Finding Boundaries and Systems That Work

Welcome to the Author Audience show, the podcast that helps you reach more people with your message. Create a book, connect with your audience, change lives. Here's your host, Shelly Hitz.

Hi, this is Shelly Hitz. I'm the owner of Author Audience Academy, and I'm on a mission to help you reach more people with your message. It's time to let your light shine. And in this training, I'm going to talk all about finding boundaries and systems that work. This morning, I was interviewed on the national association of Christian Women Entrepreneurs, all about how I've integrated art into my business and into my life. And I wanted to share just a few things with you today. So one of the things that people will ask me is, wow, you know, you're doing so much. How are you adding in art to what you already do? So, first of all, I want you to know that I operate by the acronym focus. I did not make up this acronym, but the acronym stands for Follow one course until successful. And so what this means is, it means that when we started really focusing on our publishing company in 2012, I had resigned my job in 2011. We thought we were going to be speakers, and all of that fell through. That's another story. But 2012, we published 23 books, and it was a season of focus on our publishing company. Once it was successful, I was then able to add what I do as Author Coach and Author Audience Academy. I was able to add that to what we were already doing with our publishing company. Then I focused on Author Audience Academy and really focused on that. And now it is successful. And that is why I am now adding the art at this time. If my author coaching wasn't successful yet, I wouldn't be adding it at this time. Follow one Course until Successful. I think it really is the reason I've been successful. Focus, focus, focus. And so I love the image from the book, the one thing. And this is the image right here. And what you see is, you see this image right here. This is where you're having focus. It doesn't mean you're not doing other things. It just means that you are staying focused primarily on one major thing. This is what I typically looked like before the last few years, and I was doing a million things. I literally, at one time, I think, had seven different business entities. And, you know, I hadn't formalized them all, but they were all different. And I was doing everything a little bit. And I had a coach at the time. Coaching is very powerful when you hire coaches. I hire coaches. I also have people that Invest in me for coaching. And she said, shelly, you're doing too much. And it was gradual. Over the process of time, I began to let go of things. And that's when I decided to focus on my author coaching. Focus. Follow one course until successful. And so now I've added in art. Right now I'm in my art studio. How fun is this? If you're watching the video, you get to see a little glimpse inside my art studio. It's always changing, it's always evolving. But I've also created now 10 classes on Skillshare. You can see those@shellyhits.com Skillshare and I'm now earning income through from those classes. Just in three months, I've earned over $1,600 just from teaching on Skillshare. Now am I telling you to go jump on Skillshare and teach Skillshare classes? No. Focus. What is it that you're doing right now that you want to be successful? Focus. Follow one course until successful. That's what I've done. And I'm not, you know, a lot of people watch what I do. And so I want to explain this is why I'm adding the art is because the author coaching is successful and I can continue to do that without as much investment of time. The other thing I wanted to talk about is boundaries. And one of the reasons that I'm able to have time for art is because I've set certain boundaries. One of the things that really works well for me and you have to find a system that works well for you, but one of the things that really works well for me is having different scheduled times to batch my work. So by batching, I mean I do the same types of things all in one day or one period of time. For instance, currently. And this changes all the time too. My schedule evolves and changes as the demands on my time change and evolve. But right now, on Wednesdays is my interview day. It's my one on one coaching day. So if you're a one on one coaching client, I'm going to give you my calendar link. My calendar link is only going to give you Wednesdays to schedule. And so Wednesdays is my interview day, my one on one coaching day. Now, I did make an exception. Today's a Tuesday and I did an interview for Naqui because I love them, I'm a member, I love what they're doing. But typically those types of things are Wednesdays and then Thursdays are my brain day. So what do I mean by brain day? Well, when I Have projects and things I'm working on that I know are going to take a lot of brain work, a lot of intense focus, a lot of just getting into the details, doing the work. You know what I mean? I mean, there are just things like the technical stuff or maybe some intense writing you have to do. Those are brain day tasks. And so what I then do is Thursdays is devoted for those types of tasks. And I'll still do some work on the other days of the week, depending on what my schedule is. But typically right now, Mondays and Tuesdays, I get to work on art, my skillshare classes, things that I'm going to maybe do on Etsy or, you know, now I have booked three speakers speaking engagements for the upcoming months where I'll be teaching in person art workshops here in Colorado Springs. So Mondays and Tuesdays might be days I'd work on that, finalizing details for that. I'm also getting paid for that. Crazy, right? I just cannot believe it. Like, this is my life. I am now an artist, an art teacher, an illustrator. Whoa. But I didn't just jump into it. I waited. And I realized this was an opportunity that God was bringing into my life. And it was the time. The time was right. And I really believe God brought it into my life in the right timing. So focus. Follow one course until successful. Boundaries. Sometimes setting boundaries and days and certain times. Because then what happens is if you say, okay, I'm going to write in this chunk of time or these times every day, then the rest of the day, you don't feel guilty because you're not writing, you know, with me, I know I'm going to be working really hard on Wednesdays and Thursdays. But then I don't feel guilty when I'm playing in my art studio on Mondays because I know that I'm going to be working on Wednesdays and Thursdays. So it gives you freedom, it takes away some guilt, and it's just simply setting a boundary on your time. Now, you can also set boundaries on this little thing. I would say this device, our phones is probably one of the biggest time suckers of all. And I have been very addicted to Facebook and checking email on my phone. But what that does is it gives my clients 24. 7 access to me. It gives me no break. It gives, you know, I'm always having to be on because the way I run my coaching program is through Facebook and it's a Facebook group. So every time I check in, I see their comments. And I'm the type person I have A high sense of responsibility. So I'd always respond right away. And I just. I would try behavioral modification. I would try to change things. But it was last November when I was in the middle of the launch for Broken Crayons Still Color. I was really starting to feel a desperation. Lord, I really want to break this habit. And I really sensed that he wanted me to go away on a retreat. It was a prayer and fasting retreat center that he brought to mind. It's called Praise Mountain here in Colorado. And I called them. I said, do you have any openings for this weekend? They just happen to have a cancellation. I think it was a God thing. And I went up there in the middle of one of my biggest launches ever with no Internet connection. And I spent 24 hours in prayer and fasting. And during that time, I said, God, what is the root? Why can I not break free from this?

