In this episode of the Rooted Business Podcast, we’re diving deep into project planning, task management, and how to turn your big ideas into tangible results.

If you’ve ever set a goal, felt inspired… and then watched it sit on your to-do list for months, this episode is for you.

Jess walks through her step-by-step project planning framework—from defining your outcome and connecting to your “why,” to breaking large ideas into actionable tasks, estimating time realistically, assigning deadlines, and using project management tools effectively.

We also talk about:

1. The difference between a task and a project (and why it matters)
2. Why “messy action” isn’t always the answer
3. How poor planning leads to burnout and stalled growth
4. Scaling back your scope without sacrificing profitability
5. Why solopreneurs should only focus on 1–2 major projects at a time
6. The balance between structured planning and honoring your energy
7. How to stop letting ideas fall into the “parking lot” forever

Whether you’re launching an offer, building a funnel, creating new content, or restructuring your services, this episode will help you create a realistic, grounded plan that supports sustainable growth.

If you’re ready to stop winging it and start executing with clarity and intention, this one’s for you.

We’re rooting for you. 🌿

Welcome to the Rooted Business Podcast.

I'm Rachel, your intentional Marketing Architect.

I'm Jess, your systems and ops guru.

This podcast will talk through our experiences as seasoned business owners open up about our triumphs and challenges.

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Together, we've navigated the ups and downs of running a successful online business, and we know firsthand hand the importance of finding harmony in your hustle.

Each episode, we'll dive deep into the inner workings of your business operations and marketing strategies while we peel back the layers to reveal actionable advice and practical tips that you can implement right away.

We've all stopped there.

We believe that true success goes beyond profits and the growth charts.

That's why we'll explore the critical role of wellness and mindset in your entrepreneurial.

Journey, as burnout is a real threat and we're here to help you avoid that.

Together, we'll uncover the strategies and practices that prioritize your well being, ensuring you have the energy and resilience to thrive.

In the long run.

Join us as we delve into intentional business growth, sharing personal stories, lessons learned, and expert advice that will empower you to make informed decisions to grow your business.

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Hello Rachel, Happy Friday.

I don't know if you're listening on Friday, but I don't know if we've told you before, but Rachel and I record these episodes every Friday.

We've been pretty consistent so far with staying ahead of the game.

Today we're going to be talking about a subject that is near and dear to my heart, which is project planning.

Kind of project planning, task management.

How do you take a big idea that you're having, like break it down and bring it into real light?

I've been talking thinking a lot about energy lately and how it relates and I think planning is definitely a grounding practice and when you have an idea and visiting is more of like an eerie practice but need to bring it down to the ground to get it to work and out into the real world.

We're going to be talking about project planning.

How do you feel about project planning and task management?

So I'm definitely going to be bringing in the like the side of people.

That'S probably a little bit more relatable.

Like the one that's like, okay, easier said than done.

And I am, I, I have a, I push towards big project planning for like my own clients and I say let's get your annual calendar done, let's get your launch calendars done.

And I do that for everyone else.

But when it comes to me, I am a hundred percent the person that will put a goal on my list and not put a plan in place to reach that goal.

And then I'm like, oh, that's nice goal, we'll get to it next year.

And it's just because it feels very daunting and overwhelming.

So I am like full on listening mode, full on absorb.

Like I'm absorbing everything you're telling us today because I need it.

Yeah, no, and I think it's funny because like as much as I love planning, like I love sitting down and putting out a good workflow or map or project launch plan, but I've had trouble doing it for myself too.

And I think that's the case for a lot of business owners because the time that we get to work on our businesses, it's actually really small.

Right.

So when you sit down you actually have the time carved out.

Do some business development on your side.

Like it can almost feel like you just want to jump in and start the doing.

And setting aside that spot to plan is actually, you don't feel like you're actually getting anything accomplished.

At least that's how I feel.

Yeah, no, I totally relate that because I'll be more inspired or in flow state.

And this is so terrible to admit this, I'm so much more in flow state when I'm working on my clients business because I'm like others that like need for validation, they want to do a good job.

And then by the time I get to my own business, my energy is like complex and I'm bringing in human design for this.

Like last night I had a rush of creativity and like action energy and I was online until probably about 9:30 working on like a sales page that I felt very called to do in that moment.

