Posts in category: Productivity

Have you ever dreamed about leaving your 9-5 grind behind and embarking on an epic adventure? Where would you go?

I would head west to our national parks – Bryce Canyon and Zion and Yosemite and Yellowstone – then maybe pop over to Southeast Asia to explore the beaches of Thailand then Australia and Kilimanjaro and Morocco…and so on.

It’s fun to dream, right?

But Tim Ferriss and his 4 Hour Workweek don’t think this has to be a dream. I’m halfway through this book and feeling incredibly inspired to streamline my business and stop wasting time, so that my time is freed up to enjoy elsewhere.

Have you read the book? What do you think of a 4 Hour Workweek? Impossible?

I will admit I’m skeptical.

I took the leap into business ownership and while I definitely see room to increase productivity, I’m not sure that I could get my working hours down to only four. And convincing my husband to leave corporate America with its cushy and more importantly reliable salary and health insurance and 401(k) is a serious long shot.

What about a sabbatical?

For those who like traveling but don’t want to be a nomad, a sabbatical is a perfect option. Think: a three-month break from work to decompress, experience the world, and focus on living life (not just through someone else’s Instagram feed).

And, as it turns out, sabbaticals can benefit both you AND your company. I think we can all point to the obvious benefits of reducing stress and refreshing your brain with creative ideas so you come back to work energized.

But a recent study called Creative Disruption showed that your organization benefits too.

“Organizational capacity is increased as the second tier of leadership takes on new responsibilities.” And “governance is strengthened as a result of the planning and learning that goes with a sabbatical process.” Talk about testing the limits of your org chart!

I’d say that’s a win-win.

I’ve seen the benefits of being away from my routine for three days – mind space is freed up for more creative thinking and relaxation – so I can only imagine what three months would do for my business.

What do you think? Is a four-hour workweek or a sabbatical in your future?

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You know that feeling of anticipation and nervousness as you’re climbing the first big hill in a roller coaster? You’re excited but holding onto the handles tightly because you know the big drop is coming soon, then you crest the hill, barreling down at over sixty miles an hour and your stomach drops. Once you fly down that gigantic hill though, you loosen your grip a bit because the scariest part is over, and your teeth unclench and you relax and scream and enjoy the ride and the upside down loops and ridiculous speeds. Then when it’s over and little car stops, you breathlessly look at your friend next to you, grins plastered to both of your faces, with a look in your eyes that says “let’s do it again!”

That, my friends, is entrepreneurship.

This week marks one year of saying goodbye to the 9-5, working for myself, and seeing just what 100 Degrees Consulting could be.

To say the very least, it’s been better than expected. The highs are pretty darn high: no employee handbook dictating when I have to be in the office or what days I’m allowed to take vacation. Some days I’ve worked for a couple hours then spent the afternoon at Home Goods. The lows can be pretty trying too though: I am now my own payroll company and entirely responsible for making sure there’s money coming in. Some days I’ve worked until 2am to meet simultaneous client deadlines and I even took a client call at 6 days postpartum. With multiple clients, it’s almost like I have eight bosses instead of one.

While the past year hasn’t been perfect, I did have a pretty smooth transition from traditional employment to entrepreneurship so I’m going to share exactly how I made that happen.

I tested my idea in advance. About nine months prior to my departure from my job (October 2015), I created a website and started thinking about what it would look like to be a CFO consultant to nonprofits. I cold-emailed organizations I thought would be a good fit and they actually wrote back. (Check out my proven strategy for cold-emailing potential clients.) By February 2016 I had two active clients and another two by June 2016. Clearly, my idea had legs and I gained tons of confidence that this could work.

I saved money. I didn’t want to worry about paying the bills or making major sacrifices while I was building my business, so while I side-hustled and still worked my 9-5 I doubled down on paying off debt and socking away money in savings. I left my 9-5 with the equivalent of three months’ salary in the bank. (Full disclosure: I have a husband who covered health insurance!)

