worksheet, sample text expander shortcuts, Free Time framework, quick reference 75 tasks I've delegated in one year design your role conversation guide for talking with team members A recap of the scheduling parameters that I shared earlier in this episode. How to rapid prototype a course that you might want to launch in the new year. Sample task descriptions and template for new tasks. It also includes the Weekly Updates template that I ask my team members to send me at the end of every week. So if they head out in the afternoon on Fridays, that's when they write it. If they're not going to work that Friday, doesn't matter to me. They fill that out on Thursdays. There's even more. There's stuff that goes with the book like reflection questions for setting your own operating principles, Systems Thinking Steps, FreeTime Glossary I mean it's just jam packed. There's a free time leader toolkit, tons of stuff. So grab your copy now. Itsfreetime.com book if you already purchased, submit your proof of purchase@itsfreetime.com Bogogo that's itsfreetime.com B O G O G O itsfreetime.com Bogogo and again you'll get instant access to the brand new FreeTime toolkit, the audiobook. Early access via private Podcast feed and you can gift audiobook access to a friend. You can also take the brand new FreeTime quiz that's featured in the book. For that, head to itsfreetime.com quiz and last but not least, I want to invite you to join us in my private BFF community. These are my favorite people, heart based business owners who are all working together under the overarching theme of free time. In 2022 I offer a live monthly Q and A Zoom call where we do hot seats and connect. We just launched our Circle community where we chat offline and do what I call brilliant Sparter which is really just operating on a generous take a penny, leave a penny philosophy for giving and receiving feedback and you'll also get access to a private podcast feed for catching up on call recordings when you can't make it live, but also bonus content that I don't release here on the main feed. This is a community I've had for over five years. Some members have been with me since the beginning six years now. It is small. We are less than 50 people right now. So it's not one of these where when you join you're just amidst a sea of hundreds or thousands and you're feeling lost and you're a lurker in chief like I am in new communities. This is if you're introverted like I am, if you're kind of shy or hesitant, we put out daily prompts. We're going to walk through the Free Time framework, align design, assign in the first three quarters of the year and then the different chapters and sections of the book map to weeks and months. So there's going to be this overarching theme and layer of free time and you can always post at any time for anything you are working on. That's really the whole point is asking for feedback, prototyping things, figuring out what to title something, sharing wins, asking for support when you need it, giving others intelligent advice and input and sharing your experiences. If this sounds like a fit, you have nothing to lose. We bill monthly. There's no minimum commitment or maximum commitment, so if you don't love it, you don't have to stay. We're not holding anybody hostage right now. The prize is half off until the book launches and this is just a way to say thank you for joining before the whole podcast tour and celebration and hullabaloo around free time. You're kind of getting in early, all things considered. I mean, yes, we're six years in, so we do know what we're doing a little bit and we have really solid relationships that you can immediately jump into and fold into. But at the same time, we're also building the Freetime plane while flying it of this new direction and this next phase. It's really fun. I'm totally biased, but I think you will love it if you resonate with this podcast and this way of doing business. You can learn more and join us at itsfreetime.com BFF that's itsfreetime.com Bff.

That'S all for now, everybody. I am looking forward to seeing you in the new year. We're gonna have so much to celebrate with Freetime launching in March and I am going to do a free time launch team. So if that sounds exciting to you, if you are interested in monthly behind the book strategy calls and full transparency of what the heck is going on behind the scenes as we launch and you want to help support the launch sign up. Make sure you're signed up for the newsletter@itsfreetime.com join that's the first place that I'm going to put out invites for the launch team and I have no clue what the interest will be, but we'll probably take about up to 100 people for that, so keep it relatively tight knit. Who knows if 25 people sign up, great. That's perfect as well. But this is going to be where we talk about some of the nuts and bolts of writing, launching, marketing the book. How do we launch in these times, the crazy supply chain issues that keep delaying when the hardcover advance copies are getting sent out. And an exciting news, it looks like we're inking a deal with a UK publisher, a UK independent press, so Freetime will be launching in Europe as well. Pretty close after the US launch. Again, make sure you're signed up at itsfreetime.com join I have not been sending too many newsletters this year while being so focused on the book and revamping the community. But I really do. I say it every episode. I really do plan to get back to that soon, probably with a new vision. Because whenever I experience friction in the form of procrastination, I take it as a sign that I need to change something. Maybe my old approach is outdated and there's a way I can refresh it to do as my friend Leanne says, to fall in love with this area of the business again. I was also just on Leanne's first Time Facilitator podcast, pretty much the very first free time interview. We had a lot of fun. I loved answering questions for her community. I'm going to throw that link in the show notes as well, so. So now you're chock full of links and homework to create free time for yourself on your calendar starting now for the year ahead. As always, I can't wait to hear what you do with it. Leave me a message@itsfreetime.com ask and I love hearing what people do as a result of listening to the podcast or reading the book. There's even gonna be a section on the website where I wanna share how people are freeing their time, what they're doing with it. What are you doing instead? Or what changes have you made? Who have you hired? So again, you can always report back@itsfreetime.com Ask or send us a message. Hi Com. Thank you so much for being here. Listening everybody. Thank you for your patience with my brand new soundscape today and wishing you just the happiest start to the new year. See you in 2022.

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