It’s the 3 Little Things: Business Advice, Fresh Planner, & A Great Read

Taking time off and stepping away from the grind of work this summer has given me time to reflect on how I have been running my business.

Blogging doesn’t always look like business, does it?

Actually, if I’m honest, I have no idea what it looks like to you.

This is my life’s work though and lately I have been reflecting on my business mistakes that have occurred these last few years.

At one point in my career, I got in over my head with my job and refused to allow anyone to help me because I didn’t think they could do the job as good as me (even though I was doing a terrible job). My email inbox was in the 50K region of UNOPENED messages, I wasn’t posting consistently, I had lost a sense of community, and I was doing a terrible job diversifying my income streams.

A magical assistant (here she is– she’s amazing!) swooped in and made all these issues disappear. My inbox was clutter-free, she helped me to get back to consistency, it freed up time to carve out community, she got my newsletter going again, and she encouraged me to find new avenues for income streams.

And then she needed to move on to a new chapter in her own life.

Yup, I lost this incredible person who was doing all the things for me and I was back to my old habits.

Here is what I am discovering though:

The mistake wasn’t in handing everything off to someone to help me manage my time better.

My mistake?

I didn’t know how to do many of these tasks for myself.

I didn’t know how to send out a newsletter, I didn’t understand the changes and new strategies I needed to implement to keep up with my social media platforms, I had no ideas on how to continue cultivating my work here. Basically, I have felt a little lost at sea and I worried about the time and effort it would require to get back in the game.

I’ve decided this new school year is a new school year for me too. I started taking online courses to help manage different aspects of my business this week

Would it still be good to hand things off?

Absolutely!

Will I know how to do these tasks though and train the next person who takes the reigns moving forward?

Yes, yes I will.

This week, I’m thankful for a new mindset for my business.

This is the year of not working harder, but working smarter.

I’d love to talk about what goals you have for yourself as your children return to school! What do you hope to achieve this year?

Here are 3 things that are making me happy this week!

The Defiant Ones

HBO has sucked us in with another incredible series. The Defiant Ones is an incredible 4-part documentary that explores the careers of Dr. Dre & Jimmy Iovine and their remarkable business relationship that ended up landing them a 3 billion dollar deal with Apple.

What I loved about their story is that they were two very unlikely business moguls that didn’t have the background or education to have had such successful careers. Iovine, for example, was known for flaking out on jobs and seems to be lacking the ability to follow through on tasks. Dre couldn’t even get the time of day with a local club owner to deejay in the evenings. What they didn’t end up lacking was a passion for music that, ultimately, ended up bringing the two together on some incredible deals.

This isn’t a feel-good story, this is gritty and honest story about the business mistakes they made and how they almost lost it all. It’s incredibly inspirational though to see that if you play your cards right, even the most unlikely people can become the most successful.

I really think you’d love this one- give it a watch!

A Fresh New Planner

I’m so excited to have a fresh new planner for the year! I can’t think of anything more motivating than a new start to getting back on schedule.  I asked what planners people were loving in our MomAdvice Book Club Chat Group and was reminded just how much I wanted a Get to Work Book last year, but never got around to purchasing it.

I’m not saying that this year though because I finally have one. I love that this allows space for goal setting and intentions (both for personal and professional). Each month has a great tear-out motivational print as a fun bonus. The pages are spacious and have thoughtful prompts to help you dream big. I can’t wait to get planning in this.

Also, if aren’t following Elise on Instagram, it’s quite the treat! She’s been a big source of creative inspiration for me.

A Great Read

It’s been a busy week, as we start preparing for the new school year, but I managed to squeeze in a great book this week. Ginny Moon was such an enjoyable read from debut novelist, Benjamin Ludwig. Ludwig shares in his bio that he is the foster parent of a teen with autism and it is through his own experience (and fellow parents of autistic children) that helped him carve his character, Ginny Moon.

Ginny Moon had been taken from her neglectful mother and has been living with her new Forever Mother and Forever Father. When her birth mother starts creeping back into her life, Ginny will stop at nothing to get back to her mom and goes to shocking lengths to make that happen. When a new baby then is added to her Forever Family, Ginny becomes increasingly more of a burden to her strained foster parents and they must decide if this is the forever family THEY want. Ginny will stop at nothing though to get back to where she believes she really belongs and there is a pretty surprising reason why. It’s a real page-turner!

Ludwig really sheds light on the difficulties of finding adoptive families for teens of special needs and your heart just breaks for Ginny over the confusion of who her real “forever family,” is.

I won’t blab too much more about it, but I have a feeling you will really enjoy this one!