Free Time with Jenny Blake

What type of business would you build if you no longer needed the money? After a life-changing exit from her previous company, Meet Edgar, Laura Roeder’s answer: a fun one. She is now more focused than ever on building a business that is bootstrapped, agile, asynchronous, joyful for all involved, and powered by part-time team members who love what they do. In this conversation, we discuss why Laura downshifted from a structure with 30 full-time employees to one that’s leaner, saying no to the Business Ops Police, the perks of part-time team members (for you and them), and why “winner take all” markets are a myth.More About Laura: Laura Roeder is a lifelong entrepreneur and founder of several multi-million dollar bootstrapped companies. Her current two focuses are Paperbell and CoachCompare; prior to that, she built and sold MeetEdgar, co-founded Marie Forleo’s B-School, and ran LKR Social Media.🌟3 Key Takeaways: Look for people who get tremendous satisfaction (even if not passion) from the work you need done. What types of problem-solving and projects do they find inherently fun? “Your business is your utopia” (Derek Sivers): The reason you work for yourself is to have greater control and freedom. “The inside of your business should be as beautiful as the outside.” How can you build systems and employ software that engenders a sense of relief for all involved? 📝Permission: To enjoy your business! Drop any shoulds you’re carrying from the Business Ops Police.✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Is your current software stack causing stress or making you sigh with relief? Make sure each tool is helping more than it’s hurting, replace any that aren’t, and even better still—see if any new tools can combine what separate ones are doing.📘Books Mentioned:  Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel Pink Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't by Verne Harnish 🔗Resources Mentioned:  Laura on the web, Paperbell, CoachCompare, Instagram: @laurakroeder, Twitter, LinkedIn Article: Exactly How I Cold Emailed My Way to A Life-Changing Exit (and You Can Too) Videos: The Pre-launch Strategy That Built MeetEdgar a 100k List - Laura Roeder at Converted 2016, Laura Roeder: How She Grew MeetEdgar Into A Multi-million Dollar Business speaks at LTV Conf 2018 Tools: MixPanel, SalesForce, Meet Edgar, HelpScout, ClickUp, Notion, Dubsado, Kajabi, Practice, DuckDuckGo, Hootsuite Podcasts: Laura Roeder on They Got Acquired, Built to Sell #344: How to Make Your Email List Worth 7-Figures, The Art of Newsletters 069: Laura Roeder – Building the Best Brand in Your Niche 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  093: How to Sell Your Online Business with Alexis Grant 061: Scaling Boutique Businesses with Greg Alexander 145: Tips for Training Part-Time Team Members with Kaneisha Grayson 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe »🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review.❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners.💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/157 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I had high hopes for the first couple of weeks of the year, but I rang in 2023 in bed, completely uninspired by goals or ideas—anything beyond a desire to get healthy and feel human again, let alone any loftier business aims. Taking a (very loud) hint from the universe, I settled on the theme THRIVE as my focus to start the year.One of the most common replies to my “wave a magic wand and fix one thing in your business” question when people access the Free Time Toolkit is for help with idea generation. In a meta move—seeing as I was in need of those very strategies myself to create this episode—today I am sharing 8 of them here with you!Don’t forget, you can always share a question or your favorite time-saving system by leaving me a voice memo at http://itsfreetime.com/ask.🌟8 Idea Generation Strategies: Maintain a collection bucket for when you’re reading, watching or have-on-the-go ideas.  What is true now? Look for Truth While It’s Fresh or Share When Solved moments. Always Be Listening (ABL). Systematize your listening through forms and ongoing input. Synthesis: Introduce a new concept by fusing different ideas together through metaphor. Be a contrarian: What is everyone talking about right now, and what is your take? What tropes or industry cliches drive you crazy?  Be a trend spotter: What is happening now that you have a heightened sensitivity to? Get quiet: What can come through only me? How can I serve as a messenger?  📝Permission: Lean on your audience and friends when creatively stuck. Explicitly ask for Q&A submissions, or get quiet and tap into the collective consciousness to create what you most need to hear in this moment. What’s the “love letter” you want to write or say if you were sitting across from one of your business besties (or your ideal reader or listener) in a coffee shop?✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Create an “always be listening” form (or field on an existing form asking about your audience’s biggest question or challenge) if you don’t already have one. For more on this, get your copy of Free Time and check out Chapter 13! 