September 16, 2025 • 35 mins
Struggling to stay consistent and productive as a solopreneur? In this episode, Kelly Leardon shares her revolutionary approach to time management for entrepreneurs with ADHD or non-traditional thinking styles. She introduces a day-batching system and her Work Hard, Play Hard, Rest Hard framework, helping small business owners achieve follow-through without burnout.
Key highlights from the episode include:
- Why traditional productivity systems fail solopreneurs—they were designed for corporate environments, not entrepreneurial brains
- Why lack of follow-through isn’t a character flaw, but a result of running your business on reaction instead of rhythms
- Theme days (Admin, Content, Growth, Deep Work, CEO) that provide structure without triggering rebellion against rigid schedules
- The bathtub analogy: consistently filling your sales pipeline requires dedicated weekly attention
- Seasonal flexibility: why women entrepreneurs need adaptable systems to match life’s changing demands
- Weekend recovery is non-negotiable: Saturday for play, Sunday for complete rest
- The fundamental truth: your business will never outgrow the systems you put in place
If you’ve struggled with productivity, follow-through, or burnout, this episode gives you practical strategies to organize your week, protect your energy, and finally make your systems stick.
Connect with Kelly:
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Kelly (00:00):
But when you have a brain that doesn't function, like all
of the New York Timesbestselling productivity books,
you are left feeling horribleabout yourself because you know
all that you should be doing,but you can't get yourself to do
it.
Alyssa (00:15):
Welcome to Brilliant Ideas, the podcast that takes
you behind the scenes of some ofthe most inspiring digital
products created by solopreneursjust like you.
I'm your host, alyssa, adigital product strategist who
helps subject matter expertsgrow their business with online
courses, memberships, coachingprograms and eBooks.
If you're a solopreneur withdreams of packaging your
expertise into a profitabledigital product, then this is
(00:37):
the podcast for you.
Expect honest conversations ofhow they started, the obstacles
they overcame, lessons learnedthe hard way and who faced the
same fears, doubts andchallenges you're experiencing,
from unexpected surprises tobreakthrough moments and
everything in between.
Tune in, get inspired and let'sspark your next big, brilliant
idea.
What if the hardest part ofgrowing your business isn't
(00:58):
creating systems or setting upstrategies, but it's actually
following through with them?
This week on Brilliant Ideas,I'm joined by Kelly Lierden.
She is a certified director ofoperations and she helps small
business owners, many of whomhave ADHD or brains that work
differently, master their time,structure their weeks and
finally stick with the systemsthey've invested in.
In this episode, kelly shareswhy follow-through is such a
(01:20):
challenge for so manysolopreneurs and what's really
happening behind the scenes.
When even the best systems feelimpossible to maintain.
She introduces her uniqueconcept of batching your days
instead of your tasks andexplains why this approach works
so well for business owners whoare juggling multiple
priorities.
We also dive into the biggestshift you can make right now to
free up your time and createmore focus in your week without
(01:43):
losing momentum or income.
If you ever wondered why youcan't seem to stay consistent
with the systems you've built,free up your time and create
more focus in your week withoutlosing momentum or income.
If you ever wondered why youcan't seem to stay consistent
with the systems you've built orwhy managing your business
feels like a constant uphillbattle, this conversation with
Kelly will give you practicaltools and perspective to make
things feel lighter and moredoable.
Let's get started.
Welcome to the show, kelly.
(02:03):
Thank you so much for beinghere.
Appreciate you.
Thank you for having me.
You know it's great because Ithink so many solopreneurs can
relate to this conversation thatwe're going to have today,
especially if they've beendiagnosed with ADHD or maybe
that they suspect they mighthave it, or that they're aware
that their brain might workdifferently than what society
(02:23):
thinks.
It's kind of like what yournormal brain should look like,
and even if you don't have ADHD.
I think every solopreneur thatI've met, including myself, has
a million ideas.
We have we're balancing a lotof clients, we have a lot of
deadlines and family obligationsat the same time, so there's a
(02:43):
lot, I think, in a solopreneur.
There's a lot going on in ourbusiness and it can feel like
we're constantly battlingagainst ourselves, even if we
have kind of a great system or astrategy in place and sticking
with that, I'd say, is one ofthe hardest parts.
And so, in your perspective,why do you think, why is follow
(03:05):
through such a challenge for somany solopreneurs, and how can
they start changing it to maketheir lives a little bit easier
to work with?
Kelly (03:13):
Whether someone has ADHD diagnosed, undiagnosed mom brain
, if people are perimenopausebrain, you know what?
I think that in working withsmall business owners for 20
plus years, there's a commonthread amongst us and typically
what I find is our brains don'toperate the way other people's
(03:34):
brains do.
A lot of times that's a greatthing.
Sometimes it hurts us and oneof the ways that that can
present itself our maybeneurodivergent.
I don't really love that term,but I'll just use it because
people will know what I'mtalking about.
It can work against us inrelation to our business.
So how it works for us is wetend to be visionaries.
We've got lots of great ideas.
(03:56):
We get really excited aboutthings.
We typically are pretty risktolerant.
Those are all beautiful waysthat serve our business really
well.
How it shows up that can be adetriment to us is lack of
follow through.
We might not call it that.
It can look like a lot ofunfinished projects.
It can look like abandonedbusiness ideas.
(04:17):
It can look like I bought 47courses and didn't finish any of
them.
Oh, look, a new course, I wantto buy that.
So it's.
I don't love trying to putpeople in buckets.
I look a new course, I want tobuy that.
So it's.
I don't love trying to putpeople in buckets.
I'm painting with a broad brush, but I think some people will
hear themselves in what I'msaying.
I certainly fall into thatcategory as well, and we're
drowning in ideas and open tabsto do lists.
(04:37):
We don't have structure.
I think that's one of thethings that draws us to owning
our own business is we get tocall the shots.
We get to wake up when we want,sit down at our desk when we
want, but we can also find thatwe are ping-ponging between
tasks all day and we're neverfinished.
This looks like you lay down atnight and you think to yourself
(04:58):
I was busy all day, nonstop,but when I'm trying to think
about what I did, I can't evenremember what all I did, and so
follow through feels really hard, and a lot of times that comes
from we're running our businesson reaction instead of on
rhythms, rituals and systems,and so we cross five things off
(05:19):
our to-do list but then we addnine more We've got.
We can never shut down ourcomputer because we've got 73
open tabs.
All of our tasks just feel thesame in our head.
They're very equal, so we justwork on whatever comes flying at
us on any given day and how westart changing, that is,
building rhythms or rituals intoour days and weeks, so we know
(05:43):
what task belongs where we don'thave to hold so much in our
head at one time.
A lot of times the quote unquotelack of follow through or
abandoned things, or so manyopen tabs and open projects,
it's because things don't have ahome to live in.
We're carrying so much in ourhead at one time, and especially
(06:04):
with women, where our brainsare very integrated.
We're paying our tax bill, butwe're also texting the teacher
from school, while we'rethinking about what's for dinner
tonight, while we're like, oh,I need to go move the laundry
over.
So our brains are capable ofjust all of this integrated
thought, but it works against usbecause we sit down to work.
I need to work on my newsletter.
Oh, no wait, I want to finishthat course.
(06:26):
I was thinking, oh, my word, Ihave to text so-and-so, and so
it's like we're just bouncing,bouncing, bouncing, right, and
so I obviously have theme daysthat I teach my clients, which
includes a rhythm to your day.
So for me, being somebody who Ibuck at structure, I needed to
create a system for running mybusiness that would allow it to
(06:46):
grow and flourish, but alsowhere it wouldn't cause me to
feel rebellious.
Cause I have tried walking toBarnes and Noble, pick up a time
management book.
I guarantee you I've read itany bestseller book.
But the problem is most ofthose time management systems
were created by men for men incorporate America, and then we
try to make our entrepreneurialbrain fit into that system.
(07:10):
Time diaries, which that justgives me a panic attack.
I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm threeminutes behind now.
I'm 14 minutes behind the wholeday.
I cannot do that.
Any book where the firstchapter is keep a diary of how
you spend each minute, I'm likeyou are not for me.
