In this episode, Rachel and Jess dive deep into the crucial topic of capacity and why it poses challenges for many business owners. They share practical solutions to help listeners open the doors to sustainable growth. Inspired by Jess's frustration with clients struggling to execute their goals, they explore the importance of giving yourself the space and grace to grow gradually.

Key Takeaways:

1. Awareness and Optimization:

- Track your time using project management tools to gain awareness of how long tasks take and price your services accordingly.

- Use data to make informed decisions and set realistic goals for conversions and growth.

- Optimize your scope by automating repetitive tasks and creating recordings or trainings to save time and deliver a better client experience.

2. Time Management and Routine:

- Give yourself the grace of extended timelines, especially when starting something new.

- Embrace ritual and routine in your business to create a structured work week and improve productivity.

- Implement batching and boot-up routines to support focused, deep work and shut-down routines to establish work-life boundaries.

3. Budget and Hiring:

- Be discerning with your budget and invest wisely in tools, templates, and courses that align with your goals.

- Take on the role of an accountant in your business, evaluating expenses and making strategic investment decisions.

- Know when it's time to hire and delegate tasks that drain your energy or are not your strengths, but ensure you have proper systems in place before doing so.

Remember, it's okay to go slow and grow gradually. By optimizing your processes, managing your time effectively, and making strategic investments, you can create the space for sustainable growth in your business. Take the time to assess your capacity and implement these practical solutions to unlock your business's full potential.

in today's episode, we're diving deep into a topic that's

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crucial for the growth of any

business, and that's capacity.

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We've all been there juggling tasks,

wearing multiple hats, and feeling the

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pressure to take action while not actually

having the space to do so today we're

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gonna be unwrapping the enigma that

is capacity and exploring why so many

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business owners find it challenging.

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Most importantly, we're gonna be equipping

you with practical solutions that

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open the doors to sustainable growth.

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And honestly, Jess, this is truly

your zone of genius, and this

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episode was inspired by you.

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So what brought this.

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Jess: Yes.

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So capacity has been on my brain

lately, mainly because of frustration.

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Because , I work with a multi

multitude of clients as an integrator.

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So basically my job is to take their

big ideas and help them bring them to

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life through project planning and tech

integration and whatever it takes.

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And the problem that I keep

seeing my clients bump up against

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or bump up against myself.

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Putting a goal on your list

or having a bunch of ideas and

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then struggling to execute.

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And then when you struggle to execute and

you can't get it done, and it's quarter

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three and the goal that you put in your

list in January is still sitting there.

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You start to you start kind beat

yourself up and you're like,

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yourself and me know happened.

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Rachel just said guilty.

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Like it literally happens

to everyone and there is a

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multitude of different reasons.

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One of this is we're like

inundated with new ideas.

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One on the internet all the

time, a scroll through Instagram

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can lead me with 20 new ideas

that I think I want implement.

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They call that like shiny

object syndrome in my business.

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In my email, and this is actually

what inspired this, and another post

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about are you making business harder?

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By doing it backwards, there's so

much pressure online to act fast.

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Don't miss out, do it now.

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Take the leap.

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Don't wait.

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You're ready now.

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That whole, like if you build

it, they will come mentality.

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Where I feel like sometimes when

I get on discovery calls with new

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clients, I'm like the lone soldier

and be like, that is not how it works.

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So like I literally, and we were just

laughing about this before we started

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recording, where I literally got an

email in my inbox and it was like

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less than 500 people on your list.

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Don't wait until launch

your group program.

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And I'm like,

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Rachel: You should.

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Jess: Yeah, maybe you should, right?

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Because me, like we know

what industry standards are.

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, if you've got 500 people on your

email list, like how many people are

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gonna convert maybe five at the most.

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And it depends on the

cost of your program.

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If that's fine, if you're launching a

huge group program that's gonna take

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you six months to build out and you've

only got 500 people on your email

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list, then you should definitely wait.

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But if you've made it like at

a higher, if you're launching

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like a higher ticket service or

something, then that should wait.

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So I feel like that's

such a blanket statement

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Rachel: Yeah, there's so much nuance

in launching, and I think that does

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not get considered when you're being

blasted with these marketing messages

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of oh, you can make a hundred thousand

dollars with 500 people on your list.

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Some people sure maybe have, but

there's so much nuance in it.

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Totally.

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Jess: Yeah, so I think it's about,

with everything in business, taking

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a step back and like really realizing

is this right for me in this moment?

