How I Manage Growing A Business AND being a mom!

Let me take a wild guess at what your biggest struggle is right now. Getting everything done. Am I right? I know if you have a to do list that keeps piling on more things and more things, how overwhelming that can be. Especially if you're trying to juggle running a business, taking care of family, and trying to actually find some time for yourself. You're constantly pulled in a million directions. You're thinking, okay, I gotta post Instagram, I gotta send a newsletter. I gotta write a blog post. Oh, Trina says I should be doing video content. I want to work on that new course. Oh, yeah, I gotta actually be a mom to my children. So quite few of you asked me, how do I manage and balance it all, plus still have time to take Fridays off. Well, if you're ready to hear my process for getting and staying organized, hit that, like, button and let's dig in. So I'm going to let you in on a little secret here. I don't have it all under control, and I'm not a naturally productive person or really had a handle on time management before I had kids. I seriously think back and wonder, what the heck did I do with my time? Like, not even through college, but in my 20s when I had full days with no kids, no business, like, what did I do? And I wanna be totally clear and absolutely transparent with you that there are days where I feel frazzled and overwhelmed and like, I'm never gonna get everything done. But the process that I'm about to share with you really helps me kind of get grounded, allows me to get refocused and remove a lot of that stress and frazzled. Once I go through this process, I started doing this about four years ago now, right after I had my daughter, and I was really trying to grow. And it's the process that I really contribute to, why people look at me and say, how do you get so much done in a day? Side note, yes, I get a lot done in my business, and yes, you may think I get a lot done, but the secret is my house is a mess. All right, let's walk through this process together. And I know it can seem a little tedious or maybe a lot going on, but if you stay to the end, I'm actually going to share some of my biggest success tips on how you can get started with this process and really see success without feeling super overwhelmed. Okay, so there's two things that I use in my process. I use calendar blocking and batching. A lot of people talk about it here on YouTube and on the Internet. And I'm just wondering, have you heard about calendar blocking and batching before? Let me know which one you've heard about down in the comments. Or if you haven't heard about any of them, let me know. So calendar blocking is essentially taking your calendar and blocking out every hour to totally coordinate the day ahead. I first heard of this process by watching Amy Landina's videos. She is a wizard at productivity and if you haven't heard of her before or seen any of her videos, I'll link some of her best calendar blocking videos down in the description box below for you to watch after this video and batching is simply a form of time management that allows a person to maximize concentration and decrease distractions. As a result, it actually increases your productivity, creativity and mental sharpness, while more importantly decreasing procrastination, fatigue and stress. And I know that seems like a high promise, but trust me, I have been batching and not even realizing that I've been batching and it literally is game changing and one of the biggest reasons why I can contribute to being so productive. So now that we understand the basic concepts, the first step that I do is I will look at an entire month at a time. I know that seems like a lot of time and like things can change, but seriously, hear me out on this. This is why this works. So Steph Crowder of Courage and Clarity podcast really broke this down to make it understand to me. So she talks about getting all the rocks into kind of your to do list at once. So the rocks mean the big projects and that's what I use for this calendar right here. The red post. Its are my big rocks. These are the big projects that need to get done each month. I will minimize my rocks to about two or three for the month. If I try to put any more big rocks in my month, it just doesn't happen. I get overwhelmed and stressed out. Big rocks to me are updating course content, creating or writing launch content, filming YouTube videos is a rock that is on every single month of mine. Or even planning and filming webinars to promote my courses and programs. So those are examples of some of the rocks that I put into my month. And remember, I'm only keeping this to about two to three rocks per month. So now that we have these rocks, now it's time to pour in the pebbles. So these are the things that Steph says are less than projects but more than easy tasks that you can get done right off the bat. I like to grab my iPad and I have a pencil for the iPad and use the app notability to start writing down all of those pebbles or those kind of little projects that need to go into that big overall project. The reason why I use my iPad is because I I've been trying to really minimize the amount of paper that I use in any given day, and the iPad just makes it a lot easier for me to kind of highlight, erase, and just organize my thoughts. So like I said, since I like to work a month in advance, I will sit down knowing what my big rocks are or my big projects are for the month, think about all the little steps to get those done, and write them on my iPad. You can also do this weekly, which I do sometimes as well. If I'm feeling a little overwhelmed in the middle of the month, I'll just sit down and rethink about all the things on my list in my head and get kind of reset from there. So, for example, if one of my big rocks is a webinar, some of those pebbles that will go in there that I need to add to my list to get done that month are create the registration page, create the thank you page, create the welcome email, create the reminder emails, create the webinar slides, create the replay page. So these are all the little things that will go into that one big project. That's why you don't want to stuff a lot of big projects in your month, because. Because you don't think about all the little steps you need to do to get to that big project. Since YouTube videos are always a rock for me every single month, some of the things that I need to do to prepare for that is research content, ideas, decide on titles and thumbnails, write the script, determine when I'm going to shoot. Those are all the types of steps that I need to take to get that done. So those are all the things that I need to do for my specific business. Now I have clients and students and I've got to take care of them as well. So again, I got my iPad and my pencil and I'm writing down all the things I need to get done for my clients this month. Generally, the tasks that I need to get done for my clients are the same every single week. I've kind of created systems for my clients that we know exactly what needs to be done when. I've had these clients for years now, so it's kind of a system that we have in place. These client tasks will be the things that I do on Mondays and Wednesdays. So thinking back about batching, I will batch client tasks Together on Mondays and Wednesdays so I can stay in that client kind of zone so I don't get fatigued and I don't get overwhelmed with all these other things going on. Because if I was trying to do YouTube reports for my client, trying to edit videos, then also trying to switch over to writing copy for my webinar or creating slides for my webinar, it's just two different pieces of your brain that I'm personally using. So going back and forth like that would really minimize the amount I could get done in a day. There's just that extra time lag between those tasks that's really gonna mess you up. Some of the weekly things you've heard me mention that I do for clients are review their YouTube video, upload their YouTube video, optimize and schedule it, create a monthly report. Those types of tasks that happen just about every single week. And in fact, I know every single Wednesday, I'm going to show up, sit down here at my desk, and I'm editing a video. Since I have these processes and routines in place, I really, again, minimize the time trying to figure out what the heck I'm going to do every single day and just get started. Okay, so if you have your iPad and your pencil and you wrote down all of your rocks, all of your pebbles, and then you started writing down all of those client tasks that you need to get done every single month, probably stressing out about this giant list, right? Here's where my secret comes into play and why I really love the iPad is I will take a highlighter on the notability app and start grouping things together that I can work on on specific days. Like I said, with a webinar, there are even certain things I'm going to group together. So if I am going to be writing, I'm going to write potentially the welcome email and then the email that follow after that. But I'm probably not going to do the slides because that's two different things and two different zones of genius in my head. So I know I'm going to be writing on a particular day, and then on another day, I'm probably going to want to do the slide creation. Maybe you're trying to get more consistent on Instagram and you kind of have a weekly goal to post every single week or a couple times a week on Instagram. What you're going to need to do is kind of block all of that into like an hour or two a week and just write all the captions out, pick all the photos, and get that done in one chunk of time. You don't want to be jumping on Monday trying to write that caption and picking that post and then jumping on on Thursday writing that caption and trying to do the post. Do it all at once. Then use something like planoly or later to schedule these out. Trust me, I know it can be hard to think about getting ahead, but this is really how you're going to be able to get all these things done. For example, this is exactly what I do with my YouTube videos and how I show up here consistently every single week. I block a chunk of time to research my videos. I'm looking at what's out there, what's performing well, and then I'm deciding on that title and that thumbnail before I even write my content. Then I'm batching a chunk of time to script my content. I'm going to sit down, script it all out, figure out what B roll I need, what kind of text I want my editor to use. Because the more time I can put into that script and the planning phase, the less time it's going to take me to a film it and B edit it on my editor's behalf. And even if it's you editing your videos, it's going to take you a lot less time. Edit it if you know exactly what you wanted to have done in that video. So I'm sitting here today filming a month's worth of content. I'm filming four videos back to back to back. Because I can do that because I already have my script in place over here to write and I know exactly what videos I'm going to be filming. So I'm in kind of this zone of filming videos. I did my hair and makeup, I set up my equipment and so I can focus on this one thing again. I'm not losing those IQ points by switching to filming and then writing email newsletters and then tomorrow come back to filming. Like that's a total waste of my time. So like I said, with an iPad and that pencil or maybe a paper and a highlighter, start grouping things that you can do together. For me, if I have writing tasks, I know that I'm probably best if I write first thing in the morning on a Tuesday or Thursday. Tuesdays and Thursdays are the days that my kids aren't home. I'm not going to be interrupted. And so I'm probably going to batch any newsletter writing content, any social media content, any sales funnel type content on a Tuesday or Thursday morning. That also ties in with when I launch so last month in February, I launched a brand new program and I bashed a lot of that together and I started back in December getting ready for that. So I had enough lead time to be prepared and not stressed out. So when we launched the Video Strategy Academy, I had already scripted and planned out and filmed the content for the Video Strategy Academy before Christmas break for us. Then when I came back to work in the new year, I was able to to dig in on other tasks because I already had the creation and the filming piece done. So then that's when I focused on getting all the other moving pieces together and I looked at things that I could outsource again. I know I'm not a strong writer and so I was able to save enough money from previous launches that I hired a copywriter to help me out with the 12 email sequence for my launch. She also helped me out with the sales page as well. But there are also other moving pieces like the thank you page, the course being set up and teachable graphics, social media content, the live streams that I did, all the pieces of content that led up to my launch. I also have an assistant named Erin who I'm able to delegate tasks to. Honestly, that is the one way that I can get things done is being able to have somebody that I can tag in our sauna to say, hey, I need help with this. She's been working with me for almost a year now and she gets kind of my personality and the brand so she can easily take over tasks. Alright, so we know that Monday and Wednesdays are pretty much my client days since my kids are here and I don't have to focus on something hard like writing or filming content. So I'll start grouping in that editing that happens every single Wednesday thumbnail and audience retention review every single Monday. Client reports, client invoicing. Those will all happen on Mondays and Wednesdays. And then Tuesdays and Thursdays are my big chunk of time to spend in my business doing what needs to be done. And I have basically from 6am until about 5pm to really work on my business on Tuesdays and Thursdays. These are my big business days because I do not work on Friday. So it's really like a big puzzle trying to take all these pieces or these tasks together and fit them in where they're best going to work to keep me productive. Now, like I promised earlier, your success tips, right? That seem like a lot. It seemed kind of overwhelming. But here's the key. First you need to get electronic like I said, paper for me just did not become productive. I would lose the paper. I'd be writing the same things down every single day. So one of the tools that I have loved using is Asana and it's absolutely free. It's a project management tool. And I have a board inside of there that is just Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. What's really critical to make this work so that you're constantly working on something that needs to be done is having two more columns that says next week and coming up. So I will take that full month of tasks and put them in that board so I know what needs to be done on that current week. And if I get everything done, I'm not wasting my time thinking about what else needs to get done. I can go to that next week column and grab something that needs to be done. So I'm constantly working on something. I'm really maximizing the time that I have to work on actual tasks. I also keep in this board tasks that are done weekly. So I know every single Wednesday I'm editing a video. You'll see it right there. It never leaves. I know every single Tuesday I have a team meeting. I know every single Thursday, a client's video needs to be published and tracked for click through rates. These are the things that are going to be done every single week. So I'm not having to write them over and over again, wasting time doing that. This is also amazing. If you do have an assistant and you're like, oh, I'm just not going to get done to that. You could tag her. I tag Erin and say, hey, Erin, I don't think I can get to this. Could you get this done this week? And if she has that board, she can really help you start checking off those tasks as well. The next tip for success is you have got to cut out all distractions. I'm looking at you. Who has Netflix on in the background. I do not have a TV in this office. I do not play music. I do not play podcasts. When I show up to work, I want to make sure I'm getting all my work done so I can close down at 5:00'. Clock. I don't need to get back on my computer later in the evening. I don't get on my computers from Friday to Sunday. But you need to focus on the time that you have when you're working. Like I said, no distractions. Don't have Netflix on in the background because it does not help you get more work done. The same thing with podcasts. What happens is your brain is being being pulled in two different directions and it can't focus on one specific task. It's going to take you twice the amount of time to get something done. If you have something else distracting you. The next piece of success is you have got to set times. And what I mean by times is the times you're actually going to be working and they do not have to be the same every single day. Like I said, for me on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I work from about 6:30 to about 5. I have been starting a little bit slower in the mornings on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It's something that I've been doing in 2020 to just be able to enjoy my mornings. I already know when I show up for work exactly what needs to be done. So if I feel like watching a recording of Vanderpump Rules from the night before, I'll sit down, eat my breakfast doing that because I know when I sit down to work at 6:30 or 7, I can get started instantly. This is also gonna help you figure out what you're gonna get done in a day. So if you have consistent times, even if they're different for each day. So like I said, on Monday and Wednesdays, I don't normally get started till I about noon because I do take my daughter to preschool and pick her up. So there is a little time in between. It's just usually email catch up. But you can start to have consistent times. You can see how much you can actually get done in a day or in a week so that you're not overloading yourself and stressing yourself out. All right. This is another key to success that not a lot of people talk about. But you have to figure out what's important for you. You're absolutely spoiler alert not going to get everything done on your to do list if you're putting everything on your to do list. So focus on what are your goals and what's going to help you get to those goals. For me, I'm not trying to create a million dollar business here. I'm making enough money so that my family and I can live comfortably, I can pay for vacation with my family and I can take the time off from Fridays and Sundays to just have fun so I don't have to do all the things that the experts say to do to hit a million dollars. Because that is not a goal of mine. And seriously, get help. For my first three years in business, I didn't realize how much getting help could help you. And it doesn't have to be super expensive. I know, we think, oh, I don't have any money to hire anybody. You can find amazing virtual assistants from like $200 a month and up. You can find somebody to work with you two hours a week, two hours a month. But being able to offload some of those tasks that you can give to somebody else is really going to be game changing because. Because you're going to free up space in your brain to focus on the things that you're good at and get off your plate the things that you're not good at and that you hate. Because when you're doing something that you hate, takes a lot longer to get it done because you're thinking about, I hate doing this, I hate doing this. Why am I doing this? So now you're going to have more time in your schedule. You're going to be able to get consistent here on YouTube with video content, right? Make sure you watch this video that's on your screen right now where I'm going to tell you exactly what you need to say in that first video. Click that video and I'll see you over there.