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Celebrating my birthday week with this fun “Ask Me Anything”!
Welcome to the Chasing Simple Podcast! I’m your host – Amanda Warfield, and you’re listening to Episode 068. Today’s episode is a fun one because as this goes live, it’s my birthday week! And, around my birthday, I always try and do fun ask me anything episodes.
Today I’ve got 9 questions submitted by some of my students, and also over on Instagram, and I’m going to go through them as quickly as I can – hot potato style. (Is that a thing? You get what I’m saying.)
As always, I’m so glad you’re here – and if you can relate to any of my answers, hop on over to Instagram and slide into my DMs! I want to know!
Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
- Take the first lesson in Club Content Batching – for free!
- Learn more about Gretchen Rubin’s Four Tendencies
- Check out Profit First by Mike Michalowicz
- This week’s action step: DM me the best book you’ve read lately!
- This week’s book recommendation: 13 Things Mentally Strong Women Don’t Do by Amy Morin
- Find me on Instagram and tell me you completed this week’s action step: @mrsamandawarfield
Did you love this episode?
Don’t forget to subscribe so that you never miss an episode! Also, if you would be willing to leave a review on Apple Podcasts, it would mean the world to me. It’s such a small thing that can make a big difference in helping me spread this message of simplicity to other overwhelmed women.
Have a comment about today’s episode, or a topic you’d like to suggest for a future episode? Shoot me an email over at hello@amandawarfield.com!
Rather Read? – Here’s the Transcript!
*Just a heads up – the provided transcript is likely to not be 100% accurate.
Welcome to the Chasing Simple Podcast. I’m your host, Amanda Warfield. And you’re
listening to episode 68. Today’s episode is a fun one because as this goes live, it’s my
birthday week and I love birthdays. I love celebrating. Other people’s birthdays, but I really
love celebrating my own birthday and around my birthday every year, I always try and do a
fun.
Ask me anything episode. So Today I’ve got nine questions submitted by some of my
students and also some from over on Instagram. And I’m going to go through them as
quickly as I can. Hot potato style. Is that a thing? You get what I’m saying? I’m going to go
through them as quickly as I can back back to back to back one after another.
As always, I’m so glad that you’re here. And if you can relate to any of my answers, go
ahead and hop on over to Instagram and slide into my DMS because I want to know. All
right. So, Like I said, in the intro, I’ve got questions from students. I’ve got questions from
Instagram. They’ve come from all over and I’m just gonna go down the line and fit as many
in as I can.
So The first question is what are your five-year goals slash plans? Both personally and
professionally. This question is so hard for me because I’ve shared this in the past. I’m not
awesome at setting super realistic goals. And so I tend to really just focus on what is, what
are my goals for this year. So I don’t have a detailed plan of what I want. It Within five years,
I don’t have, like, this is my five-year goal. I just have a general vision for what I want life to
look like. professionally that just means I want to be educating as many creative
entrepreneurs and small business owners as I can about good time management and how
they can use their time well and how they can find that work-life balance.
Right now. My focus is clearly content batching, because I think it’s an amazing tool for
business owners to start managing their time really, really well, because it saves you so
much time when you’re creating content. It saves you mental energy. I’m not going to go
into content batching right now because I talk about it all the time. I may still be teaching
on that in five years. I may be teaching on something totally different. I couldn’t tell you.
I am very open to whatever my audience is looking for at whatever point. And that’s how I
started with content batching. It was something I did, people were really interested in it and
I was like, all right, we’re just going to grow it from there. So we did, but really my goal was
to educate other entrepreneurs on managing their time well, so that they have the freedom
and flexibility they originally started their business for in the first place. I would also really
love it within five years. If the business was making enough in revenue and profits choose
hake Russell and I to Disney world every single year. Because, at this point, he’s very much a
every other year to like every one’s five years, he would go like probably never again,
honestly, and be happy. But his compromise is like, we’ll go once every five years, but if the
business profits enough, we can go every year. So that’s really, I don’t have a super big
monetary goal, for the business, but if I could do that, that would be really cool. And then
personally, I honestly, I love my life that might come off wrong, but I’m okay. I’m really
happy with where Russell and I are in life right now. I could be taking care of my health a
little bit better, but truly I’m happy with how we’re spending our time, how we’re spending
our life. I can’t really complain, I just want to keep doing what we’re doing, spending time
with each other and spending time with family. I spend time volunteering with my church
and working childcare there to give back in that way. And I don’t know, I’ve a really fulfilled
and happy. So that’s probably not what you were looking for Nicole when you asked that,
but that’s where I’m at with those goals. I just, I want to keep being content and happy.
I got another question about my iPad system and if that was still working for me. And I don’t
remember when I actually started doing this, I can’t remember what month it was, but
within the last year I went and bought an iPad specifically so that I could take all of the work-
related apps, including social media off of my phone and just put them on the iPad. And I got
a message last week, someone asking, Hey, does that still work for you? I’m thinking about
doing it myself. Yes. 100% this still works. And I highly, highly recommend it for anyone. If
you have a tablet or you have the means to be able to get a tablet, it has been so helpful for
me to separate work and the rest of my life, because it sucks you in, and I don’t want to
constantly be on my phone.