But I can't turn that on.

I can't plan for that action energy.

So I totally avoid my business as when I can't get to it.

No, I feel the same way.

Like I'll complete like these big giant projects.

Like yesterday I was working on I'd client project and I like knocked out so much.

Like I made a whole like action workbook and hooked up a funnel and I've created a private podcast.

Like she had provided all the content and all.

I'm like, oh my gosh, I did.

I can do all of this in one day.

Like, yet I like a list, a stack list of things to do for myself as well.

So I completely agree.

It's always harder to do it for yourself, which is why outsourcing, if you have the capacity and that need money to invest, can help a lot.

Because it is even as someone that I came from corporate background of project planning.

I mainly do project planning and launch management for my own clients.

But for me to sit down and do it takes me like double the time because you're getting into your head and all those things and I'm like, just sit down.

I'm just.

What you preach.

Practice what you preach.

I really am going to try.

This is my like mid year resolution.

We're going to sit down, we're going to plan.

And actually having a partner to plan.

Because when we started this podcast, I was like, okay, let's do a planning meeting.

And we sat down and we had a brainstorm and laid out all the dates and we did all things.

So it's just like, wow, that like accountability.

There's something about doing something with someone and I've never had a partner in business before.

And I'm like, gotta find yourself with.

I know it's gonna be really fun planning season two because I think you and I are both.

We are very data driven, very much in the energy alignment, like being able to look back and be like, what did we enjoy?

What did we not enjoy?

Outsource immediately the things we did not and then get straight to, you know, kind of turning and burning this.

It's a second business.

We were just talking about this before we actually started recording.

Like a podcast is so many elements that are moving so much content, so so much alignment that needs to be put in place.

And without a proper plan, I mean, it is partial, messy action at when you're just getting started, but when you know better, you do better.

And season two, I think, man, we're gonna kill it.

Yeah.

Yeah, we are for sure.

So another thing that I see come up for a lot of people, or at least for my clients when I'm working with them about like, why they don't get to create project planning in the first place, other than like they want to jump straight into action, is that it's oftentimes like I feel it's almost like they're confusing the task with a project and it's like, okay, I want to create.

It's like I put on My task list, like, create an action plan workbook.

And I'm like, no, that is a project, because you're probably not going to be able to sit down and do it all in one session.

And there's different, like, many tasks within that, like one task that you need to break out.

But I think because we're not working with the team and a lot of times we're doing it only in project management.

When I was back working at Athleta, like, we had to break it out, we had to put it in a project management tool because there had so many people's different, like, hands in the bot.

But when you're working with yourselves, um, you don't have to do that.

So if there's like a.

You almost want to skip over that part.

But then what happens is, like, you start to take like, messy action.

And I like, I feel some kind of way about messy action because, yes, I.

You should not have unhealthy perfectionism too.

But I also think that sometimes messy action can be just as detrimental because if you, you can waste so much time and time, especially when you're first starting out, that's like your most important asset because it's all.

You have a lot of time.

You don't have a lot of time to invest money.

You do have time.

You do have time, though, and how you allocate that can really determine whether you're going to be successful or how quickly you're going to find success, or if you're going to get burnt out and that sort of thing.

And if you take messy action and just run right into think something for thinking it all the way through, and then you have to go back in reverse and like, start over again, then you just wasted a bunch of time.

You stalled your growth a little bit.

So that's why, like, whenever someone says messy action, I'm like, maybe, maybe, maybe.

Maybe intentional messy action.

Messy action.

Maybe do that.

Another thing that I think that I see is like, investing the time.

Like talked about investing.

Proper project planning can take quite a bit of time, but it also will save you time down the road because you're able to look ahead any obstacles or work through it on paper and make the mistakes on paper, which is a lot less costly than making the mistakes.

You know, when you're halfway through, then you have to go back and redo everything or your text's not going to connect how you thought it's going to connect or that sort of thing.

And then you have to kind of scrap the whole thing and go Build in a different platform.

Like I have done that before.

Yeah, I, I think the layer of truly breaking down like a task or project down into individual tasks.

And then like even something you had said about corporate where it's like if you're in a bigger project planning system and you have various departments and all of, if you give, let's say graphic design to Susan in copywriting, Susan will tell you that is not my job and will gladly kick it back and say, hey, I can't do this without this.

And I think almost breaking it down into like, okay, like what you were talking about like the workbook.

A workbook requires outlining, then designing and then formatting.

And there's so many.

Think of a, if you think of them as departments, there's so many elements that you can't do in one sitting because they're not one person's job, they're three people's jobs.

And even if you are a solopreneur and you are doing it by yourself, it's kind of switching gears into those sections.

Like that's how people talk about like content planning and batching.

You write all of it, then you design all of it and then you schedule all of it.

Like those are three different brain zones that you have to utilize.

And I think it's like really making sure that you're realistic about that because I'm going through two launches right now with two clients and the ability to be like, oh, it's just, we're just launching.

I just need five emails or I just need this.

And it's like.

You need to break.

It into pre launch and post launch and active launch and like really making sure that everything is broken down by components too because then that leaves you energetically depleted and just exhausted.

Yes.

Yeah.

So hate to toot my own horn, but I feel like I've got this part down to a science.

Help me.

Here we go.

There we go.

Okay, so when you're starting out any project, the first thing that you're going to, you're going to start out with is start out with one year outcome goal.

What are you hoping to get out of them?

Most deserves are revenue ties, but especially for launches.

And if this is your first time launching, set a non revenue goal as well.

Maybe it's to grow your email list because later down the line that might produce more revenue or maybe it's just to get the product out into the world.

It's your first time like something, give yourself something to celebrate.

Complete this whole project and that's going to Help motivate you.

And then another thing that I love to do with all my clients is define, like, their.

Their, like, deeper why for the project?

Like, why do you want to do this?

What is doing this project going to create for you and your life?

What is it going to create for your clients?

Like, connecting to that deeper why?

Because when you're putting out anything new in the world or doing anything new, like, it's going to get uncomfortable and you're going to want to stop.

There's going to be hard things.

And if you can open your project plan and I, like, put these two things right at the top of our project plan, and it's like, connect to your deeper why?

You're like, okay, this is why I'm gonna keep going.

It's gonna give you that motivation to, like, push yourself into that more comfortable zone.

And the next is just brain dump.

Get any idea you have about it, like, out onto the paper and so that you can see, like, how much is involved.

And then I also, like, in this stage, too, I love a canvas whiteboard tool.

I use it.

Ooh, I've never used.

Have you never used the Canva whiteboard thing?

Oh, my gosh.

Feature where you can map out.

And I love to.

I create.

If we're doing a launch, I will create a map, like a visual map of the funnel.

If we're.

If I'm creating, like, a new, like, project workflow for a client, I'll create a visual map of, like, the workflow and that way for each piece.

Because a lot of times, like, in your head and for me at least, I can't visually see, like, the zaps I'm going to have to connect.

Or, like, the, like, secret page.

There always seems to be, like, the secret page of.

I forgot to put, like, the thank you page or the private podcast page or a different page like this will allow you to visually see if you're missing any steps and get everything laid out.

And then once you've got all the assets or all the items that you need to create, you can then go asset by asset.

What is it going to take to bring this to life?

Okay, I'm going to need to outline the copy, write the copy, design the page, approve the page, the page to the other page, so you could write down each task related to that asset.

So that's when I start to organize and group all of these things together.

Then before you go anything any further, I want you to go through and this is what everybody hates, and estimate how long each thing is Going to take you.

And probably I say multiply by two because we are like, brought.

Everybody is like, make sure you're not delusional.

Like, everything takes me 30 minutes.

Well, no, it does not realistic.

And use a time tracker so that you have historical data later on, go through and write down all the time that it's going to take you and then add it up.

And then at this point, because we're not investing, like, a lot of time, we're investing our time and not our money.

Sometimes we're investing our money.

Do you have the budget for this?

Like, time wise, do you have the budget for this?

And if you don't, you may need to expand your budget.

We talked about the project management.

Expand your timeline.

Talked about the project management time triangle in another episode.

But expand your timeline or decrease the scope and find, like, what's the, like, minimal effective dose that I have to do to get this out.

Like, it doesn't have to be like your 4.0 project the first time that you go in there.

Or you can decide to look at it and be like, this is going to take me so much time.

And it's like, frankly, not worth the ROI that I'm going to get out of this.

And like, the project there before you get two months into it and realize that this is so much everyone misses is like figuring out, like, is this worth being intentional about it?

Is this worth the time, the energy that you're going to put into it?

And if you really want to do it, you can scale it down.

Like, you can launch a 1.0 project and then make another iteration and make it better or make, you know, a lot of times we get these, like, giant launch strategies from the celebrity entrepreneurs, and there are so many hours in time put into it, it's like, okay, wait, but how can we, like, scale this down for a scope that you can handle if you need to launch it in the next two months?

Because you have to make the revenue.

Because if you don't and you underestimate that part, you're gonna.

That's where you're gonna, like, veer off into burnout.

The app part's very important to.

There's no shame in scaling back a plan in order to profit.

So if you are at a point where you're essentially saying, I'm making no money on this because I'm putting two months of my life into it, and it's only gonna generate this and stress energy like non currency.

So, like non monetary currency, like, if it's not worth it, Scale it back.

Because we're here to profit, like ethically, but we're also here to run a business intentionally.

And I think so many people get pressured into these epic launch plans that are being sold by all of these million dollar businesses that have teams of 10 and have like out like it's nuts.

And so I think there's just, it needs to be said, there's no shame in scaling back your plan.

Yeah, yeah.

And especially like we had talked in another episode about being realistic about like your numbers and the ROI that you're going to produce right now.

And like understanding that most of the celebrity entrepreneurs that we're following, like they have tens of thousands of dollars to invest in ads or they have hundreds of thousands of followers or they have gigantic email lists.

So being realistic about what we can expect and how much time and effort and energy is going to be worth for us to put that out there.

Yeah.

Cool once.

So at that point you can toss away your project or push it away to another time if you think it's not worth the roi.

Maybe it's an put it in the parking lot.

I have a notion in my project database there is a parking lot or ideas category that everything just gets perk there.

Because as a solopreneur, as a small business owner, you should really only have one to two projects in the air at one time.

If you're working by yourself and you have no team like one project.

Right.

You laughing because you.

Yeah.

Oh my gosh.

Don't let.

Note to self, don't let Jess in my own notion because she will kill me.

Put that on the back burner where's no shame.

And like when I create like those like back burner like statuses for projects, my clients are like, I can have an idea and not execute.

I'm like, yeah, like you can come.

Back to it later.

We can look to look at it in our quarterly reset and like figure out which projects we want to like tee up next.

But really, if you have a small team, like 1, 3 is like the maximum that I let my clients pick.

And it just depends on their team size.

And most of them I have discovered the longer we work together, it's like I can handle one project at a time because we're serving all these clients as well.

I feel like project sprints are the way to go because we have multiple things in the air.

It's hard to balance your time and that context switching.

Like you said, elaborate.

Wait, I need to moment of learning for me, elaborate on the difference between full blown out, like project plan and then project Sprint.

So I think what I the way I'm using it is a project Sprint is like you're only focusing on one thing at that time.

Whereas when I'm working with a client who's got eight to 10 team members and we're having to bop things back and forth to each other.

So we may have a lull in the work that the copywriter may have a lull in her work, but may be able to like hop onto another project.

Then we may have like multiple projects going at one time.

But if you're a solopreneur, it's just lay out one project.

I'm going to finish this and do it in the way that like knocks down the first Dominic.

If you can't figure out what's going to prioritize what to prioritize first, figure out how to knock down the first Dominic.

If your offers aren't set up yet, you shouldn't be creating content plans, right?

Or if your funnels, if your funnels are not set up, then condo.

It's got to make sense in, in the grand scheme of things when you're picking out your projects.

So once you've decided to move forward with your projects, here's another one that everyone hates, especially creative, intuitive, flowy people is your best one.

You're gonna sign it, you're gonna give it a deadline and a due date hard pass.

And I think.

Biggest weakness is deadlines.

And I think it's like, oh, I don't want to be rigid or it's going to like, would it mess up my creativity and my flow and all of this stuff?

And it's like, you can be flexible.

You are the boss, right?

But all this is doing I.

You talked about sitting in your like different seats that you have to sit in.

Like when you're project planning, you're sitting in your like CEO boss seat.

You're planning everything.