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And I feel like capacity is something

that doesn't get discussed enough.

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And it's something that we bump up

against because as small business

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owners as solopreneurs, a lot

of the times we're executing by

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ourselves, but we're comparing

ourselves or trying to emulate, these.

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I don't know what we wanna call 'em,

celebrity entrepreneurs or people that

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are in the online space that are bigger

than us, that literally have teams of

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10, 20 people and they're selling us their

strategies on how they had a seven figure

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launch, but not revealing or highlighting

the fact that it took 20 people to

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Rachel: Or a $10,000 ad strategy.

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Jess: Make that come to life.

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So I think that's where, when it's

important when you're growing your

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business to really look at your

capacity and give yourself the space

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and the grace to grow it gradually.

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Rachel: Yeah, I think there's

a, there's so much to speak

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about with the, one honoring.

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The business season that you're in and not

feeling the FOMO of all of the marketing

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messages that you're inundated with and

really being able to say, this is a build

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season for me, or this is a push season

for me, or whatever that looks like.

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And really being able to say and actually

like being truthful with yourself because

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there are so many times where I've

invested in things that I'm like, Wow.

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If I would've waited a year, I would've

been in such a better place and I

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would've actually implemented, I would've

actually taken the action to do but I was

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victim to the you have to do this now.

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I'm gonna increase the pricing.

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And all of those like bro marketing

tactics of them being like, this

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program's going away, and that's fine.

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If it's going away, then

there'll be another program.

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Are you ready to absorb it in

the space that you're at now?

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I think is really important

from a sustainability standpoint

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and allowing these things to

actually like marinate for you.

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Jess: Yeah.

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Yeah.

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So one of the things that I've

been going back to that's from my

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project management background is

the project management triangle.

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And I don't have a cool little

graphic, but I wish I did.

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But basically there are four

aspects to get any project completed.

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There's the, is the time and is.

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And time are related, and then.

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Scope and budget are related.

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So if you increase your scope,

you're by default going to have to

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increase the budget, whether it be

the people that you allocate or you're

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gonna have to increase the time.

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And there is not really

any way around that.

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Oh, I'll, we'll share a wild card,

later, but also, so it's like

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looking at the, so I've been at the

sheer of how much you're taking on.

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And realizing okay, I wanna do something

else, but do I have the budget to do

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it and do I have the time to do it?

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And if the answer is no, then you've

gotta have, you have your scope there

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and that's where you can go back.

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And I'm gonna share some ways about

like how you can refine your scope

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to make more space for growth.

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But that's where you're gonna have

to go back to the drawing board and

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like figure out like, how am I gonna

get that space for time and growth?

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Rachel: You literally

just took us to school.

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We'll make a cool little and make

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Jess: I'll make a.

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Scope is like what you're committing to.

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And I feel like a lot of small

business owners will take on so

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much without even realizing it.

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And this is why, I love

a project management tool.

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It's okay, I have an idea, and

then they like jump into action.

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That's okay, take that idea, make it a

project in your project management tool.

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Give it a deadline because I feel

like that's another pitfall that

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people fall into is we're just

gonna do this project, but we're not

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gonna set a date for it to be done.

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No, give it a launch date of

like when this needs to get done.

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And once you get, start getting your

start date and your launch dates or finish

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date for every single thing that you have

in your do list, you'll be able to look

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up your Gantt chart or your timeline

and be like, oh my God, I have Eight

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different projects going on right now.

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No wonder I'm getting to Friday every

week, and my to-do list is 15 pages long.

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So then you're able to once you

have that awareness step back and.

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Go back to the drawing board

and be like, okay, what do I

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need to prioritize at this time?

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Do it with your client work too.

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Because I know like

Rachel, you're like me.

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Your client work ebbs and flows, right?

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So if you're plotting like start, end

date, start end date, and you see all

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your clients are ending in August,

which happens to me a lot, it's oh, I

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have all of August to be able to work on

my business and do all of these projects

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and not try to do all of my projects.

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While I'm trying to do all of my

clients' projects, I'll be able

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to push those back and do a sprint

in August and get everything okay.

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Instead of beating myself up January

through July about not being able

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to get to things that I wanna do

in my business because I don't

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have the time and space to do it.

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But in August I'll be there.

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That's the beauty of planning.

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Rachel: It's so funny that

you say this due date thing.

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'cause my former project manager, oh my

gosh, if she listens to this, she would

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sit on my, on our calls with me and be

like, Why do none of these have due dates?