And I looked at some of those non smartphones, but frankly, like I want to be able to use
Google maps and I want to be able to, take videos and pictures and things like that that are
high quality. And this was the compromise ended up coming up with. . All of my work apps,
all my social media that is on my iPad. This was really great when we went to Jamaica in May
and I left my iPad here at home and I, I didn’t open Instagram or Facebook once the entire
trip because I couldn’t, I didn’t have the app. It was amazing. yes, iPad system still working
still recommend. It’s really nice to have them separate. And then if it’s a Friday night and
Russell’s playing his video games and I want to just scroll Reels, I totally can, but it’s an active
choice versus a passive time-waster. So there’s a difference there.
The next question is how do you keep the energy out month after month, even when this
stops being as fun as it was at the beginning. One, this comes down to, again, managing
your time. Well, using my block schedule, using my batch schedule and making sure that I’m
working on something different every day of the week so that I can batch the work.
So Every Monday’s for marketing every Tuesday is for admin. Every Wednesday is for
projects, whatever my current project is. And then every Thursday is for educating myself
and planning. That way, I’m doing something different every single day of the week and
there’s variety, but it also keeps me focused and intentional. It helps with the fun side of
things, but it also helps me get more done. That’s one side of it. The other side is that I’m
very intentional about taking time off and if I feel burnt out, I listen to my body. Does that
mean when there are weeks when I just don’t feel like working that I just don’t do it. No,
there’s a difference between not feeling like it and feeling burnout and starting to really
listen to your body is going to help, you know, the difference. For example, this week as I’m
recording this it’s batch week. And I also have a very big deadline coming up. Typically when
I’m in batch week, I only do content batching. I don’t do anything else because it is
exhausting this week with my deadline coming up, I unfortunately have to do a lot of extra
work to on top of my content batching. Going into this week. I didn’t want to do it, but I
knew I didn’t want to do it. And not that I was burnt out. So there was a difference there.
So When I’m burnt out, I take time off if it’s the middle of the day and I’m burnt out and I
don’t want to do it. And I just feel like I’m hitting my head against the wall and I want to take
a bath. I go take a bath. If it’s a Friday. And I had planned to get some work done, but Russell
wants to play disc off and , I’m feeling burnout. I go take the time to do it. I listen to my
body and that helps me keep the energy up month after month.
Next question. Do you batch Reels too? Yes. 100%. I do not do Reels in the moment. Reels
are very, very time-consuming and I don’t think I could put out near as many as I do if I
wasn’t batching them. So what I’ll do is during my batch week and I make my plan, I know
what Reels I’m going to do, what the general idea is and what sound I want to do. Then I
record all of them and I save them as a draft. And then I’ll write the caption and email the
caption to myself the day that it’s supposed to go live so that when I checked my inbox in
the morning and I have the Reels email, I know, oh, I got to go put a Reel up right now.
There’s no scheduling tool for Reels right now. And that’s as close as I’ve gotten to being
able to schedule it out. But it makes me able to forget that the Reel is supposed to happen.
Like I, I have it created and I don’t have to worry about it until I get the email and then I can
just go and copy paste and put it live. Yes, I definitely batch my Reels. There’s no way I
could do reels as often as I do, if I wasn’t batching them, and that’s, that’s how I do it.
Next
question. Oh, so I’m just running through these as quickly as I can, because this episode is
already longer than normal. Next question is which Tendency are you in Gretchen Rubin’s
Four Tendencies. I’m gonna be, be honest. I used to listen to her podcast a lot I haven’t really
in a while. And so I had to go back and I took her quiz It came up as obliger, which I for sure
used to be 100% obliger, I think I’m also, when you go to her website and you take the quiz,
she it’s basically like a Venn diagram almost.
I think I’m very much obliger with some upholder as well, because like if I have outer
expectations, 100%, I’m going to. Meet them,
not always will I meet my own inner expectations, but also pretty often I will. So I feel like
I’m kind of in the middle with those two, because they’re both meet outer expectations, but
I’m an upholder meets inner expectations and obliger resist inner expectations. And I don’t
resist them. I’m pretty disciplined and pretty good at meeting inner expectations.
I don’t think my business would be as successful as it is if I couldn’t, sometimes I just don’t
feel like it. So I don’t know. I’m somewhere in between those two. I want to say I lean more
upholder but the quiz that I’m an obliger, If you’ve listened to my episode about my
mastermind, I love having that outer expectations.
I love being, I love like someone holding me accountable, but I also feel like I’m pretty
accountable to myself. another fun fact my husband is for sure. A rebel. Well, 100% a rebel
questioner. And If you have no idea what I’m talking about, go check out Gretchen Rubin’s
website or her podcast or any of her books.
It’s all very, very insightful. And if you’re someone like me who really loves psychology, you’ll
really enjoy her stuff.
okay.
Next question. How do you know when a routine is no longer working for you and it’s time
to change? The biggest indicator here for me, especially is am I feeling like when I go to do a
routine that I’m beating my head against the wall, does it feel draining? Do you dread doing
it? Does it just feel like it’s not working anymore? A lot of times. We’re trying to do routines
and we want to blame it, not working on all these other outside factors, which yes, that
could be the case, but also those outside factors changing may just be indicative of the fact
that it’s a new season of life and with any new season of life, routine needs to change.
Practically, if you know, you’re in a new season of life and that can be as simple as going
from the school year to summer break or summer break to a new school year, that’s a good
indicator. Hey, time to like recreate reevaluate my routines. But also if it just doesn’t feel
right. And if you’re feeling a lot of resistance to following through with that routine, that
means it’s time for you to reevaluate as well.
Next one. How did you know when the right time to go? 100% into your business was I have
shared this in the past, but for me, I frankly got pushed into going 100% in my business. And
that’s because we were living in Washington. I was teaching and running youth group and
running my business all the same time. Then we were moving, but we were moving. Right.
After a new school year was starting. So we moved from Washington state all the way back
to South Carolina. And we moved, I think we got back here, like middle of September, which
the school year typically starts about a month before that. I could have gotten probably a
substitute job at that point. I probably could have gotten maybe an aid position, but typically
once teachers are hired for the school year, they’re staying put, that’s just generally how it
works. So there wasn’t really a way for me to get a full-time teaching job. And frankly,
because I have a master’s in.
Preschool studies, early childhood education. I was not going to go work as a substitute. I
just wasn’t going to, and the fact that we are very intentional to live within my husband’s
paycheck. So all of that was just a very clear, we’re going to give this a go. And we gave my
business the school year to get to a place where it was sustainable as a paycheck on its own.
So for me, I got pushed into it. But if you’re someone who, that’s not the case, because
that’s not the case for most people, it’s not most people’s stories. I would say, you know,
what’s right. When you know what your financial goal needs to be, and you can meet that.
And that just practically speaking is the best way to do it.
Does that mean that you need to 100% match what you’re already making? Maybe, maybe
not. It depends on your financial situation. I. Highly recommend Mike Michalowicz, Profit
First book, which is a whole system for your business financials within that, he recommends
and encourages all business owners to take 50% of revenue as their paycheck.
So my rule of thumb, when clients are trying to decide how much they need to make, what
their goals need to be, things like that is to go, okay, how much do you need to bring home?
And then double that. So that would be. My very quick suggestion. I’m not a financial coach.
Just throwing that out there.
How do you continue to work on your mindset? On the toughest days? I struggled with this a
lot, just full confession, full honesty. I do struggle with my mindset because I struggled to
find my worth. I’ve shared this in the last couple of episodes. I definitely struggle with
finding my worth inside of my business.
So what I do. Is walk away typically. If I’m having a really hard day with mindset, I will
literally go outside and take a walk and get away and try to reset whether that’s talking with
a friend, talking to my husband, listening to music. I try not to listen to a business podcast
when I’m feeling like that, because it typically doesn’t help. I try to fully get away.
journaling. I’m not a huge, consistent journaler, but what I’m feeling frustrated or low, or I’m
feeling a lot of emotions in any way really I journal. And so that’s something I’ll do to help
kind of work out like this is what I’m feeling, what are the facts? Maybe I’m feeling
frustrated because I didn’t get as many sales during my launch as I thought I would. But then
I’m actually looking at the sales I’ve made and I’ve already done better than the last one.
And so just looking at the facts and saying, okay, this is what I’m feeling, but this is what I
need to remember. That’s really helpful too.
Okay. Last question. What was the last book that you read and loved? a Court of Thorns and
Roses, I believe is the first one by Sarah J Mass. That whole series has been. Amazing. I just
finished the fourth one. I thought it was going to be the last one.
It’s definitely not the last one. And I was nervous going into it because I’ve read a lot of
amazing series that were ruined by the last book, but this one was just as good. So that’s my
favorite right there. That whole series highly recommend I’ve recommended it as a book rec
on some episode in the past, but definitely worth rementioning.
It’s probably going to be. A series that I reread every year, every single summer fun fact,
every summer I reread Harry Potter and gone with the wind, probably going to add this one
to my list too, when next summer rolls around, because it’s so good.
And that brings me to this week’s action step, which is that I want you to DM me the best
book that you’ve read lately. Head on over to Instagram. I’m at Mrs. Amanda Warfield. Send
me the best book that you’ve read lately so that I can go find it at the library.
And this week’s book recommendation is 13 Things Mentally Strong Women Don’t Do by
Amy Morin. We talked a lot about mindset in this episode. And as entrepreneurs, we have to
be mentally strong in order to survive. Does that mean we’ll do it perfectly. No, but this
book it’s very practical to help you recognize, okay. These are things that I need to make
sure that I’m aware of and that I’m doing.
But also she talks a lot about the psychology behind these 13 things, I always just find super
fun and I love to learn about. If you’re like me and you know that you’re always having to
work on your mindset. Highly recommend this book.
Thank you for hanging out, celebrating my birthday with me with this fun little episode and
if you submitted one of these questions. Thank you, extra thank you to you. I really
appreciate it. These were a lot of fun. And until next time I hopefully should go out and
Uncomplicate your life and biz.
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