What if hustle isn’t required to build a business you love? After 11 years in business—and learning from real-life, thriving coaches and consultants—I’ve discovered 3 simple, surprising truths about working less while earning more and increasing your business efficiency.

In today’s episode, I’m sharing the mindset shifts and key decisions that can help you protect your time, set better boundaries, take action without burning out - and love your business so much more.

Curious how successful coaches and consultants scale without stress? Let’s dive in!

🎯 You’ll Discover:

• One of the most profitable changes you can make in your schedule
• A powerful decision successful entrepreneurs say “no” to
• How imperfect action can transform your business (and mindset)

📝 Next Steps Mentioned:

• Get on the Early Access List for the Establish Yourself® Action Club: https://www.greateststorycreative.com/actionclub
• Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anniefranceschi/

 You know, business owners will trade a nine to five for the stress of a 24 7 365. You know, we've all seen that. We've heard that joke. We're all sold that stress and hustle in business is required. But what if it isn't? That's the question I started asking myself many years into my business when I was stressed out on the verge of burnout. But I figured out a way to thrive. And one of the ways I did that was I started paying attention to the real coaches and consultants in my real life who were not subscribing to hustle culture.

And today I'm going to share with you some of those surprising success tips, the things that you wouldn't guess that thriving coaches and consultants do to love their business, be profitable, and not work all the time. Are you in? Let's do it.

Welcome to the Establish Yourself® Podcast, your guide to elevating your brand, offers, and systems as a coach, consultant, or service provider. I'm Annie Franceschi of Greatest Story Creative®. I'm a brand strategist, author, former Disney storyteller, and forever Muppet fan. If you're ready for next level success, we'll get clear on your brand, Package Your Process™, and streamline your systems so you can land quality clients, boost profit, and make time for big dreams in your business and beyond. If you're ready for less confusion and more magic, it's time to establish yourself.

Before I started my business, my models for success were my grandparents' retail hustle and my corporate life grind.

the retail business, it's, you know, seven days a week, my dad still does that and he's 70. Okay.

I was raised to believe that endless hours and stress or the price of success. And I believed that, until I met entrepreneurs like my mentor and friend Kate Rosenow. She's famous for working just four hours a day. She works four hours a day. She has a real life. She thrives in the work -she does she's profitable and she really enjoys it.

I'm very happy to count myself in that company that I don't work all the time. I work about 30 hours a week. I take December as sabbatical and when my son needs me - Halloween at school, I'm mom, I'm at trunk or treat, right- I'm not stressed about being there and I'm still serving my clients.

Meeting people like Kate and becoming someone like her has really helped me to learn that hustle isn't required. And when you realize that hustle isn't required, that is a game changer. That is something that now I help other coaches and consultants figure out: how to streamline your work so you can run a business that you truly love. Because I believe you can be happy, profitable at hustle free. I have proven that with my own business and I've seen it in real people I know.

We see the gurus who tell us that we need to obsess and overwork and eat success for breakfast. But is it possible to grow a business, make good money and love your life without burning out? I think so, and here is what I've learned about it. Here are three surprising truths from hustle free entrepreneurs.

The first thing that might surprise you: we protect our time. Time is my most valuable product.

One of the most profitable things you can do in your business is start tracking your time. Not just the time you spend with clients, but specifically the time that you spend throughout your business. So you know where your time is going for marketing, for optimizing your business, for delegating. It is huge. One of the ways that I have brought more joy to some of my clients is I have a program called magic strategy partner.

And this is the opportunity to work with me as a brand magician in your back pocket. I worked with my client, Wendy recently to help her streamline her week. She understands the value of her time is critical. She is not selling coffee cups. She is selling her time as a consultant who focuses on belonging.

So her ability to optimize that time and use her energy in smart, constructive ways is really important. So one of the things we did in our work together is we documented her week and we figured out how to plot out her ideal week, protect her time in different buckets so that she had specific time she was meeting with clients. Specific time she was meeting with folks who were interested in booking her as a speaker or working with her as a consultant. She had specific time to do her work as she's a duke university professor, but really managing her energy so that she could get the best value from her time and not work all the time.