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And I'm like it feels less

pressy if I don't put a due date.

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But then what happens is they

don't actually get done and they

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just sit there in limbo in my

project management space and, yeah.

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Guilty.

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Again, this is,

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Jess: I feel like a lot of in creative,

in creative or, visionaries have

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a hard, they struggle with putting

those due dates on there because they

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feel like it's gonna box them in and

it's gonna feel like more pressure.

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So I really put your due date, but

you're the boss ultimately Sori.

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Rachel: Yeah.

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Jess: Not having a due date.

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One, it's just gonna extend

out forever, like you said,

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and never actually get done.

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And what's that?

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I don't even, I should know this

because it's like project management,

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but what's that Like law, Murphy's

Law, it might not be Murphy's Law.

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That's it takes, like a task, takes

up the amount of time that you

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give it, where it like will expand.

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Around it, then Rachel's

Googling to find the right thing.

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But if you're not putting any constraints

around when a project starts and

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ends, it will never get finished.

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And like I said, your project

manager is not alone because every

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single one of my clients, that

is like the number one thing.

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I'm like, we've gotta put

a due date on these things.

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So much faster, and then embracing like

that sprint system I think is important,

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especially when you're a small team

or solo entrepreneur because if you've

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got five projects that you're jumping

back and forth from you're not gonna

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get effective or efficient if, unless

you're focusing on the other thing.

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Rachel: Yeah, so quick note.

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Murphy's Law is anything that

can go wrong will go wrong.

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Jess: Law.

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There is another law about, and I've

heard it before, and they say it

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all the time, but it, and it is true

because especially if you have a d h

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ADHD like I, or, and a healthy dose of

perfectionism, those are like a killer.

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If you don't put timeframes on your.

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You're, I was just talking to you

about my blog post, how they can

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be , I could literally write blog

like books on my blog post here.

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I can literally write books for

my blog post, but that's because I

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wasn't giving myself any constraints.

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Which constraints can be healthy.

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It's it's not about, especially if

you have perfectionism, it's not

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about putting out the best product.

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It's like just getting something

out there and the time and

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space that you have to do it.

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And then you can always go

back and refine because there's

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always room for improvement.

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We're always gonna see opportunity in

business and that's a good thing, but it.

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Rachel: Yeah.

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Jess: I think another thing,

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Rachel: capacity, like level of things

that I think new business owners will

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pass by This very ridiculous boundary

is, and I'm actually in a space right

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now where I have to make a decision.

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That is either for the growth of my

business or taking on more clients

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for the growth of my revenue.

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And it's very fascinating.

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'cause when I first started I was

just like taking clients and yeah.

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And I had to, now I'm in a place where

I have three retainer clients that are

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like, I'm ready to sign, but I'm over here

trying to launch something that's, I am

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a very, I'm very aware it's gonna take a

significant amount of my time, but like

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from default, I'm like I'm a retainer.

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Service based business like I should

be taking these, but this could be

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the future of my business as well.

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So I think there's a lot of like

reflection and growth that happens

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with honoring your capacity that

when you're first starting out,

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that fear and that FOMO is real.

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And like you just become a little bit

more like stern with your boundaries

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as you grow in your business.

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And I'm still feeling it now where

I'm like, this would be really

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nice to have these three clients.

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So I think that's another really

important thing from a capacity

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standpoint is to like truly honor

that boundary that is there.

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And it may not happen right away.

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You can

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Jess: And I.

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Rachel: that lesson.

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Jess: On one-on clients is that speed

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Bit dip in revenue, right?

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By not taking on.

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Those retainer clients

or those extra clients.

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I feel like I'm doing the same thing

right now where it's this has been my like

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lightest client , work month in a while,

but I'm , I've redone my newsletter.

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I've redone my homepage.

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Like I needed to take that pause so

that I can slow down and as anxiety

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producing as it is because it's my

lowest revenue month and probably a.

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It's, I have to keep reminding myself

it's intentional because I can feel that

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it's gonna catapult right after this,

but it's like you're gonna have to like

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breathe in so you can, oh, look at this,

so you can breathe in so you can expand

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Rachel: On our AI episode, we're gonna

have to literally stitch in clips

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of Jess's camera going whack every

single time that she raises her hand.

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And I talk with my hands a lot.

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That's why I can't have those AI

camera, because I would be like,

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Jess: there's an AI camera that

follows me around the room.

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So in case you're not gonna see, I'm

gonna put these up on YouTube eventually.

