Hey Friend!

Are you wondering how to have more balance, set boundaries, and what top 3 things move the needle as a Christian podcaster or faith-led entrepreneur? Pull up a seat. We dig into these main topics today and learn how to juggle it all while still growing in our online businesses!

I pray this blesses you!

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPTION:

(00:07)
Oh, my gosh, this is so crazy. Lady, friends. We have officially passed 100,000 downloads together on this podcast. I mean, my heart is exploding. I am beyond belief that this has grown into something that we can learn from and we can grow together. And God has blessed this show by bringing me each and every one of you. And I’m just sitting here in immense gratitude. Thank you for being part of this sisterhood with me, for being one of my Lolas. I love you so much. Okay girl, I will meet you inside this 10 by 10. Get ready. These are gold.

(03:34)
In this quick 10 by 10. I’ve got my friend and former client, Aly, who is the owner of Birth Bliss Beyond, a doula collective in Omaha and online course creator of the Empowered Mama’s Birth Guide. She’s a wife of almost six years and she has two spunky girls. Plus she’s a registered nurse. So she basically does it all. You guys can find her after this quick Q and A at Birth Bliss Beyond on IG and at Birth Bliss Beyond collective on Facebook. Y’all say that three times fast, like, you know what’s up and you can join her empowered mama’s tribe on Facebook, which is facebook.com/groups/empoweredmamastribe.

(04:15)
What up all? Hey, so I’m so excited to be asking you these questions. My first one is how do you balance time that you spend on social media, between work and just personal time you’re spending? So do you have any like work life boundaries? What do those look like? I’m so glad you asked this question because Instagram can literally control our lives. It is the ultimate time suck, life suck of all, but it’s also where we run our businesses. So that line can get really super blurry. Here’s what I do.

(04:48)
You guys know that I’m super intentional about running my life. I wanna be proactive. I don’t wanna be reactive. And that includes social. So what I typically do is I first time block out my day. You guys have heard me talk about time blocking. I have an entire episode on it, on the show. Go listen to that. But basically I’ve got all of my hours plugged into my day when I have an open slot in that time space. That’s when I’m allowed, allowed to go into Instagram. And what I decide before now, guys, 80 20 rule, I’m a human, you’re a human. Okay.

(05:24)
There’s sometimes I’ll just find myself in there or I get a random inspiration. I’m like, Ooh, I’m gonna pop on real quick. But if I’m going in there to like scroll, to write people back, to DM, to comment, that needs to be plugged into my calendar because that’s work. Okay. So you’re plugging it into your calendar. So for example, I know between 2:45 and three o’clock I have 15 minutes of open time before I go get my son from the bus. I actually have Instagram correspondence plugged into my planner and that’s when I’m gonna go in, DM people back, email people back and all of that.

(06:00)
If I find myself with five minutes of open time, I can just get in there, post up an Instagram story. So to answer your question, I’m intentional. Like I’m going in there for business. I don’t really go in Instagram for personal because my brand is my business. I don’t scroll very much. If I do get in there, there’s maybe five people that I go click on intentionally because they inspire me because they’re a client of mine. And I wanna see if they’re doing their homework, everything I do inside that app is intentional, including deleting it on the weekends. Does that help? Yes, definitely. It helps so much.

(06:38)
I have a second question. So what are the top three things in your business that you feel actually moves the needle forward and you can see is income producing. And is that the same for everybody? Should everybody be doing these things? Okay. So the top three things in my business, number one is I create content that solves and this content is free, which is so weird. It’s like a mind shift. It’s like, but how do you make money just putting free content into the world. And I’m talking about my podcast, you guys, because I serve and solve for all of you Lola’s.

(07:13)
You guys see transformation in your businesses. You see the needle move forward for you and now you trust me. And now you come to me and go, what else do you have for me, Stef? And then what’s crazy, Aly is that the free stuff is what makes me money because people wanna work with me. They wanna take my courses. So the number one thing I do is I create free content. That solves number two. The second thing is that I’m stupid consistent, like, and dedicated. I show up twice a week on my podcast when I don’t feel like it when I’m not sure what I’m gonna talk about when I’m like, well, I don’t know if anybody will care about this topic.

(07:53)
I showed up even when nobody was listening. So consistency and dedication once the new and shiny has worn off because I promise you, it will. Your mission work isn’t always, isn’t always fun and shiny and you don’t always feel like it. And even when nobody’s there, I’m going to encourage you guys to dig in your heels and don’t you dare give up on the call that you’ve been given because it’s your responsibility to do it until it makes sense until it clicks or until you are realigned. So consistency and dedication.

(08:30)
Then the third thing that I do that moves the needle forward is I stopped doing everything, as in Instagram, TV and stories and Facebook groups. And also I have a hundred courses and then I also have a podcast, oh, I have YouTube. By the way, I stopped the madness. because I’m not in that space in my life. I’m not Rachel Hollis. Okay? Like I don’t have a team of 60 people. I’m me with a VA and like a couple contractors. And so stop doing everything because people that are sitting in a different seat than where you sit today are doing it and telling you, you have to.

(09:08)
I encourage you guys to look at your business and say, where do I sit? Who’s the mentor that’s just two steps ahead of me that their life looks like the life that I want? What are they telling me is realistic and really check what you’re letting into your heart because now what moves the needle forward is I started saying no. I started only showing up two places, my podcast and Instagram. That’s it. If you find something somewhere else, it’s just repurposed. It’s just shared. I’m not creating all of this content anymore. And I’m only talking to one human. So niche down, that’s the third one. It’s niche down where you’re sharing and niche down, who you are talking to.

(09:49)
That is so good and so helpful. Okay. Last question. I literally just hired a VA this week and it’s amazing how much lighter I feel. And my brain has been opened up to so much more creativity and so much more like business. I’m just able to do so much more. So I’m excited about that, but I was curious, what are some things that you delegate to your VA and for those of you who haven’t hired one yet, when did you know you needed one? Y’all this is a hard one because I think we are at this weird spot in our brain of should I spend money that I don’t really have to do things that I can do. And that’s where I sat for so long. And I’m sure you did too Aly.

(10:42)
Then I thought I can’t hire somebody because then it takes all this time for me to show them and they probably can’t do it like I would do it. And so then I’m just gonna have to redo it. So I kept validating why I shouldn’t outsource stuff for way too long. And I think the moment that I finally decided, I did this exercise and I said, okay, how much would it really cost me to open up five more hours a week? Because I wanted to really focus on taking on more clients. There was stuff I wanted to do that like creatively was tugging on my heart, but I didn’t have the time.

(11:21)
So I did this exercise and I sat down like, what would it really cost me to find five more hours, one hour a day? And I’m like, well, if I got a cheap VA or somebody, even somebody off Fiverr, that’s where my brain was like, let me get resourceful right now. Let’s say I paid them $15 bucks an hour. What would that look like? How much would it cost me? So I put that number down. And then I said, how much would it cost me to keep doing this myself at my hourly rate today, which is $350 an hour. And you guys maybe you’re like Stef, that’s crazy. I only make $20 an hour. Cool. Do that math. If you hired somebody for $10 bucks an hour, and then you’re sitting there charging $20 bucks an hour, you have to outsource it.

(12:05)
You have to create that open time for yourself because you can sit there doing all the things that are in your zone of, okay, like I can answer my own email. Sure. I can pitch podcast spots. Sure. You know, Aly can do her own graphic design or whatever, but if you can outsource that and now you’re freed up to do the stuff that’s in your genius. Like for me, podcast recording, PR, talking to clients, doing these like Q and As with you guys, creating stellar content. I do my own copy and I’m obsessed with that. And I don’t ever wanna outsource. I won’t say ever. I don’t want to outsource that right now.

(12:43)
So if I can outsource the stuff that doesn’t light me up, it’s almost my responsibility to do that because now I can sit in a space where I’m genius at it and I’m impacting more change in the world. I’m growing my brand faster. I’m making more profit, et cetera. So for you, you guys ask yourself, what can you delegate that’s not in your zone of genius, that would cost you less than doing it yourself? And when do you hire? Yesterday? Like if you’re at all profitable in your business, look at getting someone on board, a couple of hours a week, look at Fiverr, sort by the reviews, ask around.

(13:20)
There’s so many people like in these Facebook groups that are looking, get an intern for free to help you. There’s unlimited resources. You just have to get gangster at, am I willing to pay, what do I need someone to do? How can this be a learning for someone and start creating solutions to outsource? And on that note, this is not Aly’s question, but on this note, if you can also outsource stuff, that’s outside of your business, like maybe you’re not ready for a VA, but can you outsource house cleaning? Can you outsource, I don’t know, pick up and drop off. Can you do carpools? Like how else can you create more time and space? That would be my answer to number three Aly.

(14:00)
That is so amazing and so helpful. Thank you so much, Stef. This is so fun. I hope you loved that quick 10 by 10, and that you took away some value to help you in your own life and business. Sending you off with love and light. I will see you again tomorrow. XO XO, Stef.