So if employee Rachel gets to the product plan day and today it says rate the sales page and your energy is not feeling like you can write the sales page.

Then talk to your boss self and ask if you can push it back.

Your deadline a little bit.

Like you can't scoot it around.

So you want to assign it a due date and a person.

If you have multiple people on the team so that everybody knows you know who is responsible for what, that sort of thing.

And then put it into a project management tool.

Not a sticky note, not a piece of paper that you're going to lose, pop it into Your project management tool.

Because a lot of times as solopreneurs, when we're working on our projects, like, it's like we're doing a client work or we have two hours of time in like, two calls.

So you want to be able to open your project plan and have everything that you need to complete whatever task is teed up next in your project management.

And this is why I love Notion so much, because it can, for me, it's replaced like Google Docs, it's replaced like, things like Airtable.

Like, I put everything related to that project into that my, like, project folder in my project database.

And then it like, relates all together.

And then I have historical data if I'm doing multiple launches, that sort of thing where I can refer back to.

But all the resources are there and all I need to do is pop it open and work on the next thing.

So that is.

And then final step is you just want to check in weekly, like, so you should be doing some sort of, like, weekly planning and like, looking at what task you have laid out for that week and shift things around if they're needed.

Decide, like, what blocks of time that you have open and where your project can pop in and then make decisions to shift if necessary.

And then daily, like, employee Rachel is just going to be checking in with herself to make sure she has the energy and the brain space to do it.

And it's going to be one of those things that the more you do it, the better you're going to get at it.

The projects, like, you're going to get a better understanding and learning of, oh, I can only do two projects one time.

Jessica was right.

I can only do one.

Doing one project at one time is great because I knock it out so much more quickly.

So, yeah, that is my spiel on project planning.

Any more thoughts?

I know there obviously are pain points to planning, but the alternative, and this is where I do the planning, maybe not as clean as it should be or on top of it as it should be, but the alternative is literally like flooring by the seat of your pants and like stressing out, forgetting things, missing deadlines, like, very poor quality, like, of a client experience.

And really that leads to burnout and that leads to unmanageable processes in your business compared to, okay, yes, maybe 10 of my debt or 10 of my tasks have no deadline on them.

I'll get to those.

But I visibly see them.

They're on the docket, essentially.

So even if you are resistant and like, this is for all business owners who are probably like me.

If you're resistant to planning, the flip side of it is significantly worse and growth is drastically limited without the planning aspect backing.

Your scalability in business, your manageability of tasks and energy.

Final thoughts on it is that it's such a necessary evil.

And don't get into that, like, trap of being.

I don't need to do that because it's going to limit you in business significantly.

Yeah, I can say probably a hundred percent of the time when my clients come to me and they're like, oh, I've had this idea or this goal that I can't seem to hit.

And I'm like, okay, do you have a project plan supporting it, or do you have a process supporting it?

And 100% of the time the answer is no.

And then once you get a process to support it, it becomes easy.

And maybe it does.

You know, it's baby steps.

And maybe you're not hitting it every time, but if it's in your tool.

And this is why I love digital tools and they have paper tools.

We're not in the Stone Age anymore.

You can be flexible and those goals do not go away.

Like, my today's task list is set up to where it filters out anything that is due on or before today.

So that if I don't do what I was supposed to do on Wednesday, it still shows up here and it's going to stay there.

Sign at another date or I complete.

It and then you see it in red.

Due three days ago.

I know, I know.

Favorite color.

I love that.

I think it's just.

No, I think it's just about.

I think it's just.

And that's the part where you just have to be compassionate with yourself and, like, balance that, like, masculine planning energy, grounding energy with the feminine.

I'm allowed to be flexible, but it's.

Your tasks aren't getting lost.

They're not, like, falling off into a sticky note ocean.

Because that.

That has definitely happened the week before.

Yeah, same.

Yeah.

That was such a great episode.

Or such great feedback and, like, knowledge.

I'm going to go into my notion after this and clean it up.

I know.

Maybe I'll even attach my project planning notion template.

Yeah, let me buy that, please, people.

When I.

If people want to get their hands.

On it, that'll be linked in the show notes.

Everybody go by Jess's brain.

It's essential to business success.

All right, until next week.

We're rooting for you.

We're rooting for you.