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Whenever a client tells me they are struggling to focus at work because of schedule interruptions, I tell them about A/B Days. I discovered the concept of A/B Days several years ago, and it made a massive difference to the productivity of my work.
Let me back up. A/B Days means segmenting your days so that you have two different sets of working days — one set is meetings focused, the other is tasking and business improvement focused. Soon after I discovered the concept of A/B Days I wrote a blog post and made a YouTube video because it really changed the flow of my work. That is, I was able to get into a flow state on a regular basis because …
… Well, folks, this is the point! As I wrote this blog post, I realized I was supposed to be in a meeting. And so my flow state was interrupted. Ha!
The point is, meetings and events get in the way of our focus, and A/B Days resolves that issue.
What if it’s not just two things?
A/B Days work because there are tasking days and meeting days. But what if you’re like me, where you have tasking, meetings, clients, events, and other commitments? What if you are building an empire with multiple income streams and focus areas? Do A/B Days work?
That was the experiment I started several weeks ago. There are five major areas my work is focused on: the EMPIRE Retreat, my 1:1 clients, the Stories of COVID study, my writing, and a team position in a local accelerator. Each of these takes a lot of work and focus. As a result, I regularly felt scattered at work.
So I decided to take the concept of A/B Days and turn it into A/B/C/D/E Days. My theory was that by focusing each day on one specific area, I could stay in flow all day, from meetings to tasks. If something came up that didn’t fit into that current day’s focus, I would task my future self on the next appropriate day.
What happened to my productivity.
I’ve been using A/B/C/D/E Days for three weeks, now. I can honestly say that my productivity has improved dramatically, but I feel more at peace. I know exactly what I’m supposed to be doing each day, and I don’t get dragged in when something comes up that isn’t part of that day’s focus.
It feels really good. If I find my mind wandering, I pull myself back to the day’s focus. If I realize that something got missed the day before (and it’s not urgent), I delegate it to my future self. I don’t get yo-yoed through my business, and it’s great.
I created a YouTube video about this system and how to adapt it to your own work. Check it out and please share your results with us in SCALING:lab!
“There’s one thing I regret about working with Veronica – not having met her sooner! She had a clear perspective on the challenges I was facing and was quick to offer me the latest tools for my projects.”— Niki A., Executive Coach
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A resource for business owners & entrepreneurs who want to reclaim their time. Become a SCALING:lab Member and receive the articles + case studies a week before they’re live to the public..
It’s Tuesday morning. You have an event to put on tonight, and you’re scrambling, even though you’ve done this before. Every event you host feels like a cobbled-together project, and each time you hope that no one notices.
You wrack your brain, trying to think of any last minute items that need to be included, promoted, or planned. Is everything ready? Is everything in place?
Unfortunately, you’re making it harder on yourself.
Business does not have to feel this way. Yet, if you’re resonating with the feeling of anxiety in the above story, you wouldn’t be alone. There are thousands of entrepreneurs just like you who feel stressed whenever they take action in their business, despite it being something they’ve done many times.
I was just like you. Totally overwhelmed by every little thing I was working on in my business. Even though I done each task multiple times. It felt like being on a hamster wheel.
You don’t have to live like that.
If you ever wonder why other entrepreneurs seem so happy, it may be because they have systematized their business. It runs like a fine clock, chiming predictably on the hour, telling them where to be and when. They’re not juggling mental checklists. They have a real checklist that keeps them on track.
And you can, too.
You’ve already written your systems — you’re just keeping them in your head. Let’s change that.
[bctt tweet=”An app can’t plan your next retreat — but a well-documented system can make it very easy for you to put it together like a Lego set.”]
Start by brain dumping anything that you’ve done more than once in your business.
Next, break them down into the individual parts and tasks that turn the big chunk (like putting on an event) into small steps (like scheduling social media posts, finding guest speakers, and scheduling the Zoom room).
Finally, be vigilant in your business. I am certain that there are more opportunities for systems than you have thought of. Document them. Write them down. This is your chance to learn from yourself. A well-documented system is study-able.
I’ll say that again.
A well-documented system is study-able.
Imagine finding all the cracks in your business and fixing them so that your business runs even better, has higher conversions, and generates a greater income.
You can’t study what you don’t know. And if you’re mentally juggling, you’ll never have that big beautiful efficient business you’ve always dreamt of.
