BOSSES IN THE WILD // Kathleen on the Let It Out Podcast

Kathleen Shannon 0:04
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Kathleen Shannon 0:49
Hey, Hey, everyone. So I was recently on Katie Dalebout podcast, let it out. And Katie is such a gracious podcast host and author of the book, let it out. And one of the things that she asked me about in our interview that I cannot stop thinking about is productivity. So I truly think that productivity is just something that I live, I am in the weeds, and I'm getting shit done. And it's been a minute since I've had a chance to zoom out and really think about the art of productivity, and what helps me be most productive. I think this is something I started incorporating into my daily habits and routines early from my freelance career. Even just last night, I was putting a face mask on in my bathroom and thinking I am really good at self care. And I think that it's just one of those things that I've routinely been able to practice and schedule in and be disciplined about actually doing.

Kathleen Shannon 1:54
I think that one of the best ways you can blend who you are into the work that you do is really taking a look at your values and intentions and your personal life and really bringing those values to your work to help drive your decisions to help set your boundaries. And to help you decide what it is that you're going to make. So for me, that piece of it, the values piece of it has been huge. And so you know, even that tagline, a braid of blending who you are with the work that you do that was a personal value of mine. And I didn't even understand really the full scope of what personal branding was whenever I started braid, and that that value of authenticity, and even a nonconformity at times, would help lend itself into creating a different kind of branding agency where we put the people first before the business, you know, it's like really looking at what the decision makers behind the business if it's not a personal brand, like what do you all like? And what are you about? And how can we bring more of that into the work that we're creating together? So you can really rally behind it? So you know, that's definitely a big way that I do that. And with Emily as well over at being boss, you know, we are constantly having conversations about what is it that we like talking about right now? And what are what is it that we like doing right now?

Kathleen Shannon 3:16
And how can we bring more of that into our conversations and being boss. And it's easier with a podcast because you're recording it as you go. And it's almost like a verbal diary of sorts where we can kind of see what we were interested in at the time. And we're not interested in the same things or talking about the same things now as we were three years ago. And so as our interests change, you know, bringing that into our work. And so it's more specifically with being Boss, I would say like the more we lose sight of things. So talking about Taro, that was something that we would have been so embarrassed to do three years ago, even though we were reading Tarot, and using it in our own, you know, personal practices. Now, we're openly talking about it on the podcast, because if we didn't, we would be doing our audience a disservice by not saying like, Hey, here's another tool that we use in business that actually gives us a lot of guidance and helps us along the way and if it helps you as well, then here's how we do it.

Katie Dalebout 4:13
Yeah. I want to talk more about being boss because I've been following since the beginning and I am so inspired by you guys. I'm inspired that you and Emily both had your own and still do your own businesses, your main hustles I guess and then being boss was and to a certain extent is an additional hustle or a side hustle. And it's grown and expanded and changed so much and it's been so inspiring to watch that and see it grow. And so I'd love if you could talk about the inception of being boss and what that was like and kind of what your expectations were for it back then and then where it is now and where you see it going.

Kathleen Shannon 4:58
Sure. So Emily, and I We both have our own businesses. So I have braid creative, which is a branding agency and Emily at the time, and she still has it is a business called indie shopography. And she's put more of a pause on indie, which is why I say it that way, I'm still full force into braid creative. But we were having these business bestie conversations where we were hopping on Skype just like you and I right now. And just really shooting the shit like talking about everything from how to deal with tricky clients to how to manage our time. I didn't even have a kid whenever we were starting to have these business bestie conversations. So I was asking her a lot of questions, or her daughter was Fox's age. Now, whenever we first started chatting, you know, asking her what it was like being a mom and being a boss and talking about trends, you know, even in business. So Emily convinced me to start an ecourse. And this is like, right at the precipice of E courses. And so she's always had her finger on the pulse. And I've always really appreciated her guidance. And on the flip side, you know, I was sharing stuff with her about branding, and I did her brand. And we were always talking about creating content. And so really just talking shop, and one day, she sent me an email, saying, like, hey, how cool would it be if we started a podcast and really just hit publish on the conversations that we're already having. She had an inkling and we both had an inkling that a lot of people were having these conversations, or really craving these conversations, because a lot of us were working as solopreneurs, you know, from our laptops on our couch with very limited, you know, social lives outside of our keyboards.

Kathleen Shannon 6:45
And so we knew that if we could hit publish on these conversations that we were having, that it might make some other creative entrepreneurs feel a little less alone in their own adventure, or, you know, maybe give them some tips and tactics to try. And so it's really just lifting the veil and giving a peek behind the curtain of what our working lives were like. And so we we publish the podcast, and like you said, it turned into this whole other thing that we did not expect. And from from a creative standpoint, like we just wanted to create something together. In fact, we had tried to do a little workshop, like a weekend workshop years and years ago, and it didn't sell, like we maybe sold one ticket to this workshop. It was like crickets chirping. And we were so embarrassed, we shut it down. We never did it again, we never talked about it again. And then a couple years later, that's whenever Emily said, hey, let's do this podcast. And so like we always knew that we wanted to create something together. And we did the podcast. Again, we didn't know what to expect, because our first collaboration had been a total failure. But it ended up resonating. And I think it was resonating, because again, people wanted to be a part of that conversation. And they wanted to hear conversations from other business owners maybe especially to women in business, who have families and are doing the work and living the life and seeing you know, all the ups and downs. Like we're really in it with our listeners and with our audience. And I think that they appreciate that.

Kathleen Shannon 8:24
And so I wanted to take a moment here, and I share a few things in Katie's podcast. But I wanted to go ahead and use this opportunity here to really outline some of my most productive habits and routines that helped me do the work. It's the things that I have just been able to go on autopilot on and don't really think a whole lot about anymore, but I think it might be helpful for you to hear the details of what I do and how I get stuff done. So first, number one, I stay hydrated, and nourished and well rested. Now I know this seems really basic, but drinking enough water. eating food that is good for your body and makes you healthy, and getting enough sleep are non negotiable starting point for being really truly productive. So even in the mornings, I've been doing this thing and it's a little woowoo but I'm going to share it with you because it has become one of my favorite habits and routines. So in the morning whenever I wake up before I even get my coffee or anything else, I start heating up some water on the stove. And then I take a large glass of water something that can probably hold around 16 ounces. And I throw in like a little pinch of pink Himalayan salt. And this is something that's really interesting. This is where we get a little woowoo with this is that I recently learned that the word salary comes from Salt that apparently soldiers were paid in salt for their salaries. So I pinch this salt into my water or into my water. Glass. And I think, you know, I'm rich and I it's like a silly little mantra. But I think like I'm living a rich life or I'm rich, or I'm abundant, something along those lines, then I squeeze half a lemon into this water, or maybe a full lemon if it's a small lemon, and lemon is great for kickstarting your digestion. And then I do a teaspoon of calm magnesium powder.

Kathleen Shannon 10:24
So magnesium is such a good mineral for your body, and what and then once the water heats up a little bit, I pour 16 ounces of water into this glass, and then I stir it up. And I just really think about the intentions that I want to cultivate in my day. And it's such a great routine for starting the day. But I'm also really kickstarting hydration. I also recently learned that hydration isn't just about drinking fluids is about drinking water with the right amount of minerals into it so that it's really pushing that hydration into your cells. So I don't know how a lot of this stuff works. I don't claim to be a scientist, but I think it really gets me started for the day. Okay, so that's first and foremost, and then eating well, I basically follow a mostly paleo diet. During the week, during the weekend, I will have some pizza, I will have some wine. But during the week, I like to keep it really clean and really tight so that I can stay as focused as possible. And then getting enough sleep is huge. I have a little kiddo who still doesn't love sleeping through the night, he gets in bed with me often and keeps me awake. Sometimes Sometimes I struggle with insomnia. So I'm really intentional about going to bed at a good hour. If I don't get enough sleep, I take it easy on my workout. And I like to practice something called a yoga nidra during the day, so especially if I haven't had quality sleep, I will take 30 minutes to practice yoga nidra, which is like a really deep relaxation meditation, you can just google it on YouTube or in Apple Music and find some really good Yoga nidra tracks.

