Free Time with Jenny Blake

Does the world really need this? This is one of the inevitable existential dilemmas of creative work. You have to decide that your work is worth your time and energy, because no one is asking you for it. Today’s guest, Jessica Abel, is someone whose work I have long admired for its richness and depth. In this conversation, we talk about navigating the “Dark Forests” of creativity; go behind-the-business when one of her most successful books, Out on the Wire, was taking off; the causes behind cyclical burnout; three revenue-generating paths that she’s seen work best; and calculating your enough number as a small business owner. More About Jessica: Jessica is an author and indie cartoonist-turned-creative business strategist (founder of Autonomous Creative) who has published a number of comics and prose books, including Growing Gills: How to Find Creative Focus When You're Drowning in Your Daily Life and Out on the Wire: The Storytelling Secrets of the New Masters of Radio. She also hosts the Out on the Wire and The Autonomous Creative podcasts. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways The Dark Forest is a creative phase when you question the value of a project and if you should even continue working on it. Three main ways to fund creative work: Low-cost products and mass marketing, fitting your creative projects around more traditional work, and/or designing a high-end high-ticket business. Calculate your enough number by determining the amount of money you need to meet all of your obligations (including taxes and long-term savings), then determine capacity for the number of clients you can take on or products you can create. Divide the first number by the second to yield the minimum amount you need to charge. 📝 Permission: You do not have to make your living from your creative work. Money doesn’t have to enter the picture at all for you to be the real thing, to make work that has an impact, that expresses something you need to express. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Do the math on what would help you and your business thrive. If you haven’t already, check out the earlier conversation, 175: Give Yourself a Raise with Erin Haag. 🔗 Resources Mentioned Jessica on the web, IG: @autonomouscreative, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn Articles: Hustle Culture is Really a Scam—On Cyclical Burnout, Brad Troemel’s Athletic Aesthetics, How do you know if it’s time to quit? On the Dark Forest (with Kazu Kibuishi’s tweet we referenced) Videos: THE GAP — Ira Glass on Taste vs. Talent, The New Masters of Storytelling, SPX Spotlight on Jessica Abel and NPR Brad Troemel on the MFA pyramid scheme, Jessica at Creative Mornings on Flow Tools: YNAB, Jessica’s calculator, ****When do I earn out? (Jane Friedman's calculator for traditional book deals) 📚 Books Mentioned Out on the Wire: The Storytelling Secrets of the New Masters of Radio Growing Gills: How to Find Creative Focus When You're Drowning in Your Daily Life Trish Trash: Rollergirl of Mars Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes Jessica’s podcasts: The Autonomous Creative, Out on the Wire Also Mentioned: This American Life, Radiolab, Planet Money Free Time: 181: Be Irreplaceable with My Creative Coach Jay Acunzo 182:🏚️The Challenges of Renovating a (Business) House while Living in It 175: Give Yourself a Raise with Erin Haag 162: Should You Self-Publish? (Part One) 164: Let’s Talk Royalties re: Publishing Options (Part Two) 174: What Book Marketing has to do with Glass Blowing: Reflecting on Free Time’s 1-Year Bookiversary 🥂 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode and share it with a friend: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/195 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today I'm sharing ten more of my favorite recent GPT4 prompts and experiments for creative business owners. This episode originally aired as a bonus episode for the private BFF community, as a follow-up to a case study on how ChatGPT has helped me draft a few solo podcast episodes. Want more where this came from? Join us in the private BFF community and/or Free Time Operations Dashboard with promo code PODCAST. 🏝️ I’m also opening up ten Voxer coaching spots to work with me 1:1. Enrollment closes when the 10 spots are filled or by EOD June 4, whichever comes first. Learn more and sign-up » (Apply promo code PODCAST at check-out) 💬 As always, I'd love if we could crowd-source on this one! What are the most interesting GPT prompts that you've tried? Join BFF so you can share with us in the comments! 🎧 Or if you're listening on Spotify, answer the question prompt at the bottom of this episode's page :) 🔗 Resources Mentioned Video: OpenAI cofounder Greg Brockman’s 2023 TED talk, The inside story of ChatGPT's astonishing potential TV Series: Big Door Prize (Apple TV+) and Trailer (YouTube) Tools: OpenAI’s ChatGPT (+ iOS app), Midjourney, There’s an AI for that, Zapier, Descript, TextExpander Mighty Networks: AI Community Generator and Community Design Accelerator (course) Download the Circle mobile app if you haven't already (for jumping into group discussions more easily) 📰Articles Descript (audio and video editor): How to use ChatGPT to improve your creative process NYT: 35 ways people are using AI and NYT Magazine cover image mentioned Zapier: The best AI productivity tools in 2023 and How to use OpenAI's GPT4 to write emails Ann Handley: What does AI Mean for Writers? I Have Thoughts. Alex Berenson: Potential Perils of AI 🎧 Related Episodes Pivot: 321: ChatGPT as Universal Intern and Permission Not to Be a Billionaire with Kevin Kelly March BFF Bonus: Case Study—How ChatGPT Helped Me Write My Latest Solo Episode (join here with promo code PODCAST) Free Time: 045: Behind the Free Time Brand with Adam Chaloeicheep 167: Transform Your Approach to Community-Building with Gina Bianchini 163: Leveraging Idea Kernels to Create Compelling Content with Khe Hy 124: JB’s 5 C’s System for Content Curation and Production 096: Book Sales Stats—One Month Post-Launch 🎉 190: 🐍 How the Cobra Effect Creates Perverse Incentives and Metrics Tyranny 💻 Prompts I share in the episode A la Big Door Prize: What's {your name + descriptors} life purpose? Can also provide a list of interests and ask it to suggest potential revenue streams. Brand Guidelines: Create a voice style guide, including brand emoji Differentiators: What makes {your name + descriptors} unique? Based on Amazon and/or podcast reviews. Sales documents: Make the case for why your IP has a competitive moat around it. Email replies: Draft 3 warm, friendly potential responses to a tricky email, 3-5 sentences each in U.S. English. Content planning: Quotes, stats, cite research studies, create case studies for that topic x Your specific audience Content posting: Show notes and social shares, headline options; guest share email. Negotiation Communications: Draft response with your outcome/s in mind. Midjourney (image generation): Visioning for you or clients, i.e. ideal home. Create a mascot for your business. Upload a CSV → analyze the data: Can you make some exploratory graphs? P&L analysis? Word Cloud? Etc. Non-work related: Vet or doctor's test results, menu planning, and so much more! ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Try just one of the ideas above! 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review ❤️ Join our BFF community for Heart-Based Business owners 🛠 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The average American worker gets 11 days of paid vacation per year. Among those with unlimited paid time off (PTO), the average person takes 19 days off per year, yet 48% of Americans say they still check their work email while away. What about business owners? Although it seems like we have more free time, the reality is that life as a business owner can be a 24/7 unceasing, all-consuming task. Even if you’re not at the computer, your passing thoughts probably drift toward what you need to do, projects to tackle, revenue gaps to make up for. Today’s guest, DJ DiDonna, is an advocate for taking more abundant time off—ideally measured in months, not days or weeks. By DJ’s definition, sabbaticals should go beyond recovering from burnout; instead offering extended time to learn more about yourself in unstructured, even “unproductive” ways. More About DJ: DJ DiDonna is a Senior Lecturer in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit at Harvard Business School, where he teaches the required first-year course: The Entrepreneurial Manager. In 2019, he founded The Sabbatical Project to define, explore, and research sabbaticals. He is currently working on a book based on this research, called Time Off Well Spent: A Sabbatical Manifesto. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways DJ defines a sabbatical as: Measured in months not days or weeks; taken intentionally; no specific outcome in mind (i.e. not working or trying to achieve anything); where you are exploring and learning something new about yourself. Three archetypes of sabbatical-takers: Explorer, Seeker, and Achiever. You might toggle between all three during your time off, switching modes from working holiday (passion project) to free dives (exploring the world), to more personal quests (existential discovery). Sabbaticals ideally start slow, with extended time to heal: sleeping in, eating healthier, and reconnecting with family or friends. When sabbaticals serendipitously unfold from recovery to exploration to putting that learning into practice, they can “lead you to a really radical new self.” 📝 Permission: Take four to six months off, even if it’s two years from now to give you enough time to prepare. Entrepreneurs often grasp their role in their companies too tightly, and inadvertently create a business that will fail without them. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Look for the area of your business that would fail without you. What small step could you take today to bolster that area for the future? 🔗 Resources Mentioned DJ on the web, Twitter, LinkedIn, The Sabbatical Project Quiz: What’s your sabbatical style? Videos: TEDxEVHS—DJ’s Sabbaticals: Time [off] well spent, TED—Stefan Sagmeister’s The Power of Time Off, How Bug Soup Becomes a Butterfly, David Foster Wallace This is Water Commencement Speech. Course: Sabbatical Basecamp 📚 Books Mentioned Time Off Well Spent: A Sabbatical Manifesto (Coming soon!) by DJ DiDonna Clockwork, Revised and Expanded: Design Your Business to Run Itself by Mike Michalowicz Reboot: Leadership and the Art of Growing Up by Jerry Colonna The 4-Hour Work Week: Escape the 9-5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich by Tim Ferris Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One 🎧 Related Episodes SPARKED: How to Take a Life-Changing Sabbatical with DJ DiDonna and How I Took a Month Off to Write & Make Art (and what REALLY happened) Good Life Project: Jenny Blake | How to Create More Free Time The Tim Ferris Show: How to Reboot Yourself with Jerry Colonna Free Time: 166: Crashing into Quiet Time, 146: New? Help Us Welcome the Next You (A Message for Your New Team Members), 044: Are You High Net Freedom? Pivot: 124: Penney & Jenny Show — Embracing Liminal Space (the In-Between), 45: Happy Launch Day!! Pivot for the Podcast: James Altucher Interviews Jenny 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode and share it with a friend: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/193 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today I'm sharing five creative ways to better organize your phone contacts. I hope it’s helpful and time-saving toward a very important end: feeling less overwhelmed by relationships! 🏝️ Friendly Reminder: I’m opening up ten Voxer coaching spots to work with me 1:1 (asynchronously). I’d love to help you take a step back from the day-to-day operations of your business and set even more of your time free this summer! Enrollment closes when the 10 spots are filled or by EOD June 4, whichever comes first. Learn more and enroll » (Apply promo code PODCAST at check-out) 🌟 5 Strategies for Better Organizing Your Contacts Make notes about each person when you chat with them in their contact card within your phone: For example, ****spouse’s name, kids’ names, pets names, important milestones). Identify your friendship circles and a cadence for each: 5, 15, 50, 150, 151+ Pin your favorites in texts and contacts. Create a go-to moniker for your MIPs such as Keith Ferrazzi’s “Lifeline,” saving it as their middle name so you can search when you need a trusted friend to call. Create collection buckets for cities, even if you don’t know their full address. You could even keep it mainly to people you’d want to see when you visit. If you want to separate these out, indicate their city as the company name or in notes. Ie: Visit Austin or Austin Travel Add confirmation text phone numbers to your contacts with an emoji identifier, Either in first name field or by customizing the image. For example, ie 💊 Capsule Pharmacy, 📦Shipping Updates, 🐾 Vet, 👩🏻‍⚕️ Doctor, etc. This way they immediately jump out and stand apart from spam, and might even spark a little joy when you see them :) Here’s an example of Jenny’s » Bonus: Keep a Notes note with your neighbors names and a 1-2 word description to jog your memory :) 📝 Permission: Not to create a full-on CRM or pay for expensive overly complicated software. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Spruce up your ability to keep in touch with people who are important to you by implementing just one of the ideas above. 🔗 Resources Mentioned Get Jenny’s KIT template (CRM) and so many more in the done-for-you Free Time Operations Dashboard (apply promo code PODCAST for 10% off) Submit your favorite Time-Saving System for fellow Free Timers at http://itsfreetime.com/ask Articles: Why You Need the “Lifeline Relationships” (PDF), 5/25/150: The Secret of the Best Networker I Ever Met by Sean Johnson (via RadReads.co) Video: BNET—Who’s Got Your Back? Book Brief Apps: Notion, Google/Gmail Contacts, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Relatable Books: Friends by Robin Dunbar and Who’s Got Your Back? by Keith Ferrazzi 🎧 Related Episodes 125: How to Create Your Own CRM with Alex Sherwood 083: Breaking through Buyer’s Remorse—Never Lose a Customer Again with Joey Coleman 120: Transform Your To-Do List into a Results List — Leanne’s Favorite Time-Saving System 🌟 Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review ❤️ Join our BFF community for Heart-Based Business owners 🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit » 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Small hinges move big doors.” That one thought helped Karen Allen pick herself up from the depths of grief after losing her husband in a tragic, senseless act of violence nearly a decade ago. Shortly afterward, she lost her house, her car, and then one year later — her job. Getting fired followed just a few months after an intuitive hit that corporate wasn’t the best fit for her any longer was a blessing in disguise that precipitated the founding of her now-thriving business, one where she puts her son front-and-center as her North star. In this conversation, Karen shares how she navigated overwhelming grief while parenting, structuring her business for free time as a single parent, and how her business has evolved as she continues gaining clarity about who she wants to be and how she wants to serve. More About Karen: Karen is a super-mom, healthy eater, and keynote speaker. After experiencing the tragedy of losing her husband, she picked herself up and set out to thrive for her son’s sake. She is the founder of the 100% Human movement, helping others develop a mindset of joy and abundance through her community. She also hosts the In the Details podcast. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways Gratitude helps balance out the negativity in our brain: Return to even the most simple acknowledgments, like having a soft pillow to lay down on at night. “My intuition has been sharpened through faith.” There are beautiful parallels between the two; you won’t always see things working at first. The universe rewards a courageous heart: look out for #GodHugs encouraging you to stay rooted in your values and what you know intuitively know to be true. 📝 Permission: Do what your soul is calling you to do, and create it in a way that supports you. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Identify your triad (or duo or quad) of life/work categories you want to be entirely present for; for example, time with family, for your business, for your community. Make sure each have their own dedicated (and inviolable!) space in your schedule. 