Free Time with Jenny Blake

Are you winding down the path of writing the wrong book? What does it take to create a marketing tipping point? What separates good books from platform books? Make sure you listen to part one of this conversation first, then dive into part two of this conversation with “bookitect” David Moldawer. More About David: David Moldawer spent over a decade as a book editor at a slew of New York publishing houses including St. Martin’s Press, McGraw-Hill, and Penguin, acquiring and editing bestselling nonfiction in the areas of business, technology, health, and memoir. Today, he’s an independent writer and editor. He also writes the Maven Game, a newsletter for experts, authors, publishers, and agents on making ideas and knowledge public—writing, speaking, sharing—without hating yourself in the morning. 🌟3 Key Takeaways: Most books fail, and most people don’t read books—but it’s much more useful to think about what would happen if your book is wildly successful. If you had a smart friend who wrote to you and said, “I know you’re an expert on XYZ, can you explain this to me?” You would do so clearly and directly. That is the kind of energy that should go into writing a non-fiction book. There’s a difference between a platform book and a good book; if you have a slow-build book, it’s like a marathon — pace yourself accordingly. 📝 Permission: To build an audience in ways that resonate with you; go all-in on one or two platforms that energize you, and ditch the rest of the “shiny (social) shoulds”! ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: If you didn’t do this after listening to part one, create an idea capture file. I use Notion for this - check out the Loom walkthrough here, and the full Author Toolkit here »📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College  Girl Wash Your Face  Perennial Seller  The Personal MBA  Atomic Habits  The Tipping Point  Exactly What to Say  Books by 37 Signals co-founders Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson 🔗Resources Mentioned:  David on the web, Twitter, LinkedIn  Newsletter: The Maven Game Jenny’s Author Toolkit (including the book marketing spreadsheet) MBS’s article on selling over 100,000 copies of The Coaching Habit Video: Exactly How to Sell 1 Million Books (Phil M. Jones) Chandler Bolt’s Self-Publishing School podcast 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  036: Shaping Big Ideas — Notion Walkthrough #2 012: Generating Personal MBA Momentum with Josh Kaufman  038: Tracking Progress Toward Finishing a Book (or Big Idea) with an Essay Tracker — Notion Walkthrough #3 057: You 2.0 with MBS   💻 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/105 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

So you’re getting good at saving yourself time; but what about saving other people’s time? How creative are you at reducing their next steps? The latter is a gift that keeps on giving. Visualize the final outcome, and work backward to envision how you can take the few next steps to save time and effort for fellow stakeholders.🌟3 Key Takeaways: Take a few extra minutes to reflect before marking a task “done.”  Do the work upfront of thinking about what someone will need next. What happens after this next part is done? Can you do any more for them? Visualize the final outcome of the task you’re working on - what can you do to get as close to that outcome as possible before throwing the ball into the next person’s court?  📝Permission: Do a little bit of extra work now, knowing it will save the next person next steps.✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Review your customer journey. After somebody purchases, what’s next? Whatever the answer, see if you can design a process to do it for them; or if not, simplify, clarify, and communicate so that the next onboarding steps run smoothly.📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business, Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One 🔗Resources Mentioned: Free Time Dashboard 🎧Related Podcast Episodes: 102: 12 Systems-Thinking Steps for Moving from Friction to Flow and 054: Ten T's of Successful Delegating💻 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/104 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What takes a book proposal past the slush pile onto a publisher’s deal sheet? How do you get the attention of literary agents who might also be looking for you? In the first half of this two-part conversation, I’m chatting with longtime publishing, editing, and ghostwriting maven David Moldawer about what makes a great “big” book idea. More About David: David Moldawer spent over a decade as a book editor at a slew of New York publishing houses including St. Martin’s Press, McGraw-Hill, and Penguin, acquiring and editing bestselling nonfiction in the areas of business, technology, health, and memoir. Today, he’s an independent writer and editor. He also writes the Maven Game, a newsletter for experts, authors, publishers, and agents on making ideas and knowledge public—writing, speaking, sharing—without hating yourself in the morning. 🌟3 Key Takeaways: Get to the heart of your goals for your book by visualizing yourself taking your current draft and putting it on Kindle within an hour. Is that what you want to be presenting? Why or why not? If you want to write a book in your category, read books in your category to better understand the challenges and possibilities. People are more likely to buy your book because you wrote it than because of the content, so emphasize your audience and platform. 📝 Permission: Go ahead and reach out to agents with a concise query email—don’t forget they are in the business of meeting new authors and finding great books! Just make sure to find one who specializes in the kind of book you want to write.✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Create an idea capture file. I use Notion for this - check out the Loom walkthrough here, and the full Author Toolkit here »📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College, Girl Wash Your Face Perennial Seller  The Personal MBA Atomic Habits The Tipping Point  Exactly What to Say  Books by 37 Signals cofounders Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson 🔗Resources Mentioned:  David on the web, Twitter, LinkedIn  Newsletter: The Maven Game Jenny’s Author Toolkit (including the book marketing spreadsheet) MBS’s article on selling over 100,000 copies of The Coaching Habit Video: Exactly How to Sell 1 Million Books (Phil M. Jones) Chandler Bolt’s Self-Publishing School podcast 🎧Related Podcast Episodes:  036: Shaping Big Ideas — Notion Walkthrough #2 012: Generating Personal MBA Momentum with Josh Kaufman  038: Tracking Progress Toward Finishing a Book (or Big Idea) with an Essay Tracker — Notion Walkthrough #3 057: You 2.0 with MBS   💻 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/103 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!🌟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

How has Alexandra Franzen built two thriving businesses without social media? By delivering work with a quality I like to call “exquisite greatness.” She treats every marketing initiative like a tiny art project, something to get excited about rather than a draining chore to dread—and no, it doesn’t require social media. As Alex shares, according to a Nielsen study, 92% of customers purchase products or services because of a recommendation from someone they know.More About Alex: Alexandra Franzen is a bestselling author, award-winning editor, and entrepreneur based in Hawaii. She’s the co-founder of Get It Done, a company providing writing coaching, editing, proofreading, cover design, publishing, and distribution services for clients who want to write a book. She writes one of my favorite newsletters at AlexandraFranzen.com, and runs her popular Tiny Book Course. Alex deleted all of her social media accounts eight years ago as she describes in her forthcoming book, Marketing Without Social Media.🌟 3 Key Takeaways: Being excellent at what you do is the best way to get more clients and revenue. Do less and do it better. There is always another layer of simplicity you can reach with your work. Flex your asking muscle. Remember that what you are asking for is usually a win-win and you will be giving as much as you receive.  📝 Permission: Give yourself a raise! If you are excellent at what you do, significantly increase what you charge. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: If you’re stressed by social media, take a break; stop for a week and see how it feels. It’ll be fine. It might even be great, allowing you to focus on creating tiny art with your business communications instead. 📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Marketing Without Social Media: 100 Marketing Ideas (No Social Media Required) for Business Owners, Founders, Freelancers, Authors, Artists, Musicians, and Creatives   The 3-Day Effect 🔗 Resources Mentioned:   Alex on the web, Get It Done, Tiny Book Course, Marketing Without Social Media Program Ben Wendel  Brand Strategist: Jennifer Kem  Erin Haag: Pricing Overhaul  Video: Adele on Oprah Related Podcast Episodes:  183: Cultivating Opposites and Checklists with Alexandra Franzen 076: On Plan Z, Creative Finish Lines and the Graceful No—with Alexandra Franzen 075: Coaching Through the Free Time Framework with Wade Brill 020: Pricing Psychology with Jacquette Timmons   💻 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/101 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dearest Free Timers: I can’t believe it, but this marks the 100th episode of this show since launching on March 21, 2021! Today I've given myself the tricky task of trying to pair down the top ten lessons learned this last year and a half. I wish I could’ve pulled an excerpt from every single guest, but alas! These are the lessons that stuck most, sparking new insights and ahas. 🌟 If you enjoy this round-up, I’d be so grateful for you to share in a review for Free Time: What insights have stood out to you most these last 100 episodes?🔗 Super bonus? Please also share this episode with a friend! Visit pod.link/freetime to easily send the link to this episode or any other favorites, with handy buttons to open in your recipient’s favorite podcast player.✨ Top Ten Lessons from 💯 Episodes ✨#1: See yourself as a star performer, and challenge yourself to delegate ever-more of the rest. [01:54] 006: Going Pro on Podcasting with Jordan Harbinger 011: Pitching Shark Tank with Sarah Apgar 019: Most Valuable Activities with Dave Crenshaw #2: Focus on building process, not reactive replies, to reduce incoming noise. [04:39]002: Eliminate Email with Cal Newport#3: An abundance mindset is bigger than money; remember, we are “Funded by Source.” [07:27]029: Funded By Source with Ksenia Avdulova#4: Zoom out to see brand as an investment, not a cost. [09:53] 005: Brand Obsessed with Emily Heyward 045: Behind the Free Time Brand with Adam Chaloeicheep 093: How to Sell Your Online Business with Alexis Grant #5: Build redundancy by stepping back from being the bottleneck; if you’re running a “body shop” find ways to leverage your IP to create greater scale and reach. [14:24] 057: You vs. You 2.0 with MBS 061: Scaling Boutique Businesses with Greg Alexander #6: Say no to people-pleasing and invitations that don’t spark joy. [19:57] 003: Liberate Your Life Force with Christine Arylo 035: The Long Game with Dorie Clark 071: Cues - On Charisma with Vanessa Van Edwards #7: Go