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So yeah, so there's Back on track,

you do have two choices, right?

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You have, there's two choices always.

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And that's why like when I'm

gonna talk about expanding

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capacity, I'm gonna be choices.

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So right now Rachel has a choice to

slow down, to speed up or embrace the

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short-term squeeze for long-term ease.

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And it's just what do you wanna do?

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And that is like where you're gonna know

that you're gonna be working a lot, a

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more hours to get things done right now.

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I did this when I was leaving corporate,

like I worked a 40 hour corporate job

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and had two retainer clients until I

could get my third one to jump off.

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That meant waking up at four o'clock

every in the morning, every morning doing

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my, like my work, my, my business work.

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Going to an eight.

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I don't do nights, go

home and go to sleep.

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I like to wake up early.

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And working almost every, I would,

thankfully I had the flexibility

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in my job where I could work

on Sundays at my other job.

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I would work on every Sunday for a whole

year so that I could take off Wednesday

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during the week to work on my business.

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And that's so there's two options.

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Slow down to speed up or short term

squeeze for long term that those

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Rachel: and if you don't pick one,

you are hitting the wall of burnout.

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That's real.

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And it's very much avoidable if you are

very real with yourself and you don't

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let that fear what you had said, like

where the lowest revenue is happening

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right now as far as this month, but it's

so intentional and it's planned, and if

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you trust the systems in your business,

which you do that, it will pick back up.

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And that next month you'll be so

grateful that you built the system around

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your newsletter, around your private

podcast, like all of these different.

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Layers of it, it's intention that makes

the difference of if you're blasting

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straight into that wall of burnout

or if you are, being strategic with

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how you spend your time, because it's

the seasons of your business that you

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have to honor and it's so important

'cause yikes, burnout ain't fun.

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Jess: Yeah.

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So another I guess issue or roadblock

I see that come up with capacity.

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And we touched on it a little bit, but I

wanna dive deep into it because I wanna

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mention this, Rachel, she was like,

oh is, and I'll see my clients or even

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myself by, a strategy or a course from

a online entrepreneur who's probably

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been in the business longer than us.

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Has a bigger team than us, has

therefore has more capacity than us

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and burn themselves out trying to

implement that strategy word for word.

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Does that ever.

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Rachel: Yes.

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I think that's like when someone has

created this like success for launching

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and they're like, oh, steal my plan.

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It's one of the things

that I always tell people.

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I'm like, if Google or if Apple or

Nike or whoever we're going to give

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you, This is step by step what I

did with the business to grow it.

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I don't know the owners of

all of them, but whatever.

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If they all gave you their roadmaps for

massive success of how they've reached

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it, you still won't be able to achieve it.

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It doesn't matter if they

gave you detail by detail.

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There is so much that comes into it.

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Like how many people on their

team, how much they spend on

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ads, how big is their audience?

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Like all of the various levels of it.

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It's very easy to get consumed in.

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All I need is the plan.

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No, you need way more than just the plan.

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And I've done it before, like this is

no shame to anybody that's bought that.

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Oh, if only I had the understanding

or if only I had the roadmap.

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There's so many things, like I bought

one from a launch person thinking

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like, Oh, that's all I need, and it'll

make my client's strategies better.

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It'll make my strategies better.

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I went to implement it on

my own, bailed halfway.

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I was like, I am, my energy's

not right and I can't do this.

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And it doesn't take into consideration

that person's morning routine,

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that person's mental health.

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Like it's just nuts because people will

literally just, oh, this is my strategy.

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You take it and yikes.

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Jess: Yeah.

322

I've had the blessing of being able

to take, a variety of different

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big courses that I, that are outta

my price range, thankfully for

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my clients who wanna implement.

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And once I get into some of these bigger

ones, and I'm not gonna call them out

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because I don't wanna get canceled.

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But once I get into some of these bigger

programs, there are like, Hundred like

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hundreds of lessons in each of these,

and it's like it takes a full-time person

329

just to take in all these lessons, not

mention if you're gonna implement a five

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part launch strategy with a team of two.

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Like it's not gonna happen,

especially on their timeline.

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Maybe you can, but give yourself,

that's when we come back to the

333

project management timeline.

334

If your scope is increasing, give

yourself the grace of a longer

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timeline if you don't have the budget

that they do to invest in that.

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And that's how you get

around this capacity issue.

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If you truly did wanna

implement it, Shorten the scope.