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One  How to Take Smart Notes: One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and Thinking by Sönke Ahrens Building a Second Brain: A Proven Method to Organize Your Digital Life and Unlock Your Creative Potential by Tiago Forte The Way to Wealth: Ben Franklin on Money and Success by Benjamin Franklin (Benjamin Franklin) 🔗Resources Mentioned: Free Time Toolkit, Free Time Operations Dashboard Videos: Matthew Dicks’ TEDxBerkshires Talk: Homework for Life, Curb Your Enthusiasm: Bad Middling YouTube Channel: The Deep Life with Cal Newport Article: New Yorkers Sick of Being Sick Notion web clipper: https://www.notion.so/web-clipper Jenny’s Loom walkthrough on Notion, and Notion for Collection Buckets 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  111: Building a Second Brain with Tiago Forte 142: 🍉 Pick the Low-Hanging Watermelon 124: JB’s 5 C’s System for Content Curation and Production 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟 Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review.❤️ Join Jenny’s private BFF community for access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/156 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What’s the right thing to do, and how do we do it quickly? In this conversation with Strategy Sprints founder Simon Severino, we cover: Why you shouldn’t start with your ideal avatar; setting daily, weekly, and monthly strategy planning (and measuring) habits; how he scales his business through certified Strategy Sprints® Coaches; creating self-healing loops, and greater resilience by tying roles to revenue.More About Simon: Simon Severino helps business owners in SaaS and services discover how to be able to run their company more efficiently, which results in sales that soar. Simon is the CEO and founder of Strategy Sprints which is a global team of certified Strategy Sprints® Coaches that offers a customized strategy to help clients gain market share and work in weekly sprints, which results in fast execution. He is also the host of the Strategy Sprints podcast, a Forbes Business Council Member, an Entrepreneur Magazine contributor, and a Duke Corporate Education member.🌟3 Key Takeaways: A 90-day sprint consists of 12 one-week sprints, each with 3 key measurement goals: one each for sales, operations, and marketing. Work backward to determine your ideal avatar: start helping people solve problems, then review what was the most fun and the most profitable. To build a lean, resilient process that can scale easily, make sure to establish self-healing loops and self-correcting mechanisms — with costs coming directly from profits, rather than being front-loaded. 📝Permission: Drop the idea that you have to do more. You don’t. Follow your process, and good things will result. ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Think about your next 90 days and identify daily, weekly and monthly habits you want to institute. Bonus: choose one numerical goal for each of the three key categories: marketing, sales, and operations.📘Books Mentioned:  Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Strategy Sprints: 12 Ways to Accelerate Growth for an Agile Business by Simon Severino Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days by Jake Knapp Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business by Gino Wickman It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at Work by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson The Road Less Stupid: Advice from the Chairman of the Board by Keith J. Cunningham 🔗Resources Mentioned:  Simon on the web, IG: @strategysprints, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook Simon’s Podcast: Strategy Sprints Jenny’s 2-Day Strategy Sprint Template ISO Certification 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  061: Scaling Boutique Businesses with Greg Alexander 016: IP Licensing with Lee LeFever 140: How to License Your IP (Intellectual Property) 122: My Top 5 Sources of Recurring Revenue Pivot: 126: How We Ran Our 2-Day Strategy Sprint (with Template)  💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe »🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review.❤️ You’re invited! Join Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners.💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/155 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As I shared in last week’s solo episode, Free Time isn’t about time management or productivity, or even simply doing work more efficiently. It is about setting time free. If our time is trapped like a bird in a cage, unless we break free of shoulds and obligations, there it will remain. We achieve this through smarter systems, and that includes getting better at saying no. My own tendency to say yes — in an effort to be liked, to please others, to be accommodating, or even to continue trying to “do right” by my work in promoting it — leads to burnout and resentment when to many “yeses” create time confetti and tiredness. In this episode, I’m sharing strategies that I’ve picked up along the way for doing the very hard thing of disappointing others by saying no. 🌟 Key Takeaways Do’s: Ask, “Is my focus done?”, create blanket rules, celebrate space, trust in timing and your own inner compass Don’ts: Punt something you don’t actually want to do to your future self, spend too many thinking cycles mulling a decision, beat yourself up, cave to FOMO 📝Permission: Treat indecision as the decision that it often is: no! Separate the guilt or shoulds you feel from what your intuition is saying to you. Would you initiate this request with joy, unprompted, or are you saying yes out of obligation?  ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Craft a graceful reply for a decision you’re facing, and don’t over-explain or defend your decision. Save your “graceful no” replies in the same place (I use Notion and TextExpander) so that you can return to them when facing the next tough no. 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Unsubscribe: How to Kill Email Anxiety, Avoid Distractions, and Get Real Work Done by Jocelyn K. Glei Drop the Ball: Achieving More by Doing Less by Tiffany Dufu 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  152: Do Less — On Entropic Bloat and Business Haircuts 141: Process, Permission Slips, and Business Pivots with Tara McMullin 052: Perceived Capacity vs. Actual Capacity 106: Splatology—On Clearing Time Clutter Pivot: 293: 🍝 Are you a Spaghetti-Twirler or a Spaghetti-Thrower? 