“There’s one thing I regret about working with Veronica – not having met her sooner! She had a clear perspective on the challenges I was facing and was quick to offer me the latest tools for my projects.”— Niki A., Executive Coach
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Make money while you sleep. Sounds like a dream, doesn’t it? It could be your reality with technology at the helm.
The First Pillar of Business Scaling is Automation. That is, using tech to manage recurring tasks within your business that don’t need a human touch. While many founders would argue that the former is the difficult part, it is, in my experience, the latter that needs help. Many founders believe that they must have their hands on the wheel 24/7, despite tech that is free and ready to take the helm of many tasks.
For example, the other day I had coffee with a friend I’ll call “M.” M had launched a webinar, but didn’t want to pay SamCart $49/mo to manage the checkout process on her website. Instead, her call to action was to email her directly in order to sign up.
That’s a whole lot of extra work for her when there are many free services that can do the simple task of taking money for you. We added one such tool to M’s website and, just like that, she could make sales in her sleep.
It’s time to do that for your own business.
Below I’ve put together a guide of the FREE (ie. no upfront cost) tech tools that will help you automate your business so you can generate leads, sell products, and make money in your sleep. This is an ever-growing list, so do check it regularly.
So let’s go!
Payments & Invoicing
Good payment and invoicing portals should be able to schedule and auto-send invoices and receive payments while you sleep. Even better if they will auto-draw from your clients at desired intervals and generate accountant-worthy reports.
Square has taken US small businesses by storm over the past decade. When I started my first business in 2012, Square had just emerged on the market. Since then, it seems one can’t go into a coffee shop without paying through a Square portal.
What makes Square so disruptive is their low fees (lower than PayPal) and easy to use interface. They have since added many products to their offerings, but if you need a checkout button for your website (for either one-time or subscription payments) Square can easily meet that challenge.
Stripe competes with Square on price, but not on usability. That is because Stripe is the big brother to Square. Stripe can take payments from banks and apps worldwide, making it the go-to for international businesses (like my own). Luckily, Stripe can also now generate a checkout button for your website for both one-time and subscription payments. Woo hoo!
I jumped on the Wave bandwagon in the very early days of its creation. Wave is free to small business owners who need a simple accounting tool to manage their revenue. It will generate balance sheets, profit and loss reports, and more — great for keeping your CPA happy.
What’s more, they offer a fantastic invoicing tool that allows you to send beautiful quotes, invoices, and receive payments. What I love about their system is that it both can handle subscriptions and recurring payments without your needing to spend any time on it after it is set up. Perfect for making money while you sleep!
Scheduling
Not ready to hire an assistant to manage your diary but tired of the back-and-forth in scheduling? There are several free apps that can handle this for you. Note that they must be able to integrate into your calendar so they don’t double book you!
I remember the week I added Calendly to my tech company. It felt like I’d hired an assistant! There was no more back and forth with clients trying to find the right time. I just sent a link and boom, my scheduled filled up.
Calendly is free for one calendar type, which is typically enough for a small business that is in the early stages of scaling. The next level is $15/mo, which may seem steep, but includes the ability to get paid for appointments, which is very nice indeed.
Tasking
Good task management software should help you task your future self so you don’t have to hold all the items in your head. Imagine deadlines popping up on your computer or phone that you set weeks or even months ago, helping you to stay on track and seize opportunities.
The first task management software I used was Trello. It is a simple drag-and-drop system using cards and boards, almost like an old school newsroom plan. Move things around as needed, set deadlines, assign roles and tasks, and customize accordingly.
Today, I’ve graduated into Asana, which offers both traditional task lists and the drag-and-drop boards that Trello boasts. An added feature is the ability to zoom out and view tasks on a calendar layout so you know exactly what is coming up next.
Team Management
One of my clients once said to me, “I have six teammates and I have no idea what they are doing with their time.” Eep! Use the below tools to track their activities so you have the full picture at a glance.
Need a simply app that can tell you what your team is spending their time on? I love Clockify because it’s free, integrates into Asana and Trello, and generates simple reports that help keep everyone accountable.
Client Relationship Management (CRM)
I’ve written extensively on CRMs in the past, but the most important features to look for are organization along a pipeline so you know which category and stage in your sales process your clients are in, as well as reminders so the technology tasks you (rather than the other way around).
Streak was the first CRM I ever used. I like it because it integrates seamlessly into Gmail and GSuite and allows one to organize contacts, keep notes on deals and progress, and reminds one to check in with a contact if they haven’t replied to recent messages. It’s free for a single user and up to 500 contacts, perfect for a growing small business.
Hubspot is a powerful marketing tool that provides a lot more than a simple CRM. It is a graduation from Streak in many ways, but what Streak has over Hubspot is the email integration and the ability to have multiple pipelines/categories for contacts on the free plan. I personally keep track of both my coaching clients and my anthropological work in my CRM, so Hubspot wasn’t the right fit in the early days of my work, despite its powerful offerings.
Social Media Management
Ever wonder what it would be like to post to social media in your sleep? I’ve gotchu.
If your primary market is on Instagram then you need Later. This app is optimized for managing Instagram, including beefy stats and analytics that Instagram itself doesn’t provide. You can schedule up to 28 posts per 10 posts per month for free. That’s plenty for a growing business!
This is the app I used when I launched my first business over a decade ago (gosh, it’s been a while!). It is free for two accounts and one user, and comes with some beefy stats as well.
Course Creation
Courses are a fantastic offering that codifies your knowledge so you can scale without increasing your time commitment per student. Many course platforms use a freemium model — free for the first few students. Here are my faves.
I like Thinkific because it makes course creation super easy. It’s free to use for your first course, making it a great platform to start flexing your course creation muscles and test your ideas.
I launched my first courses on Teachable. The platform offers all its features for free for the first 10 students. That made it easy to play around with and brainstorm on while I was still developing my own course plan.
“There’s one thing I regret about working with Veronica – not having met her sooner! She had a clear perspective on the challenges I was facing and was quick to offer me the latest tools for my projects.”— Niki A., Executive Coach
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I watch many entrepreneurs do exactly this. They work in the minutia of their company because it feels controllable. Move this piece here. Move that over there. Take this action. Make this call. Schedule that appointment.
When they come up for air, they are exhausted and no closer to their ultimate goal. They have fallen victim to being the founder-doing-everything instead of being a CEO Visionary. This often involves the time-for-money trap — trading your time for an hourly rate. No passive income. No profits while you sleep.
We do this because it is what society trained us to do. It’s what our summer jobs and first employment taught us. Entrepreneurship can equal freedom, but only if you work your way out of being the robot in your business and start employing technology to do the work for you.
I know this because I was one such founder. Two years into running my tech company — a company that naturally should have leveraged tech solutions — and I was burning out. I had built myself another job when I had intended to create something that could grow exponentially.
It wasn’t until I discovered the first pillar of scaling — automation — that things really changed for my business. Suddenly, my time opened up. My business ran smoother. I was able to focus clearly on the next big leap I wanted for my company. It was glorious.
But you have to want it. If you feel comfortable or safe holding on to all those tasks, then perhaps entrepreneurship isn’t for you. If, however, something screams inside you, “Of COURSE entrepreneurship is for me!” then it’s time you did the work to expose just how robotic you’ve been. It takes honest self-examination to reveal and let go of the tasks that make us feel safe. But if you want that freedom, if you want that impact, and especially if you want that income, it’s time to grow. I’m happy to help if you need it.
“There’s one thing I regret about working with Veronica – not having met her sooner! She had a clear perspective on the challenges I was facing and was quick to offer me the latest tools for my projects.”— Niki A., Executive Coach
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Tasks. To-dos. Getting things done. Checking the box. Crossing it off.
As entrepreneurs and leaders, our days are filled with task lists and executables. We entrepreneurs love that, for our work, the sky is the limit. But when there is always another mountain to climb, it can seem like the work is endless, and the joy gets sucked out.
Tasking and to-dos are the building blocks of our businesses. They are akin to the steps a hiker takes while scaling Mount Everest. Some are harder than others, but each task completed means another step forward as we scale our work.
This can create a sense of overwhelm. One of the most common requests I receive from clients and members of SCALING:lab is how to manage tasks. How does one organize, prioritize, and make time for the meetings, team, and work/life balance when the list never ends?
Sound familiar?
I’m going to show you how to tackle your list each week so you feel in control and capable of the big leaps you’re taking in your business. So let’s get started.
[bctt tweet=”I’m going to show you how to tackle your list each week so you feel in control and capable of the big leaps you’re taking in your business.”]
1. Write it all down.
It’s brain dump time! Keeping our tasks and to-dos stored in the mind uses up executive function (the part of the brain that makes decisions and holds relevant information). This can lead to mental fatigue as you are spending precious energy on simply storing tasks.
