GS #21: Consistent Content, Top Tech Tools, and Peaceful Planning

What we're working on:

We're currently building out the curriculum for the Calm Launch Formula course, and we went from ZERO slides last Monday to 4 modules complete with 334 slides done! So if you've been dragging your feet on creating that new product that's been rattling your brain, let this be your sign that you can make massive progress in just one week! Start with a simple bulleted list and get after it!

We also started designing our new landing page for WAIM Unlimited that you'll see when we open for enrollment in a month or two. Can't wait to show you!

For all our American readers, we hope you had a nice 4th of July weekend. Now let's get to the 3 P's!

- Jason and Caroline

predictable 🔄

Lessons from 10 weeks of consistent YouTube uploads

👨🏻‍🦲👋: When it comes to consistency in our content creation, we have no problem getting our weekly email newsletter and podcast out the door.

But, over the years we have STRUGGLED to upload a weekly YouTube video 🙈😩.

...Until now! While it’s a very small achievement, this week marks the longest weekly upload streak we’ve had since 2020!

For 10 weeks in a row now, we’ve published a YouTube video.

Since we know many of you aim to grow an audience with organic content, we wanted to share the 3 main reasons (and 1 side reason 😅) we believe we've finally broken our upload curse.

If you struggle with sharing content steadily, I hope these three tips can help you get on track and STAY on track.

1. 📆 Non-Negotiable Time Slot on the Calendar:

Set a specific time each week dedicated solely to creation. Treat this time as sacred, just like a meeting with an important client. For us, having a fixed slot in our calendar for scripting, filming, storyboarding, and editing prep has been a game-changer.

Note: We had already tried this before, but it wasn’t coupled with steps #2 and #3.

2. 🔄 Make Steps That Are Easy to Repeat:

Break down your creation process into small, repeatable steps. We have a simple Notion template for script writing, I have a set area in our house where I record every week, and we’re not trying to overproduce our YouTube videos. I think our breakthrough is do in large part to reducing the friction and stakes of every tiny step of our process, making the creation task feel less daunting.

3. 👌 Let It Be Good Enough:

This is always one of our biggest hurdles, but we’ve truly embraced “good enough” these past 10 weeks. We’re fully aware our YouTube videos aren’t going to get a ton of views, but we care more to share each video’s message with our ideal audience and focus on the consistent output over time. We believe it’s better to show up imperfectly and consistently than "perfectly" and sporadically.

• 👩🏻‍🦰👨🏻‍🦲 Side Tip - Film Separately: Probably just unique to us, but filming a video together always brought friction because we both had a strong vision for the video's end product 😬. Just like there can’t be two head chefs in a kitchen, we were finally able to build a repeatable process when we weren’t trying to force doing this task together.

Maybe you’ve tried one or two of the tips above, but from our experience recently, it’s the combination of those tips that has finally worked for us!

Hope this helps you stay consistent to whatever it is you’re working on!

​- Jason 👨🏻‍🦲​

Profitable 🤑

The 14 tools that run our business

👩🏻‍🦰 👋: Speaking of posting consistently on YouTube...

We have a new video for you this week, all about the tech tools that have allowed us to run two calm, profitable multi-six-figure businesses.

There are a million tools to choose from these days to run an online business, and it can be overwhelming to research what's out there. If you're curious about our workflow and which tools make our jobs easier, we're sharing our list of 14 software tools that do just that.

If you sell digital products like online courses, memberships, templates, downloads, etc., we believe these tools can drastically streamline your processes and create an amazing experience for your customers.

The most important thing to remember about choosing software tools is that they should bring you ongoing value and make your workflow easier, not more complex.

These tools should help you stay organized, automate tasks, improve your customer's experience, or make your work more fun!

​- Caroline 👩🏻‍🦰​

Peaceful 🧘

Practical tips for finding peace in a busy work season

👩🏻‍🦰 👋: We are in a busy season right now, which is unusual for us because we usually take summers off!

However, you know we're always talking about the fact that businesses must evolve as you evolve as a person, so we knew 2024 was going to be a big rebuilding year for us for BOTH businesses.

In spite of our full plate, it's still possible to find peace and calm throughout a heavier than usual workload. So that's what I want to share this week in case you too are in a busy season.

(And if you're not and you're sipping cocktails on the beach, well good for you! Soak up the sun and bookmark this email for the next time things kick back up!)

Here are the three keys for us to staying calm when things are busy:

🔑 Key #1 - Planning:

Last week, we sat down and made what we call a Big Ass List™️. This is a MUST whenever you feel that sense of overwhelm creep in. Get everything out of your head and onto paper.

One of my favorite ways we use Notion is by having a weekly view of the year and setting a business focus for each week. This is especially helpful as we lead up to our launches and the schedule gets tighter.

🔑 Key #2 - Flexibility:

We set the focus for each week, but—this is very important!—we stay super flexible and hold that plan loosely. We check in every single day and ask ourselves if things need to be shifted around.

Inevitably, something takes longer than you thought or priorities shift. That’s normal. So you reassess. The most important part is that you don’t feel guilty about not meeting your plan perfectly. Part of being your own boss means not being a jerk to yourself!

🔑 Key #3 - Self-Awareness and Prioritizing Mental Health:

In a busy season, you have to stay even more mindful of what’s most important: your health. As ambitious creatives, we have SO many things we want to create and do, but you have to check in regularly to make sure you’re not making trade-offs that you’ll regret.

For me, that means asking myself daily: am I making time away from work for the things that bring balance to my life? Am I getting to the gym? Taking walks outside? Doing things just for fun? Because life is about more than work, and part of running a calm business mindset is remembering that. 👍

​- Caroline 👩🏻‍🦰​

This week's "Pick the flick!"

New game alert!! Hit reply to this email and guess the movie based on the two household objects. Full transparency: you will win nothing. 😅 Except bragging rights and the knowledge you are a movie nerd like us. It's silly. It's fun. What movie will we do next week? 🍿🎬

latest from the pod

211 - 8 weeks out from launching (our plan!) We are two months out from our next enrollment period for WAIM Unlimited and wanted to give you a behind-the-scenes look at everything on our to-do list pre-launch. This is our first enrollment period in over a year that includes a new program, the “Calm Launch Formula,” and we discuss the tasks, marketing plans, and our feelings about doing our first live cohort. ​ LISTEN ON: APPLE | SPOTIFY | WEB​

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