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟 Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review.❤️ Join Jenny’s private BFF community for access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/154 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Imagine my surprise when, on the Saturday before I was set to be interviewed on a podcast last summer, my phone dings. It’s Door Dash.Huh?! I didn’t order anything . . .Turns out it was a surprise delivery from the producer of that show, Matthew Thompson. Next thing I know, my husband Michael and I are enjoying iced coffee and yummy treats with our Sunday morning reading—I have never felt so taken care of prior to guesting on a podcast!That’s Matt, and he’s all class (not to mention a fellow systems aficionado). When he suggested we flip the mic to talk more about my podcasting process, I leaped to say yes :) We talk about increasing the surface area of serendipity, saving time, improving interview quality with pre-surveys, and what we both learned from conducting three-month daily podcasting sprints.More About Matt: Producer Matt helps entrepreneurs around the world unlock the power of podcasting. Over the last five years, he's built a system that protects founders from the pain of podcasting so they can focus on having conversations that add value, build relationships and grow their business. Email him here »🌟3 Key Takeaways: Be discerning about diminishing returns. If your content doesn’t feel perfect, how much effort would it be to make the tweaks and changes you need, and is it really worth it for the difference in outcome you would get? If you have a podcast, transcribe your episodes and make sure that those transcripts are easily searchable so that you can quickly review your podcasting history for guests, key ideas, and quotations.  Thoughtfully giving gifts to guests can be a small investment in your process that pays huge dividends in your relationships. Consider how a gift can help digitally replicate some of your experiences in real life.  ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Review your tech stack: Look at the different tools and software you use to run your business and see if there have been any updates, changes to functionality, or new integrations you might be able to use to save yourself time and clicks.  📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect  🔗Resources Mentioned:  Matthew on the web, Best of Belfast podcast Tools:Notion, Descript, Zapier, Hourglass gift, Auphonic, Riverside.fm, Yeti Nano mic, Elevate coaching with Jay Acunzo, Loom walkthrough of Jenny’s podcast production process 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  Best of Belfast podcast: Amilra De Silva on Serendipity & the Chemistry of Everything, Isabel Woods: The 93-Year-Old Record-Breaking Cyclist Depression Cure podcast: ADHD 101: Superpowers, Myths & Unexpected Causes 130: Day in the Life of a Podcast Episode and How I Prepare for Guests Pivot 197: Should You Start a Podcast? "It's A Love Game" — Interview by Petra Kolber Pivot 300! 🎉 3 Creative Lessons Learned from 7+ Years of Podcasting  Pivot 41: The Progress Paradox with Gregg Easterbrook Pivot 307: Pivoting from Google to Starting People Playbook with Tony McGaharan  💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe »🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review.❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners.💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/153 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As I share in Free Time, nowhere is entropy more visually evident than in older homes or ones in nature. I remember staying at a cabin in the Catskills, where I could see right before my eyes all forms of plants and animals encroaching on the once-pristine house. Without upkeep, a dead tree teetered precariously toward the roof, weeds started overtaking the grass, spiders made themselves comfortable in bathroom corners, giant carpenter ants traversed the kitchen counters, and we spotted a garden snake crawling into the crevices of the outdoor hot tub.Entropy, defined as a gradual decline into disorder, is intrinsic to all organic systems, and it’s happening in your business, too. In this episode, I’m talking about entropic bloat and why we need to actively decide to do less, giving our business regular “haircuts” along the way.🌟 Key Takeaway: Due to entropic bloat, you need to actively eliminate aspects of your business that are no longer serving you. Ways to give your business a haircut: Raise prices Stop doing custom proposals Don’t negotiate Reset your boundaries Sell only one flagship product or service  Aggressively block your calendar Choose two focus areas for the year Tighten your filter Say no more, even when you’re excited Rethink contract terms Create content assets Shut down stale services Double check: eliminate before you delegate Create automations that eliminate future steps and friction 📝Permission: To be selfish in service of your business. Do less so you can say yes to producing more of your best work — the work you’ll look back on at the end of the year and be most proud of.✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Conduct an audit of all the projects and recurring tasks you have delegated to team members in your business and reconsider if they should be done at all.📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Unsubscribe: How to Kill Email Anxiety, Avoid Distractions, and Get Real Work Done by Jocelyn K. Glei Overwhelmed: Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time by Brigid Schulte What Works: A Comprehensive Framework to Change the Way We Approach Goal Setting by Tara McMullin Drop the Ball: Achieving More by Doing Less by Tiffany Dufu Do Less: A Revolutionary Approach to Time and Energy Management for Ambitious Women by Kate Northrup 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  141: Process, Permission Slips, and Business Pivots with Tara McMullin 143: Exploring Time, Money, and Energy Capacity with Tara McMullin and Charlie Gilkey 091: Quarterly Planning with Charlie Gilkey 140: How to License Your IP (Intellectual Property) 052: Perceived Capacity vs. Actual Capacity 106: Splatology—On Clearing Time Clutter 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟 Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review.❤️ Join Jenny’s private BFF community for access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners. 💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/152 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If life is a circus, then maybe there’s a way to get better at performing in it. As Laura shares in this conversation about ways to calm time chaos, “Nobody gets shot out of a cannon at the wrong time in a circus . . . it’s a miracle of precision.”In this week’s episode, you will learn how to shift from a sense of time scarcity to spacious serenity, how to overcome “horror vacui” and guilt when creating a more open schedule, the importance of margin and creating back-up slots (”rain dates”) for building a resilient a calendar, and committing to time that’s just for you.More About Laura: Laura Vanderkam is the author of several time management and productivity books, including Off the Clock, I Know How She Does It, What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast, and 168 Hours, and her newest book, Tranquility by Tuesday: 9 Ways to Calm the Chaos and Make Time for What Matters. She hosts two podcasts Best of Both Worlds and Before Breakfast. Her 2016 TED talk, How to Gain Control of Your Free Time has been viewed more than 12 million times.🌟3 Key Takeaways: Plan on Fridays: Create a 3-category priority list for the upcoming week for career, relationships, self. Create back-up slots: Build in “rain dates” for important events makes it more likely they will happen, even when unexpected events arise. Laura’s mantra, ‘If I plan tight, then light.’ Having space in a schedule is the psychological equivalent of sitting on a large emergency fund.” Do effortful fun Before effortless fun: When you get an unexpectedly free moment, make the effort to do something more meaningful to you than screen time on social media or Netflix. As Laura says, “Daydreaming counts, whereas wasted time is time spent mindlessly on things we don’t care about.” 📝Permission: Give up the idea that you need to book yourself solid and that the busier you are, the more important you are. Leave room for things to come up, whether they are interesting ideas or full-blown opportunities. ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: List some activities you’d like to do regularly. Choose one for the next week and aim to tick the “three times a week is a habit” box. Bonus: Create a 100 Dreams list with items large and small. Super bonus: Take one night (or full day!) just for you, just for fun. No working, care-taking, or people-pleasing for anyone else.📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Off the Clock: Feel Less Busy While Getting More Done Tranquility by Tuesday: 9 Ways to Calm the Chaos and Make Time for What Matters 🔗Resources Mentioned:  Laura on the web, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook Laura’s Podcasts: Best of Both Worlds, Before Breakfast Articles: Laura’s NYT Op-Ed — There’s a Better Way to Reclaim Your Time Than ‘Quiet Quitting’ TED Talk: How to gain control of your free time 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  003: Liberate Your Life Force with Christine Arylo 027: Time Management for Mortals with Oliver Burkeman  123: “Pricing is Branding” — Anti-Time Management with Richie Norton  💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe »🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review.❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners.💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/151 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome Deep Questions with Cal Newport listeners! I had so much fun recording the "Help me do less!" episode — check it out here if you haven't already :)This episode originally aired on January 7, 2022. 🎁 We're bringing back BOGOGO! Give the gift of free time to yourself and others in the new year by participating in our Buy One, Get One, Give One bonus—back for a limited time. Here's how it works: Buy One: Order the hardcover edition and submit proof of purchase at http://itsfreetime.com/bogogo Get One: Within one business day, you'll get audiobook access via private feed and the Free Time Toolkit Give One: You will get details on how to gift audiobook access to a friend :) [ 03:28 ] Shifting from specific goals toward surrender, surprise, and serendipity[ 06:07 ] The problem with the Druckerism that "You can't manage what you don't measure"[ 06:49 ] Why I find systems much more motivating; Scott Adams on goal-setting people vs. systems people[ 08:07 ] James Clear: "You don't rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems."[ 10:45 ] Book sales as an example of balancing intention, vision, and systems[ 13:48 ] Setting a compass for the year ahead — Healthy, Wealthy, Wise, and Grateful — did I add something to every bucket every day?[ 16:15 ] Also experimenting with Traction's EOS with my team by creating a weekly metrics scorecard so we can run split tests and improve our systems[ 18:00 ] Closing reflection questions and Thoreau quote📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One How to Be, Do, or Have Anything Outrageous Openness How to Fail at Almost Anything and Still Win Big Atomic Habits Traction 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Author Toolkit Scott Adams on The Tim Ferriss Show James Clear on Brené Brown's Dare to Lead podcast: Part 1, Part 2 Featured on CNBC: Kick-start your new year with a mind map like this Adele on Oprah: "It was never about losing weight. I'm an athlete." 🎙 Related Episodes: 012: Generating Personal MBA Momentum with Josh Kaufman Check out the full Free Time podcast archives here » 🎁 Give yourself (and a friend) the gift of Free Time as we head into 2022: Preorder and submit proof of purchase to get early access to the audiobook as part of the Buy One, Get One, Give One holiday bonus!❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, along with a private feed and community forum for Heart-Based Business Owners..💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/056 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"I never serve from my reserves" is just one of countless gems from one of my wisest friends, Christine Arylo. It is time for us to unhook from the over-culture operating system that produces burnout. Christine teaches us how to lead from the heart with a “pace of grace” by changing our relationship to time, energy, and flow (focus + fluidity).This episode originally aired on March 21, 2021.More about Christine: For more than a decade, through her transformation-based consulting company, Expanding Possibility, Christine Arylo has been a catalyst, mentor, and advisor for established and emerging leaders on 6 continents. The author of three previous bestsellers, her latest book is Overwhelmed and Over It: Embrace Your Power to Stay Centered and Sustained in a Chaotic World.❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener supported—consider donating to become a podcast Insider and you’ll get access to a private monthly Q&A call with Jenny.📘 Books Mentioned: Pivot, Overwhelmed and Over It, Choosing ME Before WE, Madly in Love with ME, Reform Your Inner Mean Girl🔗 Resources Mentioned: Christine on the web, Instagram: christinearylo, Podcast: Feminine Power Time, Am I Overgiving? Quiz: Overwhelmed & Over It Self Care Quiz💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com💸 Enroll in the Mini-Course: Free-up Founder Time💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts: http://pod.link/freetime📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! http://itsfreetime.com/episodes/003 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Free Time for Your Future Self: For any area of your business that causes friction, run through these systems-thinking questions to inspire small steps today that will save time far into the future. This is from our BFF community’s private feed, with an excerpt from the Free Time book and toolkit. If you want to join a group of smart, heart-centered, generous and successful business owners who are committed to our “take a penny, leave a penny” Brilliance Barter philosophy, I encourage you to learn more and join us!This episode originally aired on June 17, 2022. 🎁 We're bringing back BOGOGO! Give the gift of free time to yourself and others in the new year by participating in our Buy One, Get One, Give One bonus—back for a limited time. Here's how it works: Buy One: Order the hardcover edition and submit proof of purchase at http://itsfreetime.com/bogogo Get One: Within one business day, you'll get audiobook access via private feed and the Free Time Toolkit Give One: You will get details on how to gift audiobook access to a friend :) 🌟3 Key Takeaways: Prioritize designing processes for the critical systems in your business, and let the ‘nice to have’ systems be good enough for now.  Break your calcified habits by stepping back (or jumping back in!) and looking at your processes with fresh eyes at least twice a year. Freeing time is a muscle we build. It takes practice and adopting a way of thinking about how you document and delegate. 📝Permission: To take a break or a walk. Solutions to our most vexing challenges don’t often come to us while we’re sitting at our desk, so get up and drop a bucket into the wishing well of your brain, then trust that it will pop up with solutions when it’s time! ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: If this, then what? For friction area in your business, consider what the trigger action is, what next step needs to happen first, and whether it can be automated through a service like Zapier. 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business, Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One 🔗 Resources Mentioned:  Free Time Toolkit, Private BFF Community Automation tools: Zapier, IFTTT Publishing Company: Get it Done Related Podcast Episodes:  002: Eliminate Email with Cal Newport 042: How I Run My Business Without Social Media (Pivot Replay) 062: Made By Monday 🐸 On Content "Frog" Batching 092: Train the System, Then the Person 101: Run Your Business with Exquisite Greatness and Tiny Art Projects with Alexandra Franzen  Pivot 076: On Plan Z, Creative Finish Lines and the Graceful No—with Alexandra Franzen Pivot 183: Cultivating Opposites and Checklists with Alexandra Franzen 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » ❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, a private feed, and access to a community forum with fellow Heart-Based Business Owners.💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/tools💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/102 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices