Emily was a guest on Joanna Penn’s podcast, The Creative Penn, where they talked about the writing process, and how so much of what we do at Being Boss as creative entrepreneurs crosses the lines into the work that authors do too. You can listen to Emily’s full episode of The Creative Penn here >>
Kathleen Shannon 0:03
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Emily Thompson 0:45
As the being boss book is officially and finally out in the world with a feedback pouring in Kathleen and I are absolutely honored to hear the wonderful things that you have to say about our book baby. Whether it we're seeing it on social media, or we're hearing it in person or reading reviews on online bookseller websites. And one of the most gratifying parts is how your feedback directly correlates with what we wanted this book to be. It feels very much like we've accomplished our mission. Now, from the very beginning, Kathleen and I knew that a few things would make this book different. First, it would be conversational, we also wanted to make sure it was very actionable. We wanted you to take what we what you were reading in the book and actually apply it to your work in life. And what we kind of think is maybe most important, but obviously maybe not, is that we wanted the book to be beautiful. Now, when it comes to defining your goals and setting intentions, this is what we mean, we had such a strong vision for this book, and we put in the work to get it to where it meant that vision. It wasn't easy, but it was definitely worth it. Because Kathleen and I are not only writers but visual artists this want to for the book to be beautiful added a whole other layer to the book writing process, it made the writing part only half the battle where many authors get to just stop there.
Emily Thompson 2:20
But we put our money where our mouth is so to speak and didn't stop when we turned in our manuscript we planned and we executed a photoshoot, we mood boarded so many times, we mocked up chapters and covers to collaborate with the publishing team to really take this book to a place where it would appeal to you our creative entrepreneurs, and align with what it is that Kathleen and I consistently bring into the world. We did the extra work that was required to take the being boss book to the next level. And all of your feedback has proven to us that it was a job well done. But how did we do it, we practiced what we preach, we shifted our mindset, we set broke and reset boundaries over and over again, we dove into habits and routines that helped us do this new kind of work smarter, not harder. And we showed up and we did the work, not stopping until our creative vision became a reality. Now I love chatting with Joanna in this episode of the Creative PenN about the writing process and how so much of what we do at being bosses, creative entrepreneurs, crosses the lines into the work that authors do too. Because though many of them don't see themselves as creative entrepreneurs, I think most of us can agree that they absolutely are. Here's a clip of my conversation with Joanna from the Creative Penn.
Emily Thompson 3:55
You have to one know yourself, and to put in boundaries to protect yourself so that you can be running at the optimal level. And so if you have unhealthy boundaries, that's where we get to that that entrepreneur mindset or this like this view of entrepreneurship that it's like this unhealthy grind and hustle that you do no matter what it takes to get where you want to get to. And yes, you can do it that way. But I don't think that's the best way to do it. And it's certainly not the only way to do it too. There are ways to you know, find your own success without you know, putting yourself in the ground along the way. And so I think positive mindset, strong boundaries and then healthy habits and routines that are going to set you up for success every single day, every single week, every single month. And this also goes back to that mindfulness of knowing what it is that you need to succeed and practicing those things in your life in a way that makes you easy to go from point A to point B a very popular example of this is a morning routine. So you know you waking up in the morning and having the set Things of things that you do, that will get you ready for your day. If you have a really bad morning routine, by lunchtime, you don't know where you're going to be are you going to be ready to get things going, are you going to be completely scattered? Are you still laying in bed like, it's the morning routine that gets you going. And that's just one example of like, of how you can take this like set of actions that you need to do to get you into a place to be completely productive and happy while doing it. It's taking that set of things and making them habits and routines in a way that you do them without thinking about them, that they get you ready to do whatever it is that you need to do. And they're just continually setting you up for success. And so those three things, they all come down to mindfulness, and they all come down to being really stubborn with your time to where you know what you need to do to succeed. Because you've defined success, you see the path along the way, and you're willing to take action. And I think all of those things, also super comes down to responsibility, which is really hard to do for most of us. But it is it is the thing that you have to claim and you have to own and you have to practice this responsibility for yourself every single day, this responsibility for you taking action and reaching your own goals, this responsibility for for, you know, dealing with other people, or even if you grow a team being responsible for those people's being responsible for the work that you do, and the words that you say, it's complete and utter responsibility. But then you get whatever you want. So why not take it?
Joanna Penn 6:44
And I love that. Yeah, and I think that's really important. And and it's interesting as well, because you talk about boundaries. I mean, most of the listeners won't work with clients, because they're authors. But one thing that's really common in the writer community right now is, is writing more and more books, writing faster and faster. So I know, you guys wouldn't want to be writing a book a month at this point. But there's plenty of people in my community who kind of aim for that. And I think, again, I was listening to you guys. And you take December off, right. And that, that I took December off last year, because what you guys said, and now I've sheduled next December off, and ad infinitum. And I think this boundaries and responsibility for yourself, is really important. So for example, we kept respecting weekends, it's very, very hard when you're running your own business. And
Emily Thompson 7:34
but there is a difference, but it's not. But I have to say it's also really not once you put up that boundary and you experience a weekend where your business does not touch it, it is not a problem to go back or to not go back, like you'll be perfectly fine not working on the weekends.
Joanna Penn 7:50
But let's, I guess many of the listeners too, will have a full time job. So there's a difference between someone who is trying to move into their own business and someone who has been running it for say, five, seven years, right?
Emily Thompson 8:03
For sure, for sure. But even then it's it's setting up those boundaries. So for me, I'm also like working on a side hustle right now. So I totally see this. And I'm totally guilty of like, I've broken my weekend boundary for a short period of time to get the side hustle off the ground. But a couple of things are in place. One of them is I know when that endpoint is, I know that I've broken my boundary for a set amount of almost, I've created a boundary around my broken boundary. If I can even make it super meta like that. So you know, I've said you know, for the next six weeks, I'm open to working on the weekends. But I've also maintained a boundary where that does not count for Sunday evening, Sunday after lunch is like my quote unquote weekend where I don't care what is happening, nothing can touch me like that will be my weekend and no work will find its way into it, even if I'm itching to pick up the laptop and do the thing. And that has made me sort of maintain some healthy relationships with the people that I work with, with with the work that I'm doing with myself like all of these things. So it is just you can break boundaries, you can build them and tear them down and replace them all these things the The fact of the matter is that you have to be mindful enough to create them. To hear more of this interview, find the rest of my episode on the Creative Penn wherever you listen to podcasts.
Kathleen Shannon 9:29
This minisode was brought to you by twenty20. Check them out at twenty20.com/beingboss. That's t w e n t y 20 as in the number.com slash being boss.
Emily Thompson 9:43
Did you like this minisode Be sure to check us out on our website at beingboss.club. There you can find more from being boss including our full episodes minisodes and blog posts. And while you're there, be sure to sign up for our mailing list so that you can get access to behind the scenes. An exclusive content from Kathleen and myself to help you be more boss in your work and life. Do the work. Be boss