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Just pull out the tiny little nuggets

of information that you know vibe with

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you and are easy for you, feasible for

you to execute and do those instead.

340

But trying to take the course and

implement it like word from word,

341

when you don't have the same budget,

when you don't have the same timeline

342

or the same foundations that person

has it's just a recipe for burnout.

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Rachel: Yeah, and I notice a lot of

business owners, I did it myself, and

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this is why we're being very honest

and open about it, is that skipping

345

through like the foundational stuff

and literally just being like, oh.

346

Oh, if I buy this course,

I'll have all of the answers.

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And you don't have the

audience that's engaged enough.

348

You don't have the SOPs that help you

go through each process seamlessly

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without any kind of like gaps or

handing it off before you hire.

350

And there's so many levels of.

351

that kind of help you help yourself

when you're taking these next steps

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or implementing or whatever that is.

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And like really being honest about if you

audit your business, do you have, insights

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into clarity of what's gonna essentially

hold you back to expanding your scope or

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expanding your capacity and all of that.

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Jess: Yeah, so I wanna get into some ways

because I know we are, there's probably

357

a lot of entrepreneurs, freelancers,

and if you got into this like it or

358

not, like I call myself an integrator,

but I'm definitely a visionary too.

359

Like I can, when I score on both.

360

So I know that we've got

a ton of ideas to, I.

361

We may be at capacity.

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So how do we get around the project

management triangle and how do we

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like what's the cheat code of it?

364

And that is innovation and optimization.

365

So once you start with giving

you just a couple of ideas on

366

what kind of get around that.

367

So starting from the first

option you have is to optimize,

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is to decrease your scope.

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And I think like everything this

starts with awareness of how, just

370

how long things are taking for you

and how much you have on your plate.

371

So that's where things like using a

project management tool to track how many

372

balls you have up in the air can help.

373

And checking your time, which especially

if you work on packages, you may not be.

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Rachel: I have tried and I have failed,

but I think when I'm very aware of like

375

when I launched a new v i P day or.

376

It's not new anymore, but when I

launched it, I tracked everything.

377

So how long each step took so that my

beta pricing can be justified or my

378

next level pricing could be justified.

379

But when I tell you as someone

who struggles as I wouldn't say

380

struggles as someone who thrives

as a neuro neurodivergent person.

381

Time tracking is so hard for me.

382

I've used so many different tools.

383

I'm literally over here taking

notes as you talk through this.

384

Jess: So time tracking is something

like when I'm on it, it's nothing

385

that, like when I'm on it, it helps

me so much to bring that awareness.

386

And even if I'm not using my time

tracker every day, just going back at.

387

Just for myself, I to provide

my clients with , how the hours

388

got spent and that breakdown.

389

And one that can one, open your

eyes for like how much time is stuff

390

actually taking you so that you

can price yourself appropriately.

391

I was just having this client with this

conversation with a client the other day.

392

I'm like how much, I know you get

on a call, but like how long does

393

it take you to prepare for the call?

394

What do you know?

395

How long does it take you

to provide deliverables?

396

All of those things need to be

accounted for in your pricing.

397

And if you're not tracking your time,

then you don't know and you're losing

398

out basically because you're not

charging as much as you should be.

399

So tracking your time

you've probably tried tools.

400

I love Team Metric.

401

It's free and it integrates with Notion.

402

So like when I open up a task on

Notion, I can hit Start Timer.

403

It talks to Metric and tells it.

404

That's what I use.

405

I can also use it to invoice.

406

I do still charge hourly for some

clients, so I can also use it to invoice.

407

So that one I've been using since January.

408

And like I said, it's

progress, not perfection.

409

Do I do it every week?

410

No, but I do notice the weeks

that I do it, I'm a lot more

411

productive because I'm on the clock.

412

And a lot more, planful.

413

So it's just about building

a habit with everything.

414

The second, and I knew Rachel's

a data girl, so she's gonna love

415

this, is using data to identify

like where you're getting R o I.

416

I'm gonna let you spiel on that one.

417

Rachel: Oh my gosh.

418

I think this is, if you're

not looking at your data like.

419

You're doing yourself such a

disservice in your business, in

420

your marketing, in everything.

421

It's really funny because if you have

that data for time tracking, I've done

422

this with one of my other offers before

and I realized I was literally charging

423

essentially like a $10 an hour rate for

a service that was delivering so much

424

value, and that's when I made the decision

that I needed to increase my prices

425

just from My own sanity, but also just

because I cannot justify these people who

426

pay me retainers for all of these other

clients that are getting this $10 rate.

