January 30, 2025 • 25 mins
Meet Cindy Baker, a dynamic productivity coach and ADHD strategist who transitioned from a middle school teacher to a beacon for entrepreneurs striving to manage their time and energy. Cindy's personal journey with ADHD shapes her mission to support others facing similar challenges. Her story is a treasure trove of strategies, emphasizing the importance of maintaining personal faith, family time, and health while pursuing business success. Especially for overwhelmed moms with young children, Cindy offers guidance on how to focus on essential tasks and play the long game to reach their dreams.
Listeners will learn how to combat overwhelm and organize their time effectively—vital skills, particularly for entrepreneurs with ADHD. Dive into the art of identifying top daily priorities, using techniques like time blocking and task batching to carve out a realistic schedule. Discover the nuances of choosing the right planner that fits your style, whether digital or paper, and gain insights into overcoming common ADHD challenges such as time blindness. Cindy shares her wisdom on understanding "now" versus "not now" timeframes to enhance planning and execution.
Cindy also tackles the often paralyzing issues of procrastination and motivation. Her strategies for managing impulsivity and avoiding the "serial signer-upper" syndrome are game-changers for staying productive. She shares vital mindset shifts essential for entrepreneurial success, like developing a healthy money mindset and building confidence through lifelong learning. Listeners can anticipate her upcoming book, "Focus to Fortunes," and a group coaching program designed to transform chaos into focus.
Connect with Cindy: https://waitnomore.net/
Grab the Healthy Sustainable Weekly Rhythm Guide for Busy Moms ► ► https://aliesehalcomb.com/weeklyrhythms
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Aliese Halcomb (00:02):
Hello everyone.
We're so glad that you're here.
Welcome to the PeacefulMompreneur.
I have a special guest today.
Her name is Cindy Baker and I'mgoing to let her introduce
herself.
And so, cindy, tell us who youare, who you serve, and just a
little bit about yourself andwhy you do what you do.
Cindy Baker (00:20):
Yeah, well, thanks for having me.
So I'm a productivity coach andan ADHD strategist.
I work with a lot ofentrepreneurs and just other
creative professionals, businessowners, that kind of help them
overcome that sense of overwhelm, help them manage their time,
(00:43):
their energy and their focus sothey can grow their businesses.
And before that, excuse me, Iwas an educator, a middle school
teacher and a school counselor.
Did that for many years, and sonow I'm working with adults.
Aliese Halcomb (01:03):
Okay, all right.
So what inspired you to starthelping busy, distracted
entrepreneurs?
Cindy Baker (01:10):
Yeah.
So it's interesting I wasworking with a lot of students
who had ADHD and their parentsand I thought, you know, I
really recognize these symptoms.
I think I have this and I endedup getting a diagnosis as an
adult, Because when I wasgrowing up nobody really talked
(01:32):
about it much and when they did,it was only about boys, and so
a quiet, smart girl just wasn'ton anybody's radar, you know.
But I was struggling and Ithink I just worked 10 times
harder than everybody else justto try to compensate.
But once I got that diagnosis,I looked back and everything
(01:53):
kind of made sense.
I was like, oh okay, so that'swhy I had a gajillion jobs and I
couldn't settle and I was lateall the time and over scheduled
myself and and just all thatchaos.
And I began to just learneverything I could about adult
ADHD, mostly just because Iwanted to help myself, figured
(02:17):
out what worked, what didn't,you know, did a lot of research
and tried different things.
And then what?
What happened is other peoplestarted to, you know, to hear
about some of my strategies andit worked for them too.
So I just decided I was kind ofready to do something different
(02:38):
and I just decided I'm going tostart my own business.
I want to be my own boss andand have that time, freedom and,
you know, still be helpingpeople, but do it in my own
creative way.
So that's what I did.
Aliese Halcomb (03:00):
Yeah, that's awesome.
Ok, so so I know, because Italked to you earlier, that you
were working full time still asa teacher during this time, or I
don't know if it was a teacher,but in the education system
during the time that you startedyour business and you just
retired.
Is that correct?
Cindy Baker (03:18):
That's right.
Aliese Halcomb (03:19):
Yeah, awesome, this is my first year to be a
full time entrepreneur year tobe a full-time entrepreneur
Wonderful, so tell us about whatit looked like whenever you
were doing both right.
So you have to practice whatyou're preaching and making sure
that you are focused and notdistracted by stuff, because
you're working full-time andyou're running a business.
Cindy Baker (03:37):
Yeah, and I'm not going to lie, it was not easy.
And you know, being anentrepreneur period is not easy,
especially if you're trying todo it on the side while you're
doing something else.
So I had to make sure that Iwas doing my best at my main job
(03:59):
.
I wouldn't say nine to fivebecause teachers work more than
nine to five.
I wouldn't say nine to fivebecause teachers work more than
nine to five, and I was alanguage arts teacher, so I had
to grade writing and things likethat at outside of school hours
.
So I couldn't go at the pacethat I wanted to.
I had to, like you said, befocused.
(04:20):
I had to decide okay, what is,what is the main thing I need to
focus on this week and today?