📚 Books Mentioned Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman Deep Work by Cal Newport Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🔗 Resources Mentioned Karen on the web, IG: @karen.m.allen, LinkedIn, TikTok Video: Use Your Tragedy to Change the World Sarah K. Peck’s Startup Parent podcast and community 🎧 Related Episodes Karen’s podcast, In the Details: Introducing In the Details (Karen’s Story) Pivot: 29: Deep Work: Ditch Cognitive Junk Food with Cal Newport, 87: Penney Interviews Jenny—We Are Souls, 314: Doing Less, Focusing More After Taking a Two-Month Leave with Adrian Klaphaak Free Time: 171: Discovering Your Divine Assignment with Melissa Hughes (while Building with Grace and Ease), 159: Time Blocking Together with Jess & Dave Radparvar, 027: Time Management for Mortals with Oliver Burkeman, 111: Building a Second Brain with Tiago Forte, and 131: Scaling Joy While Streamlining Business Overhead and Navigating ADHD 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 ❤️ Join our BFF community for access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a 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 share it with a friend: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/191 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hi friends! A quick in-beteween-isode to let you know about a special opportunity to work with me 1:1 :) Back by popular demand, I'm opening doors again for my 1:1 Voxer coaching pop-up. Summer is the perfect time to take a step back from your business and set even more time free through smarter systems—while freeing yourself from screens and coordinating extra calendar entries. We piloted this program last year with members from my private BFF community, and it was a big hit! It was so nice to connect asynchronously to help you focus on the big picture and make meaningful progress on the projects that matter most.  ✅ How it works: There are 10 spots available, and enrollment closes on June 4 (or whichever comes first) We kick-off our 12 weeks of coaching on June 5. You'll submit one voice memo between Monday through Thursday each week with your biggest question (that part of the process alone helps create tremendous clarity!), then I respond by Friday of each week with detailed ideas, guidance, specific templates, and resources that will help you save time and money while rapidly accelerating progress in any area. You'll also get complimentary access to the private BFF community if you join, and lock-in your 1:1 Voxer Coaching rate for life (I do tend to raise the rates with each subsequent launch). Learn more about 1:1 Voxer coaching and enroll here » *Make sure to apply promo code PODCAST at check-out! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Time- and money-based targets don’t always serve the purpose we intend. In fact, sometimes, they actively work against us. Today we’re spelunking into a few related principles like Goodhart’s Law, The Cobra Effect, and why vanity metrics are often no more than a hungry ghost lurking in the shadows of your business. I couldn’t resist sprinkling pop culture clips throughout to illustrate these concepts, so I hope you enjoy the ride :) 🌟 3 Key Takeaways: Be mindful when implementing specific numerical targets. Consider how they may lead to behavior that doesn't align with your overall goals and values, sometimes even transforming into perverse incentives that beget negative actions. Clarify your values. Make it clear to your team what values you prioritize (and ethical behavior more broadly) over short-term gains or “shoulds” based on what everyone else is doing. Be open to feedback and willing to adjust your strategies. Goodhart's Law says that "When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure," ****so take the pressure off by zooming out from overly focusing on any one measure of success to paint a bigger, more holistic picture. Define more creative metrics that indicate you’re living in alignment with your values, and resonating with your community, such as number of enthusiastic email replies per newsletter sent. 📝 Permission: Stop chasing the hungry ghost of vanity metrics in your business. Get clear on your more meaningful metrics and core values, and aim for a holistic picture of those instead. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: To more clearly see the tradeoffs you are willing to make, write your own “even over” statements, like the originators of the Manifesto for Agile Software Development have inspired many businesses to do. As in: “We value {important quality A} even over {important quality B}.” 🔗 Resources Mentioned Articles: Manifesto for Agile Software Development, The Great Hanoi Rat Massacre of 1902 Did Not Go as Planned, The Cobra Effect: No Loophole Goes Unexploited TV Shows: Killing It — episode 4 “Carlos” (Peacock), Byron Baes, Black Mirror—Nosedive Music Video: Dolly Parton’s classic, 9 to 5 Community: Jay Acunzo’s Creator Kitchen and Unthinkable podcast Software: Referral Candy, HelpScout Heuristics: Goodhart’s Law, The Cobra Effect 📘Books Mentioned Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One The Work Revolution: Freedom and Excellence for All It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at Work Rework The 4-Hour Work Week: Escape the 9-5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich 🎧Related Episodes 097: How to Find Your Perfect Problem with Jim McKelvey, author of The Innovation Stack (Part One) and 099: (Part Two) 174: What Book Marketing has to do with Glass Blowing: Reflecting on Free Time’s 1-Year Bookiversary 🥂 169: Running a Goal-Free Business with Stephen Shapiro 181: Be Irreplaceable with My Creative Coach Jay Acunzo 189: 💡Jay Acunzo’s IP Development OS — Courtesy of Creator Kitchen 💻 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 Heart-Based Business owners 🛠 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 📝 Check out full show notes and share this episode with a friend: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/190 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In episode 181: Be Irreplaceable, you heard from my creative coach, Jay Acunzo about how to prioritize resonanceover reach. I’ve been working with Jay for about six months now, and it has transformed the way I think about creating content. One of the videos he shared with us in his new community, Creator Kitchen, is a walkthrough of his Intellectual Property (IP) Development OS: how he collects ideas, chooses which one/s to pursue, and decides which channel they belong in. I loved it so much — and I know you will too — that I asked for special permission to share it here on the pod. Learn more at creatorkitchen.com and apply promo code FRIENDOFAFRIEND for $100 off your membership for life. 🎧 If you're listening on Spotify—or just want to pop over there to share your biggest insight—answer the question prompt at the bottom of this episode's page :) 💡 View the diagram of Jay Acunzo’s IP Development OS here » 💻 Jay’s IP Development Trello board has the following columns: Ideas, Chef’s Table (Community), Playing Favorites (Newsletter), Unthinkable (Podcast), Strongest Ideas (categorized as either Problems, Change, or Solution/s), Strongest Stories (Lead or Supporting), and Frameworks + Models (Diagrams) More About Jay: Jay Acunzo is one of the world’s most sought-after business storytellers and brand consultants. He’s hosts the award-winning podcast, Unthinkable, and has authored multiple books on creativity, including Break the Wheel: Question Best Practices, Hone Your Intuition, and Do Your Best Work. He helps creators learn to increase the power of their creative work, not just the volume, through his membership platform, the Creator Kitchen. Jay’s grandest aspiration-slash-delusion is to be the Anthony Bourdain of workplace storytelling. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways Stage 1 — Focusing — What is your mission? Seeing the world through a focused lens, through a mission, a message, one big idea that you’re exploring. Stage 2 — Feeling — Interplay between frustration and curiosity: You're saying something is under-explored, something is broken. What is the status quo that you would like to change, to improve, to lead people away from? Curiosity is when you turn the frustration into something productive instead of destructive: Why is it this way? How did we get here? Stage 3 — Thinking — Looking for ideas that feel exciting: What feels easy to tackle today? “If you're trying to knock over a brick wall, it's a lot easier rather than brute force your way forward to just start pressing bricks and see which one of 'em budges.” ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Map out your own IP Development process. What does the life of a new frustration, question, or insight look like? How would it move across a Kanban-style content production board? 🔗 Resources Mentioned Jay on the web, IG: @jacunzo, Twitter, LinkedIn, Medium Podcast: Unthinkable Book: Break the Wheel: Question Best Practices, Hone Your Intuition, and Do Your Best Work  Community: The Creator Kitchen (use promo code FRIENDOFAFRIEND  for $100 off your membership for life) People: Andrew Davis, Joshua Levy of Holloway Tools: Trello, Notion 🎧 Related Episodes Unthinkable: Leaving Expertville, Going Bananas, Fine, I’ll Talk About AI; Welcome to the Jumble 2 Pages with MBS: Making What Matters Most: Jay Acunzo [reads] ‘Kitchen Confidential’ Pivot: Feeling Impostery? Become a Qualified Curator Instead Free Time: 182: The Challenges of Renovating a (Business) House While Living In It 181: Be Irreplaceable with My Creative Coach Jay Acunzo 127: Protect Your Idea Factory and Build a Creative Flywheel with Todd Henry 034: Organizing Research and Ideas 036: Shaping Big Ideas 038: Tracking Progress Toward Finishing a Book (or Big Idea) 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When today’s guest, Kelli Thompson, was overwhelmed by opportunity—a level of success she had been dreaming of and working diligently toward—she knew she needed a roadmap to better manage her time and energy, stat. In this conversation, we unpack how she created an Energy Capacity Plan (a woman after my own spreadsheet-loving heart!), how to create yours, why it doesn’t need to be a detailed calendar grid sliced into specific 15-minute increments, and how that plan can inform your pricing. In the second half, we also talk about masterminds — when to join, what to watch out for, and how to determine which one/s are right for you. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out our conversation for the Pivot podcast on 315: Intuition-Building, Spotting Pedestal Syndrome, and Closing the Confidence Gap. More About Kelli: Kelli Thompson is a women’s leadership coach and speaker who helps women advance to the rooms where decisions are made. She has coached and trained hundreds of women to trust themselves, lead with more confidence, and create a career they love. She is the founder of the Clarity & Confidence Women's Leadership Program, and a Stevie Award winner for Women in Business—Coach of the Year. She is the author of Closing The Confidence Gap: Boost Your Peace, Your Potential & Your Paycheck, which was selected as a must-read by The Next Big Idea Club. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways Kelli maps her month by giving each week an energy theme/allocation: High intensity (week 1), moderate intensity (weeks 2 and 3), and recovery (week 4). “Success loves clarity”: When considering opportunities, before jumping to yes, ask if it aligns with your mission and business values. Think of energy and entrepreneurship as levers you can pull: Sometimes, you need to push up or pull down when things are happening with your health, with your family, and/or within your business. 📝 Permission: Drop anything that drains your energy! ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Do an energy audit, and perhaps even create your energy capacity plan mapping out what each week looks like at a high level (day by day, rather than hour by hour) and the time-value of different types of activities. 🔗 Resources Mentioned Kelli on the web and social: @kelliraethompson (IG), Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook Kelli’s page of free resources (includes her Energy Capacity Plan template) Article: Mitch Joel’s Who is Your Mastermind? Apps for asynchronous communication Marco Polo, Voxer, Telegram (iOS, Android) People: Mark Manson Jenny’s private BFF Community 📚 Books Mentioned Closing The Confidence Gap: Boost Your Peace, Your Potential & Your Paycheck by Kelli Thompson The Wisdom of the Enneagram: The Complete Guide to Psychological and Spiritual Growth for the Nine Personality Types Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes Pivot: 315: Intuition-Building, Spotting Pedestal Syndrome, and Closing the Confidence Gap Free Time: 046: Time Margin—Are You Drowning, Treading Water, or Gliding? 175: Give Yourself a Raise with Erin Haag 141: Process, Permission Slips, and Business Pivots with Tara McMullin 143: Exploring Time, Money, and Energy Capacity with Tara McMullin and Charlie Gilkey (Replay) 078: Creating Transformational Mastermind Groups 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review ❤️ Join our private BFF community 🛠 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 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode and share it with a friend: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/188 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s episode is the second half of an in-depth Licensing Q&A prompted by BFF Al Dea, host of the MBA Insider podcast. If you haven’t already, listen first to 140: How to Licensing Your IP (Intellectual Property), followed by 186: Licensing 201 — Q&A (Part One) on Product Development, Attracting Clients, and Sales Process. Al submitted a series of wonderful questions that span five categories; in this episode I’ll be addressing the latter three: selling and packaging, delivery (including Train-the-Trainer), and legal considerations. A caveat, as always, when it comes to this notoriously opaque arena: this is not the way, it’s just what I’ve learned along the way in nearly a decade of setting my mind to licensing as a revenue stream. 📣 Join us in our private BFF community for a related workshop this week! We’ll be diving deeper into Certification and Licensing on Thursday, May 11 at 1pm ET. Even if you can’t make it live and/or if you’re listening after that date, you’ll get instant access to the entire private podcast feed with years of special content archives.  In this special BFF bonus workshop, my longtime friendtor Pamela Slim—who taught me the early ins-and-outs of licensing—will walk us through: how to know if/when adding a certification or corporate licensing program to your business makes sense, the first steps involved in creating them, ways you can work with her team on build-out, and anything you can think to ask during Q&A! You can also hear Jenny on Pam's Widest Net podcast in episode 005: From Friction to Flow and Finding Joy in Systems. ❤️ Learn more and join us at http://itsfreetime.com/bff (apply promo code PODCAST) 📝 Permission: Start tiny. Plant a few little conversational seeds here and there with current and prospective training clients, and see what starts to blossom. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Create a page on your website that shows the path from one-off workshops or keynotes to full-on licensing and Train-the-Trainer, even if you haven’t fully built out your programs yet. And join us in BFF to learn (and develop your materials) alongside fellow Heart-Based Business owners who are also on the certification and licensing journey! 📘Books Mentioned Built to Sell: Creating a Business that Can Thrive Without You by John Warrillow Inked: The Ultimate Guide to Powerful Closing and Sales Negotiation Tactics by Jeb Blount Value-Based Fees, Million Dollar Consulting Proposals and Million Dollar Consulting by Alan Weiss The New and Complete Business of Licensing by Craig Battersby One Simple Idea for Startups and Entrepreneurs by Stephen Key Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One 🔗 Resources Mentioned Community: BFF (apply promo code PODCAST) Article: NYT—‘Air’ and the Argument for Letting the Talent Share in the Profits Movie: Air (Trailer) Attorney: Francine Love at Love Law Firm 📓 Examples of Certification and Licensing Programs Pivot Programs: Rollout Options, Pivot Workbook, Companies (Overview), Pivot in the Classroom, and Pivot Programs Overview (Made in Canva) Jenny’s LinkedIn Learning Courses: Figuring Out Your Next Move, Holding 1:1 Career Conversations With Your Team, Managing Introverts, Coaching New Hires, Coaching New Managers Assessment Certifications: Sparketype, MBTI, Kolby, #lovework, True Colors, Gallup Strengths The Energy Project: Licensing tracks—LeaderFuel and PeopleFuel Others Mentioned: Box of Crayons and MBS.works, Getting Things Done Practitioner Certification, Duct Tape Marketing Certification, Profit First Professionals Certification 🌟 Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review » 🛠 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“A shoe is just a shoe until my son steps into it.” —Deloris Jordan When negotiating Michael Jordan's famous shoe deal with Nike, his mom Deloris “made an additional demand: Her son must receive not only a $250,000 fee, but also a cut from every sneaker sold,” making her case with that mic drop moment above (as retold in the movie Air via The New York Times article ‘Air’ and the Argument for Letting the Talent Share in the Profits). That, my friends, is the power of licensing :) Today’s episode is the first of a two-parter — an in-depth addition to 140: How to License Your IP (Intellectual Property), thanks to a set of wonderfully thorough follow-up questions from BFF member Al Dea. Al is the founder of MBASchooled.com, author of MBA Insider, and host of the MBA Insider podcast. He asked a series of questions across five categories, and in this episode I’ll be addressing the first two: product development and client attraction strategies. A caveat as always, when it comes to this notoriously opaque arena: what I’m sharing is not the way, it’s just what I’ve learned along the way in nearly a decade of building out licensing as a revenue stream. Check out episode 140 if you haven't yet, paired with 135: How to Rapidly Prototype a Course, 016: IP Licensing with Lee LeFever, 185: How Licensing Helps Serve the Queen Bee Role with Mike Michalowicz, and 045: Behind the Free Time Brand with Adam Chaloeicheep. 📆 Join us in the private BFF community for a related workshop coming up! We’ll be diving deeper into Certification and Licensing on Thursday, May 11 at 1pm ET. Even if you can’t make it live and/or if you’re listening after May 11, you’ll get instant access to the entire private podcast feed with years of special content archives. In this special BFF bonus workshop, my longtime friendtor Pamela Slim—who taught me the early ins-and-outs of licensing—will walk us through: how to know if/when adding a certification or corporate licensing program to your business makes sense, the first steps involved in creating them, ways you can work with her team on build-out, and anything you can think to ask during Q&A! You can also hear Jenny on Pam's Widest Net podcast in episode 005: From Friction to Flow and Finding Joy in Systems. ❤️ Learn more and join us at http://itsfreetime.com/bff (apply promo code PODCAST) 📝 Permission: To be overwhelmed. Even if you need to listen to this three times, even if you're still scratching your head, it will start to make more sense, slowly over time. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Join us in BFF to learn more and develop your materials alongside fellow Heart-Based Business owners! 📘Books Mentioned Built to Sell: Creating a Business that Can Thrive Without You by John Warrillow Inked: The Ultimate Guide to Powerful Closing and Sales Negotiation Tactics by Jeb Blount Value-Based Fees, Million Dollar Consulting Proposals and Million Dollar Consulting by Alan Weiss Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One 🔗 Resources Mentioned Community: BFF (apply promo code PODCAST) Article: NYT—‘Air’ and the Argument for Letting the Talent Share in the Profits Movie: Air (Trailer) Attorney: Francine Love at Love Law Firm 📓 Examples of Certification and Licensing Programs Pivot Programs: Rollout Options, Pivot Workbook, Companies (Overview), Pivot in the Classroom, and Pivot Programs Overview (Made in Canva) Jenny’s LinkedIn Learning Courses: Figuring Out Your Next Move, Holding 1:1 Career Conversations With Your Team, Managing Introverts, Coaching New Hires, Coaching New Managers Assessment Certifications: Sparketype, MBTI, Kolby, #lovework, True Colors, Gallup Strengths The Energy Project: Licensing tracks—LeaderFuel and PeopleFuel Others Mentioned: Box of Crayons and MBS.works, Getting Things Done Practitioner Certification, Duct Tape Marketing Certification, Profit First Professionals Certification Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I'm excited to bring you an episode from the Pivot podcast vault today—this is a conversation with a longtime friendtor, Mike Michalowicz, that stuck in my mind long after we recorded on February 5, 2020. The episode launched on March 20, 2020, and the last group gathering I attended was Mike's in-person Fix This Next workshop at his office in New Jersey on Friday, March 13. Boy was the world about to get weird! Mike explains how to identify and serve the Queen Bee Role in your business, the cliffhanger phrase that freed up even more of his time to write and speak, his unique approach to IP licensing, “guinea pigging” new book ideas, how to stop keeping up with the EntrepreJoneses, and the secret to how he has been so prolific in publishing 8+ books in the last 15 years. More About Mike Michalowicz: Mike is the creator of Profit First, which is used by hundreds of thousands of companies across the globe to drive profit. Today, Mike leads two new multi-million-dollar ventures as he tests his latest business research for his books. He is a former small business columnist for The Wall Street Journal and a business makeover specialist on MSNBC. Mike is a popular main-stage keynote speaker on innovative entrepreneurial topics; and is the author of Get Different, Fix This Next, Clockwork, Profit First, Surge, The Pumpkin Plan, and The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways Identify the Queen Bee Role (QBR): The core function in your business that is the biggest determinant of your company’s health and success—it’s “thrive factor”—where the uniqueness of your offering meets the best talents of you and/or your staff. “When this function is at full throttle, the business thrives, and when it is slowed or stopped, the entire business suffers.” There is an order you should follow when solving problems in your business, following what Mike calls the Business Hierarchy of Needs (sometimes oscillating between stages). You must address sales and cash flow first, followed by profit, order, impact, and finally legacy. If you try to optimize or improve things outside of this order, you may be missing the biggest problems hindering your progress. Try Mike’s “guinea pigging” approach for new IP: Test ideas through workshops for your target audience before developing them further into a book, course, or broader program. You can make these free or low cost to learn as much as possible from your users. 📝 Permission: Stop trying to keep up with the EntrepreJoneses! ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Identify or clarify the Queen Bee Role in your business as it relates to your personal purpose as the owner. For example, the QBR in Mike’s business is thought leadership, and his personal mission is “eradicating entrepreneurial poverty” through his books and speaking (which also help serve the company’s QBR). 🔗 Resources Mentioned Mike on the web: Mike Michalowicz, Twitter: @MikeMichalowicz, IG: @mikemichalowicz Run Like Clockwork business and programs Podcast: AJ Harper – Write a Book that Changes Lives (Including Your Own) 📚 Books Mentioned All books written by Mike Michalowicz, including Fix This Next and Clockwork (Revised and Expanded Edition) Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Write a Must-Read: Craft a Book That Changes Lives — Including Your Own by AJ Harper Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One 🎧 Related Episodes 032: Courageous Marketing With Mike Michalowicz 103: How to Land a Literary Agent and Publisher with David Moldawer (Part One) 105: “Don’t write the wrong book!” with David Moldawer (Part Two) 140: How to License Your IP (Intellectual Property) ☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode and share it with a friend: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/185 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It was a hot summer day, and I’m grumbling while dragging a rolling carry-on suitcase full of books to sign and send to the post office, starting to build resentment at how much time it was taking. After two hours of signing, writing notes, punching endless kiosk buttons, I start tsk taking myself, saying I should never do this myself again (I’m the owner of the business, after all! This is admin I should surely be delegating out!). But alas, I ended up with one extra copy, curious at who I missed or how I miscalculated. And then . . . right as I was walking out, someone walked through the door that made my heart leap out of my chest—and making the entire errand worth far more than the time-price of admission. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways: Doing things by the book doesn’t always leave room for the messy magic of serendipity. If we’re overly rigid about rules and business best practices, we miss the good stuff. Tightropes in your business—such as too-tight deadlines, an over-booked calendar, or working in an overly rigid way—are precarious, in that a single misstep can throw you off. Consider parallel systems as back-up: intentionally create redundancy, back-up options, and schedule flexibility to yield greater stability. As Julia Cameron writes: “Perfectionism is not a quest for the best. It is a pursuit of the worst in ourselves, the part that tells us that nothing we do will ever be good enough." 📝 Permission: Break the rules. Don’t always do things by the Big Ol’ Book of Business Best Practices. Give yourself permission to read or run an errand in the middle of the day (gasp!), maybe even doing a “$10 task” that relaxes your mind or opens you up to a magical moment of delight or serendipity. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Identify an area of the business that’s on a tightrope—only one person, one client, one stream of income—and therefore vulnerable to disruption. Look for way/s you can build redundancy and balance by implementing a new process, a backup person, and/or any other shift that generates greater stability. 📘Books Mentioned Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock by Jenny Odell Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College 🔗 Resources Mentioned Article: The Pyramid Pose | Intense Side Stretch pose Service: TaskRabbit Song: You Can’t Rush Your Healing by Trevor Hall (YouTube, Spotify) People: Kristin McGee on the web and Instagram; Trevor Hall on the web, Instagram, Spotify Podcast: Hustle and Grace with Hilary Sutton Peloton Yoga Class: 20-Minute Focus Flow: Shoulders with Kristin McGee Community: BFF (apply promo code PODCAST) 🎧Related Episodes 176: 🍪What’s the Chocolate Chip Banana Bread in Your Business?🍌 178: 📕Book Club — 3 Big Ideas from SAVING TIME by Jenny Odell 084: Sprinkling the First 1,000 Serendipity Seeds of a Launch 092: Train the System, Then the Person 069: Epic Evergreen Email Sequences with Allan Dib 129: The $10K Work Framework with Khe Hy 💻 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/184 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“You have to live spherically—in many directions. Never lose your childish enthusiasm—and things will come your way.” —Federico Fellini This week’s delightful guest, Madeleine Dore, reminded me of this wonderful quote while reading her book, one that I know you will love as much as I did: I Didn’t Do The Thing Today: Letting Go of Productivity Guilt. We talk about widening the measure and meaning of a day beyond our to-do lists, discovering the call of a new topic, shaping a big idea “blob of clay,” how she collects all the great quotes and stories for her book, why she sees herself as more of a guinea pig than an expert (and freelancer valuing independence even more than business owner), and how she decides when to sunset a project, rather than “maintaining something at all costs.” More About Madeleine: Madeleine Dore is a writer and interviewer exploring how we can broaden the definition of a day well spent. As a labor of love, Madeleine spent over five years asking creative thinkers how they navigate their days on her popular blog Extraordinary Routines and podcast Routines & Ruts. The lessons culminated in her first book, I Didn’t Do The Thing Today: Letting Go of Productivity Guilt. Madeleine continues to write, speak and ask questions—but mostly tries to hold things lightly. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways We all go through creative phases of being a sponge vs. squeezing it: the former is a time to absorb the world and take in inspiration, even if it might look from the outside like we’re not doing anything. When caught in a deflating comparison spiral: Get up close, use it as a guide, return to what you want to do, and do it! Identify what is most important to you, and change the questions you ask as a result. For example, Madeleine’s decision to favor more time over more money means when considering a new project or direction, asking not “How much will this earn?” but “How much [free] time will this enable?” 📝 Permission: Stop measuring the day by how productive you were. Be curious and expansive when reviewing your day, including your internal accomplishments, moments of connection, or even moments of idleness. Instead of trying to optimize your day only through the lens of productivity, occupy and embrace your day for what it wants to be. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Identify one area of your business or creative projects that may be languishing. What would happen if you gave yourself permission to close it out completely to create space for what’s next? 🔗 Resources Mentioned Madeleine on the web, Instagram: @madeline_dore, Facebook Substack: On Things Madeleine’s podcast: Routines & Ruts 📚 Books Mentioned Madeleine’s book: I Didn’t Do The Thing Today: Letting Go of Productivity Guilt Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One 🎧 Related Episodes 2 Pages with MBS: How to Be Alive: Madeleine Dore [reads] Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life Free Time: 170: 🌈 “Imagine a World of Abundance” ✨, 169: Running a Goal-Free Business with Stephen Shapiro, 057: You+ vs. You 2.0 with MBS, 036: Shaping Big Ideas — Notion Walkthrough #2 Pivot: 287: Solving Pivot Puzzles with A.J. Jacobs, 305: Is What You Are Wanting Actually What’s Best For You? With Luke Burgis 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review ❤️ Join our BFF community for access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a 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 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode and share it with a friend: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/183 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

📣 We’re publishing this week’s solo episode a day early as a friendly reminder that the Free Time podcast is nominated for a Webby Award, the "Oscars of the Internet!" Please visit http://itsfreetime.com/webby to cast your vote by the end of today, Thursday, April 20! This nomination alone is a major achievement, putting us in the top 12% of nearly 14,000 projects entered—thank you so much for being here and for your support :) There’s a wall in my house that I know would look gorgeous if it were painted a deep, velvety, rich navy blue. It’s behind the TV, so every day I stare in its general direction while watching shows, and on some days I even remember (fantasize about!) my vision of painting it blue. But the wall remains stubbornly bare, stuck on factory settings. Why is it so hard to change one seemingly simple thing, even when a future vision is so strong? 🌟 3 Key Takeaways: Remember the awkward stage within the four Levels of Learning: Unconscious incompetence (you don’t know what you don’t know), conscious incompetence (the hardest mentally and emotionally!), conscious competence (awkward but functional), and finally, unconscious competence (the new skills and systems are fully integrated and automatic) Plan for integration time: Deadlines press on, and yet doing the same work takes 2x or 4x as long because you’re improving, growing, and stretching into new arenas. Create support scaffolding through new systems: Old process grooves are well-worn, new ones take time, habit change, and updated systems. For example, when I want to change what we include in our show notes, the templates we currently use to create them are still based on our old way of doing it. Making all of the necessary changes takes extra effort, but ultimately makes the new method easier. 📝 Permission: You have permission not to do everything all at once and for things to take longer than you think they should. You also have permission to be incredibly awkward, a little confused, maybe lost, or even discouraged as you traverse the different levels of learning from unconscious incompetence to conscious competence. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Set up one new template or process that could help you integrate something you’re learning or implement an improvement to the business. 📘Books Mentioned Out on the Wire: The Storytelling Secrets of the New Masters of Radio by Jessica Abel Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One 🔗 Resources Mentioned Jay Acunzo’s podcast: Unthinkable and community: The Creator Kitchen (use promo code FRIENDOFAFRIEND for $100 off your membership for life) Jessica Abel’s podcasts: The Autonomous Creative, Out on the Wire and article: Hustle Culture is Really a Scam — On Cyclical Burnout Jenny’s Community: BFF (apply promo code PODCAST) Licensing: Pivot Programs 🎧Related Episodes Pivot: 47: Live Fiercely, Study Deeply . . . While Earning a Living — with Jonathan Fields Free Time: 181: Be Irreplaceable with My Creative Coach Jay Acunzo, 057: You+ vs. 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 » 💌 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/182 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hi Friends! I'm re-airing this announcement as a friendly reminder that the Free Time podcast has made it to the nomination stage of the Webby Awards, the "Oscars of the Internet!" The Webbys celebrate the best and most innovative online content across websites, podcasts, games, apps, and videos. 📣 Between now and TOMORROW, April 20th: Please visit itsfreetime.com/webby and cast your vote for Free Time! This nomination alone is a major achievement, putting us in the top 12% of nearly 14,000 projects entered. We're up for best individual episode in the Business category. I did a double-take when I saw the other nominees, as we were by far the smallest show and the only indie that's not part of a larger network. So if you want to cast a vote not just for me, but for independent creators everywhere, I would be incredibly grateful if you could . . . ✅ Visit itsfreetime.com/webby and cast your vote for Free Time before EOD on Thursday, April 20! After that, you'll see the results of where we currently stand :) You do have to go through a small registration process (just a few questions), but after that you can peruse other categories and vote for your favorite show among those too! 🍰 Bonus: If you have a newsletter or your own community that you can post this link to, inviting others to listen to Free Time and vote for the show, that would be super icing on the cake! THANK YOU!! For being you, for being here, and for helping Free Time stay afloat through accolades like this one :) I also want to thank the One Stone Creative production team for making this possible. Without them, there's no way we would have landed this nomination. They help the trains run on time, ensuring every single one of 12 episodes goes live across my two shows every single month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

📣 The Free Time podcast is nominated for a Webby Award, the "Oscars of the Internet!" Please visit http://itsfreetime.com/webby to cast your vote for Free Time between now and April 20! One thing I love about Jay Acunzo is that his body of work is a love letter to craft and quality. We talk about mindset shifts and practices to help you focus more on resonance than reach; how to do work that matters to you so that your work can matter more; how he worked through his own existential creative crisis upon hitting the 200th episode milestone of his podcast; thinking like an explorer, not an expert; and “making the leap from what best practices say you should do to what your intuition is urging you to try.” More About Jay: Jay Acunzo is one of the world’s most sought-after business storytellers and brand consultants. He’s worked in marketing for Google, HubSpot, and ESPN before launching his award-winning podcast, Unthinkable, and authoring multiple books on creativity. Today he helps creators learn to increase the power of their creative work, not just the volume, through his membership platform, the Creator Kitchen. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways Reach vs. Resonance: Reach is how many people see something. Resonance is how much they care. No amount of reach will ensure that people care. As David Bowie’s says, “Don’t play to the gallery.” “Don’t be the best, be their favorite”: Create resonance with the audience relevance pyramid, starting with the base—how relevant you are in topic and theme. Moving up, your content should be enjoyable and entertaining, then impactful, where you are helping people reflect or take action. At the top of the pyramid is personal, where you (and your content) truly becomes irreplaceable. Jay’s Mastery 3 P’s: Posture, Practice and Process. Posture is how you see yourself in the world. Practice is the cadence you are creating and shipping on (aim for consistent and purposeful), then process emerges. 📝 Permission: Focus on resonance before—or even at the expense of—reach. Let go of the idea of adding more people until you have a small group reacting in a big way. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Define your Even More Meaningful Metrics. For example, Jay’s Unsolicited Response Rate (URR): When he publishes something and someone feels urged to respond in some way without being prompted, or Cackles Per Piece (CPP): points during the process of creating that cause so much joy he cackles out loud. 🔗 Resources Mentioned Jay on the web, Instagram: @jacunzo, Twitter, LinkedIn, Medium Jay’s podcast: Unthinkable and community: The Creator Kitchen (use promo code FRIENDOFAFRIEND for $100 off your membership for life) People: Andrew Davis, Hrishikesh Hirway TV Series: Song Exploder on Netflix Video: David Bowie on why you should never play to the gallery, and AJ Jacobs: The Importance of Self-Delusion in the Creative Process Article: The Surprising Thing About Expectations by Seth Godin 📚 Books Mentioned Jay’s Books: Break the Wheel: Question Best Practices, Hone Your Intuition, and Do Your Best Work Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain 🎧 Related Episodes Unthinkable: Fine, I’ll Talk About AI; Song Exploder Exploded, Welcome to the Jumble Podcasts: Mike Birbiglia’s Working it Out, Song Exploder, Radiolab 2 Pages with MBS: Making What Matters Most: Jay Acunzo [reads] ‘Kitchen Confidential’ The Tim Ferriss Show: Managing Procrastination, Predicting the Future, and Finding Happiness with Tim Urban Free Time: 127: Protect Your Idea Factory, Build a Creative Flywheel, and Go Behind-the-Scenes of Book Publishing with Todd Henry, 014: Why It Matters to Celebrate Wins Pivot: 287: Solving Pivot Puzzles with A.J. Jacobs, 254: The Practice—On Generosity, Peculiarity, and Showing Up with Seth Godin Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

📣 The Free Time podcast is nominated for a Webby Award, the "Oscars of the Internet!" Please visit http://itsfreetime.com/webby to cast your vote for Free Time between now and Thursday, April 20! This nomination alone is a major achievement, putting us in the top 12% of nearly 14,000 projects entered—thank you so much for being here and for your support! What business best practices drive you nuts? What are the best practices you wish people would follow, but they don't? These are clues to things you can be doing differently or stop doing altogether in your business. Today’s episode starts with a few of my pet rants—err, peeves—followed by six specific examples of activities with diminishing returns in my business, ending with one big question antidote for when you, too, find yourself Sailing the Sea of Shiny Shoulds. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways Shiny Shoulds and diminishing returns obscure the true opportunity cost of what’s really at stake, and they can quickly lead to finishing returns in terms of focus, energy, and output. Consider the data and your intuition: Sometimes it’s hard to go a different way than “what everyone else is doing”, even when you know it’s what’s best for you. Only you know what’s at stake if you continue down a path that doesn’t resonate or produce the ROI you need. Look for asymmetric upside when considering what’s possible when creating space: What if I stopped this altogether? What’s the worst that could happen? What’s the best? What else? 📝 Permission: Stop working on projects and with clients who are no longer serving you, that don’t meaningfully contribute to your revenue and joy. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Audit your business; what areas are past their prime or no longer aligned? If you’re being truly honest, which ones never were? 