427

It's crazy.

428

Yes, making sure that your, data is there,

but also like you can make such better

429

decisions and like impact in your business

when you are looking at your data.

430

Like I think there was a.

431

Jess, I think you actually shared this

with me many moons ago, is a a calculator

432

of like how much come up from a conversion

standpoint per launch that you needed.

433

I started using that for like my

clients to be like, all right,

434

let's set some smart goals.

435

Their like eyes would light up

when they started seeing all

436

of their data in one place.

437

I'm like, alright, you need

a 5% conversion from here.

438

That means you need.

439

This many eyeballs and this, and it made

launching so much more realistic than this

440

kind of idea of all I need to do is talk

about my offer and I'm gonna make $30,000.

441

And it's no.

442

If you have the data to back it up, like

you have just so much more of a grounded

443

effort in what's actually gonna happen.

444

Yeah.

445

Jess: Yeah.

446

And what else was I gonna say?

447

Something else came up.

448

Oh, I was gonna talk about, and

one of my new favorite magic tricks

449

right now, and it's free is using

Google Analytics traffic insights

450

to be able to see the traffic coming

and what pages it's landing on.

451

And one of the shifts and email,

Rachel be excited that I've been

452

making is I'm able to see what.

453

Blog post or articles are getting the

most traffic and put opt-ins that are

454

strategically placed on those opt-ins.

455

And I, we've increased, I think,

one of my clients by like a hundred

456

percent this month per opt-in

457

Rachel: love that.

458

Jess: by just those on there.

459

So it didn't it didn't, cost the client

any more, budget any more time than other

460

than me just like popping it on there to

see okay, let's take advantage of what we.

461

We were also able to use that

information that she had a course

462

that she was about to retire, but we

realized , all of this traffic was

463

coming to articles related to P C O S.

464

She was retiring her course about

P C Os and we're like, hold up.

465

We've got three traffic coming.

466

The only reason it's not

converting right now is because,

467

There's no opt on this page.

468

It's like sometimes when you get stuck

in that do, if you don't stop and look

469

at the data, you could be like recreating

and creating things and just adding

470

more scope when you don't need to.

471

You can just work smarter that

harder where they say that 80

472

20 rule, utilize that so that

you can get more done with less.

473

Rachel: Yeah, I just made a note.

474

We're gonna do a whole episode

on just us out about data.

475

I feel like.

476

The people that get it will get it,

and I am obsessed with just nerding

477

out about all the things that we

could do because don't let me get

478

into Google Analytics because I have

my, the time of my life in there.

479

Jess: Yeah.

480

And then the last thing around scope,

and we touched on this, is once you track

481

your time being able to do you know.

482

You'll know what tasks take to complete

and then you can automate what you repeat.

483

So we know we are, we all probably have

or should have onboarding automations and

484

offboarding automations, but you can take

that a step further into your offers and

485

the trainings or maybe you're having to

repeat yourself on different calls a lot.

486

Create recordings of those and deliver

those so you're not having to spend

487

as much time on clients educating.

488

I have a lot of my dieticians do

this where, a lot of their one-on-one

489

coaching calls with their clients

are around education and, they just

490

need a short little, like check-in.

491

But a lot of what they're doing is

educating and they're repeating the

492

same thing to client one client three.

493

So they're offer and be like,

oh, I'm repeating this training

494

with every single client.

495

Pop it into a training.

496

I canfin this whole offer to where

maybe I'm only meeting with you one time

497

because you're watching these these

three recordings before, and then I'm just

498

meeting with you at the end of the month.

499

So that's how you refine your offer.

500

Optimizing the client's still

getting the same transformational

501

result, but it's taking less

time for you to do on your part.

502

Rachel: Yeah, and I think just from

a client experience perspective, like

503

it allows you to go deeper and provide

a more customized experience to them

504

because you're not sitting there giving

them that Foundational information,

505

like they consume it on their own

time, and then they can come to you

506

for in the sense of a dietician, like

the more customizable oh, I heard this

507

and this is what bubbled up for me.

508

You give a better experience

when you can embrace that

509

automated kind of side of things.

510

Jess: Yes.

511

Yes, for sure.

512

So the next part we're gonna look at as

far as making capacity or making space for

513

growth is what I like to call it, is time.

514

So the number one thing too, as a solo

entrepreneur, it's just give yourself the

515

grace to have more extended timelines.