You don't understand my brain.
So the lack of follow throughis real.
But it's basically adoptingsystems that we can work inside
(07:32):
of.
I need a system that I won'tbuck, that will allow me to get
the important things done in myday, but also which doesn't feel
so restrictive that I'mwatching the clock constantly or
it's got no flexibility to it.
So I think, think, alyssa,you're a certified OBM.
If I'm not mistaken, I'm acertified director of ops, so
very similar.
And so the bad thing when WalkLike Warriors was growing was.
(07:59):
I know up here all the thingsthat make a business healthy and
strong, but when you have abrain that doesn't function,
like all of the New York Timesbestselling productivity books,
you are left feeling horribleabout yourself because you know
all that you should be doing,but you can't get yourself to do
it.
And so I tried 18 differentsystems in a couple of months
before I was like, well, I'mgoing to capture this thing like
(08:23):
this, I'm going to do this likethis, and all of a sudden, my
time mastery system was born andI was ashamed to share it with
my coaching clients because I'mlike this is so infantile, like
I'm afraid to tell people howI'm actually managing my
business.
But I shared it with one andthen she had all the success.
So the lack of follow through isreally not our fault.
I mean, unless someone's lazyand just wants to sleep all the
(08:47):
time and be on TikTok all thetime, that is not most business
owners.
Most business owners, theirheart is in the right place, but
we have not been given a systemto handle all the hats we wear
CEO, cfo, cro, cmo, coo Likeit's too much.
It's just too much, and so wetry to take the world's
operating systems, the corporateAmerica operating systems, put
our business inside of it, andthen we just beat the crap out
(09:09):
of ourselves that we're afailure, we can't finish things,
we never finish our projects,and it's just simply not true.
We just need a better way.
Alyssa (09:17):
Yeah, that makes so much sense.
I love what you talked aboutwhen we talked about risk, like
we're risk tolerant, we'revisionaries.
You know, we have you know, andI it's like you were speaking
to my, to me, because I havebeen there where I've had I've
bought one course I told myselfI am going to implement, but
(09:38):
then I worked with a new clientand then my brain switched to
the client and then I didn't getback to the course that I was
supposed to do and then I endedup feeling bad that I couldn't
get to it because all of theother things are happening in my
business and the thing is theproblem with also with the lack
of follow-through.
I like what you said.
(09:58):
The heart is in the right place, but because we're a
solopreneur, we might not evenhave the team to help us get to
the goals that we're trying toachieve either.
You're wearing all the hats andso, and also I think there are
a little bit of blinders, in asense, where we are kind of
(10:21):
narrow minded.
Only we have to kind of getoutside of our head sometimes
and that can kind of create somelike well, this is the way that
I do it, and like these youdon't have any kind of third
party eyes looking inside yourbusiness like a team who can
keep you accountable.
You're really the personkeeping yourself accountable.
(10:45):
And so I liked what youmentioned about the rhythm and
ritual system.
Now, kind of going back to thiswhole thing about batching your
days, then your tasks Now I amvery much against the time
diaries thing.
I don't work that way either.
I feel like that doesn't helpme at all.
(11:07):
I have to.
You know, we talked about this.
There's a lot of talk in theindustry about time blocking,
which doesn't always work outfor me.
I'm sure maybe for otherbusiness owners it is helpful.
But you talk about batchingyour days.
So what does that frameworklook like when you're batching
(11:27):
days instead of tasks?
That's an interesting conceptthat I've never heard about
before, and how does that?
Kelly (11:33):
work.
So this is my system, that Iwas so embarrassed to show
people.
So this is my system that I wasso embarrassed to show people,
and I'll walk you through it.
I don't gatekeep this part ofthe system.
I want to help small businessowners excel and flourish, and I
believe that business ownerswho burn out are missing one of
(11:53):
three key elements, and so Iteach, work hard, play hard,
rest hard, and when someoneburns out, they're missing one
of those three, and it's usuallythe latter of those, and so I
believe hard work is important.
I believe we feel good aboutourselves when we put in a good,
hard day's work.
(12:13):
I am a productivity efficiencyninja, but I hate I loathe the
phrase work smart, not hard.
No, if you're running abusiness, you got to work smart
and you have to work hard.
It is hard work and it's workthat sometimes we don't want to
do.
So we want to work hard, whichis my Monday through Friday
system, but I want myentrepreneurs to work hard but
play hard and rest hard.
(12:34):
Work hard but play hard andrest hard.
So Saturday is devoted to allthe things we love our hobbies,
our spouses, our health, ourchildren, hanging out with
friends, getting together withour parents and then Sunday, and
it doesn't have to be theseexact days.
My system is very flexible.
But Sunday, sabbath rest.
So whether you're somebody offaith or not like I'm not Jewish
(12:57):
, but when I went to school, Itook a class all about Sabbath.
It's like this ancient practicethat a lot of cultures actually
have practiced for thousands ofyears, and then we got rid of
it, like in the 1950s.
Does anyone else think that'sbizarre?
It's very.
You know, incidentally, that'swhen, all of a sudden, people
started struggling with overwork, overwhelm, burnout, all of
(13:19):
these things that had nothappened before.
So I believe our bodies aredesigned to rest one day of the
week and as a woman, this isvery hard for us.
But I don't work.
I also don't do chores and Idon't cook.
Sunday went from being my mosthated day of the whole week
because it was like Sundayscaries.
And you know, you're even justlike.
You know, I want to beproductive, I want to do food
(13:41):
prep, I want to wash all myfruits and vegetables.
I want to design my week.
You're taking part of yourweekend away from yourself by
trying to get ahead for the weekwhen you fully rest.
You will hit the ground runningso hard on Monday you will feel
like someone injected you witha drug.
You will have so much energy.
So my system is Saturday.
I just call it savor.
I want them just sucking themarrow out of life, doing fun
things, relaxing things,whatever fills their cup.
(14:02):
Sunday, sabbath.
So Monday is admin day and I'lljust say the days quickly and
then I'll kind of go backthrough and just give a couple
sentences.
I just bullet points for each.
Monday is admin day.
Tuesday is content creation dayor meeting day.
If you have a podcast, it couldbe your podcast recording day.
Tuesday is kind of like yourday where you're whatever your
business requires.
(14:22):
So I'm a business coach, soTuesday is a meeting day for me.
So content creation day ormeeting day.
Wednesday is growth day, salesand marketing day, thursday is
deep work day and Friday is ourCEO day, and I'll just quickly
go through them.
So Monday admin day.
This is like if you had anadministrative assistant or
(14:44):
virtual assistant.
This is your day to tackle theto-do list, all those
miscellaneous tasks that arejust everywhere in my system.
You don't work on the weekendsand when you actually follow the
ritual you will find you don'tneed to anymore.
So on Monday, when I sit downright where I'm sitting right
now, there's quite a few emailsand DMs because I did not work
on the weekend.
So that looks like answeringDMs, answering emails, following
up on agreements or proposals.
(15:05):
That type of work is admin typeof work Tuesday, content
creation day or meeting day.
As a business coach, I stack mymeetings.
Nothing interrupts yourschedule like letting people
grab time whenever they want it.
I thought this mightpotentially cost me business by
telling potential coachingclients I only coach on Tuesdays
.
It didn't.
My business exploded.
That gives me the rest of theweek to really focus on other
(15:28):
tasks in my business.
And so if you don't havemeetings but you have a podcast,
maybe that's your podcast day.
If you create tons of socialmedia content, maybe that's your
content creation day.
So that day can be a little bitof a flex day.
The way I teach business growthis an algorithm proof business,
so I don't over optimize forsocial media.
It's good to have, but it's notnecessary to have in order to
(15:49):
grow a successful business.
Case in point I have done this.
I've taught many people to dothis.
Building a six and multi sixfigure business with under a
thousand followers is totallypossible.
You got to stop listening toall the social media experts who
want you to believe you need ahundred thousand followers to be
successful, because you don'tAll right, wednesday is growth
day sales and marketing.
Most it's something, or it'saround.
(16:11):
80% of businesses fail becauseof a lack of money, and so one
day of the week, one day out ofthe five, because we were not
working seven days a week.
In Kelly's system, it's 20% ofyour work.
Week.
One in five is 20%.
You're spending that day onnothing but filling up your
sales pipeline.
It is sales, it is marketing.
What I have found with mostsolopreneurs they have no idea
(16:33):
what to do that day besides poston social media, which is a
different conversation fordifferent podcasts.
But it breaks my heart.
We have fed people this liethat the only way to grow your
business is being a contentcreation machine that just spits
out content and it's burning somany people out.
So I'm very passionate.
My name, kelly, means warriorwoman, which is where the
business name Walk Like Warriorscame from.
(16:53):
People are probably like she'syelling at me.
I'm not.
I'm not trying to yell you, Ijust have so much passion.
I want to help you and I wantto help you run a smarter
business.
So we put those efforts on oneday and we really make sure that
we're filling up that bathtub.
I always talk about sales andmarketing is like a bathtub with
the drain open You're.
If you are not constantlyfilling that bathtub with new
(17:15):
water, your business will dry up.
So we devote a whole day tothat Thursday.
Cal Newport's book Deep Work wasone of my favorite books I've
ever read.
It was transformative, it waslife-changing for me, probably
like so many of your listenersand as a director of operations.
One thing I heard again andagain I wanna stop working in my
business and start working onmy business.
My business isn't movingforward.
(17:39):
It feels stuck.
I'm running my business from ato-do list.
So deep work day is picking oneproject per week, two to four
hours, notifications off phonein a different room, head down
If you need to go to the library, if you need to go to Starbucks
, wherever you need to do, toget quiet and still and work on
one thing.
That is probably the linchpinin the whole system.
It teaches people to stopping-ponging, to stop running
(18:01):
your business from a notebookand post-it notes and to get
really strategic If you willjust do that alone, your
business will change.
Friday is my favorite day of thewhole week.
It's our CEO day.
So this is high strategy.
It's updating our KPI dashboardkey performance indicator.
This was really shocking to mewhen I went from working in
medium-sized businesses tosolopreneurs.
(18:22):
They were not tracking any oftheir numbers.
Their tracking numbers was well.
I know I have 3,000 Instagramfollowers as of today, or I know
my business is healthy or notby how much I have in Venmo, my
bank.
They look at these numbers insuch a scattered way so I
literally spend an hour in thatKPI dashboard every week.
(18:44):
And then I have what I callstare at the wall time.
I don't look at my phone.
Our brains are becoming soresistant to deeper levels of
thought.
Our first thought is to go tochat GPT to give us our business
strategy, and it will nevermatch the human brain.
I will never buy into that.
That can do better strategythan Kelly can do with Walk Like
Warriors or Alyssa can do withher business.
So I have some stare at thewall time.
(19:05):
I say pay my team.
I have contractors, people whowork on my website, my VA.
But it's a time where I do alot of thinking about the
business and then I map my 30,60 and 90 day strategy.
Saturday I am it's like a horse,you know worn out and put away
sweaty.
(19:25):
On Saturday I'm tired, I'mready to rest.
My husband and I go out, we dofun things.
We've got four kids.
So our Saturday is just.
It's just connecting For me,it's connecting with people,
it's connecting with him.
We'll usually do a two or threehour coffee date out on the
back patio.
We'll run errands, we clean thehouse that day, work on the
yard that day.
Sunday we go to church, weserve at our church and when I
get home I put on my big uglysweatpants, I grab a book, I
(19:46):
pour myself a glass of wine.
I do nothing.
And when I am telling you I donothing, I mean I do nothing.
And when Monday rolls backaround, because of this rhythm
and ritual, I feel so good mycup is completely overflowing.
Now the reason that people workwith me is they don't always
(20:08):
know the tasks to do aroundthose theme days and obviously
if someone's a service basedbusiness provider, like a social
media manager, I'm not tellingher oh, your whole Friday is CEO
strategy day.
No, you could do that in 30 to60 minutes.
That's my system works becauseyou're focusing on an ordered
list like literally like achecklist each of the days.
It's enough structure forpeople who are neurodivergent to
(20:31):
accept it.
But it's novel because we'renot doing.
I hate the systems where,monday at nine do this.
Monday at nine, oh, three dothis.
No, my brain is like, uh, youcannot make me do that every day
.
So we're doing this at, at, atweekly intervals, we're doing
these things.
So I also do, like my tax prepon Friday and things like that.
Um, but it's, it's enough of astructure that I have perfect
(20:52):
follow through in my business,um, but enough freedom that I
don't feel like I need to buckthe system.
Does that make sense?
Alyssa (20:59):
That makes perfect sense and it's really helpful to
think about it.
You know the work hard, playhard, rest hard and then having
that schedule.
It is extremely interesting tothink about all this and how it
works with your lifestyle andnot focusing on the time it
takes you, like I, I, I did um.
(21:19):
There was a guy that was on mypodcast a long time ago, um, and
he was mentioning somethingabout um measuring how long it
takes you to do a task.
So like there's like timetrackers online and while that's
great it, it almost kind ofgoes against this whole thing
because then it then it makesyou feel bad if you can't get
(21:41):
the task done within theallotted time that you set for
yourself and it just becomesthis big thing that you really
don't need.
And so I like that you havelike a very set schedule to give
someone structure, because, asyou mentioned, this whole thing
is the lack of follow throughand that the structure can give
you back that time and to reallysee your business grow.
(22:02):
And so my question for you isthat what would be?
So somebody who is looking atthis schedule does it change
Like, does it?
Do you modify the schedule asyou continue to grow your
business, or is this somethingthat is like set in stone and
you just change?
You just maybe modify it alittle bit here, but there's not
(22:26):
many changes to it.
So how does that work?
So if somebody wanted toimplement the schedule tomorrow,
for example, what could, whatcould they do, what, what kind
of?
Would they go right into theschedule right away and then
modify how it works in threemonths?
So like, walk me through that,yeah sure.
Kelly (22:46):
So I'm sure that the gentleman you had on your
program was incredibly helpful.
One of the things in my groupprogram that I talk about,
though, is waffle brains andspaghetti brains and I didn't
invite it invented apsychologist did.
But men have waffle brains.
Women have spaghetti brains, somen's brains are like waffles
compartmentalized, so when a manis, for example, working on his
(23:09):
business taxes which maybe hewas talking about and like set
this little timer and it tracksyour time right, he's working on
that.
Alyssa, when you're doing thatand you're working on taxes for
your business, the dog isbarking.
You hop up to let the dog out.
Oh my gosh, my coffee wasreheating and I forgot that.
I'm going to go.
(23:31):
Oh, you know what I need to getcreamer.
I'm going to open the targetapp and put creamer.
That's why those systemstypically don't work for people
like us.
So I'm not criticizing him, andhe's bringing something
beautiful into the world forpeople who have waffle brains.
For those of us who havespaghetti brains, that doesn't
work, and I will not adopt anytime or productivity or
efficiency system.
That makes me panicky, thatmakes my heartbeat faster, that
makes my hands start to feellike sweaty, because it's
(23:52):
stressing me out.
I need breathing space and so,to answer your question, it's
flexible enough to shift thingsaround, but we don't want to be
changing it constantly.
Now for the women, for yourlisteners who are women.
This is another reason why mostof the time management systems
in the world do not work for us,because we have seasons to our
(24:16):
year, and I do not mean spring,summer, fall and winter.
I mean back to school, I meanholidays.
I mean holidays, I mean NewYear's back to school, 2.0.
I mean May.
We all know like the heck onearth that May is.
If you've got kids in school,then we have summer.
(24:36):
We have like nine seasons toour year and so there's been a
lot of studies done on thisabout how people in corporate
America can get a time systemright, and it essentially
doesn't change that much.
But for women, especially whohave their own business, I talk
to my coaching clients about weneed to have a system where
(24:56):
we're revisiting it when ourseason change.
And they understand I nevermean spring, summer, fall and
winter.
I mean, if you think about fora woman from, let's say, july
30th, we're in summer, august,we're going to be back to school
September.
All the kids are sick becausethey went back to school.
Then October it's a little bitof breathing room.
(25:17):
Usually October is a prettyhigh producing month for women,
and then we're headed intoholidays, which is we're the
ones who make the magic happen.
So I revisit that my timemastery dashboard when my season
is changing.
So I know something's not rightwhen it's starting to feel like
it's not serving me, but Idon't allow myself to change it
all the time or skip a bunch ofdays, because I have a tendency
(25:39):
to want novelty and to pursuenovelty all the time.
Anyone who is neurodivergentwill understand that.
So it's got enough flexibilitybuilt in for seasonality, but
also for focusing on what ourbusiness needs.
So last year 2024, my firstyear with this business.
So keep in mind it's not likeI'd never had a business before
(26:01):
I was a fractional director ofoperations, so I was working in
a different capacity still inthe business world operations.
So I was working in a differentcapacity still in the business
world In 2024, my goal was toguest on I think it was 12
podcasts at first, but I wasbooking so many that I wanted to
guest on 20.
So my Time Mastery dashboard Iadded in an element of being on
all these podcasts, reaching out, following up, scheduling,
(26:24):
right.
So sometimes it's just what isyour business need and that's
getting folded in, but ingeneral it's not changing in
significant ways, because Ibelieve every business owner
should take the three minutesevery week to stay on top of
their business taxes so thatthey're not spending 60 hours
yelling at their whole family inMarch because they can't find
any other receipts and they'restressed to the max and they're
(26:46):
upset with themselves blamingthemselves.
I'm bad at this.
So there are some things that,like I said, not everyone's
going to know the tasks to putin those days.
Obviously that's inside myprogram, but by and large I
should have just given enough ofa framework.
So they're like, oh, I didn'tthink about this before, that
potentially could work for me.
But then there's some thingswhere we can't allow so much
(27:06):
flexibility.
Like I'm really adamant thatall business owners they need to
be spending a whole day onsales and marketing efforts,
aside from social media content,cause I don't count that
towards sale.
You got to learn how to build abusiness without that.
But that's a really goodquestion and I love that
question and so we're always, ifyou are a woman looking at.
Has my season changed?
(27:27):
Do I have college kids cominghome or do I have kids going to
daycare, like we have to letthat inform the way we're
structuring our week.
But aside from that, makingsure that there are certain
fundamental pieces that comefrom running a healthy business,
making sure that those arebuilt into the week.
Alyssa (27:46):
Love that.
That's such a great perspectiveand I love what you said about
and you know what season am I in?
Because it is true, there arethere's that back to school,
there's the Christmas, there'severything, and, and if you are
the stay at home parent or bydefault parent, then you're
managing the householdobligations with your business,
(28:08):
and so, and I do like that, youknow, every person can put their
own unique tasks within those.
Like you have your structuredweek, but you decide when you do
sales and marketing versusadmin, you know, and it doesn't
have to be Monday, has to beadmin, versus Wednesday, has to
be sales and marketing, and so Ido like that.
(28:28):
There is that bit offlexibility there and I do agree
, like the sales and marketingyou should, you know, be filling
up that bathtub, um, you know,for me, you know, I don't agree
with the gurus online who say,like social media is like the
only way to grow your business,because, you know, for myself,
actually discovered um only wayto grow your business, because,
you know, for myself, actuallydiscovered a way to grow my
(28:50):
business through actually coldleads, um, where you know I was,
I'm actually just, like youknow, contacting and connecting
and networking and and havingthose conversations with my
ideal client, and so, um, I feellike that there's multiple ways
that we can grow our business,and it's not just about posting
on social media.
There's a whole other leadgeneration beyond that.
(29:12):
Now let's zoom out for a secondhere.
I'm curious if everything thatyou've built to help people
disappear tomorrow, so all ofyour social media, your program,
everything just disappeared andyou had the next 60 seconds to
share something with businessowners that would help them make
(29:33):
some kind of small shift orgive them something to think
about what is the most usefulthought you'd want to leave them
with.
Kelly (29:41):
It would be that your business will never outgrow the
systems you put in place.
Business will never outgrow thesystems you put in place.
So mastering your time and yourrhythms first, you will not
ever outgrow.
That is making sure that youdon't just accept.
I wear so many hats, this isjust how it is.
It's going to feel out ofcontrol.
I'm not going to have the timein my personal life that I want
(30:02):
it's systems, the systems youput in place.
Freedom comes from thosesystems.
And, in addition to that, thefrosting on top of that cake is
you have to know the rightthings to do at the right times,
and that's why I really don'twant business owners operating
from to-do lists and post-itnotes, because what happens is
(30:27):
you get five tasks done, but youadded nine more.
So you feel like you'reclimbing up this mountain with
concrete in your backpack andyou're gaining three steps but
falling backward four steps, andso you need to be able to
figure out, or have someone helpyou figure out what do you need
to be doing strategically withyour time so that you're making
(30:47):
progress, you're gaining groundinstead of losing ground.
Alyssa (30:52):
I love that.
That's such a powerful note toend on, and I like that.
You said you know the systemswill give you the freedom, but
if you don't have the system oryou need help with that system,
that's where you come in, and soI know a lot of our listeners
are gonna wanna keep learningfrom you and maybe even work
with you after hearing thisepisode, and so where's the best
(31:13):
place for them to find youonline, and can you talk more
about that, about your program?
Kelly (31:18):
Walk Like Warriors on Instagram.
I love Kate Spade, the designer, kate Spade.
So if you find the brightyellow page with all the color,
you're in the right place.
I coach for free Monday throughFriday and Instagram stories
and incidentally, I coach onthis system that Monday is admin
day.
This is what we're working on.
So if that piques someone'sinterest and they're like you
(31:39):
know what, my brain kind ofclicked with that.
I think I might kind of likethat.
Even if you cannot even fathomnot working nights and weekends,
I'd say hang with me there.
I've always talking aboutdifferent resources and things
that I can give to people.
My group program is called thesuccess squad.
It runs three times a year.
It's an eight week program.
It's not just time, but thefirst two weeks are on my actual
(32:00):
time mastery system, where Iactually give you the breakdown
of what to do Monday, thebreakdown of what to do Tuesday,
like literally customized foryour business.
But that's the foundationbecause once that's right, then
we can pour gasoline on thattiny little flame and we can
really expand your sales andmarketing efforts.
But I can't give people a salespipeline that's maxed out to the
(32:21):
brim if their time isn't right,because what business owners
have a tendency to do is I'llsleep later, I'll go to this
event later, I'll take my kidsout to dinner later.
I want our time to be right.
I want us living in that rhythmand ritual of work hard, play
hard, rest hard first, and thenwe add in the sales, the
marketing, the workflow, thestreamlining our system.
(32:43):
So it's an eight week program.
It's so much fun.
I keep it really teeny tiny soI know everybody's name and
business and it's just a blast.
I run it January, spring andfall.
It's my favorite thing I'veever had the privilege of doing.
Alyssa (32:56):
Amazing.
Thank you so much, kelly, forcoming on to the show today.
That was I'm going to.
You know, success squad soundsamazing and it's eight weeks and
it doesn't seem like that eightweeks is not overwhelming, like
that is a doable program, um,and something that I think you
should definitely check out forum, check out and connect with
(33:18):
kelly on.
So thanks so much, kelly, andfor sharing so many practical
advice and so many gems.
Uh, I wrote so much down.
Kelly (33:27):
Thank you for having me.
Alyssa (33:29):
It's been such a great conversation as well, I
appreciate it.
It's been a lot of fun, yeah,and so, and for everyone
listening, thank you so much fortuning in.
All of the links for Kelly willbe in the show notes of this
episode, so make sure to checkher out and connect with her and
contact her.
If you found this, that this iswhat you want to do and you
(33:52):
want to join the success squad,she can give you some more
information on the program.
Um, and for everybody else whois listening also, if you love
this episode and I want to hearfrom you, I want you to send me
a message on Instagram.
Yes, labca, that's my Instagramhandle.
I'd really love to hear fromyou and I want you to tell me
(34:13):
what stood out to you today andwhat was something that
resonated and that you thinkthat was just so you, because
there were so many points ofthis conversation where I was
like, wow, you're really talkingto me, and so, if that was, you
send me a message on Instagram.