🔗 Resources Courses: Dorie Clark’s Rapid Content Creation, Jenny’s LinkedIn Learning courses Articles: Investopedia on Diminishing Returns, Investopedia on Sunk Cost Fallacy, 10 Things I learned from Peter Drucker 📚 Books Mentioned Nassim Taleb’s 5-book Incerto series: Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets, The Black Swan: Second Edition: The Impact of the Highly Improbable, Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder, The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms, and Skin in the Game: Hidden Asymmetries in Daily Life Jenny’s books: Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business, Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One, Life After College 🎧 Related Episodes Free Time: 138: ⛵️ Stop Sailing the Sea of Shiny Shoulds 173: Cut Your Losses—Even While Pivoting in Public—with Khe Hy 042: How I Run My Business Without Social Media (Pivot Replay) Pivot: 148: Penney & Jenny Show—Pivoting From Toxic Situations Toward Self-Entertainment, 305: Is What You Are Wanting Actually What’s Best For You? With Luke Burgis 304: Through the Crux—Pivoting from Acting to Entrepreneurship with Ryan Devlin 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review ❤️ Join our BFF community for access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a 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 show notes from this episode and share it with a friend: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/180 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

📣 The Free Time podcast is nominated for a Webby Award, the "Oscars of the Internet!" Please visit http://itsfreetime.com/webby to cast your vote for Free Time between now and Thursday, April 20! This nomination alone is a major achievement, putting us in the top 12% of nearly 14,000 projects entered—thank you so much for being here and for your support! “Start with the truth, then edit.” That’s a gem that today’s guest, Jacqueline Fische, picked up while working in corporate communications that maps directly to how she encourages business owners to write: quickly, and from the heart. Go for speed, not sense. Edit later. More About Jacqueline: Jacqueline Fisch is an author, copywriter, and communications consultant. As the founder of The Intuitive Writing School, she helps writers make progress on their passion projects, and creative business owners sound more human in their writing. As a freelance copywriter, she’s helped hundreds of clients – tech startups, life and business coaches, creatives, and more – learn how to communicate more authentically and stand out in a busy online world. She’s also the author of Unfussy Life: An Intuitive Approach to Navigating Change, and the soon-to-be-published Intuitive Writing: The Remedy for Writer’s Block. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways: Jacq defines intuitive writing as the “down to earth embodiment of knowing.” Identify the ways your intuition speaks to you, then create space for them in your day-to-day. (For example, switching all meetings to audio-only and even declining video-based activity) Try mapping bigger writing efforts with moon phases: start with the new moon, VERB with the waxing moon, VERB with the full moon, and VERB with the waning moon. Create a ritual for closing out with clients that encourages repeat business and word-of-mouth referrals: Jacq sends a “See You Soon” kit that includes a feedback survey and even pre-written, customized emails for recommending her work to a friend. 📝 Permission: Write whatever is on your heart. Whatever is coming up for you. Your story is yours and yours alone. You have full permission to write it. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Set a timer to do 20-minutes of stream-of-consciousness writing for something you’re passionate about right now related to your business, whether it’s an about page, an invitation letter (aka sales page), or your next newsletter. Let the ideas flow without censoring yourself, and only return to edit the following day (or week). 📚 Books Mentioned Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Unfussy Life: An Intuitive Approach to Navigating Change 🔗 Resources Jacqueline on the web, IG: @theintuitivewritingschool, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Pinterest Tools: Brit Kolo’s Marketing Personalities, Riverside.fm 🎧 Related Episodes Podcast: Jay Acunzo’s Unthinkable—Fine, I’ll Talk About AI Related Free Time episodes: 003: Liberate Your Life Force with Christine Arylo Related Pivot episodes: Jenny & Penney Show (Spotify playlist) 💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe » 🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review ❤️ Join our BFF community for access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a 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 show notes from this episode and share it with a friend: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/179 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

📣 The Free Time podcast is nominated for a Webby Award, the "Oscars of the Internet!" Please visit http://itsfreetime.com/webby to cast your vote for Free Time between now and Thursday, April 20! This nomination alone is a major achievement, putting us in the top 12% of nearly 14,000 projects entered—thank you so much for being here and for your support! What if time wasn’t something we had to hoard, protect, or chase? What if we could change our relationship to time—to life itself—expanding beyond the linear, grid-like units running out as we race against the clock, and toward a true sense of aliveness instead? Today’s I’m trying an experimental format: diving deep into a book that relates to so much of what we talk about here, Jenny Odell’s Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock. I haven’t landed an interview with her (yet!), but I also really appreciated her previous book, How to do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy, so am happy to spotlight both. A few caveats: This is not a book review where I critically examine the content (here are two from The New Yorker and the NYT), nor a comprehensive summary. Instead, I’m bringing you three big ideas from the book related to our Free Time universe, that sparked aha moments and mindset shifts for me. I hope these inspire similar paradigm shifts for you. As always, my goal is to help set even more of your time freeeeeee! 🌟 3 Key Takeaways: Notice the productivity paradigm that many of us are still operating under: seeing our days as a race against time, leading to an internal tyranny and guilt even if self-employed. Embrace the roads not taken: Step off the hedonic treadmill by allowing limits, and even deliberate mediocrity. Who gets to say what is mediocre in the first place? Cultivate abundance: “What if time [could] be gardened?” Jenny writes, “Then it's also possible to imagine its increase in ways other than individual hoarding.” 📝 Permission: To be tired in a good way, one that softens you; to be unproductive, to stop optimizing every micro moment of your day, to do less, to be free. ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Be an observer as you go about your week; look for people and places that give you time, that expand your sense of aliveness. 🔗 Resources Mentioned Articles: The New Yorker—Why We Never Have Enough Time, NYT—Time Has Been Codified and Commoditized, WIRED—Jenny Odell Can Stretch Time and So Can You Community: BFF (apply promo code PODCAST) 📘Books Mentioned Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock by Jenny Odell How to do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy by Jenny Odell Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One 🎧Related Episodes Interviews with Jenny on Saving Time: Jenny Odell Saves Time, and Herself, by Living Beyond the Clock, Making Sense of Time (Jenny Odell), Jenny Odell on Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock Free Time: 141: Process, Permission Slips, and Business Pivots with Tara McMullin 027: Time Management for Mortals with Oliver Burkeman Pivot: 305: Is What You Are Wanting Actually What’s Best For You? With Luke Burgis 🌟 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 share this episode with a friend: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/178 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices