020 - [SERIES] First Year Files: Time Management

Forget five-step formulas — this episode dives deep into the realities of managing time as a busy creative entrepreneur and parent. Alex and Grace share candid insights into navigating life’s unpredictable seasons, setting boundaries, and prioritizing self-care without guilt. If you're feeling overwhelmed by your to-do list or unsure how to adapt with life's constant changes, this episode is packed with relatable wisdom and practical tips.

In this episode:

• Why time management isn't about perfection but energy management
• How seasons of life dramatically change your work capacity
• The importance of setting realistic, season-specific goals
• Why boundaries around work hours are essential for mental health
• The role of communication with loved ones about your capacity
• Practical tools like dump lists, automation, and prioritizing small tasks
• How to avoid burnout by leaning into your current capacity and needs
• The mental load and the power of asking for help
• The significance of flexibility and permission to evolve your business
• Why "minimally viable" work is a game-changer during busy or chaotic seasons

Remember: Your worth isn't measured by your productivity. Embrace your current season, be kind to yourself, and prioritize what truly matters. You’ve got this!

Connect with Alex & Grace:

• Alex - Instagram
• Alex - Website
• Grace - Instagram
• Grace - Website
• The Content Club: For Photographers
• The Creative Table: For All Creators

Education:

• Grace - 1:1 Coaching
• The Beginner Photography Blueprint

Must-Have Systems

• Website - Pixieset
• CRM - Honeybook

Arisa Haus Creative Marketing Agency

Grace & Andrew Cacho provide clarity to businesses and personal brands by means of Brand Message Clarity, Audits, Brand Strategy, Content Creation, Photo & Video, Web Design, and Social Media Management.

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:00

So what is your minimum viable survival mode amount of work that you can get done? Whether you have kids or not, like you may be working a nine to five in addition to whatever creative job you're trying to do. How many shoots can you actually do in a month and be able to edit and deliver and give really great quality and an experience and do that? Um and be unapologetic in it because it may just not be your season to do more. And that's okay. You don't want to like rush past the season that you're in, especially as a mom. And I'm like learning that I'm like, I could be doing so many things.

SPEAKER_00 0:34

I know I yes. Oh, that's what I'm saying. Is like I always think back to that time before having kids and how I could sit and order food and watch shows all day and just be like, I'm in for the day and I'm getting things done. And just and I don't even think that I really accomplished them as well because you just don't know the freedom that you have until you don't have any freedom.

SPEAKER_03 0:54

I'm like, what the heck was I doing before I had children?

unknown 0:57

I wanted to start a podcast for creative entrepreneurs, so I can tell us about you.

SPEAKER_00 1:02

And I said, stay less. I'm in.

unknown 1:04

Welcome to the Stay Less Podcast, where we actually say a lot more about other countries, photography, speakership, and other people between.

SPEAKER_00 1:13

We are your host, Alex and Grace. And this is a space for creative women building something meaningful, whether you're raising babies, raising your rates, or just trying to figure out your next move. The pivot, the pressure, the sustainability, and all of the seasons. So stay lost. Let's get into it.

SPEAKER_04 1:49

Hello, everybody, and welcome back to the podcast. We are so excited to be chit-chatting today. I feel like it's it's been a well, it's been a couple weeks since Alex and I recorded, and Jack is on the podcast today. I think it's so funny because we're talking about time management today.

SPEAKER_00 2:03

No, it's a perfect and relevant topic for the managing of time that I'm not able to do in my life. I and what's funny is we have talked about this a bunch. Like we on this podcast are speaking from the perspective of we're also learning and continuing to grow. And yes, we have experience. We are not putting ourselves on a pedestal or perfect at anything. And I will say that time management is a pulse check for me. Yeah. It is like I was already telling Grace before we started recording that um there's things to learn. Yeah. Because I mean, time is managing me. I'm not managing the time.

SPEAKER_05 2:45

And that's the reality of my life.

SPEAKER_04 2:48

We are today's episode is not a five-step formula to like time block your days perfectly because this moment right now, this very second, it looks very different than this exact time did yesterday. Yes. And it will look very different tomorrow. And with babies, and that's we just can't control any of it. So we don't assume that you that are listening, and we've talked about this. Everybody has their hard. And so today we're approaching time management with we're actually not really talking about time management at all.

SPEAKER_00 3:21

Yeah. It's honestly about to be like a vent session. It's about to be vent, like I'm about to be venting about how there's just number one, not enough time in the day. Yeah. Number two, there's if I had unlimited time, there's still unlimited things to do. There's just not enough time. There's too many things to do and not enough time. And then I won't even get into this, and maybe I will as we're into the podcast more. But like as a mom, the guilt that you feel of there's just not enough time with your kids. So there's not enough time with your kids. There's not enough time to work, there's just not enough time in general.

SPEAKER_01 3:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:59

I think you could be how do you learn how to manage it? How? I honestly I wish you could answer that question. I know you can't. It's rhetorical, but how?

SPEAKER_04 4:08

I think uh you could be the most disciplined person in the room, even you know, whether you have kids or not. And you're still gonna have days where it's just like completely out of your control. Um, Alex and I can attest to the fact that we are at the mercy of, well, I mean, we have husbands that work full-time jobs, and so like there's that, and then also at the mercy of our kids and clients and other responsibilities and just juggling all the things along with family. So we're just like real people. And we could be the most disciplined people in the room, but it's still time management just doesn't exist. You can have a super organized calendar, and we're still gonna have to probably change things.

SPEAKER_00 4:49

That is literally so true. So I'm excited because by the time that this episode is live, the episode with my mom will already be live. And if those of you that are listening to this haven't listened to the episode with my mom yet, please go back and listen. Obviously, I want you to listen to Grace's episode with her mom too.

SPEAKER_04 5:06

I haven't heard it yet in our episode. Well, I haven't heard yours either. I'm trying not to.

SPEAKER_00 5:10

I know, like I'm waiting until Friday. Like, I want to listen to it like on my flight this weekend, or you know, I want to listen to it like when it's live, not like the preview. But um, my mom has always been amazing at time management, and she's also aware of that. Like, we we discussed that on our episode a lot, and I don't want to spoil it. If those of you that haven't listened, Grace, I know you haven't, but she's always been like a time management professional. It's like every day of her life she's taken an Adderall, and she like just knows in her brain what she needs to get done, and she literally always accomplishes everything, no matter what. And I I don't know. And I actually asked her because she talks about this, she talks about this on the podcast, and um, I actually asked her, like, what's up with that? Like, and she's like, she's just always been that way because I certainly got her like productivity, sure. Like I inherited that from her. My like biological father is like pretty lazy. I'm like, told you event session. Um that made Jack laugh too. No except, but my biological father, and he just is, and so it's like I really had like my mom is super, super productive and active, and then my leg father being kind of like lazy. I'm really somewhere I leaning more towards my mom. Um but like I can I can have my lazy moments too, but maybe that has to be with being a young mom. Anyways, I did ask my mom, what's up with that? And how um have you been able to do that? And she talks about it a little bit on the episode, and um, just like list making is so important to her and that her brain is just able to prioritize. Yeah. Which I think is a big thing as a creative entrepreneur because as a creative entrepreneur, like you're your own boss. And so and everything is important. Everything's what's hard too. Single thing is important because every single thing needs to get done, yeah, and you're not able to delegate it. But as my own boss, I love giving myself PTO or unpaid. No, like I unpaid time off. No, that was personal time off, not paid. Like I'd be not getting paid, but having personal time. Mental health day, personal time off. I did it last night. I said I gotta take the night off. I'm about to head and read my book, and it's my time. I mean, not really, you know, I was on my computer, but I know, yeah, you know what I mean. Like it's you don't have the motivation of you have to do this in order to succeed, or you get fired. Realistically, that is kind of true. Like you have the things you need to get done, or you know, you could lose the job that you have, or um, have like an unsatisfied client as a creative entrepreneur, which is true and realistic.

SPEAKER_04 7:57

You talk a little bit about this on a different episode, and I can't remember which one right now. You'll you might remember. You talk about um maybe it's contracts. You put your tech your quote unquote work hours in your in all of your communication. So, what is your like client facing?

SPEAKER_00 8:15

What are what are those work hours again? Because I forgot. Thank you. Yes. So in it's actually in my email signature, and then I do always let my brides know when I'm either talking to them on the phone and we've booked, um, in the email of like, yay, we've booked, like, here's what to expect going forward. I have my bridal guide that's kind of like the full everything we're gonna plan and all the details and um kind of like eliminates the FAQ because a lot of my workload can be a lot of back and forth of like simple questions and answers. And so the guide kind of eliminates that. But in all my emails and all my correspondence, I do have like these are hi, these are like my work times, which right now my office hours are on Mondays and Wednesdays. Yeah. Um, we record on Wednesdays, obviously, and Mondays, and like I'm able to answer the phone and answer emails, and I get like admin work during that time. There's no editing, there's no, like I don't get any like marketing done. I will like get some like social media sometimes done. And that's it, other than that. But like Monday and Wednesday is like admin time. Yeah, I say office hours because I'm like, that's when I'm sitting at a desk and sorting through emails, scheduling calls, responding to questions, texts. Honestly, if I get a text, I respond during this time too. Yeah. And like, sorry for the late response. It's now my office hours. Yeah. Because I have to try to keep that boundary. Like as a creative entrepreneur, this could be 24-7. Yeah. It's not personal. It's not personal. It's not personal. Yeah. I have to have the boundary. I have to. So I do try to like be really up front with that of, and if you don't hear from me, you will on either Monday or Wednesday, especially with weekends being so busy as a photographer. You know how that is.

SPEAKER_04 10:08

Yeah. Has it always been that way? Or did you have to change that after you had Georgia?

SPEAKER_00 10:13

Had to change.

SPEAKER_04 10:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:14

Had to change. So it looks different. It looks different. It looks different in every phase of life, which I think is really important. Um, because like this time of year, as Grace knows, I shot four weddings in the month of April.

SPEAKER_05 10:27

April, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:28

Yeah, in April. I had four weddings, two of them being in the same week. Um, and with that, also wed um, what am I gonna say? Not rehearsal dinner, welcome party. I was gonna say wedding party. Welcome parties. I had those as well. Um, so like additional sessions on top of that. So, like this time of year is like a really busy like editing segment for me. So it's hard for me to kind of get my brain in like this creative. Oh, I should make this real or I wish to be working on this. Like it's it's hard for me to get in that time frame. So um, no, it it really all changed when I had Georgia, and every phase is different because before I had Georgia, I was working a full-time job and was a photographer. So I did both things. I was working um with a marketing agency. I loved my job. I genuinely loved my marketing. I love my job. Yeah. So full-time Monday to Friday, and the agency was in California, so it was all remote. But um, I had a management role at a marketing agency and I was really busy. There was like no slacking off. I wasn't able to answer emails from clients while I was working. I was really head down with my marketing job. And then um I left before taking my maternity leave. I know some people take their maternity leave and leave, but I really loved my job, and so I was upfront with them of like, I'm not coming back when I have this baby and was able to train the next person in my role. Um but everything changed because then I had a baby and I had Georgia, and I was like, nothing matters to me except having Georgia, but life carried on. Yeah, I still had my photography and my business, and I had to figure out what worked the best. And I was really working kind of like through in and throughout her rest periods and nap times and bedtime. But then you're exhausted. Yeah. You're exhausted. So then it's like the burnout was like a huge part of it as well. Um, because like I already said, like you're not motivated by someone being like, you have to get this done. You're like motivated by a newborn that's crying and telling you, like, you can't work right now. You can't work right now. And you're trying, and you're trying to figure it out. And that's me with Jack today, being like, you can't get anything done. Right.

SPEAKER_04 12:44

No, I think uh before I had Aria, I would be up at all hours. I was like, who needs sleep? And you know, I would do that now if I didn't have kids, which is not healthy. I I know what is healthy, but I don't naturally I don't go that way. And so this is not me preaching at you from like an expert POV. This is like, um, I've had to scale back in business dramatically, and we've talked about that. Like, I would like to take maybe five or six weddings a year at this point just because that's my capacity, but I also do some other things. Um, but a lot of don't there's just been different, there's been days where like I have sneakily prioritized work or like getting a project done or this piece of a project done over like I don't know my kids. Like there have just been days where like I hate to say that, but it's sneaky if you're an entrepreneur and you love what you do. And so I have found that I am the most testy on those days. I my nervous system is out of whack. If I'm like lacking sleep because I stayed up till 2 a.m. And there are exceptions. I mean, me and Alex, we have a lot of editing to do and we actually edit our own stuff. So we do be staying up late. Important to note. Important to know. But all the things to avoid burnout, like you have to sleep, you have to scale back. On I feel like we're talking to moms mostly right now. But if you're busy, if you work in 95 and you are doing a creative entrepreneurship project, um, maybe you're a photographer, maybe you do something else. If you are juggling a lot, you gotta sleep. Um have to. That's like crucial. And we're also saying that as moms who still wake up in the nights with our kiddos. But like I know, like I was texting Alex last night, I was like, I'm about to bust out some editing before I have to go settle Asa back down, my nine month old, because I know that that's when the night has to end for me. Like I have to close my computer. Like I'm not gonna be able to come back out. So even scaling back on the type of work that I do and how much work I do, right? Um, and it's just all changed since having babies. And like Alex was saying, it just changes with the seasons that you're in.

SPEAKER_00 14:56

Well, and it's like mine's about to change again because Mondays and Wednesdays works great right now because that's when Georgia goes to school and next week's her last week of school. Like by the time the episode goes live, it's summer. So then I'm home every time. We'll report back. We'll report back. I'll be unwell. I'll be unwell because I really need that 10 hours to myself that I get. I really need that time. Um, no, it just changes throughout every phase. And as a creative entrepreneur, I think it's important to like constantly check in with yourself on what's going to be the best. And um for me right now in this phase for as regarding time management, it does not work for me to make goals for the day. Yeah, it does not make sense for me to go, okay, I want to accomplish one hour of marketing, one hour of editing, one hour of admin. Yeah. It doesn't work. It doesn't work that way. For me in this phase of life, having weekly goals, yeah, weekly goals and weekly have to do. I have to email back blank. I have a consultation call with a bride at blank. I have a timeline call with a bride at blank, have to do those things. Yeah, have to do them. Of course, you know, if an emergency can reschedule, but I mean like these are my have to do's. Then I have like my goals of it would be so great if I could get done blank. Wanting to somehow, yes. Wanting to like batch some content, like wanting to do some things. And I, if I do it for the week, it's better. And just exactly what you said. So I just, um, if you're listening to this and you're new here, we have been running an Instagram account for quite a while. Grace and I are Instagram stands. We're Facebook haters, Facebook haters, Facebook haters, and I finally decided we need to have our content on Facebook as well. Um and I'm slowly rolling into after this working on YouTube as well. Yeah. That's a lot to manage. It's a lot to manage. Well, it's a lot, it's a lot, but I'm like, seriously, this that made Jack laugh. But this podcast is genuinely, sorry for the sound effects for our listeners. This podcast genuinely is like my creative outlet. I look forward to planning and creating podcasts. So I'm excited for it to have more outlets, but don't want to add more to our plate in regards to that's why I've been delaying it. But, anyways, I was working on the Facebook this morning, and for whatever reason, it was just not wanting to connect to our Instagram. And it was one, it would not stop connecting to like my personal Facebook and not the pages that I manage. I manage a bunch of pages. Yeah. I have like six or seven pages that I manage on Facebook for family, friends, myself, blah, blah, blah. Yeah. And it just wouldn't connect. And I was getting ready to lose my mind. And it took me about an hour, and I was just going to Oh my gosh. I know, I haven't got to tell you about this. And like it was just, I was testing every things, and I couldn't remember the password here and the password there, and having to reset and like just going back and forth. And like, meanwhile, my kids are just playing and being kids. And it was exactly what you said. My nervous system was like I was so frazzled. I was so frazzled. And I was like, it's because I'm trying to do this during this like time that I'm normally just playing in the floor with my kids. Yes. Why am I like forcing this task that does it need to be done right now? And that's exactly my point of if I have things that I tell myself I have to get done, whereas they're not the priority of the day, those are the things that end up causing me to feel frazzled, burnt out, guilty as mom, and irritated. And honestly, it's set the tone for the day, which I'm I'm just like dedicated and determined to turn it around. Once I have my Celsius and like some quiet time, everything's gonna be fine. But it's like that set the tone for the day. And it just had the potential to ruin the vibe for the entire day. So in this phase of life, yeah, that's just like not serving to me. Whereas before having kids, I could sit down, you know, I was working full time, but I would sit down on a Saturday and DoorDash my food and have my coffee and get all settled in, and I could edit an entire wedding in one day. Yeah. And I would just do it all day. I'd turn on the TV and watch my show and have my snack and have my drink, and I would just like knock it out. And then I was like, this is the best thing ever. Yeah. And it's like now it just feels so spread out of when I'm able to get things done. So outside of my Monday and Wednesdays, I'm about to step off my soapbox. I'm really having like friends. Oh, it's okay. Outside of my Mondays and Wednesdays, I really only have the evenings as like dedicated work time. Everyone's father's a nap and I can have an hour or two. And um, I don't normally use that to work. I use it to read or eat or go to the bathroom alone or straighten up things I need to do. Um, but the evenings are my dedicated work time, but I also have to prioritize my sleeve, like what we talked about. So sure. I um crazy phase.

SPEAKER_04 20:08

Yeah. I have a similar like I do a dump list. It's not even necessarily like weekly goals, it's just like stuff that I know I have to get done, and it just all goes into one giant list. I used to do a physical pen to paper, but I just do it like in my notes app. Like my notes app hates to see me coming.

SPEAKER_00 20:24

Hate to see us coming. Oh my God. I think I have 500 plus notes.

SPEAKER_04 20:28

Yeah, it's it's wild. But I I put all of my like work and personal, it's really the only way I separate it. I do have like a specific editing dump list as well, like things that I have to like it's separate from everything else. But like my work list, um, and this is something that I have gleaned from being a mentee of someone, is whatever season you're in, whatever capacity you have, figure that out first.

SPEAKER_06 20:55

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 20:55

And then making a dump list and just pulling like shallow work tasks and deep work tasks. And so shallow work is like answering emails, or it should be, it should be answering emails. But knowing that like maybe you have 50 emails, just take like 10 and respond to them or whatever your whatever your capacity is and decide if like your tasks need like 90 minutes or whatever your max amount of time you can offer a deep work task is, and like assign that to whatever your max amount of time you can do. Deep work, I need to be focused, and then shallow work, like figure out what that might be. And then figuring out what you can do, sure, in a day, but just kind of Alex does weekly goals, like just reference it throughout the week and like okay, this has a hard deadline, this one's kind of flexible. And you have to like take the pressure off of yourself. First, letting your clients know what your capacity is and like also the people around you. Like, if you have a small limited capacity right now, let your family know, let your friends know. There have been Seasons of my life where like I've had a lot of time and then all of a sudden it feels like I have no time. And if I don't communicate that, I just look like I'm being rude. Yeah. But I just don't communicate it well. And it's like, oh, I don't have time for you. Sorry. So like communicate it to the people around you and then like stick to it and let yourself off the hook for it. And then it makes your time with your kids or whatever you do a lot more enjoyable. Like you're not thinking about work if you're just setting like small attainable goals and getting those done. It's like a lot more rewarding too.

SPEAKER_00 22:33

Yes, it is. Why do I feel like you and I are good at this? And I'm like not good at this, like outside of it, because it's like with you, I'm like, here's what's going on in my life. And Travis is out of town and I'm sleep deprived and I'm like working on Jack, getting him down, blah, blah, blah. I have five weddings at it, and I'm able to kind of tell you that and be like, I have the capacity to record one episode. And that's just all I have for this week. And I'm like able to do that with you. But then like with Travis, I'm like losing my mind on not on him, but you know, just in general with him in the room. And then it's like he didn't see it coming. And I'm like, I just could have told you to start with. Like, I oh my gosh, you know, at the end of my rope, but I forgot to lead with that. You're figuring that out, but I forgot to leave with that. I feel like you and I are good at that, but um, it is such a good, it's such a good note to like let other people because you also don't know like how people can support you in that time. Yeah. Without saying, I have limited time and 47 things to do, and these are things I need to do. You just don't know the support you could receive because I think as moms and naturally as creative entrepreneurs, we do carry the load of all the work we have to do. But back to being a mom, like the mental load. And I know we've talked about this a lot too, but um, in my brain, I'm thinking about all the things I need to do regarding my children. And then it's like when I tell it to Travis and like I have all these things to do, I need to do this and that, and he's like, Oh, well, I can do this and this. And in my brain, I'm like, I didn't even consider asking you because it's just something that I normally do when I could easily offload something off my list and get that done for me. Yeah so if you aren't able to express your capacity and the things you need to do, the people around you, your support system, your spouse, your business partner, or just someone close to you, yeah, you never would know like what you could receive from them. And not that you should be receiving, but you get the point. Yeah. You might be surprised by the support you'll be able to receive.

SPEAKER_04 24:42

I definitely loosened the reins a lot after Asa was born, my second, because I was like, I have two ch children now and I need help. Help me with my two childs. And so I have been asking for a lot more help from grandparents or friends, even just having somebody over to like spread the attention of the children a little bit. Hello me too. You don't have to do my dishes, you don't have to help me do anything. Right. Just let my daughter play with you. Yes, and I will play with the other child. Like, even just something as simple as that. Attention. It seems hard because I'm really it takes a lot for me to trust somebody with my kids. I know you're the same exact way. But I have to I have to do it, first of all. You don't have to share your kids with 30 people, but you know, figure out who you trust and you might have to work at a little a little bit. But at the end of the day, after I do that, every single time, like it's hard for me to leave, but I come back and it's not only like the reunion with my kids, like we've talked about, but also the joy that other people get from like being around your kids. Not that like that's their purpose in life, right? To like make your friends and fit. I'm not saying that. I don't want it to seem like I'm you know what I mean. Yeah, like it brings my parents so much joy, it brings Andrew's parents so much joy, our in-laws and siblings and whoever, like my best friend. It just brings them so much joy. And just it's just a reminder that like you're not a burden, which I can feel like sometimes. I don't know if you feel like that ever, but it just can feel like I don't know, I don't want to ask anybody because they'll probably just say no. Like they're probably too busy. I'll just do it myself, anyways. Like, that's the default. He's so cute.

SPEAKER_00 26:24

Oh he's being so sweet right now. So sweet. I know.

SPEAKER_04 26:28

He's a snuggle bug. So yeah, just like trusting other people with your kids. Um, and again, we're speaking to people with kids, but you may not have that.

SPEAKER_00 26:39

No, it is. It's that, but for me too, the main struggle regarding my kids is like I always feel like they're only my burden. I don't mean burden derogatory. I mean just like they're my sole responsibility, and like no one else should have to.

SPEAKER_04 26:56

If you're not doing it, then you're not doing your job right. Yeah, I know, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:59

It's your mom's job. Like this is like my responsibility only. And like I chose, I chose to have these kids and no one else did, and like I should bear the weight of them entirely. Um, whereas, you know, um my best friend Montgomery, who has been around a lot and like since she's moved closer to me, and um, she doesn't have kids of her own, but she'll come in and just give Georgia this undivided attention for two hours and just genuinely give her the best day, and I'm able to rock Jack, nurse and sit and rock and like spend time there that I'm not feeling guilty about taking away from the other. Yeah. And he had something to say about that. Say hi. Say I like attention. He's waving. Hi. He just learned how to wave. That's so cute.

SPEAKER_05 27:48

Hi.

SPEAKER_00 27:49

So that that's really that. So um I wanted to circle back to what helps for me in this phase. I know you talked about your dump list, and I was talking about weekly goals. I try to focus on three main things. That's great. And this week I already got done um like a welcome party for one couple and almost finished her gallery. With that, I sent an email to her letting her know I've almost finished her gallery and she'll be receiving it within one week. So still within the deadline. And um, a couple other things. I wanted to get a reel done for last week, and like I had these all written down of this is what I'm gonna get done this week. It also helps because sometimes when I sit down and I'm like, okay, I'm clocked in, it's time to work. I sit down and I'm going, but what am I supposed to be doing? Like I've forgotten yourself. Are you okay?

unknown 28:40

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 28:41

I'll sit down and think, like, I forgot what I need to be doing at this time. You know what I mean? Like, yeah, um, what do I need to be doing? Whereas if I start the week with a list of prioritizing, I really spend Sundays um, either on the way to my parents or back thinking, what are we gonna have for dinner? What do I want to order for groceries? And what are my work priorities this week and kid priorities too? And I make a huge list weekly. And um, then when I'm able to have that dedicated time, solo time or kid time or work time, yeah. Hi. Then I can reference my list. And that's been helpful for me. But the day to day making a list for the day doesn't happen. I can already tell you by the way today's going. Nothing's going on.

SPEAKER_04 29:27

That was me yesterday. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:29

That's it. That's all I can do. Yeah. And then you have to reset for the next week.

SPEAKER_04 29:33

Yeah. I think basing even basing your lists off of minimum viability. Like, what is the minimum amount of things I can get done on the worst week possible? And base your entire business model on that, and then everything else is bonus. Like whatever you're and it's gonna change season to season, but like do the smallest version of tasks that you possibly can. You will feel a lot more productive. You might get more done, and that's great. Um but I think fewer is better if you can do them totally better and like more focused. Um, and like being able to be consistent with like small repeatable tasks is better than trying to do everything. Because when you're trying to do everything, you can't really do one thing. If you're trying to like multitask, not really getting anything done if you're trying to focus on everything, having 12 tabs open.

SPEAKER_05 30:23

Any rank.

SPEAKER_04 30:24

I'm preaching well, even on my computer. I'll have 12 tabs open on my computer because I'm like, oh, I can go back and forth from this and this and this and this. And it just, I feel like I don't get anything done when I do that. Um, so what is your minimum viable survival mode amount of work that you can get done? Whether you have kids or not, like you may be working a nine to five in addition to whatever creative job you're trying to do. Um, but what's the how many shoots can you actually do in a month and be able to edit and deliver and give really great quality and an experience and do that um and be unapologetic in it because it may just not be your season to do more, and that's okay. You don't want to like rush past the season that you're in, especially as a mom. And I'm like learning that I'm like, I could be doing so many things.

SPEAKER_00 31:11

I know I yes. No, that's what I'm saying. Is like I always think back to that time before having kids and how I could sit and order food and watch shows all day and just be like, I'm in for the day and I'm getting things done, and just and I don't even think that I really accomplished them as well because you just don't know the freedom that you have until you don't have any freedom.

SPEAKER_03 31:32

I'm like, what the heck was I doing before I had children?

SPEAKER_00 31:35

What are you doing? No, Travis and I talk about that all the time, like on Saturday mornings, and it's 5 45 a.m. And we're already in the trenches, and we're like, what did we used to do on Saturday mornings before we had kids? Like, did we just lay here? Did we just sleep until like we didn't have like we just woke up? Like there was no alarm or no kid crying at the end of the bed. Like, this is crazy. Like, oh my gosh. You know, you really have to um, even if you're not a mom and you're in the beginning of your business, I do want to recommend you go back in the series and listen to our CRM, our automation episode as well. Yeah. Um, in this phase of life. So, you know, I'm 10 years in, I'm also a mom of two. Reusing stuff and not reinventing has been huge. Um, reusing emails and automating like certain things. Like I know you were talking about following up with an inquiry. Um, my system automatically does that. So if I don't hear back, I do have it's super short and sweet of hey, because I didn't hear back from you. I just want to follow up. Um and I do I reuse some of my work and I'm not reinventing my work every time. Don't be a hero. Don't, don't. Literally. Um, is that a zombie land reference? Uh I don't know. Okay. I've been saying it a lot lately. I don't know where I heard it. Okay. Don't be a hero. Just well, but like it's true, but it's also like a reference to Zombie Land, which is like one of my favorite movies. So I'm like so funny. You're not making a reference. Okay, I just wanted to make sure. I was like, we're about to connect on this. Um, but step number one in surviving the apocalypse is don't be a hero. Really? I'm like, and that will be my caption for this post because it's really good and true. Um now you made me lose my train of thought because I'm thinking about sorry, you were talking about automations and like reusing. Yes. Okay, so if you are in the beginning of your business, setting those things up are really remove that part. 32 and 19. I'm writing it down. I'm like, and remove. Okay. 3219. He knocked my phone and like knocked everything off. We're getting crazy. We're almost done. Anyways, if you are in the beginning of your business, I I know I just said I'm 10 years in, I have two kids, and like automating the systems has helped me so much with back and forth. You're at the phase right now, if you're in the beginning of your business, where you can set those things up and save your time. So then you're able to spend less time doing the admin stuff and doing the stuff that um isn't bringing you joy and isn't growing your business technically when you are in the beginning and need to be working on um setting up more things. But it's important to get these things done. So I just want to recommend to go back and listen to that episode if you haven't already. It's important.

SPEAKER_04 34:22

Also, if you're in the beginning of your business or maybe you've been doing it for a while, but you want to have kids, you're trying to have kids. I have a coaching student right now that's like, I want to have a kid by this date.

unknown 34:32

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_04 34:33

Uh how do I, how do I get my systems in place? Right. And if we are screaming at you, if you do not have children right now and you are running your business, get your stuff in order so you don't have to worry about it after you have babies. You can do it. People do it, but like if you don't have to, don't do it. Right. Like, do it, just do it now. Right. Um, and you can make tweaks as you go. It'll be a lot easier to adjust your hours for clients than try to create an entire client relations management system from beginning to end.

SPEAKER_00 35:14

I think what's been, and I didn't have this in mind when we decided to launch this series, um, the first year file. So we're speaking to creative entrepreneurs in months zero to six. But when we decided to do this and kind of go forth with this idea, I didn't have this in my mind. But what has like resonated with me every single episode is you have permission to change and continue to evolve different aspects of your business as your life is evolving. Like I feel like we have said that on every episode in regard to every topic. And I feel like I just want it to be heard because it is going to continually change. And you're in the beginning of your business right now, whether you're a mom or not, um, it that it doesn't matter. It's like you're in the beginning now, and Grace and I are moms, but we're in the middle of our business and it like it's going to continually change. And um we were talking before the podcast started. I do recommend kind of like checking in monthly. I've been having to check in monthly. I mentioned I shot four weddings in the month of April. So I already know that May and June are gonna be big editing months for me. So I need to set less goals in regards to I have huge plans for the summer, but those are coming in July. So I can focus my brain into editing on May and kind of go forth from there. But maybe a monthly check-in and a weekly to-do list. That's my time management recommendation because that's what's currently working in this phase of life. And if you're in the phase of life where you can make a list of 20 things to do in a day and get them all done, just know that I hate you and I'm jealous of you, but also I love you and congratulations on your to-do list. And that's to my listeners that are able to get a bunch of things done.

SPEAKER_04 37:04

Oh man. I know don't um don't compare your your season to somebody else either. Like Alex and I are that in the episode too. Alex and I are in very similar seasons, but our lives don't look exactly the same. And her just because she can be productive today, which she said she can't. Not today. But you being mom is productive. Um, but just because she can be productive one day and I can't does not make me less of a person or uh, you know, a good business owner, less of a person. You know what I'm trying to say. I'm like, we're nearing the end here, so I'm brain fogged. Yeah, I'm gonna land it. So I'm just gonna do a quick little recap. Um, this episode actually is not about time management at all. I think it's more about like energy, energy capacity and also like uh awareness of like the season you're in and being willing to change. Um, so time management is not the problem here. Time isn't your enemy. Um, you can't have more of it. So do what you can with what you have. Um, sleep. Sleep when you can, take care of yourself. I mean, Alex even talks about how she'll go enjoy a Celsius and you know, have some time to breathe and you'll come back to your kids, you'll come back to your business feeling really refreshed. Um, minimum viability. So, like what is like what does your worst week look like and what can you accomplish during that time? Kind of set that as like a super, super low standard, especially if you're a mom, if you're super busy doing lots of different projects, um, capacity over time. So I kind of already said this, but like, what is your capacity in this season? Not necessarily how many hours do you need to get things done, but uh how in this season, like what is your capacity and how can you um apply tasks from like your to-do list to that to get things done without feeling overwhelmed. Um, and just build your business for what your life looks right now and give yourself permission to change. Um, don't plan for your best day, plan for your worst day. Um, you need one focus, one next step. What is the very next task that I need to have in front of me? Um, don't reference your 20-item to-do list every single moment. Just break it down a little bit and approach it from there. Um you don't need more time. I think you just need clear expectations of yourself and let yourself off the hook a little bit and get around people who understand the season that you're in. Like Alex said, it's really easy for us to talk to each other and for us to say, like, okay, yeah, no pressure. We will reassess and do something later. Um, and it's easy for us to do that because we're in a similar season, and so we have a lot of grace for that. Um, so find people that have grace for the season that you're in and we'll kind of meet you where you are and like help you where you are. Um yeah, don't try to do it all. Don't be a hero. Don't be a hero.

SPEAKER_00 40:06

Don't be a hero. And rule number two is double tap, which is a zombie land reference. So if there's any zombie land fans listening to the episode, then they get it. No, I really sit with the fact of um, and I hope it resonates with you, of just prioritizing. And if the priority this week is to get more rest so that you can be more productive and rejuvenated the next day, prioritize it. That's going to be my goal today. My priority today is to take care of myself so that I can better take care of my children and go into a wedding weekend this weekend and be revitalized for more work next week. But set those priorities and um get it done. And you can do it, and we're here for you, and we support you and continue to change it as your days and your weeks and your life phases change.

SPEAKER_04 40:55

Yeah. I love it. This was so good. I needed this today. Thank you for the therapy session. To the listeners. Thank you for allowing me this free therapy episode. Oh my gosh. Maybe, maybe we'll do like maybe that's what our potential midweek episodes could be.

SPEAKER_00 41:15

Oh, yeah. Just Alex Sterling's free therapy therapy sessions. Yeah. Seriously. And then like the whole world is my therapist. That'd be terrible. It's like worse than Chat GPT being your therapist. Literally, it'd be like, you've lost your mind, and I'd be like, and I already know. And that would be the T. Oh man. Okay. We have to end this. We'll have to end it.

SPEAKER_01 41:37

All right. Bye guys.

SPEAKER_04 41:38

We'll see you later.

SPEAKER_00 41:41

Oh my gosh, that's crazy. There's one more. Thank you for tuning in. This has been so much fun. We're excited to wrap up the series and move to the next. Yes. Bye, guys. Bye.