Kathleen Shannon 12:03
Alright, so my second productivity tip is to have a plan. For me, this plan looks like hosting my own CEO days. so shameless plug here, we are now offering the very tools that I've been using, that Emily has been using for years now, to map out our goals, our marketing and revenue plans, our values and intentions which might also sound fluffy. But this is how I make every single decision in my business is through my values and intentions, and then also mapping out my business model. And so we've put together all these tools in our CEO day kit over at being Boss, I cannot stress enough how important it is to know what you want to do. And breaking it down step by step to get there. Now I want to acknowledge that everyone's path is a little bit different. And here are being boss, we think everyone should be able to map it out in a way that feels good to them. putting pen to paper is the first step. And if you are freaking out if all of your ideas are just pinging back and forth in your head, or if you don't even know where to begin. I often call this the Sunday syndrome, the day before Monday, where you hit the ground running on Sunday, you're kind of freaking out about all the things that you have to do. And it can almost even paralyze you. And that's where having my own SEO days, and having that structure and framework for organizing my thoughts and plans and really feeling like okay, I can do this. It is the number one thing that helps me move the ball forward in my own business.

Kathleen Shannon 13:38
Alright, the third thing is time blocking. If it is not on my Google Calendar, it is not happening. So blocking out time for important meetings, brainstorms work, and even self care stuff like working out is how I consistently hit my little deadlines that add up to big milestone achievements. So an example of this in action is that actually right now, Emily and I are working on thinking about book number two. Now we have a lot of opportunities. And we're still marketing the first book and trying to make that do there's a lot of stuff going on. And so it's easy to just let that fall to the backburner, especially before we have a deadline before we have a book deal. So it's really hard to get the ball rolling on it. So even just this past week, I scheduled for every Monday morning for us to have a dedicated block of time where we are just working on this project. So something's important to you block it out on your calendar. Alright, my fourth productivity tip is to touch at once. This is a mantra that I use all the time. So I I actually developed this whenever I kept picking up the same broken pen over and over again and going to take notes and my pen is out of ink. And I don't know why I kept putting it in the desk drawer. I should just thrown it away. So I threw the pin away like that can be another mantra is like throw away the broken pin, stop using what isn't working for you. I'm talking literally, but also maybe conceptually, I also use that mantra touch at once whenever it comes to important emails. So I used to do this thing where my email inbox would act almost as my to do list. And I was reading emails and then marking them unread. And knowing that I'll come back to it later and sometimes opening the same email four times over again without taking action on it. So now I either respond to the email immediately right away, or I move it over to my task management software, so that I can deal with it and make a decision and attach a deadline to it later. So this is a tool that helps me avoid procrastination. And it inspires me to take action just once. My fifth productivity tip is to go for a walk. This is something that if I do every single day, it makes my day that much better.

Kathleen Shannon 16:07
Now, I know that it might seem counterintuitive to stand up and go for a walk when you have a million things you could be doing. But I get my best ideas when I step away from my computer screen and move my body. Bonus points. If you're listening to a podcast or audio book that is getting your gears turning. This is one of my favorite ways to really develop out who I am personally and professionally is to listen to a podcast or an audio book while I'm taking a walk. Or it can even be a meditative walk. Think about being present, step by step. Sometimes I will even take a walk without any music or podcasts or anything. And I walk as if I'm the person that I want to become, I act as if I'm walking as that person. I'm like already in those shoes, right? Again, I know that this sounds wild, but it's a really great way to visualize literally stepping into who I want to become. So these are just a few of my productivity habits and routines. If you want to know more of them. Be sure to check out the being boss book, Emily and I have included a lot of our daily habits and routines in that book. So be sure to check it out. And then be sure to listen to Katie bailouts podcast I share more of my productivity habits and routines there as well as just like a really good chat back and forth conversation with her. All right, do the work be boss. I'll see you all next time.

Kathleen Shannon 17:39
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 17:53
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 and exclusive content from Kathleen and myself to help you be more boss in your work and life. Do the work be boss