I hired a coach.  I’ve no shame in admitting that I’ve never built a business before and have no clue what I’m doing. Sure, some of it is intuition and just taking action but I wanted someone to help me get on the fast track – to have a full client roster and a full pipeline at all times. Enter: my coach. Working with her has been a huge investment that’s paid for itself time and again. Not only do I get practical, strategic advice on business stuff (should I hire more help?), but she helps me get past mental road blocks (I can’t let this client go because there are no more clients out there!)

A year in and I have no intention of going back to the 9-5 grind anytime soon. Now I just need to figure out how to celebrate my one year anniversary! Perhaps a daytime trip to the amusement park?

It feels like every other blog post in my Feedly reader is about some famous entrepreneur’s morning routine. I know now that Elon Musk eats his Cheerios with almond milk at exactly 6:17am every day and Richard Branson meditates on one leg for eight minutes while thinking about palm trees, and their success is SOLELY attributable to this incredible morning routine.

I’m joking. Mr. Musk eats his Cheerios at 7:05am like a normal person.

Okay, okay, all joking aside, I’ve been thinking about morning routines and wonder if this is something that the entrepreneur community has just latched onto and now talks about ad nauseum, or if there’s something to a routine.

I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t have a solid morning routine. I wake up anywhere from 6:30 to 7:30am and sometimes check emails first thing and sometimes don’t. Sometimes I shower before getting the baby up, and sometimes I’m in my pajamas until the nanny comes at noon. The only constant in my morning routine is that I retrieve the baby from her room upon awakening and feed her and put her down for a nap at the right times, then typically start my work day at 12pm. The details change daily.

With a six month old in my sole care until midday, I’m pretty sure morning routines are not in the cards for at least another six months.

What I CAN get behind, though, is an afternoon routine. Unlike a morning wake-up routine which can be unpredictable with a baby, I know when exactly I will stop working every day and realized there are a few things I currently do without fail before I close out my day.

Do a final scan of the emails. File away what doesn’t require my attention and get the inbox as close to zero as possible.

Update my to-do list. I keep three running to-do lists:

1. My list for the next day in order of priority is Sharpie on paper because nothing is more satisfying than taking a big marker and crossing things off.

2. My list for that week is also on paper, a gigantic Post-It note that I keep stuck next to my computer to keep me focused on the week’s priorities.

3. My long term list is in a Word document that I have open at all times. This document includes strategic priorities for each client so I can always check-in to make sure the work I am doing is towards that greater purpose. It also includes my own business goals, blog post ideas, anything else that pops into my head for 100 Degrees Consulting.

Clean up my desk. Aside from my to-do lists, I’m not a paper person but occasionally I do print out bank statement or other document and I always make sure they’re filed or shredded before the end of the day. Starting the next work day in the midst of a sea of papers would give me major anxiety.

I found a few more great afternoon routine items in this infographic:

• Sign out of your work email
• Perform a brain dump
• Reflect on your day

What does your routine look like? Do you slam the laptop screen shut at 5pm and beeline to the nearest bar? Or do you linger around and chat with colleagues until everyone else leaves? Or maybe you don’t have a stop time and pop in on your laptop until bedtime?

If you’re a highly ambitious, Type A, make-it-happen entrepreneur, who’s passionate about growing your business, AND you’re about to have a baby, you must read this.

You are excited for your little one to arrive. You’ve probably meticulously planned his or her nursery (and of course you know the gender, because TYPE A!) and have all the little clothes hung neatly in the closet, arranged by size. You know where you’ll deliver and maybe even have some meals socked away in the freezer for after his or her arrival.

You are also a busy entrepreneur. You’re hustling daily (and you love it) and your business is growing, maybe faster than you’d anticipated. Your days are filled with client work, potential client sales calls, and you’re being asked to speak at different events. When you left your 9-5, you didn’t imagine it would all work out so well and you are energized and on fire (as much as can be for a pregnant woman).