516

Especially if you're creating

something new, especially if

517

you're doing something for.

518

I started a weekly newsletter

that had a audio podcast because I

519

wanna be accessible to everybody.

520

Like it took me so long to figure out

how to do it, like probably a whole

521

eight hours, but the next time I go to

do it, it's not gonna take that long.

522

So it's give yourself the grace

that it's gonna take longer to do

523

something, especially if you're

doing it doing it the first time.

524

Try to estimate when you're like,

planning out your projects and your

525

task, try to estimate how much.

526

It's gonna take you always double

that number and then that's how

527

you should plan out, because that's

how long it's actually take you.

528

But, and try to limit yourself

to maybe three big things.

529

I know that helps my brain a lot.

530

Sometimes when I'm feeling overwhelmed

it's I don't feel like working today.

531

Because even though I love what

I do, it's I always feel like

532

working like what are the three I.

533

Number two is embracing ritual

and routine in your business.

534

So creating those weekly workload

cadence on Mondays I do this on

535

Tuesdays are call days on Fridays.

536

Me and Rachel do content

days, I think because.

537

For me, especially with my brain, if

I set myself up for what I'm gonna

538

do the next day, I'm more likely

to actually do it and not get sucked

539

into some new idea on the internet.

540

You feel the.

541

Rachel: Yeah, I have when I

switched to call days Tuesdays and

542

Thursdays as my call days, holy cow.

543

My whole like energy for the week shifted.

544

I'm not one for a lot

of like actual, like I.

545

Routines and stuff.

546

I've tried atomic habits and it's

just, it's very hard for me to stick

547

to a routine, but when I forced that

by saying, okay, my scheduler is only

548

available on Tuesday, Thursdays with

the certain case of exceptions, it's

549

put me in this kind of forced routine of

Monday is my ramp up time for the week.

550

I really focus on like setting my tasks

for the rest of the week and then Friday,

551

yeah, we're here doing content and

also really does help me when I don't

552

need to get ready and like we, Mondays

and Wednesdays, I don't get ready.

553

I just throw on clothes and come and

sit in front of my crank out stuff.

554

So yeah, I think it's really

streamlined, my work week and

555

get into the flow of things.

556

It's helped significantly.

557

Jess: Yeah I follow a creator called Jules

a and she talks about her, so like she.

558

Call days and potato days and I'm

all about potato days where I don't

559

have to get ready and so oh, you

only have to have calls on Tuesday.

560

And then you can really start to

see how it energetically affects you.

561

Tuesdays are my call days and I

do every single client I have on

562

Tuesday by we and Wednesdays like.

563

My energy is drained.

564

So I know oh, I can't do that, or,

but I do get really inspired to create

565

content on Wednesday, so that's when

I do my newsletter because all the

566

conversations that I had the next day.

567

So it's oh, you'll be able to , see,

it's always gonna be a work in

568

progress about how you do it.

569

Another thing I love to implement

too is just like batching things.

570

And then boot up routines.

571

So I call it building

a productivity bunker.

572

When I know I really need to do like some

deep work, I get my three beverages, load

573

up my essential oils and my diffuser, like

my peppermint, get my Spotify playlist.

574

And it's okay, now it.

575

I reject routine a lot, but that

seems like such a treat because

576

I'm doing all these things to

support myself in being productive.

577

It's not oh, I need to go write.

578

I know people love morning pages, but I

have not given done like I need to go

579

write my three morning pages right now.

580

It's when you're able to look

at it as like a tool to support

581

you, I feel it just helps to

like make my life a little bit

582

Rachel: What did you call it?

583

Booed up.

584

Jess: boot up.

585

Boot up routine.

586

Our productivity bunker.

587

That's from the book.

588

The one thing, I think I've mentioned

that book before, but it's like building

589

your productivity bunker boot up routine.

590

I also like a boot's, not a boot

down, but like a shut routine

591

too, especially working from home.

592

Rachel: up?

593

I thought you said boo.

594

Like b o o.

595

Like I got booed up.

596

Jess: Routine and then okay, then we're

gonna have a close down routine too,

597

because I have to shut my computer, my

laptop has to close, or I'll just walk.

598

It's in the middle of my house, I'll just

randomly walk and start working again.

599

My family's what are you doing?

600

yes.

601

And then the third thing.

602

But making space for growth.

603

Your budget.

604

And I know as a small business owner,

like our budgets are very thin.

605

So one being a little discerning

with your budget, one of the, I

606

think one of the most life-changing

things, her name is Maggie Patterson.