Start your week by writing down everything that you want to get done. Do a total brain dump, including the things that you’re not sure you’ll have time for. If you Bullet Journal, do this brain dump alongside your weekly review to gather any outstanding tasks from the previous week. Don’t worry about organizing in any sort of way. Editing and organizing use different mental functions, and for now, we just need to get everything out.
2. Mark each task as Urgent, Important, or Neither.
Now you get to review! Go down your list, taking the time to consider how each item affects your business, team, clients, and your own work. Create symbols that symbolize Urgent and Important if you’d like (or their first letters will do). Some tasks will be both Urgent and Important, some will be neither (and won’t get a mark). This organizing process is called the Eisenhower Matrix. It helps us sort through our tasks logically, rather than emotionally (which is how we typically approach our task lists). Again, don’t concern yourself with when you have time to complete these tasks.
3. Schedule each task.
This is where the rubber meets the road. Now that it’s clear what priority your tasks have, it will be much easier to give them time and attention. Open your calendar and begin placing each task in open time slots.
Be sure to add a break in between tasks. Our brains need a few minutes (10-15min is great) to reset for the next thing. Going from task to task is exhausting and will make you want to rage quit — totally defeating the hard work you’ve done to get to this point.
Tasks marked both Urgent and Important should receive your first open slots. Then come those that are Urgent but not Important (these can also be delegated to a team member so they get done faster and relieve you of stress). Then schedule the Important tasks. Finally, review the tasks that are neither Important nor Urgent. Do they really need to happen? If so, maybe they’re a weekend task. It’s also totally okay to keep a parking lot of non-urgent and unimportant tasks that you want to complete in a spare minute. I keep mine on a “Someday/Maybe” list, á la “Getting Things Done.” Eventually, if they never get done, I just cross them off, as becomes clear that they just are rosy ideas but not worth my time.
If you have any tasks that are both Urgent and Important and you need a tiebreaker, here’s what to do: First review which are most urgent / have the shortest deadline. Those come first. If you have several that have the same urgency, then look at which are most important. Those with similar urgency but higher importance take presence next.
One final note on scheduling tasks: inflate the time you’re allocating for your tasks by 50-100% each. That is, if you think it will take a half-hour to review your email inbox, block 45min on your calendar. Our imaginations tend to be more efficient than reality. Adding extra time will save you the stress of running out of time, and give you a longer break if you finish early. Don’t try to fill your breaks with more tasks — this leads to exhaustion and burnout.
“There’s one thing I regret about working with Veronica – not having met her sooner! She had a clear perspective on the challenges I was facing and was quick to offer me the latest tools for my projects.”— Niki A., Executive Coach
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S81EgY6gCyQ
Anthropology is one of the most versatile fields one can enter. Unfortunately, it has been repeatedly called one of the worst degrees to invest in due to a lack of understanding of its strengths. In this article, I’m going to explain how anthropological consultants could be helping today’s COVID-19 businesses manage their work from home transition like never before.
First, let’s step back and look at what anthropologists are good at.
anthropology and culture Anthropology is the study of human cultures. Cultural anthropology studies living human cultures, while archaeology studies past human cultures.
How could this benefit a COVID-19 world? And how could it benefit business owners?
Today, our culture is shifting, not just individually from mask wearing and standing in line to go into a grocery store, but also from a vast change in the work-from-home cultural norms.
Suddenly, businesses that have traditionally offered only in-person employment have been forced to allow their employees to work from home in order to stay safe during the pandemic. And, overwhelmingly, their employees are loving it.
Many companies work hard at creating a company culture that is welcoming, engaging, and unique. How does a company maintain a culture when their employees are scattered across the city, across the region, and across the world?
enter the anthropological consultant Anthropologists are experts at understanding the fabric of culture. They don’t just study and document culture. They understand how culture works, whether it be their own or others. Anthropologists are trained to remove their own biases in order to become a tabula rasa, the ability to see, hear, and understand without the influence of one’s own assumptions.
Anthropological consultants have been used for years in companies like Zappos and General Motors in order to support sales in different markets (read: different cultures) around the world.
But to believe that anthropologists would only be useful in selling to other markets would be missing out on their true potential in a COVID-19 world.
Many entrepreneurs and business owners are in a panic because they suddenly lack the daily in person contact with their employees that put them in the driver’s seat of reinforcing company culture. They feel out of control of their company culture. This is where an anthropological consultant could shine.
Anthropologists are trained to understand culture. An anthropological consultant can enter a company, study its messaging, its employees, its methods of communication, the very fabric of that culture, and understand it immediately. An anthropological consultant can then formalize and translate it, even when many of the company traditions were built in person and its staff is now primarily working from home.
building a work from home culture So what are some solutions that an anthropological consultant might provide to an entrepreneur or business owner who is feeling like their company culture is suddenly out of their hands?
This is something that I did with one of my own entrepreneur clients at the beginning of COVID-19. They are an event company, and wanted to continue to engage with their target market — couples — by offering virtual events.
How could we bring a dinner and a show to the customer even though we couldn’t do it in person? As an anthropologist, I understood that what was lost between an in person and virtual event wasn’t the food and music, but an experience, and a physical one at that. And so myself and my client bridged that gap by creating a physical kit that was sent to every customer who signed up for tickets to the show. Higher paying customers also received an additional pre-show session with a chef in order to make a special meal.
Inside the kits were things like candles, snacks, and other things that would make the night feel that much more special, replicating in a small way the change of scenery of leaving our homes in order to change our physical states and feel like we can focus on our partners.
An anthropologist understands the moving parts that help form a culture, and how to replicate them in a work-from-home environment. In addition to a physical kit for employees, an anthropological consultant might also suggest regular company meetings, employee contests, and other forms of engagement in order to continue to weave a fabric of culture and support into the foundation of the company, even through working remote.
Finally, there are tools available to small business owners and entrepreneurs that can help facilitate an in person in office environments. Despite not being in the office, tools like Moot or Visual Office offer the feeling of understanding where and when your coworkers are working, which help replace that loss of the in person office flow.
If you are a business owner and you feel unsure about the future of your company culture, I highly suggest hiring an anthropological consultant to support your work from home transition, so you can confidently move forward even after the pandemic has passed.
If you are an anthropologist and an entrepreneur, it may be time to reach out to fellow business owners in order to support them using the superpowers you gained in your training.
“There’s one thing I regret about working with Veronica – not having met her sooner! She had a clear perspective on the challenges I was facing and was quick to offer me the latest tools for my projects.”— Niki A., Executive Coach
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Business scaling is critical to the success of an enterprise. It is the process of building the business so it is not dependent on any one person or concept. That is, avoiding a bottleneck and enabling exponential growth.
Yet, over and over, I see entrepreneurs getting stuck in their businesses. We start our businesses with a vision and then get lost in the day-to-day minutiae. Eventually, one’s mind gets trained to focus on these pressing needs, forgetting how to float back up to the 50,000-foot overview of the business’ direction and goals. So often it is only at times like New Year’s Eve that one pauses to reflect, losing out on a previous year’s time.
Unfortunately, there are several myths floating around in the business world that reinforce this behavior. Here are the five biggest mistakes and false beliefs that keep entrepreneurs in this exhausting cycle.
Scaling is only for startups or six-figure-plus businesses
I’m the only one who can do what I do
Scaling is expensive
To scale I must hire
To succeed in business I must hustle / run around like a chicken without a head
Let’s dig in to these and discover how to break through and grow your business.
Scaling equals marketing and acquisitions
I hear this one a lot. In fact, I often get approached to scale marketing tactics for small businesses that want to break six or seven figures. If this is the version of scaling you’re familiar with, it’s time to put on the brakes.
Increasing customer acquisition when you haven’t scaled your operations will make you drown. It’s called “catastrophic growth” and I watched it happen to a client. Luckily, we were able to swim upstream to get ahead of the torrent of new customers, but her business nearly went belly-up.
Here’s the question to ask yourself: if I sent you ten new premium clients TODAY and you had to onboard them all at once, would you be able to do it? I’ve had clients tell me they would run away if that happened to them. If you can’t handle a sudden influx of sales, you’re not ready to scale your marketing, and we have work to do.
Scaling is only or startups or six-figure-plus businesses
Startup culture is very familiar with scaling. In fact, it is critical for a startup to scale quickly in order to get the attention of and fulfill commitments to investors. This driving force in startup culture is likely the reason that small businesses don’t believe scaling is for them. While most early phase startups receive investments, most early phase small businesses do not. If the idea of scaling is tied to conversations about investors, it is clear that the concept would skip over small business owners.
Yet, any business can scale. If the core concept of business scaling is to simply get out of your own way, then scaling any business becomes possible (even coaching businesses!). The biggest roadblock for small business owners at this point isn’t whether or not one can scale, but that they are the only person who can do what they do, which leads directly into our next point.
I’m the only one that can do what I do
Many business owners have “special snowflake syndrome.” This comes out of the determination needed to become successful as a business leader. One must believe in themselves fundamentally in order to weather the stresses inherent in business leadership.
However, that determination eventually runs its course and must be put aside in order to scale. I believed for a long time that I was the only online marketer with an Anthropology background, that only I could see into target markets in the way I did. This launched my business to early success, then held it back for two years. It wasn’t until I stepped back from that belief and discovered that others in the field had their own unique strengths that I could let the business grow once more. I eventually hired a developer that was better than I which took the company to new heights. All I had to do was get out of my own way.
Scaling is expensive
This myth is the exact opposite of the truth. NOT scaling is expensive. To not scale means giving up thousands in potential revenue, hours of your time spent on non-optimized tasks, and the stress of the hamster wheel. Luckily, today’s business leaders have access to myriad free tools online that can begin the scaling process without spending a dime. Review your tasks and consider how much time (and thus money) they take. Could tech do it faster, better, and cheaper?
To scale I must hire
I realize that, according to the path I took, it sounds like one must hire in order to scale. Not true! My trademark Three Pillars of Business Scaling™ starts business leaders scaling WAY before hiring occurs. In fact, some businesses never have to hire! The foundation of scaling is getting out of your own way. Getting your finite time and energy out of the business so it can grow exponentially. Technology is a great resource for this. If you have any recurring tasks in your business, look at them carefully. Why are you still involved, and how can you get yourself out of them?
To succeed, I must hustle
If you are following me on Facebook you will have noticed several recent posts from the likes of Entrepreneur and Forbes business magazines that state just the opposite. In fact, if you are hustling, there is likely something broken in your business. Let me be clear, there is a difference between a hard push to roll out a new product or pivot the business and an ongoing grind. A business pivot uses finite focused time. If you find yourself regularly working eighty hours a week without making ends meet, it’s time to examine what is happening for your business.
I was able to get my hours down to ten per week before I sold my tech company, whereas previous to scaling I was working 70 hours a week. This is a stark contrast that should tell you loud and clear that an ongoing hustle is like being a rocket stuck in Earth’s gravitational pull — you’ve got to get out of the atmosphere so you can turn those burners off! Otherwise, you’ll burn out. No one can push that hard forever, so if you’re feeling exhausted, let’s schedule a call to get clear on what you need to do to pivot.
“There’s one thing I regret about working with Veronica – not having met her sooner! She had a clear perspective on the challenges I was facing and was quick to offer me the latest tools for my projects.”— Niki A., Executive Coach
A resource for business owners & entrepreneurs who want to reclaim their time. Become a SCALING:lab Member and receive the articles + case studies a week before they’re live to the public..
In 2016, my tech company was growing. Fast. I’d started scaling through systemizing, automation, and hiring a team, and by all counts, it was going great. Except that I was pulling my hair out to get the business admin work done.
I was so busy!
But I wasn’t too busy.
In fact, my hours were dropping. Yet, whenever I felt like I finally had time to answer emails, develop documentation, or write a blog post, a meeting came up, a phone call came in, and I lost my edge. I’d be exhausted by 3pm and couldn’t work anymore.
[bctt tweet=”I wasn’t too busy. I was distracted and juggling tasks. Then I discovered A/B Days.”]
Then I discovered A/B Days, and everything changed. I didn’t have to give up networking, client meetings, or strategy sessions with the team, but my productivity skyrocketed (as did my peace of mind).
What are A/B Days?
Simply put, it’s a split-scheduling methodology for segmenting your time so you have the space to get shit done. Here’s how it works.
“A Days” are my action days. These are the days I schedule clients, take meetings, network, and give my time to others. I may get some systems work done in between, but those days are set aside for meetings.
“B Days” are my business days. This is when the internal work happens, and my calendar is blocked from meetings or scheduling. Clients can’t book me on those days, I don’t go to coffee with colleagues, and I don’t take meetings. The phone is on vibrate or on the other side of the room, and I’m heads-down doing the work that makes the business run.
A/B Days create immense peace of mind. Blocking a day (or two) each week to move my business forward means I can take meetings on my A Days knowing that everything is getting done.
Does this sound like a good idea for your business?