beyond a launch project (after which energy inevitably fizzles) to create a more sustainable sales system. [24:59]012: Generating Personal MBA Momentum with Josh Kaufman#8: Buyer’s remorse is inevitable; create a strategic plan and supporting processes to address it. [26:43]083: Breaking through Buyer’s Remorse—Never Lose a Customer Again with Joey Coleman#9: You’re doing extra work if you’re not creating evergreen email sequences! Save your best newsletters as part of an ongoing welcome series for new subscribers. [29:45]069: Epic Evergreen Email Sequences with Allan Dib#10: When it comes to taking risks and taking on new projects, don’t worry about competition: ask what’s safe to try, and remember that there is room for you. [33:05] 081: DAOing and Prioritizing Progress over Perfection with Aaron Dignan 089: Is the Podcast Market Too Saturated? Featuring Megan Dougherty of One Stone Creative 📝 Permission: To keep hitting publish on your projects and ongoing public original thinking, no matter how awkward or imperfect. 📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business, Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One 💻 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/100 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Finding the perfect problem is like falling in love. You can’t always choose the when or the what, but when it happens, you need to be ready to take action. In the second half of this two-part episode with Jim McKelvey, author of The Innovation Stack, we dive into the ways that finding your perfect problem parallels falling in love, and why having a lot of money doesn’t solve all business problems; often it creates more.More About Jim: Jim McKelvey is a glassblower, father, entrepreneur, author, aviator, computer programmer, chairman of the St. Louis Federal Reserve, and inventor, and that is just scratching the surface. As for where to connect? As he puts it, “Please don’t ask me to connect on Facebook, WhatsApp or Instagram. I’m not there. I’ve got better things to do. And frankly, so do you.”🌟 3 Key Takeaways: The right problem chooses you. Be aware enough of your process to know when a problem is calling you. The problem with expertise is that it only reflects what has been done. Don’t disqualify yourself from picking up tools and trying to fix new problems. You have gifts in a wide variety of different areas, so think about how you can mix and match them to help you solve the problems you’re passionate about.  💌 Permission: Charge people for your time, and bill for your attention.✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Put your time into a new perspective. Are you spending too much time on things that don’t matter instead of solving your perfect problem?📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One The Innovation Stack: Building an Unbeatable Business One Crazy Idea at a Time Resources Mentioned:  Jim on the web, Twitter, LinkedIn PayMail Chrome Extension Gotham Podcast Studio VICE special on 🐍 Burmese Pythons in the Everglades Related Podcast Episodes: 043: From Start-Up to Grown-up (and Coach to Author) with Alisa Cohn 097 How to Find Your Perfect Problem with Jim McKelvey 💻 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/099 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There is a Goldilocks quality to designing a Delightfully Tiny Team, a horseshoe of team happiness. Too small, and you are taxingly tiny: in many cases when you have fewer than three people, and certainly if you are entirely solo, the burden of moving the business forward falls entirely on you. It is hard to get the rest and recharging you need to do strategic work. On the other end of the horseshoe, if your team is too big, you may feel burdened by pressure and complexity.If you’re a business owner oriented toward High Net Freedom, you might be interested in today’s topic: creating Minimum Viable Teams (MVTs). Minimum Viable Teams are as small as possible, while reducing owner-as-bottleneck and enabling each person to work with ease and joy. MVTs enable your best work, a personal sweet spot of efficiency and freedom as the owner.The perfect team size for you feels, on the whole (even if not every day), delightful. You delegate the details and have automated and systematized enough of them that even your team is not overwhelmed by minutiae. Processes are clearly defined, and team members are clear on their role and responsibilities, freeing them to take on more creative projects in the business.🌟 3 Key Takeaways: What makes a team delightful tiny is up to you, the leader, to decide based on the intersection of 3 things: your strengths and energy, your current strategic projects, and desired outcomes for your team and business. If your team is too big or too small for your personality and preferences, you may feel the Downer D’s: dread, despair, depressed, drained, or distracted. 7 Key Ingredients that enable an MVT: Clarity, focus, metrics, software, communication cadence, process (and Manager Manual), regular time audits. 📝 Permission: Build the smallest viable team, with no intention or desire to expand, that still frees you from being the bottleneck in your business.✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Conduct a time audit. What is taking disproportionate time for diminishing return on results? How can you take a cookie dough approach instead, where you let good enough be good enough, without something being fully baked? 📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One  Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business  Rocket Fuel: The One Essential Combination That Will Get You More of What You Want from Your Business Start Finishing: How to Go From Idea to Done 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Free Time Resources: Toolkit, Operations Dashboard  Tools: Notion, Zapier, Podscribe Podcast Production: One Stone Creative Social Media Scheduling: Meet Edgar, Buffer Article on Flow: Increasing the ‘Meaning Quotient’ of Work Related Podcast Episodes:  045: Behind the Free Time Brand with Adam Chaloeicheep 069: Epic Evergreen Email Sequences with Alan Dibb 091: Quarterly Planning with Charlie Gilkey Pivot 136: Start Finishing: Pricing Projects and Momentum Planning with Charlie Gilkey Chill and Prosper: Why I love Batching Content Creation 💻 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/098 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How can you find — and attempt the great feat of solving — your perfect problem? That’s what I’m talking about today with my guest, Square co-founder Jim McKelvey. His book, The Innovation Stack: Building an Unbeatable Business One Crazy Idea at a Time, is one of the funniest and most engaging business books I’ve read. We met at TED through our mutual friend Jon Levy, and had the great joy of recording together in person at a studio in midtown Manhattan. In the first half of this two-part episode, we delve into fending off an attack from “the perfect predator” of competition, Amazon.More About Jim: Jim McKelvey is a glassblower, father, entrepreneur, author, aviator, computer programmer, chairman of the St. Louis Federal Reserve, and inventor, and that is just scratching the surface. As for where to connect? As he puts it, “Please don’t ask me to connect on Facebook, WhatsApp or Instagram. I’m not there. I’ve got better things to do. And frankly, so do you.”“People who want to build something new often feel they lack sufficient expertise. Their assertion is correct, but not complete. The same lack of expertise applies to everyone on the planet. Innovation has no experts.” —Jim McKelvey🌟 3 Key Takeaways: No expert has to tell you that something is a problem, you just know. A real problem is obvious. A perfect problem is one that excites you, has never been solved, and with enough work and the right team, can be solved by you.  Change and innovation is messy, which means that great solutions are usually many tiny solutions that all work together.  💌 Permission: Charge people for your time, and bill for your attention. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Be an observer this week: what problems are consuming your energy and attention, perhaps with a zing of excitement and possibility`? Could you be in a unique position to solve them?  📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One The Innovation Stack: Building an Unbeatable Business One Crazy Idea at a Time Resources Mentioned:  Jim on the web, Twitter, LinkedIn PayMail Chrome Extension Gotham Podcast Studio Video: VICE special on 🐍 Burmese Pythons in the Everglades Related Podcast Episodes: 043: From Start-Up to Grown-up (and Coach to Author) with Alisa Cohn💻 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/097 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today I’m sharing the recording from our second-to-last book launch team Q&A one month after Free Time launched. I share post-launch stats, lessons learned, how I think about investments I’ve made, and share more about how helpful my “Author Support Group” (ASG) calls were with friends along the way. Save the Date: I'm excited to partner with Caveday (featured on p. 266 of Free Time!) for a deep-dive conversation about the book, followed by a guided work sprint, their specialty :) Think of it like virtual coworking aimed at helping you make meaningful progress on a deep work project :) It's on Thursday, June 9 at 11 a.m. ET. Learn more and register to join us here » 🌟 3 Key Takeaways: Set up an Amazon Author Central Account to see helpful data during your launch, and run experiments on the Amazon Ads platform. Ask Amazon to add additional categories to your book; they only assign three by default, but you can request 8 to 10. Schedule your own “ASG” calls with fellow writers and/or business owners; set-up a Google doc, then split your call in half as you help each other bounce ideas around and make tough decisions on elements that you’re too close to. 📝 Permission: To launch in waves, and take a break after you initial activity burst. Then reemerge recharged for a second (and third!) launch phase.✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: For your next big launch, block out at least two weeks of Do Not Schedule (DNS) time in your calendar immediately following (do this far in advance, or your far more likely to schedule over it). Your future self will thank you!📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business  Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One  Turning the Flywheel (Monograph), and Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't Expansive Impact: An Invitation to Lead in Everyday Moments How to Begin: Start Doing Something That Matters The Power of Fun: How to Feel Alive Again 🔗 Resources Mentioned:  Free Time Programs: BFF Community (Use code JBFriend for 50% off your first month’s enrollment!), Operations Dashboard, Coaching Amazon Author Central Amazon Ads Manager How to Run a Goodreads Giveaway Listen Notes Podscribe.ai Circle Descript Authors Who Lead Jessica Snyder Edits Asynchronous communication apps: Marco Polo, Voxer  Related Podcast Episodes:  064: The Vulnerability of Launching 063: On Burnout and Business Intuition with Azul Terronez of Authors Who Lead 057: You+ vs. You 2.0 with MBS 031: Eleventh-Hour Creative Gremlins Pivot: 277: Expansive Impact and Spacious Scheduling with Sarah Young 💻 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/096 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices