Free Time with Jenny Blake

“Things today are waaayyyyy better than Things have ever been. Cavemen had sticks. In the Middle ages they had typhoid. We have iPhones and Hermann Miller chairs and shoes with air in the soles. Inside the soles! How do they get the air inside the soles??? We are living in the Golden Age of Things, in the Golden Empire of Things.”—Shalom Auslander's Fetal Position via Beckett Drove a Deux ChevauxI first encountered the Apple billboard a few days after Christmas. I was walking down Fourteenth Street in the Meatpacking district, and there it was—an Apple ad declaring “Newphoria!” in enormous print.We don’t need newphoria. We need oldphoria, the joy in what already exists. We need simplephoria, the joy in streamlining. We need enoughphoria, the celebration that what we have and who we are is already enough. Newphoria, at least as it relates to running a small business, is not always all it’s cracked up to be.Today’s post is a crossover from Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h—you can read the post and reply in the comments here: Climbing Down the Entrepreneurial Ladder.📝 Permission Celebrate your own -phoria, the joy in running your business in the way that works best for you!🔗 Resources Mentioned D🤦🏻‍♀️h Articles: Love That! For You 🙄, COnTenT cReaToRs exist and subsist in the verrrrrrry looooooooooooong tail’s trough, 🤬 Rant From the Wound: Why This Platitude Meme Engraged Me, Serendipity signage Katherine Raz on closing the second location of her Fernseed business in Tacoma Emily McDowell’s experience of running a small business that blew up—in a good way—but also led to burnout: The truth about going mega-viral, part one and part two. Nathan Barry’s The Ladders of Wealth Creation Jonathan Field’s The Unfortunate Middle JB for CNBC: Treat your career like a smart phone, not a ladder NYT: Climbing Down the Corporate Ladder. Big thanks to Rob Walker for including me in this Workologist column! It’s still a career highlight. He’s now here on Substack at The Art of Noticing Video: If you want to geek out further on idea gathering process: here’s a Loom walkthrough of my Collection Bucket in Notion. Recent Free Time workshop by Stephanie Huston with a template for creating and batching content for the year ahead. Apps: Substack 📚 Books Mentioned I’m not immune from status-chasing—none of us are. In his book, The Status Game, Will Storr categorizes these games into three types: dominance, success, and virtue. My two all-time favorite books on this topic are Alain de Botton’s Status Anxiety and Wanting by Luke Burgis who is on Substack at Ride or Drive and Anti-Mimetic. Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes Listen to the audio version of Jonathan Fields reading “The Unfortunate Middle” here, and check out our series of 12 SPARKED episodes (Spotify Playlist). Pivot: 305: Is What You’re Wanting Actually What’s Best For You? With Luke Burgis Pivot x RadReads conversations on status with Khe Hy (Spotify Playlist) Free Time: Here are some of my favorite Free Time conversations with small business owners who downsized their operations: 016: IP Licensing and “No Full-Time Employees” with Lee LeFever 131: Scaling Joy While Streamlining Business Overhead with Kaneisha Grayson 157: Downshifting to a Delightfully Part-Team Team with Laura Roeder 173: Cut Your Losses—Even While Pivoting in Public with Khe Hy 205: Turning Down a $200K Two-Book Traditional Publishing Deal with Paul Millerd 241: Finding Freedom and Financial Reciprocity through a Paid Newsletter 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/262 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you’re anything like me, you may find conducting online launches for your programs or events exhausting and sometimes even cringe-inducing. Thankfully, today’s guest, Anne Samoilov, is here to help!Anne is a long-time expert in the space who has helmed product launches for Laura Roeder, Marie Forleo, and Jonathan Fields. Today, we’re talking about why some of us find big, splashy launches so draining; how to set up automated or evergreen launches (and her take on the pros and cons of these); how to find non-cringey launch strategies; be willing to take on clients or projects that have nothing to do with your business.More About Anne: Anne Samoilov is a launch strategist and VFX Producer. She started her work online as the creator of Fearless Launching, an online training program that teaches impact-driven entrepreneurs how to create simple, streamlined, and standout launches without relying on templates or cookie-cutter strategies. She has also led the VFX teams for TV shows on Paramount Plus and Starz. Check out Anne’s podcast, The Fearless Launching Show, where she shares insights and tips on how to have an amazing product or business launch—your way.🌟 3 Key Takeaways Evergreen or Automated Launches: a person who is interested in what you do → signs up for a free interactive event (a webinar, challenge, email series, video series, etc.) → at some point, you make an offer by sending them to a sales page. They can do all this on their own schedule. Do people actually know what you offer? Three ways to make sure: communication (webinar, mini-course, offer in your thank you pages, newsletter P.S.), website updates (bio, announcement bar, pop-up, work with me page), other people (free workshop for their audience, podcast guesting) Get in front of other audiences by doing a workshop (webinar) tour: You can offer the host an affiliate commission for sales. Give both audiences a heads-up that you have a relationship. 📝 Permission To take on clients or projects that have nothing to do with your business; it can bring in revenue and reconnect you with latent skills.✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next Spruce up your thank you pages! Put your bio, mention ways to work with you, offer a freebie. Bonus: create a launch library with some of the copy that has worked best from previous launches.🔗 Resources Mentioned Anne on the web, IG, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook Content Sprints: Stephanie Huston BFF Workshop: How to Batch + Create Your Annual Content Calendar with Stephanie Huston People: Catherine Just, Marie Forleo, Jeff Walker Tools: Notion, Deadline Funnel 📚 Books Mentioned The White Space Solution: Make Room For Your Best Life & Work Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes Anne’s Fearless Launching Show BFF Workshop: How to Batch + Create Your Annual Content Calendar with Stephanie Huston Free Time: 064: The Vulnerability of Launching 157: Downshifting to a Delightfully Part-Team Team with Laura Roeder 107: How to Know When You’ve Gotten Pricing Wrong and 020: Pricing Psychology with Jacquette M. Timmons 084: Sprinkling the First 1,000 Serendipity Seeds of a Launch 069: Evergreen Email Sequences with Allan Dib Pivot: 047: Live Fiercely, Study Deeply . . . While Earning a Living — with Jonathan Fields 358: Crossing the Cringe Chasm when Taking Career and Creative Risks with Henna Pryor 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/261 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dorie Clark, a renowned business thinker, discusses how to focus on long-term thinking in a short-term world. She shares insights on optimizing for interesting opportunities, building genuine relationships, and the value of saying no to good opportunities. The importance of trusted advisors and shifting focus between sprinting and marathon mode are also highlighted. Strategies for creating more free time in business are explored.

Award-winning marketer Aliza Licht discusses crisis communication strategies and the importance of brand guardrails. Key takeaways include defining your point of view, planning for crises in advance, and assembling the right team. They explore the dynamics of crisis communication, sincere apologies, and the consequences of deleting posts. The podcast also delves into challenges faced by journalists, navigating media relations, and effective personal branding strategies.

In this episode, Jenny Blake discusses the tasks and considerations for small business owners, including health insurance, payroll reports, and canceling subscriptions. They also talk about delegating email management and explore Inbox Done. The episode covers various items on a small business owner's checklist, such as credit card balances, bookkeeping for tax time, planning an event, and dealing with challenges like stolen reviews. They also brainstorm ideas for a new book and explore the zine scene.

Huggy Rao, an expert in managing organizational friction and author of the book 'Becoming a Friction Fixer', discusses the importance of both good and bad friction in decision-making. He explores how creating good friction fosters innovation and shares examples from Pixar and Stanford. The podcast also covers the concept of time poverty, the 'rule of haves' for improving productivity, and strategies for moving from friction to flow through effective delegation.

The podcast discusses the structure, systems, and pricing of a Voxer coaching program. Topics include creating cohorts, using text and voice memos for communication, creating a program overview page, tracking participant questions, offering discounts to current clients, and using a Notion database for organization.

Birch Coffee co-founder Paul Schlader discusses operationalizing kindness and absolute excellence, standing out in NYC by hiring for kindness, navigating the challenges of growth, and the resilience of their business amidst the pandemic.

The podcast discusses 8 lessons learned from over 8 years of podcasting, including riding out dips and plateaus, focusing on meaningful metrics, the 51-49 concept of taking action, and not comparing oneself to others.

Author Jamie Varon discusses her debut novel 'Main Character Energy' and the journey of writing it. Topics include working with a writing coach, giving permission for a 'zero' draft, moving past envy, writing dialogue, different manifestations of success, and unlocking creativity.