Does this sound like you?

Then keep reading and let’s talk about what it’s like to be a new mom and an entrepreneur. I’ll give you a hint: it’s not at all like what you think it will be.

If anyone could do it all, it was me. The Queen of Efficiency and Productivity, I remember my husband remarking at my Master’s degree graduation celebration that he couldn’t believe I was even in grad school plus working full time plus commuting four hours a day because I just had it all together.

So naturally, I thought that having a baby would be similar. I’d give birth and be able to keep all of my client work going, hopping on the computer after a feeding or when the baby was sleeping. I knew I’d be tired, but it wouldn’t be that bad. I could do it all.

Turns out, even the Queen of Efficiency and Productivity needs help.

I am sharing my Five Proven Tactics to help you be fully present as a mom, which is critical in those first few weeks and months, AND continue to help your business (your first baby!) thrive.

1. Prepare financially in advance. You are your own boss and nobody is handing you any paid maternity leave, right?! As an entrepreneur you should be accustomed to saving in advance for business investments like a conference or a new computer, and maternity leave is no different. Figure out what your monthly number is then begin setting aside funds in advance. I had set aside three months’ worth of income, just in case all of my clients disappeared while I had the baby (they didn’t!) and it gave me a huge peace of mind. Voila! Paid maternity leave!

2. Tell your clients. I was super nervous about telling my clients that I was pregnant and would likely need to step away for a little while. What if they all left me and I was left with no job, no money, and no prospects? Turns out, that was ridiculous thinking. My amazing clients were not only understanding, but incredibly supportive (they even sent me thoughtful baby gifts!) and they managed to keep the lights on without me. You will feel a huge sense of relief once you tell your clients and come up with an agreement as to how long you’ll be unavailable and when you’ll dive into work again.

3. Give yourself a maternity leave. I am serious about this. I know you love your business and will want to get back to feeling “normal”, and a true leave might feel hard. You don’t have to disconnect for three months but you must give yourself some space for a minimum of two weeks. I made the mistake of not putting an out of office message on so I felt obligated to answer emails. I even took a call at just 7 days postpartum, where my mind was so foggy, it was almost an out-of-body experience. I looked back at my notes several weeks later and they were completely unintelligible, so I wonder how I sounded to the client! Trust me that your clients will wait (remember how long they took to finally sign your contract?!) and that you will feel much better after a break.

4. Ease in slowly. So maybe after two weeks you start answering emails, then another couple weeks you take sales calls, then a few weeks later dig into the actual heavier client work. I thought I’d have no problem handling bigger, strategic thinking type projects but I truly needed that time to let my brain begin to function normally after the hormone surge/drop and sleep deprivation.

5. Enlist help. It’s okay if sometimes that help comes in the form of car seat naps and Starbucks. I can’t tell you how much work I got done in three hour increments while my daughter slept in her car seat. I felt like a normal human by getting dressed and out of the house, she got a solid nap (when she likely wouldn’t have slept at home), and my client work got done. In fact, there was a point in time where we were frequenting Starbucks so much that her car seat began to take on the aroma of coffee beans. And, are you part of any neighborhood or community organization that uses a meal train? Get humble and SIGN YOURSELF UP. I felt weird about it at first (like, I can’t handle taking care of my own meal?) but when that friendly woman showed up on my doorstep with a bag full of chili, artisan bread, and brownies, a smile, and then left, I couldn’t have been more grateful.

Being a mom and an entrepreneur isn’t easy. I landed myself back in the hospital at three days postpartum with an infection, and spending the night in the ER with your tiny newborn isn’t all that fun. But these tips will help you get through those first weeks, focusing on your baby and yourself, and give you the confidence that your business will be there as soon as you’re ready.

And I promise you that your clients won’t run away.

Happy Mom-ing, Boss Lady!

(Disclaimer: Every mom’s birth and postpartum experience is different. Major love and respect to all the new parents out there. This is based on my experience alone!)