What is it? What is it? You know, I've tried all these things, and I really sensed, for me personally, him saying, shelly, it's your identity. It's knowing who you are in Christ. And so he began to do a deeper work in my heart over that 24 hours that continues today this year. I sensed the word for 2017 for me was identity. And it's something that God is continuing to work in me right now. But he did a work in my heart. Sometimes we have to go deeper. And he did a work in my heart. And I have not been checking Facebook or. Or email on my phone since now. I'll check it on my computer. So I haven't closed my account. I'll check it on my computer. You'll see. I'm more active on Wednesdays and Thursdays because those are my big work days. And then sometimes I will check it on my iPad, but I'm not checking out my phone. And this has been the biggest addiction for me of all. So that was a boundary. That was a boundary I set. But that boundary gave me freedom, and it gave me a ton of time. All those little things, things that, you know, you just keep checking, checking, checking. It frees up so much time. And that time has gave me the ability to create. These are all my custom art pieces hanging on the wall. It's given me the time to create. I've created new art every day for at least the last five months, maybe even longer. And it really has given me a lot of time to do what I love. And maybe art is not your thing. Maybe it's something else. Maybe it's spending time with your family, but Boundaries can be so key. Now, the third thing I wanted to talk about was systems. So I've been able to create 10 Skillshare classes in three months. You know, it's earning me income that's significant, significant income. Five to six hundred dollars a month. And I'm not saying it's going to continue that way. I don't know. Right now it's working, so I'm going with it. And it really doesn't take me that long to create the classes because I've created products for so long. I have systems in place and I know exactly what I'm doing. So when I talk about systems, what is it that you need to put in place that's going to help you be consistent with what you need to do? So if it's writing, what kind of systems can you put in place that will allow you the ability to be consistent in your writing? For me, with the art and sharing on Instagram and creating new skillshare classes, I needed a system to record overhead videos. So recording the art. And so what I did was I added, I don't know if you can see, this is my. My little.

