From an ecommerce entrepreneur who has a full time Print on Demand store and coaches others on how to do the same!
Number 1 - Your first task of the day should be one that makes you moneyMy husband and I travel full time in our RV and we just returned to the states from a two month trip to Italy. We arrived in Florida on the Fourth of July (what a way to get back to the US, it’s like they shot off fireworks in our honor LOL
). All that travel PLUS a holiday weekend has my Monday morning brain feeling cross eyed and my to-do list looks insane.
). All that travel PLUS a holiday weekend has my Monday morning brain feeling cross eyed and my to-do list looks insane.But this is the ONE thing I always do when I don’t know where to start:
I identify the task that is most likely to generate revenue and start there.
You may be thinking - well, duh. But the massive to-do list anxiety is real.
Momentum and focus are two of my biggest assets as an entrepreneur.
If I can start on the thing that is most likely to move my business forward, I typically end up skipping things that aren’t as important, things that are time wasters, and tasks that aren’t actually that important.
The more I practice this, the more in tune I become with what is positively affecting my business and what stuff I can cut from my to-do list to work less.
Number 2 - Delegate & Prioritize money in your budget to hire VAs
Most of y’all know that my brother and I run a coaching program together. Mario Menduni has mentored me in business since I was just a baby “graphic designer” getting freelancing gigs using Canva.
He’s always pushed me to delegate tasks to others so I can focus on higher level growth. And to be honest, I wish I had listened to him sooner. (Mario if you’re reading this, you didn’t see this part where I admitted you were right LOL). I look back on the past couple years and I wonder, why the heck did I have such a death grip, holding onto every single part of my business. Was I trying to prove that I could do it all?
That was a missed opportunity.
Bringing in extra help and using that resource wisely will help you grow WAY faster.
Number 3 - Having a closing ritualI started my Print on Demand store and then started coaching to gain more freedom and to make sure I won’t ever have to work a traditional 9-5 office job again. But something I’ve struggled with from the beginning of my entrepreneurial journey and throughout all the success I’ve had is turning off my brain so I’m not working 24 hours/day.
Sometimes I would find myself laying in bed at night running through my to-do list or thinking about new products to create or content I want to make for my students.
But this isn’t freedom. This is a mental prison. If my mind wanders to work like this, then I’m basically working all the time.
The change in my routine that has made the biggest impact on my work/life balance has been having a closing ritual at the end of my work day.
Whenever I’m done working for the day I do four things to “check out".
#1 I brain dump into my AI scheduling/to do list software - Motion. I enter all the stuff I still need to do and I determine the priority level and how long it will take so Motion can schedule those tasks for me. (Let me know in the comments if you’d like to see how I use this software!)
#2 I pick out the three most important tasks for the next work day and write these on a post-it note to leave near my computer. This way even if tomorrow goes completely sideways or I wake up feeling bad or whatever - I have a clear vision of the non-negotiable stuff to get done.
#3 I make a quick entry into a mood tracking app (I use Daylio.) This usually takes less than 2 minutes. I’ve set the app up to track stuff I care about - how I slept the night before, how focused I felt, what part of my cycle I’m in, if I moved my body and worked out that day, my mood etc. I’ve struggled with PCOS and PMDD my whole adult life (hormonal disorders) and I am learning to sync my life to my cycle so tracking this info is crucial to me learning to care for myself.
#4 I say “end of my work day!” outloud and enthusiastically to myself, to Caleb and to Ramona (my yorkie lol) - This may seem cheesy but verbally saying this out loud gives me a sense of closure to the day and signals my brain to say “hey girl, you’re done for the day”.
All of these things have helped me grow my business, retire my husband from his construction job and given me the freedom to travel.
