My Weekly Schedule as a Full-Time Podcaster, Coach & Mom

Hey Friend!

Today you’re in for a TREAT! In today’s quick tip Tuesday episode, Tia Fenner asks, “What does your schedule look like as a full-time podcaster and how do you work so few hours?” I will walk you through my day-to-day and drill into my schedule. I give you guys an inside sneak peek into my week hours, time blocks, and weekly planning process.

Is it possible to run a balanced biz from home that is highly profitable and sustainable?! You bet your bottom dollar! I’ll show you the way.

I pray this blesses you!

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPTION:

(00:00):
Happy Tuesday, friends! Welcome to today’s quick tip Tuesday episode. I can’t wait to dig into this topic with you.

My dear friend, Tia, is a P2P student with me and she has such a great question around what does my schedule actually looks like?

(00:16):
And Tia is working full time, and she’s also trying to get this big business going right now, inside hustle hours.

And she just really wanted to know what does that schedule look like really having this as a full-time gig. So we’re gonna just drill into that today.

(00:33):
And before we do, one thing I wanna remind you guys of is tomorrow, Wednesday, March 30th, I have the S.C.A.L.E. Your Show Workshop. This is a workshop totally free. It’s gonna be an hour over zoom, super intimate.

(00:47):
I’m gonna be able to just really pour into you, guys, and just share some of the secrets, some of the strategies and tactical things I’ve done to grow my own show from 0 to 750,000 downloads in just three and a half short years, and really kind of walk you through what that could look like for you.

(01:04):
So this is gonna be a one-time-only event. There will only be a replay if you are registered. So please hop on over to scaleyourshowworkshop.gr8.com. We will meet you there tomorrow.

(02:24):
Hey, Stef! This is Tia Fenner with Heal by Spirit podcast and one of your P2P students. And just wanted to thank you for all that you do for us and for turning me into a podcaster when all I wanted to do was get better in my network marketing and write a blog so there’s that.

(02:46):
My question today is about your schedule. I am in awe of how you talk about on a regular basis the few number of hours that you work.

(02:57):
So I was wondering for someone who works full time and is doing this as a side hustle, until it becomes a profitable business and only having a limited number of hours in a week how do you break up your work schedule?

(03:16):
So do you do, I know you talk a lot about batching but are you doing the same things on the same days? Are you working for two hours and breaking that two hours up into this or that? Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

(03:34):
These are such great questions, Tia. I love this. So I’m totally just gonna kind of have a conversation with you today around my schedule and answer some of these questions that you had. You specifically wanted to know what does my work schedule actually looks like.

(03:49):
Do I do the same things on the same days, all of this? So first of all, I have got to give credit where credit is due. A lot of my time management breakthroughs have come from one of my best friends, Chelsi Jo Moore.

And you, guys, she’s just truly got a gift for helping you prioritize and create the workflows and the systems in your business that will really change your life.

(04:16):
So, anyway, shout out to Chelsi Jo, and she, of course, does have a podcast imagine that, Systemize Your Life. And if you do decide to go and take any of her programs if you guys purchase through my link, you do save, I have a coupon code for you over at stefaniegass.com/resources.

(04:34):
Chelsi’s got an amazing program, the Academy that helps you get it together. So always give credit, work for credit is due, my loves. Now let’s go ahead and talk about the things.

So the first thing is I had to figure out how much time it actually took to run my business. And so that’s an easy exercise you can do in MindMeister.

(04:54):
Just do a brain dump and figure it out. A lean week, I can get away with 24 hours. On average, I work ish 32 hours a week in my business. So what does this look like? It does have some structure to it. Tia.

I am a full-time entrepreneur. My husband has a regular corporate job, but he’s also home 80% of the time. And then both of our boys are in full-time school, outside of the home. So please take that into consideration.

(05:23):
You, guys, there are seasons for what your schedule is gonna look like, and you just have to be really flexible knowing that every season is gonna have different schedules. So what do I actually use?

First of all, I use Asana as my task management system and actually, for those of you coming into Podcast to Profit, I’ve created a complete master workflow for you.

(05:48):
You get my entire workflow that you get to download for your own use in your own business, which is so cool. That it’s new. And so I give that to you, guys, when you come into Podcast to Profit and it really helps you manage your business the way that I manage my business.

(06:05):
So that’s a really cool perk of P2P. But anyway, I use Asana to manage all of the tasks that I do in my business, recurring weekly, recurring monthly, recurring quarterly, recurring annually.

(06:18):
And then also I have a brain dump board there. I have what I’m actually doing inside of my work block every single day. This is where I live from. And then I use Calendly for all of my appointments and meetings and podcast interviews.

(06:31):
And then all of those pieces come to move into for my week at a glance, my Horacio planner, guys love me some Horacio, it’s the best planner ever. Everything I’m recommending today is at stefaniegass.com/resources. So, inside my planner has the time-scheduled stuff and the work blocks.

(06:50):
And then I go to Asana to figure out what the heck I’m actually doing inside of my work block. So what do is on Sunday, I actually sit down with my husband and we go through and figure out what his schedule looks like versus my schedule. We figure out who’s picking up and dropping off kids.

(07:07):
And then I put in my time scheduled events. So all coaching clients, dentist appointments, stuff that I have going on that I’ve got to show up for soccer games, church, that kind of stuff that goes in the planner. And then what I have left over are the open blocks.

(07:24):
So the open blocks when my kids are not with me, those are my work hours. And those tend to be between 9:15 in the morning and 2:00 PM, Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, Wednesday’s a short day. And then I have made an executive decision to work focus only on projects and growth on Fridays.

So my work hours, my typical work hours are Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, 9:15 to 2:00. And then Wednesday, I have an evening appointment, not evening 3:00 PM for my international clients. And then Fridays are project days, 9:15 to 2:00 or 1:00, depending.

(08:05):
So those are roughly my rough hours give or take. And then what am I actually doing in that time while Mondays and Tuesdays, I’m taking coaching clients, which as you guys know I’m phasing out of. So that’s gonna really open up a lot of space in my schedule, but right now that’s what that looks like.

(08:22):
Wednesday mornings are podcasting days or project days. And then Thursday is Podcast to Profit. That day is pretty much reserved for Podcast to Profit, cuz that is a big program. It’s got lots of pieces. I have to do slide decks, updates and back-office updates, no matter what season I’m in.

(08:41):
So typically Thursdays are Podcast to Profit days and then Friday our project or podcasting days again, and also team meetings if I need to meet with my team if anyone on the team has a meeting with me. If I have a meeting with whoever, whatever, it’s meetings that I have or projects or growth stuff that I need to work on. And that is it.

(09:08):
I also forgot on Tuesdays I have my own personal mastermind that I’m part of. So that happens on Tuesdays and that’s it. And it is pretty standard. Obviously when we have spring break when we have the summer that is going to shift and change around.

(09:25):
But if you take a look at that schedule, that ends up being, and so that gives me about 23 to 25 hours right there. Now, every evening I spend about 30 minutes at the end of the night, setting up my workflow for the next day. I also do emails during a 30-minute power, I call a power hour in the morning. So that’s another hour a day.

(09:48):
That’s five more hours putting me at roughly 28 hours a week. So that’s kind of where I live. I try to not work on weekends unless it’s something super chill. If I wanna record a podcast episode or I wanna clean my desktop or I wanna do my planner for the next week.

(10:05):
I try to keep myself very balanced in the times that my family is home. That is just the dream that I’ve always wanted for my life was to work this business around them, not the other way around. So that’s kind of what my schedule looks like.

(10:23):
Now granted, I do have a team, I’ve got three people who are on board with me. I have one full-time almost full-time employee. I’ve got interns that help. So I have a lot of help in the other pieces of my business, Tia, that took a long time to get to.

(10:41):
So if I didn’t have that, the other thing that I would need to consider is all of the admin work, the inbox management, the Facebook community growth, that type of stuff, blogging, all of that has been outsourced to now.

(10:55):
But if that wasn’t outsourced what you would need to do is really swap those project days for admin days. And so you’d have to find that balance between running your business and growing your business. And I think for those of you listening, who don’t have help in your business yet, just try to be strategic around creating space for both.

(11:17):
You have maybe one day or whatever that work block is that’s available for you to do the admin stuff. And then the other day that’s available to do the growth and the project work, which all of that is in the master workflow that I’ve created for you, guys, who are coming into P2P, which I’m super excited about.

(11:33):
It’s really gonna bless you big to have my exact process for time management and podcast planning. I have my promotion workflow built out for you, guys. Every single thing that I do to run this business, you get to download and plug into your own workflows. So really pumped about that.

But Tia, I hope this helped you, give you some insight into my schedule as a full-time podcasting slash mama entrepreneur. The other pieces you didn’t ask about, but I am going to tell you anyway, are I get up at 5-5:15 in the morning. I spend an hour with the Lord every morning, Monday through Saturday.

And then I also have blocked off time from roughly 4:00 – 7:00 PM. And those are, I call them like lose your phone time, which I am gonna talk to you, guys, about. We’re gonna circle back to that in a couple of weeks, but I make dinner with the kids and we clean up together and we have some intention time.

And we all work out as a family. We have a gym in our garage, or we go out to the shop and play basketball or we do… What’s that thing called with the boards in the shop?

(12:45):
Hoverboards.

(12:45):
Yeah, say it louder.

(12:46):
Hoverboards.

(12:47):
Hoverboards. Landon’s been sitting on my lap this whole time. You wanna say hi?

(12:51):
Hi!

(12:55):
Anyways. So that’s what that time is for. And then at 7:00 when the kids are all kind of getting ready for bed, reading books, kind of having downtime that’s when I do that reset at the end of the night. So the other questions you might be asking are like, when do I do laundry or clean up?

(13:11):
You gotta do that in the cracks of the day and really weekends for me are my home focus. Sundays I’m super intentional around picking up groceries, meal prepping, cleaning, all laundry gets done so that my week can be super focused on work and family and workouts.

(13:31):
So anyway, that’s it. That’s my schedule to glance. I hope that blessed you. Hey, if you have a quick tip Tuesday question, go to stefaniegass.com/contact. Leave it on over there for me. I will answer it for you.

(13:43):
If you have a testimony, if you have a breakthrough, if you have a win from this show or my courses or the programs you’ve been in with me, please do leave that. I would love to feature you here on the podcast and last but not least, it is your absolute last opportunity.

(13:59):
This is the last time that you can get registered for the S.C.A.L.E. Your Show Workshop tomorrow. Even if you don’t have a podcast yet, but you’re going to have one super soon, I would love you to join us. If you have a podcast, you absolutely need to make this workshop. Be there live. We’ve got door prizes for you. It’s gonna be so much fun. You’re gonna head to scaleyourshowworkshop.gr8.com. We will see you there.

(14:33):
Bye, friends!