My little holder tripod. I couldn't think of it. Tripod. And I use this, and then I put my phone in this, and then it records the art above there. But I can leave that up all the time. It's not in my way. If I want, I can just unscrew it. But if I leave it up, I have that system. I. I know all I have to do is stick my phone in there and then I can record. And then I have a system for how I edit my videos and post them on Instagram. And I share all of that. If you're interested in my Instagram marketing class on Skillshare, you can find that@shellyhits.com Skillshare but I created a system. So what system can you set in place that will help you to be consistent? Anyone who's been successful, whether it's losing weight, whether it's athletics, whether it's music, art, business, whatever you want to be successful in, it's going to take consistent practice or consistency in creating that consistent time. Writers. You know, I have published over and written, personally written over 40 books. That comes because I created six systems. That's what I always say my secret sauce is systems. So what systems can you create? Maybe there's a little space that you set up, a little desk, a little place you have your writing space, and you know that's where you're going to write. It doesn't get cluttered with other stuff. Maybe you have a system where it's every morning at this time and so you schedule those writing times. I don't know. You have to dig deep and say, what will my system be that will help me to be consistent in marketing? What can you set up? What can you do to make sure that you stay consistent? And if you're an Author Audience Academy member, we can brainstorm ideas for this in our private Facebook group. So just start a new post if there's something that you need to create a system for. And let's brainstorm because I'd love to help you create a system. If you're not yet a member, you can join us@authoraudienceacademy.com so those are the three things I want you to think about today. Focus Follow one course until successful what is the main one thing right now that you want to be successful at? Where are you pouring in a majority of your energy? It doesn't mean that you're not going to be doing other things for me right now. It is my art. I mean, I still serve and give and do everything I can to help my Author audience Academy members. But I have created a lot of the content, I've done a ton of the marketing. I have systems in place and so it doesn't require as much of my time as it used to. What is your one thing right now that you're focusing on? And I do recommend that book, the One Thing by Gary Keller. Number two, what boundaries do you need to set in place? Are there certain boundaries that you need to set with your time, maybe with your phone, maybe with people in your life so that you can do what God has called you to do? And number three, what systems can you develop that will help you to be consistent? You know, if you have things set up, if you have things ready, if you have a system, a checklist, and you know exactly what you're going to do, it's going to make you be able to be consistent with what you're doing to save time and to get a lot more done. That's one of the ways I've been able to be so prolific. So I'd love to hear from you. I'd love to hear what you're going to set in place. What has inspired you through this training? Please let me know and I will see you next time. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Author Audience. I would like to invite you to attend one of my free trainings on three proven Book Writing Formulas Every nonfiction author needs to know this is a fun and fast way to write a nonfiction book, but also a book that you're proud of. Plus, I will give you two free gifts just for attending. No credit card required. First, you'll get my 10 nonfiction book title templates and you'll also get my ebook titled Brilliant brainstorming. It's a 28 page ebook and both of these bonuses are yours at no charge. Just for joining us for the training, you can sign up for my free training by going to shellyhitz.com formulas. That's Shellyhitz S H E L L E Y H I-T Z.com formulas. This training and the two bonuses are free and I would love to help you write your next nonfiction book.

Thanks for listening to this episode of the Author Audience Show. Connect with us online@authoraudience.com where you'll find all the resources mentioned in today's episode. While you're there, grab Shelley's free video training on how to write and publish your book using her Six Step Ascent method. Join us again next week to learn how to reach your audience with your message.