Some of the ways that I have protected my time to great success is I have no meeting Mondays. Many people know I take the month of December off, but did you know, I actually have at least one batch day every week because I have no meeting Mondays which I started when I was writing my second book. Another thing I do to protect my time is I don't do everything in my business. I hand off certain tasks to automation tools like Zapier. And to my virtual assistant to offload tasks.

We'll talk about that in future episode, about some strategies. If you're thinking about hiring a VA or you want to better leverage your virtual assistant, but because I tracked my time, I know how incredibly valuable it is. And I know that there are certain tasks that even though I can do, cause I'm a unicorn and can do many of these things- are not worth the time that I'm spending on them.

I can pay my virtual assistant team a fraction of what I can get paid from a client to prioritize getting that client work and doing that client work in that same time in handing it off. That is key. So protecting your time creates space for high value work and freedom in your schedule.

The second truth: we say no to misaligned opportunities.

Successful entrepreneurs, the ones that I know, turn down clients and projects that are not a good fit. I'll give you an example. This year, I said no to a $6,000 project because the client wasn't following my process. It was taxing my sanity to try to chase them and get them to schedule a project. And after I saw about, I think it was three red flags, I paused and simply said that I don't think I'll be a fit for this project. And I referred another partner to this person. Now, my dad thinks I'm crazy for doing this. He can't imagine the idea of turning down good money, let alone $6,000, right? Like why would I do that? Well, I'll tell you why. One, my sanity is not for sale. And two, I have learned from experience that how people are in the sales process is exactly how they're going to be in the project.

So this particular person, they meant well- they're a great person, but they are just way too busy to work with in my process. And I know from having fine tuned and streamlined that system and that process that I can't get great results. I can't write this great brand voice guide for this client if they are not following the process, if they are not part of the journey and going through turning in their questionnaires on time, meeting with me on time. And that's going to create friction and it's not going to get us the result we want: the end result of a not only a great voice guide, but also a great experience for them.

So knowing when to say this is not a fit and to be the one to say no, that is very, very powerful. In my book, establish yourself, which of course, you know, inspired our show today. One of the things I say is that the two most profitable words in business are yes and no. So what you say yes to and what you say no to can make or break your business.

I think that that is huge. You know, why does this matter? Misaligned clients and opportunities- they're going to waste your time. They're going to waste your energy and your opportunity costs. Because you are not selling coffee cups and you are selling your time, you have to protect that time. Make sure that you are filling your time with people who are going to value it.

That is how you are both profitable and happy because it's not enough to make money if it's burning you out. Right? So that's the second piece is saying no, when that no is the right decision, when it's a no to a misaligned client project or opportunity.

The third truth is that we take imperfect action.

I fail often, but I also persist test and refine. Almost like a scientist. Okay. So giving an example. I have a program called Package Your Process™ with the Expert. And when I first launched it, I called it Package Your Process™ VIP. And the promise of it was less us figuring things out together, but more, I will turn everything around for you in three days. And it just didn't work for whatever reason.

It didn't work for the first six to nine months that I pitched it that way. And so I started playing with how I positioned it. I literally iterated on it for months before it became a success and is now my signature way to work with people. Package your process with the expert is partnering with me to get clear on how to talk about what you do, how to create a signature service around it, how to sell it with ease and not sleaze and get the tools and strategies and templates to do that. I love it.

It's so much fun, but it took me the better part of a year of trying it to make it really work and make it connect with people and make sure I was using the right language and even offering it in the right format. And one of the things that I teach in Package Your Process™, whether that's the version with me or the five week group, I talk about how important it is to take action.

And to know that that action is by nature, imperfect. I remember doing a VIP day with someone and they were very clear with me that they put up one post that I recommended when they announced their service and in their words, they said, you know, very few people liked it or engaged with it so I didn't post anything after that.

To me, that's the equivalent of being a basketball player, showing up to practice, putting up one shot, and because it didn't go in not shooting any more shots. What we can do and what I've seen real business owners who are thriving do is that they show up to practice. They shoot their shot and they know that their job is not to get every single basket through the hoop. Their job is to show up to practice, put up the best shots they can, learn from what they're doing and practice. Even the best free throw shooters do not have a hundred percent percentage, right. And in today's day and age, not everyone's seeing the marketing we're doing.

We can't go with, we put it out once and nobody said anything.

If I went by that with the Package Your Process™ offer, it would not have happened. Right. I would've pitched it once. It wouldn't have worked and I would have been done. Instead of it being a hallmark, a huge part of my growth plan going forward. What I wanted you to embrace here is that. I think the success of, of being happy and hustle free and profitable has a lot to do with being willing to take action- being willing to know that not every action is going to result in success.

You are going to fail, but it's like, what can you learn from that failure? How can you tweak it? How can you change it? How can you persist? And how can you approach this stuff and not feel like your whole value is wrapped up in any one project, initiative, post, book, podcast episode, whatever it is because the people that I know in real life that actually make great money, that don't work all the time. They are in many ways, scientists, they are imperfect action takers.

They know that not everything they put out in the world is going to succeed- is going to resonate or work, but they know that they are building a body of work. And we'll talk about that in a future episode, but, you know, that's, that's why this is important. I wrote in my first book permission to try action beats perfection every time. The key to sustainable growth is consistent visible effort.

So if you have been wanting to grow your business, but you don't want to subscribe to the bro marketing, live online, hustle all the freaking time. Here's what I think you should focus on from what has worked for me and what works for the real people I know: the first is protect your time. The second is say no to misaligned opportunities, and finally take a lot of imperfect action. And if you want help to take more of that action, it can help to have some accountability. I created what I call the establish yourself action club. And that is an expert led community designed to help you scale your business without stress. To do the happy, hustle- free, profitable track with people who feel the same way you do, who don't want to live online all the time, who don't want to work all the time and are willing to put up baskets. So if you're like, okay, Annie, I heard you, I will show up to practice, but can I be on your team? Absolutely come check out action club at greatest story, creative.com forward slash action club.

With all that said, I just want you to know that. I strongly believe from real life experience from being in business for 11 years, from growing my business to a consistent six-figure now to a consistent multiple six figure business where I worked 30 hours a week and take December off: hustle is not required. Sustainable success comes from smart action and streamlined systems. And I hope you'll get some of that from listening to the show. So until then here's to you.

 Hey, do you like surprises? Here comes the show's credits, but just like a Marvel movie, stay to the end so you don't miss something fun I put in just for you. Thanks for tuning in to the Establish Yourself® podcast. I'm Annie Franceschi and I want to hear from you. Follow me on LinkedIn. Share your favorite takeaway from today's episode as a comment on my latest post.

Mention your favorite Muppet in your message so I know you're a fan of the show. And for expert branding help, a free consultation and more resources, visit greateststorycreative. com / slash podcast. Now here it is your moment of magic.  

And she was at the very beginning of her practice doing wedding calligraphy, fast forward a decade later and she has built this brand: all she wrote notes, all she wrote notes.com. You can check it out- it's an amazing, joyful, happy brand and it really reflects Maghon's values. Maghon doesn't work all the time.

She has a brick and mortar store in Gibsonville, North Carolina. And she has an online shop as well. But what you'll find when you follow her is that she doesn't open her business all the time. She's only open the first Saturday of every month, the physical brick and mortar, she ships online of course, but she has a life.

She brings so much joy and happiness into her business. She is absolutely a hustle free and party required entrepreneur.

And I just wanted to give Maghon a shout out because you will love discovering what Maghon has built with just her dream, turning her mess into her message and all kinds of confetti.

What you see is what you get. She is not trying to be anybody else other than herself. And I think that she has really found her path to thriving through all of the things that I mentioned and more today. So I hope you will check out all she wrote notes.com and tell Maghon that Annie sent you.