“There’s one thing I regret about working with Veronica – not having met her sooner! She had a clear perspective on the challenges I was facing and was quick to offer me the latest tools for my projects.”— Niki A., Executive Coach
https://veronicakirin.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/a-b-day-scheduling-5505472.jpg10801920Veronica Kirinhttps://veronicakirin.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/VSignatureGold-1024x363.pngVeronica Kirin2019-02-13 14:47:002023-04-28 16:01:20A/B Days Will Change Your Productivity Forever
A resource for business owners & entrepreneurs who want to reclaim their time. Become a SCALING:lab Member and receive the articles + case studies a week before they’re live to the public..
As I was putting together my thoughts for a keynote appearance in Indianapolis, I began to think about the steps that brought me to this incredible point in time. Simply put, I wrote a book. However, there is so much more hiding in the details.
Anyone writing a book today has near infinite opportunities to get their content in front of an audience than ever before. Traditional publishers still provide a solid foundation to anyone who lands a deal — contrary to what many information sources might lead one to believe. Outlets like Amazon’s Kindle Direct and Lulu also provide writers with the ability to create and self-publish a physical or electronic volume. That means anyone who has written a book can get it into the public’s hands for a fairly modest investment.
Other publishing possibilities also exist, such as partnerships with independent publishing houses as I did for Stories of Elders. Indie publishers are often willing to take on newer authors and can provide them with a great foundation from which to launch a successful book and writing career.
Each option has its pros and cons, but there is one important ingredient any book needs to become a success but is often overlooked. It is something that I believe made it possible for me to research and write my book, fundraise on Kickstarter, find a publisher, manage the project, and garner the publicity it deserves (including two awards).
Whether you self-publish, find a traditional publisher, or work with an indie house, writing a book means being involved in almost every aspect of the project from start to finish. The general public still believes that a traditional publisher will grab the book from the writer’s hands while the proverbial ink is still wet and ship millions of copies to waiting bookstores around the world while the writer lounges by the pool cashing royalty checks. Not so much. The “if you build it, they will come” mentality may have worked in 2000, before the advent of eReaders and self-publishing.
Today, billions of books are readily available to everyone, everywhere, with many provided free online. Unless your book is put in their direct path, your potential reader will never know it exists. Today’s writer must be a marketer, speaker, designer, and any of the other pieces of the puzzle that make up the Entrepreneurial Author. If you build it, you must be willing to work to ensure the reader can easily find it, will desire it, and can buy a copy in the format they choose. Even the largest publishing houses may not do this for you.
As a serial entrepreneur, I truly feel that my decade of business building ensured that I was equipped for the task of writing and distributing my book. Looking back, I can easily see how so much of my business and networking experience directly impacted my ability to get the project done. Entrepreneurship basically made this book.
My path to becoming an Entrepreneurial Author began while running my tech company. While building the business I learned to manage projects, write copy, and build websites, all of which were important skills throughout the writing and editing process. My entrepreneurial experiences empowered me to build the website for Stories of Elders, create a podcast of the interviews in the book, and syndicate the episodes to iTunes and Google Play. My design background meant that I had the vision to guide the book cover design, branding for my website, and any printed materials as well. In the early days of my tech company, I spent a lot of time in coworking spaces making valuable connections with people who were busy with their own startup businesses. Many of those people had used Kickstarter to raise their first round of funding, and their knowledge was pivotal in my Kickstarter success, as did my experience with online marketing. The networking skills I learned as an entrepreneur helped me to find the people I needed to interview for Stories of Elders, and eventually led me to the publisher I am working with now. All that to say, without having been through the development and day-to-day management of my own company, I may not have completed and published my book.
If you want to write a book, you need to think of it as a business venture and approach the project with an entrepreneurial mindset. You must be willing and able to take on any of the tasks required, especially marketing your book — and yourself. This means being honest with yourself about the tools in your toolbox, and reaching out to others who can help where you cannot. Although the process may be easier if you have your own entrepreneurial background, surrounding yourself with knowledgeable, experienced entrepreneurs can help provide the necessary knowledge and experiences needed to do the job.
Don’t be afraid to write your book. Just start with some careful planning and don’t take the process lightly. Approach the project not only as a writer but as an Entrepreneurial Author as well. I designed my Entrepreneurial Author Course to help you do just that. Have a look →
“There’s one thing I regret about working with Veronica – not having met her sooner! She had a clear perspective on the challenges I was facing and was quick to offer me the latest tools for my projects.”— Niki A., Executive Coach