(34:34):
I would love to hear from youand just let me know the one
piece of advice that reallystuck with you today.
Thanks so much for listeningand I'll see you next time on
another brilliant idea.
Thanks for tuning into thisepisode of Brilliant Ideas.
If you love the show.
Be sure to leave a review andfollow me on Instagram for even
more insider tips andinspiration.
Ready to bring your next big,brilliant idea to life?
(34:56):
Visit AlyssaVelsercom forresources, guidance and
everything you need to startcreating something amazing.
But when you have a brain that doesn't function, like all
of the New York Timesbestselling productivity books,
you are left feeling horribleabout yourself because you know
all that you should be doing,but you can't get yourself to do
it.
Alyssa (00:15):
Welcome to Brilliant Ideas, the podcast that takes
you behind the scenes of some ofthe most inspiring digital
products created by solopreneursjust like you.
I'm your host, alyssa, adigital product strategist who
helps subject matter expertsgrow their business with online
courses, memberships, coachingprograms and eBooks.
If you're a solopreneur withdreams of packaging your
expertise into a profitabledigital product, then this is
(00:37):
the podcast for you.
Expect honest conversations ofhow they started, the obstacles
they overcame, lessons learnedthe hard way and who faced the
same fears, doubts andchallenges you're experiencing,
from unexpected surprises tobreakthrough moments and
everything in between.
Tune in, get inspired and let'sspark your next big, brilliant
idea.
What if the hardest part ofgrowing your business isn't
(00:58):
creating systems or setting upstrategies, but it's actually
following through with them?
This week on Brilliant Ideas,I'm joined by Kelly Lierden.
She is a certified director ofoperations and she helps small
business owners, many of whomhave ADHD or brains that work
differently, master their time,structure their weeks and
finally stick with the systemsthey've invested in.
In this episode, kelly shareswhy follow-through is such a
(01:20):
challenge for so manysolopreneurs and what's really
happening behind the scenes.
When even the best systems feelimpossible to maintain.
She introduces her uniqueconcept of batching your days
instead of your tasks andexplains why this approach works
so well for business owners whoare juggling multiple
priorities.
We also dive into the biggestshift you can make right now to
free up your time and createmore focus in your week without
(01:43):
losing momentum or income.
If you ever wondered why youcan't seem to stay consistent
with the systems you've built,free up your time and create
more focus in your week withoutlosing momentum or income.
If you ever wondered why youcan't seem to stay consistent
with the systems you've built orwhy managing your business
feels like a constant uphillbattle, this conversation with
Kelly will give you practicaltools and perspective to make
things feel lighter and moredoable.
Let's get started.
Welcome to the show, kelly.
(02:03):
Thank you so much for beinghere.
Appreciate you.
Thank you for having me.
You know it's great because Ithink so many solopreneurs can
relate to this conversation thatwe're going to have today,
especially if they've beendiagnosed with ADHD or maybe
that they suspect they mighthave it, or that they're aware
that their brain might workdifferently than what society
(02:23):
thinks.
It's kind of like what yournormal brain should look like,
and even if you don't have ADHD.
I think every solopreneur thatI've met, including myself, has
a million ideas.
We have we're balancing a lotof clients, we have a lot of
deadlines and family obligationsat the same time, so there's a
(02:43):
lot, I think, in a solopreneur.
There's a lot going on in ourbusiness and it can feel like
we're constantly battlingagainst ourselves, even if we
have kind of a great system or astrategy in place and sticking
with that, I'd say, is one ofthe hardest parts.
And so, in your perspective,why do you think, why is follow
(03:05):
through such a challenge for somany solopreneurs, and how can
they start changing it to maketheir lives a little bit easier
to work with?
Kelly (03:13):
Whether someone has ADHD diagnosed, undiagnosed mom brain
, if people are perimenopausebrain, you know what?
I think that in working withsmall business owners for 20
plus years, there's a commonthread amongst us and typically
what I find is our brains don'toperate the way other people's
(03:34):
brains do.
A lot of times that's a greatthing.
Sometimes it hurts us and oneof the ways that that can
present itself our maybeneurodivergent.
I don't really love that term,but I'll just use it because
people will know what I'mtalking about.
It can work against us inrelation to our business.
So how it works for us is wetend to be visionaries.
We've got lots of great ideas.
(03:56):
We get really excited aboutthings.
We typically are pretty risktolerant.
Those are all beautiful waysthat serve our business really
well.
How it shows up that can be adetriment to us is lack of
follow through.
We might not call it that.
It can look like a lot ofunfinished projects.
It can look like abandonedbusiness ideas.
(04:17):
It can look like I bought 47courses and didn't finish any of
them.
Oh, look, a new course, I wantto buy that.
So it's.
I don't love trying to putpeople in buckets.
I look a new course, I want tobuy that.
So it's.
I don't love trying to putpeople in buckets.
I'm painting with a broad brush, but I think some people will
hear themselves in what I'msaying.
I certainly fall into thatcategory as well, and we're
drowning in ideas and open tabsto do lists.
(04:37):
We don't have structure.
I think that's one of thethings that draws us to owning
our own business is we get tocall the shots.
We get to wake up when we want,sit down at our desk when we
want, but we can also find thatwe are ping-ponging between
tasks all day and we're neverfinished.
This looks like you lay down atnight and you think to yourself
(04:58):
I was busy all day, nonstop,but when I'm trying to think
about what I did, I can't evenremember what all I did, and so
follow through feels really hard, and a lot of times that comes
from we're running our businesson reaction instead of on
rhythms, rituals and systems,and so we cross five things off
(05:19):
our to-do list but then we addnine more We've got.
We can never shut down ourcomputer because we've got 73
open tabs.
All of our tasks just feel thesame in our head.
They're very equal, so we justwork on whatever comes flying at
us on any given day and how westart changing, that is,
building rhythms or rituals intoour days and weeks, so we know
(05:43):
what task belongs where we don'thave to hold so much in our
head at one time.
A lot of times the quote unquotelack of follow through or
abandoned things, or so manyopen tabs and open projects,
it's because things don't have ahome to live in.
We're carrying so much in ourhead at one time, and especially
(06:04):
with women, where our brainsare very integrated.
We're paying our tax bill, butwe're also texting the teacher
from school, while we'rethinking about what's for dinner
tonight, while we're like, oh,I need to go move the laundry
over.
So our brains are capable ofjust all of this integrated
thought, but it works against usbecause we sit down to work.
I need to work on my newsletter.
Oh, no wait, I want to finishthat course.
(06:26):
I was thinking, oh, my word, Ihave to text so-and-so, and so
it's like we're just bouncing,bouncing, bouncing, right, and
so I obviously have theme daysthat I teach my clients, which
includes a rhythm to your day.
So for me, being somebody who Ibuck at structure, I needed to
create a system for running mybusiness that would allow it to
(06:46):
grow and flourish, but alsowhere it wouldn't cause me to
feel rebellious.
Cause I have tried walking toBarnes and Noble, pick up a time
management book.
I guarantee you I've read itany bestseller book.
But the problem is most ofthose time management systems
were created by men for men incorporate America, and then we
try to make our entrepreneurialbrain fit into that system.
(07:10):
Time diaries, which that justgives me a panic attack.
I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm threeminutes behind now.
I'm 14 minutes behind the wholeday.
I cannot do that.
Any book where the firstchapter is keep a diary of how
you spend each minute, I'm likeyou are not for me.
You don't understand my brain.
So the lack of follow throughis real.
But it's basically adoptingsystems that we can work inside
(07:32):
of.
I need a system that I won'tbuck, that will allow me to get
the important things done in myday, but also which doesn't feel
so restrictive that I'mwatching the clock constantly or
it's got no flexibility to it.
So I think, think, alyssa,you're a certified OBM.
If I'm not mistaken, I'm acertified director of ops, so
very similar.
And so the bad thing when WalkLike Warriors was growing was.