607

She does I think it's small business boss,

and she said this on her podcast, it's

608

like she was like, I started making a hell

of a ton more profit when investing in.

609

Rachel: Seriously, I could

scream that from the rooftops.

610

Yes.

611

Jess: So I think one, it's just

one, having a budget, being a

612

little more discern, treating your

business a real business and yes,

613

put aside money for developments and

courses and templates and things,

614

but before you invest, be a little

bit more discerning about could this.

615

Be better spent, just getting

someone to do this for me.

616

That could be awesome.

617

I have been on a course hiatus for, I.

618

Most past year, I really

haven't bought any courses.

619

I've bought a lot of tools and templates,

but no more courses because I'm just

620

like, it was just too much information.

621

Like I didn't have enough stuff to

implement and now my plan is like

622

the next thing I need to implement.

623

I've reached point of my business

where I'm just going to invest and

624

get someone to do this for me because

I've got enough on my plate going on.

625

So it's like those resources

can be reallocated to something.

626

So just take it a moment.

627

Maybe once a month and going through what

your business expenses actually are and

628

seeing did, are these things paying off?

629

Am I getting r oi for this?

630

Tech tools is one.

631

I just created a tech tool spreadsheet

in notion where I listed all of my tech

632

tools and how much I pay for them.

633

So I get a true operating cost for.

634

What my business wants to operate.

635

And it's a lot more oh, I work for myself.

636

I don't have any employees,

I don't have any overhead.

637

Lemme just tell you accounting, like

my insurance and stuff like that.

638

A th it cost me a thousand dollars

a month just to operate as a small

639

business, whether it be software fees,

and that's without any employees.

640

So that I need to take that into

account when that is just something

641

that's gonna get skimmed off the.

642

Rachel: Yeah.

643

Yeah.

644

I think that being able to put

that accountant role on I think

645

I've, in a previous episode I've

talked about like the role of the

646

employee and the role of the boss.

647

You have to also be able to

step into that, like accountant.

648

And if you've been in corporate and you've

submitted like an expense request and it

649

gets like rejected, you almost need to

have that energy when you are planning for

650

growth and planning for either additional

revenue and all of that Submit that Hey,

651

I need to, before you invest in a course,

hey, I'm submitting this as a request

652

and then see if the budget is approved

when you put your accounting hat on and

653

actually honor that because there's so

many times, and I think that like when

654

we talked about for at the beginning of

this episode, where you feel that push

655

the urgency from like the marketing

tactics don't necessarily choice.

656

smart about your investments and your

areas of where you spend your money

657

and where you spend your time too.

658

So I think that's really

important to act as an accountant

659

sometimes in your business, and

sometimes reject that request.

660

Jess: Yeah, there is so much pressure.

661

I feel like on the online space, it's

like you have to invest in yourself and

662

spend more to make more and all of that

stuff, and that is simply not true.

663

Like you do not have to invest.

664

Money in coaching to

get to the next level.

665

You have it in you now if you need

to, and it's gonna make sense.

666

Like , there's definitely a coach

that I wanna work with for the end

667

of the year, and that is because she

is doing what I want to be doing.

668

Like she has proven process and

I'm just waiting till I have the

669

like amount of revenue saved up

in my emergency fund so that I can

670

pull that money out and invest in.

671

Rachel: Yeah.

672

Jess: And the other thing is just

knowing when it is time to hire.

673

And when you have reach capacity.

674

So once you've optimized, once

you've taken all of these things into

675

account, you may need to make more

time and space by offloading some of

676

the things that maybe like you're not.

677

They're not your strengths or they drain

your energy and that is a smart investment

678

to be able to delegate to those if you

have the proper systems and set up.

679

Because if you do it before you have

proper systems in place, then it's

680

gonna just probably pause a little more

headache, then it's actually worth.

681

But just starting to be able to offload

some of those things that are draining

682

can definitely help you free up.

683

But first grading the.

684

Rachel: I think that's like

the most important thing is

685

actually having systems in place.

686

So I will echo that but not go on.

687

'cause we, this is a long episode for.

688

Jess: Yeah.

689

Prepared.

690

Pissed off at all these

things about just do not wait.

691

It's okay to go slow.

692

If you take anything away from this

episode, know that it's okay to go slow.

693

It's okay to grow it gradually

because that in the long run is

694

going to be more sustainable.

695

So with that tune into our next episode,

696

Rachel: we're rooting for you.