(07:59):
I know up here all the thingsthat make a business healthy and
strong, but when you have abrain that doesn't function,
like all of the New York Timesbestselling productivity books,
you are left feeling horribleabout yourself because you know
all that you should be doing,but you can't get yourself to do
it.
And so I tried 18 differentsystems in a couple of months
before I was like, well, I'mgoing to capture this thing like
(08:23):
this, I'm going to do this likethis, and all of a sudden, my
time mastery system was born andI was ashamed to share it with
my coaching clients because I'mlike this is so infantile, like
I'm afraid to tell people howI'm actually managing my
business.
But I shared it with one andthen she had all the success.
So the lack of follow through isreally not our fault.
I mean, unless someone's lazyand just wants to sleep all the
(08:47):
time and be on TikTok all thetime, that is not most business
owners.
Most business owners, theirheart is in the right place, but
we have not been given a systemto handle all the hats we wear
CEO, cfo, cro, cmo, coo Likeit's too much.
It's just too much, and so wetry to take the world's
operating systems, the corporateAmerica operating systems, put
our business inside of it, andthen we just beat the crap out
(09:09):
of ourselves that we're afailure, we can't finish things,
we never finish our projects,and it's just simply not true.
We just need a better way.
Alyssa (09:17):
Yeah, that makes so much sense.
I love what you talked aboutwhen we talked about risk, like
we're risk tolerant, we'revisionaries.
You know, we have you know, andI it's like you were speaking
to my, to me, because I havebeen there where I've had I've
bought one course I told myselfI am going to implement, but
(09:38):
then I worked with a new clientand then my brain switched to
the client and then I didn't getback to the course that I was
supposed to do and then I endedup feeling bad that I couldn't
get to it because all of theother things are happening in my
business and the thing is theproblem with also with the lack
of follow-through.
I like what you said.
(09:58):
The heart is in the right place, but because we're a
solopreneur, we might not evenhave the team to help us get to
the goals that we're trying toachieve either.
You're wearing all the hats andso, and also I think there are
a little bit of blinders, in asense, where we are kind of
(10:21):
narrow minded.
Only we have to kind of getoutside of our head sometimes
and that can kind of create somelike well, this is the way that
I do it, and like these youdon't have any kind of third
party eyes looking inside yourbusiness like a team who can
keep you accountable.
You're really the personkeeping yourself accountable.
(10:45):
And so I liked what youmentioned about the rhythm and
ritual system.
Now, kind of going back to thiswhole thing about batching your
days, then your tasks Now I amvery much against the time
diaries thing.
I don't work that way either.
I feel like that doesn't helpme at all.
(11:07):
I have to.
You know, we talked about this.
There's a lot of talk in theindustry about time blocking,
which doesn't always work outfor me.
I'm sure maybe for otherbusiness owners it is helpful.
But you talk about batchingyour days.
So what does that frameworklook like when you're batching
(11:27):
days instead of tasks?
That's an interesting conceptthat I've never heard about
before, and how does that?
Kelly (11:33):
work.
So this is my system, that Iwas so embarrassed to show
people.
So this is my system that I wasso embarrassed to show people,
and I'll walk you through it.
I don't gatekeep this part ofthe system.
I want to help small businessowners excel and flourish, and I
believe that business ownerswho burn out are missing one of
(11:53):
three key elements, and so Iteach, work hard, play hard,
rest hard, and when someoneburns out, they're missing one
of those three, and it's usuallythe latter of those, and so I
believe hard work is important.
I believe we feel good aboutourselves when we put in a good,
hard day's work.
(12:13):
I am a productivity efficiencyninja, but I hate I loathe the
phrase work smart, not hard.
No, if you're running abusiness, you got to work smart
and you have to work hard.
It is hard work and it's workthat sometimes we don't want to
do.
So we want to work hard, whichis my Monday through Friday
system, but I want myentrepreneurs to work hard but
play hard and rest hard.
(12:34):
Work hard but play hard andrest hard.
So Saturday is devoted to allthe things we love our hobbies,
our spouses, our health, ourchildren, hanging out with
friends, getting together withour parents and then Sunday, and
it doesn't have to be theseexact days.
My system is very flexible.
But Sunday, sabbath rest.
So whether you're somebody offaith or not like I'm not Jewish
(12:57):
, but when I went to school, Itook a class all about Sabbath.
It's like this ancient practicethat a lot of cultures actually
have practiced for thousands ofyears, and then we got rid of
it, like in the 1950s.
Does anyone else think that'sbizarre?
It's very.
You know, incidentally, that'swhen, all of a sudden, people
started struggling with overwork, overwhelm, burnout, all of
(13:19):
these things that had nothappened before.
So I believe our bodies aredesigned to rest one day of the
week and as a woman, this isvery hard for us.
But I don't work.
I also don't do chores and Idon't cook.
Sunday went from being my mosthated day of the whole week
because it was like Sundayscaries.
And you know, you're even justlike.
You know, I want to beproductive, I want to do food
(13:41):
prep, I want to wash all myfruits and vegetables.
I want to design my week.
You're taking part of yourweekend away from yourself by
trying to get ahead for the weekwhen you fully rest.
You will hit the ground runningso hard on Monday you will feel
like someone injected you witha drug.
You will have so much energy.
So my system is Saturday.
I just call it savor.
I want them just sucking themarrow out of life, doing fun
things, relaxing things,whatever fills their cup.
(14:02):
Sunday, sabbath.
So Monday is admin day and I'lljust say the days quickly and
then I'll kind of go backthrough and just give a couple
sentences.
I just bullet points for each.
Monday is admin day.
Tuesday is content creation dayor meeting day.
If you have a podcast, it couldbe your podcast recording day.
Tuesday is kind of like yourday where you're whatever your
business requires.
(14:22):
So I'm a business coach, soTuesday is a meeting day for me.
So content creation day ormeeting day.
Wednesday is growth day, salesand marketing day, thursday is
deep work day and Friday is ourCEO day, and I'll just quickly
go through them.
So Monday admin day.
This is like if you had anadministrative assistant or
(14:44):
virtual assistant.
This is your day to tackle theto-do list, all those
miscellaneous tasks that arejust everywhere in my system.
You don't work on the weekendsand when you actually follow the
ritual you will find you don'tneed to anymore.
So on Monday, when I sit downright where I'm sitting right
now, there's quite a few emailsand DMs because I did not work
on the weekend.
So that looks like answeringDMs, answering emails, following
up on agreements or proposals.
(15:05):
That type of work is admin typeof work Tuesday, content
creation day or meeting day.
As a business coach, I stack mymeetings.
Nothing interrupts yourschedule like letting people
grab time whenever they want it.
I thought this mightpotentially cost me business by
telling potential coachingclients I only coach on Tuesdays
.
It didn't.
My business exploded.
That gives me the rest of theweek to really focus on other
(15:28):
tasks in my business.
And so if you don't havemeetings but you have a podcast,
maybe that's your podcast day.
If you create tons of socialmedia content, maybe that's your
content creation day.
So that day can be a little bitof a flex day.
The way I teach business growthis an algorithm proof business,
so I don't over optimize forsocial media.
It's good to have, but it's notnecessary to have in order to
(15:49):
grow a successful business.
Case in point I have done this.
I've taught many people to dothis.
Building a six and multi sixfigure business with under a
thousand followers is totallypossible.
You got to stop listening toall the social media experts who
want you to believe you need ahundred thousand followers to be
successful, because you don'tAll right, wednesday is growth
day sales and marketing.
Most it's something, or it'saround.
(16:11):
80% of businesses fail becauseof a lack of money, and so one
day of the week, one day out ofthe five, because we were not
working seven days a week.
In Kelly's system, it's 20% ofyour work.
Week.
One in five is 20%.
You're spending that day onnothing but filling up your
sales pipeline.
It is sales, it is marketing.
What I have found with mostsolopreneurs they have no idea
(16:33):
what to do that day besides poston social media, which is a
different conversation fordifferent podcasts.
But it breaks my heart.
We have fed people this liethat the only way to grow your
business is being a contentcreation machine that just spits
out content and it's burning somany people out.
So I'm very passionate.
My name, kelly, means warriorwoman, which is where the
business name Walk Like Warriorscame from.
(16:53):
People are probably like she'syelling at me.
I'm not.
I'm not trying to yell you, Ijust have so much passion.
I want to help you and I wantto help you run a smarter
business.
So we put those efforts on oneday and we really make sure that
we're filling up that bathtub.
I always talk about sales andmarketing is like a bathtub with
the drain open You're.
If you are not constantlyfilling that bathtub with new
(17:15):
water, your business will dry up.
So we devote a whole day tothat Thursday.
Cal Newport's book Deep Work wasone of my favorite books I've
ever read.
It was transformative, it waslife-changing for me, probably
like so many of your listenersand as a director of operations.
One thing I heard again andagain I wanna stop working in my
business and start working onmy business.
My business isn't movingforward.
(17:39):
It feels stuck.
I'm running my business from ato-do list.
So deep work day is picking oneproject per week, two to four
hours, notifications off phonein a different room, head down
If you need to go to the library, if you need to go to Starbucks
, wherever you need to do, toget quiet and still and work on
one thing.
That is probably the linchpinin the whole system.
It teaches people to stopping-ponging, to stop running
(18:01):
your business from a notebookand post-it notes and to get
really strategic If you willjust do that alone, your
business will change.
Friday is my favorite day of thewhole week.
It's our CEO day.
So this is high strategy.
It's updating our KPI dashboardkey performance indicator.
This was really shocking to mewhen I went from working in
medium-sized businesses tosolopreneurs.
(18:22):
They were not tracking any oftheir numbers.
Their tracking numbers was well.
I know I have 3,000 Instagramfollowers as of today, or I know
my business is healthy or notby how much I have in Venmo, my
bank.
They look at these numbers insuch a scattered way so I
literally spend an hour in thatKPI dashboard every week.
(18:44):
And then I have what I callstare at the wall time.
I don't look at my phone.
Our brains are becoming soresistant to deeper levels of
thought.
Our first thought is to go tochat GPT to give us our business
strategy, and it will nevermatch the human brain.
I will never buy into that.
That can do better strategythan Kelly can do with Walk Like
Warriors or Alyssa can do withher business.
So I have some stare at thewall time.
(19:05):
I say pay my team.
I have contractors, people whowork on my website, my VA.
But it's a time where I do alot of thinking about the
business and then I map my 30,60 and 90 day strategy.
Saturday I am it's like a horse,you know worn out and put away
sweaty.
(19:25):
On Saturday I'm tired, I'mready to rest.
My husband and I go out, we dofun things.
We've got four kids.
So our Saturday is just.
It's just connecting For me,it's connecting with people,
it's connecting with him.
We'll usually do a two or threehour coffee date out on the
back patio.
We'll run errands, we clean thehouse that day, work on the
yard that day.
Sunday we go to church, weserve at our church and when I
get home I put on my big uglysweatpants, I grab a book, I
(19:46):
pour myself a glass of wine.
I do nothing.
And when I am telling you I donothing, I mean I do nothing.
And when Monday rolls backaround, because of this rhythm
and ritual, I feel so good mycup is completely overflowing.
Now the reason that people workwith me is they don't always
(20:08):
know the tasks to do aroundthose theme days and obviously
if someone's a service basedbusiness provider, like a social
media manager, I'm not tellingher oh, your whole Friday is CEO
strategy day.
No, you could do that in 30 to60 minutes.
That's my system works becauseyou're focusing on an ordered
list like literally like achecklist each of the days.
It's enough structure forpeople who are neurodivergent to
(20:31):
accept it.
But it's novel because we'renot doing.
I hate the systems where,monday at nine do this.
Monday at nine, oh, three dothis.
No, my brain is like, uh, youcannot make me do that every day
.
So we're doing this at, at, atweekly intervals, we're doing
these things.
So I also do, like my tax prepon Friday and things like that.
Um, but it's, it's enough of astructure that I have perfect
(20:52):
follow through in my business,um, but enough freedom that I
don't feel like I need to buckthe system.
Does that make sense?
Alyssa (20:59):
That makes perfect sense and it's really helpful to
think about it.
You know the work hard, playhard, rest hard and then having
that schedule.
It is extremely interesting tothink about all this and how it
works with your lifestyle andnot focusing on the time it
takes you, like I, I, I did um.
(21:19):
There was a guy that was on mypodcast a long time ago, um, and
he was mentioning somethingabout um measuring how long it
takes you to do a task.
So like there's like timetrackers online and while that's
great it, it almost kind ofgoes against this whole thing
because then it then it makesyou feel bad if you can't get
(21:41):
the task done within theallotted time that you set for
yourself and it just becomesthis big thing that you really
don't need.
And so I like that you havelike a very set schedule to give
someone structure, because, asyou mentioned, this whole thing
is the lack of follow throughand that the structure can give
you back that time and to reallysee your business grow.
(22:02):
And so my question for you isthat what would be?
So somebody who is looking atthis schedule does it change
Like, does it?
Do you modify the schedule asyou continue to grow your
business, or is this somethingthat is like set in stone and
you just change?
You just maybe modify it alittle bit here, but there's not
(22:26):
many changes to it.
So how does that work?
So if somebody wanted toimplement the schedule tomorrow,
for example, what could, whatcould they do, what, what kind
of?
Would they go right into theschedule right away and then
modify how it works in threemonths?
So like, walk me through that,yeah sure.
Kelly (22:46):
So I'm sure that the gentleman you had on your
program was incredibly helpful.
One of the things in my groupprogram that I talk about,
though, is waffle brains andspaghetti brains and I didn't
invite it invented apsychologist did.
But men have waffle brains.
Women have spaghetti brains, somen's brains are like waffles
compartmentalized, so when a manis, for example, working on his
(23:09):
business taxes which maybe hewas talking about and like set
this little timer and it tracksyour time right, he's working on
that.
Alyssa, when you're doing thatand you're working on taxes for
your business, the dog isbarking.
You hop up to let the dog out.
Oh my gosh, my coffee wasreheating and I forgot that.
I'm going to go.
(23:31):
Oh, you know what I need to getcreamer.
I'm going to open the targetapp and put creamer.
That's why those systemstypically don't work for people
like us.
So I'm not criticizing him, andhe's bringing something
beautiful into the world forpeople who have waffle brains.
For those of us who havespaghetti brains, that doesn't
work, and I will not adopt anytime or productivity or
efficiency system.
That makes me panicky, thatmakes my heartbeat faster, that
makes my hands start to feellike sweaty, because it's
(23:52):
stressing me out.
I need breathing space and so,to answer your question, it's
flexible enough to shift thingsaround, but we don't want to be
changing it constantly.
Now for the women, for yourlisteners who are women.
This is another reason why mostof the time management systems
in the world do not work for us,because we have seasons to our
(24:16):
year, and I do not mean spring,summer, fall and winter.
I mean back to school, I meanholidays.
I mean holidays, I mean NewYear's back to school, 2.0.
I mean May.
We all know like the heck onearth that May is.
If you've got kids in school,then we have summer.
(24:36):
We have like nine seasons toour year and so there's been a
lot of studies done on thisabout how people in corporate
America can get a time systemright, and it essentially
doesn't change that much.
But for women, especially whohave their own business, I talk
to my coaching clients about weneed to have a system where
(24:56):
we're revisiting it when ourseason change.
And they understand I nevermean spring, summer, fall and
winter.
I mean, if you think about fora woman from, let's say, july
30th, we're in summer, august,we're going to be back to school
September.
All the kids are sick becausethey went back to school.
Then October it's a little bitof breathing room.
(25:17):
Usually October is a prettyhigh producing month for women,
and then we're headed intoholidays, which is we're the
ones who make the magic happen.
So I revisit that my timemastery dashboard when my season
is changing.
So I know something's not rightwhen it's starting to feel like
it's not serving me, but Idon't allow myself to change it
all the time or skip a bunch ofdays, because I have a tendency
(25:39):
to want novelty and to pursuenovelty all the time.
Anyone who is neurodivergentwill understand that.
So it's got enough flexibilitybuilt in for seasonality, but
also for focusing on what ourbusiness needs.
So last year 2024, my firstyear with this business.
So keep in mind it's not likeI'd never had a business before
(26:01):
I was a fractional director ofoperations, so I was working in
a different capacity still inthe business world operations.
So I was working in a differentcapacity still in the business
world In 2024, my goal was toguest on I think it was 12
podcasts at first, but I wasbooking so many that I wanted to
guest on 20.
So my Time Mastery dashboard Iadded in an element of being on
all these podcasts, reaching out, following up, scheduling,
(26:24):
right.
So sometimes it's just what isyour business need and that's
getting folded in, but ingeneral it's not changing in
significant ways, because Ibelieve every business owner
should take the three minutesevery week to stay on top of
their business taxes so thatthey're not spending 60 hours
yelling at their whole family inMarch because they can't find
any other receipts and they'restressed to the max and they're
(26:46):
upset with themselves blamingthemselves.
I'm bad at this.
So there are some things that,like I said, not everyone's
going to know the tasks to putin those days.
Obviously that's inside myprogram, but by and large I
should have just given enough ofa framework.
So they're like, oh, I didn'tthink about this before, that
potentially could work for me.
But then there's some thingswhere we can't allow so much
(27:06):
flexibility.
Like I'm really adamant thatall business owners they need to
be spending a whole day onsales and marketing efforts,
aside from social media content,cause I don't count that
towards sale.
You got to learn how to build abusiness without that.
But that's a really goodquestion and I love that
question and so we're always, ifyou are a woman looking at.
Has my season changed?
(27:27):
Do I have college kids cominghome or do I have kids going to
daycare, like we have to letthat inform the way we're
structuring our week.
But aside from that, makingsure that there are certain
fundamental pieces that comefrom running a healthy business,
making sure that those arebuilt into the week.
Alyssa (27:46):
Love that.
That's such a great perspectiveand I love what you said about
and you know what season am I in?
Because it is true, there arethere's that back to school,
there's the Christmas, there'severything, and, and if you are
the stay at home parent or bydefault parent, then you're
managing the householdobligations with your business,
(28:08):
and so, and I do like that, youknow, every person can put their
own unique tasks within those.
Like you have your structuredweek, but you decide when you do
sales and marketing versusadmin, you know, and it doesn't
have to be Monday, has to beadmin, versus Wednesday, has to
be sales and marketing, and so Ido like that.
(28:28):
There is that bit offlexibility there and I do agree
, like the sales and marketingyou should, you know, be filling
up that bathtub, um, you know,for me, you know, I don't agree
with the gurus online who say,like social media is like the
only way to grow your business,because, you know, for myself,
actually discovered um only wayto grow your business, because,
you know, for myself, actuallydiscovered a way to grow my
(28:50):
business through actually coldleads, um, where you know I was,
I'm actually just, like youknow, contacting and connecting
and networking and and havingthose conversations with my
ideal client, and so, um, I feellike that there's multiple ways
that we can grow our business,and it's not just about posting
on social media.
There's a whole other leadgeneration beyond that.
(29:12):
Now let's zoom out for a secondhere.
I'm curious if everything thatyou've built to help people
disappear tomorrow, so all ofyour social media, your program,
everything just disappeared andyou had the next 60 seconds to
share something with businessowners that would help them make
(29:33):
some kind of small shift orgive them something to think
about what is the most usefulthought you'd want to leave them
with.
Kelly (29:41):
It would be that your business will never outgrow the
systems you put in place.
Business will never outgrow thesystems you put in place.
So mastering your time and yourrhythms first, you will not
ever outgrow.
That is making sure that youdon't just accept.
I wear so many hats, this isjust how it is.
It's going to feel out ofcontrol.
I'm not going to have the timein my personal life that I want
(30:02):
it's systems, the systems youput in place.
Freedom comes from thosesystems.
And, in addition to that, thefrosting on top of that cake is
you have to know the rightthings to do at the right times,
and that's why I really don'twant business owners operating
from to-do lists and post-itnotes, because what happens is
(30:27):
you get five tasks done, but youadded nine more.
So you feel like you'reclimbing up this mountain with
concrete in your backpack andyou're gaining three steps but
falling backward four steps, andso you need to be able to
figure out, or have someone helpyou figure out what do you need
to be doing strategically withyour time so that you're making
(30:47):
progress, you're gaining groundinstead of losing ground.
Alyssa (30:52):
I love that.
That's such a powerful note toend on, and I like that.
You said you know the systemswill give you the freedom, but
if you don't have the system oryou need help with that system,
that's where you come in, and soI know a lot of our listeners
are gonna wanna keep learningfrom you and maybe even work
with you after hearing thisepisode, and so where's the best
(31:13):
place for them to find youonline, and can you talk more
about that, about your program?
Kelly (31:18):
Walk Like Warriors on Instagram.
I love Kate Spade, the designer, kate Spade.
So if you find the brightyellow page with all the color,
you're in the right place.
I coach for free Monday throughFriday and Instagram stories
and incidentally, I coach onthis system that Monday is admin
day.
This is what we're working on.
So if that piques someone'sinterest and they're like you
(31:39):
know what, my brain kind ofclicked with that.
I think I might kind of likethat.
Even if you cannot even fathomnot working nights and weekends,
I'd say hang with me there.
I've always talking aboutdifferent resources and things
that I can give to people.
My group program is called thesuccess squad.
It runs three times a year.
It's an eight week program.
It's not just time, but thefirst two weeks are on my actual
(32:00):
time mastery system, where Iactually give you the breakdown
of what to do Monday, thebreakdown of what to do Tuesday,
like literally customized foryour business.
But that's the foundationbecause once that's right, then
we can pour gasoline on thattiny little flame and we can
really expand your sales andmarketing efforts.
But I can't give people a salespipeline that's maxed out to the
(32:21):
brim if their time isn't right,because what business owners
have a tendency to do is I'llsleep later, I'll go to this
event later, I'll take my kidsout to dinner later.
I want our time to be right.
I want us living in that rhythmand ritual of work hard, play
hard, rest hard first, and thenwe add in the sales, the
marketing, the workflow, thestreamlining our system.
(32:43):
So it's an eight week program.
It's so much fun.
I keep it really teeny tiny soI know everybody's name and
business and it's just a blast.
I run it January, spring andfall.
It's my favorite thing I'veever had the privilege of doing.
Alyssa (32:56):
Amazing.
Thank you so much, kelly, forcoming on to the show today.
That was I'm going to.
You know, success squad soundsamazing and it's eight weeks and
it doesn't seem like that eightweeks is not overwhelming, like
that is a doable program, um,and something that I think you
should definitely check out forum, check out and connect with
(33:18):
kelly on.
So thanks so much, kelly, andfor sharing so many practical
advice and so many gems.
Uh, I wrote so much down.
Kelly (33:27):
Thank you for having me.
Alyssa (33:29):
It's been such a great conversation as well, I
appreciate it.
It's been a lot of fun, yeah,and so, and for everyone
listening, thank you so much fortuning in.
All of the links for Kelly willbe in the show notes of this
episode, so make sure to checkher out and connect with her and
contact her.
If you found this, that this iswhat you want to do and you
(33:52):
want to join the success squad,she can give you some more
information on the program.
Um, and for everybody else whois listening also, if you love
this episode and I want to hearfrom you, I want you to send me
a message on Instagram.
Yes, labca, that's my Instagramhandle.
I'd really love to hear fromyou and I want you to tell me
(34:13):
what stood out to you today andwhat was something that
resonated and that you thinkthat was just so you, because
there were so many points ofthis conversation where I was
like, wow, you're really talkingto me, and so, if that was, you
send me a message on Instagram.
(34:34):
I would love to hear from youand just let me know the one
piece of advice that reallystuck with you today.
Thanks so much for listeningand I'll see you next time on
another brilliant idea.
Thanks for tuning into thisepisode of Brilliant Ideas.
If you love the show.
Be sure to leave a review andfollow me on Instagram for even
more insider tips andinspiration.
Ready to bring your next big,brilliant idea to life?
(34:56):
Visit AlyssaVelsercom forresources, guidance and
everything you need to startcreating something amazing.
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