And if you're an entrepreneur,you know a lot of times 20% of
your effort yields 80% of thevalue, and so you can waste a
(04:42):
lot of time doing things thataren't going to move the needle,
or you can just let go of someof that and say, okay, what do I
need to be doing?
That's going to grow thisbusiness.
It's going to make money.
I joined a business coachingprogram so that I could learn
how to run an online business,and so I just made a schedule.
(05:05):
And when I could participatelive in the Zoom calls, I would,
and other times I would watchthe recordings on Saturdays.
So I was working at night andon the weekends and I just had
to make sure this is somethingthat I teach my clients as well.
(05:26):
I had to make sure that the bigpriorities were in place first.
You know so, for instance, I'ma person of faith and so I made
sure that church was in there.
I sing in the choir and Tuesdaynight is choir rehearsal.
That was in there.
Physical exercise time with myhusband.
You know, I had to put thosethings in first because
(05:50):
otherwise I would just be all mytime would be eaten up.
So I kind of had to play thelong game.
You know, I had to grow itenough that I could do it while
I was in school, even though Ireally wanted to do more, you
know.
So I don't know.
There's a lot more I could sayabout that, but that's great.
Aliese Halcomb (06:14):
No, that's wonderful advice.
I love that.
So a lot of our the audiencehere is they're young.
They're not young.
They may be young, I don't know, but they're moms with young
children, right, and so they.
They may be staying at home,but they also might be working
full time, but they're alsotrying to grow a business.
And I love what you said.
You're playing the long game,right.
(06:35):
You have to focus on what'smost important and your
priorities.
Talk a lot about that here andI'm just leaning into those
things, making sure they'reimportant and doing the things
that move the needle.
But that's awesome.
So if you were talking to a momwith young kids and she's
overwhelmed, what would you say?
Like, what would you tell her?
Like, the first step.
Like she doesn't need to knoweverything, she just needs to
(06:56):
know what to do first.
Like I want to have thisbusiness and I don't want to
sacrifice my family because ofit.
I'm just overwhelmed.
Cindy Baker (07:05):
Yeah, well, I mean it depends.
I mean there wouldn't be justone answer.
It would depend on the personand what their skills are, their
interests, you know.
If they have no idea what to do, I would say start with doing
some research on a businessniche.
(07:26):
Or some people say niche, I sayniche, I don't know.
You know that might beprofitable.
I say niche, I don't know, youknow that might be profitable.
I mean you can even ask chat GPT, you know, to give you a list,
but you don't want to picksomething that you're interested
in but that no one wants toinvest money in, and you also
(07:49):
don't want to pick somethingthat's profitable that you don't
know anything about.
So you have to look at your ownskills.
You know, in my case I had ADHD.
Personally, I have a master'sin counseling and a background
as an educator, so it was a goodfit for me.
And it also was something thatI saw that other people were
(08:13):
running a business in, but nottoo many people, you know.
So I would start there.
And then, as far as just thatfeeling of overwhelm, I would
say just write down the topthree things each day that you
want to accomplish, just yournon-negotiables, like, at the
end of the day, if you didn't dothose three things, you would
(08:36):
feel frustrated, you know, andmake sure those get done.
All the other stuff on yourhundred item to-do list, you
know that can kind of come lateror maybe not at all, but those
three things, that's whatmatters, you know.
And then you have to learn howto manage distractions,
(08:59):
especially if you have youngchildren, if you are at home, I
mean you have to figure outthose little windows of time
that they're taking a nap.
Or you know you can't wastethose little windows of time
because if you're scrolling onsocial media, 30 minutes will go
by and then the baby wakes upand you're like I didn't get my
(09:24):
emails done or whatever.
So you have to really guardthat in-between time when you're
a mom.
So I don't know, that's hard toanswer because you know I would
say something different to eachperson depending on their
situation.
Aliese Halcomb (09:42):
Yeah, absolutely no, that's perfect and I would
100% agree with you.
It's being very intentionalwith the pockets of time that we
have.
Yeah, so let's see.
Um, so you were talking earlierabout your schedule and you had
created a schedule for yourselfand you, you know, mostly,
unless something crazy happened,I'd imagine you stuck to that
(10:03):
schedule.
So how did you create it?
Like?
What did that process look like?
If, if someone's starting outand they want to say, okay, I
know these are the things thatare important to me, now, what
do I do?
Cindy Baker (10:22):
Yeah, well, there are different ways.
Some people like time blocking,where you get a calendar and
instead of you know, writingsomething like, let's say you
had a doctor appointment atthree o'clock instead of just
writing on a horizontal linedoctor appointment at three
o'clock you would actually blockoff a whole square, so it would
be 230 to four, you know,because that's more realistic.
(10:45):
You got to have time to getthere, find a parking place,
fill out the paperwork.
Doctor offices always takelonger, especially later in the
afternoon like that, becausethey're backed up.
So you just have to trick withyour brain to see more
(11:05):
realistically how much timesomething's going to take.
And that works for a lot ofpeople.
Now, you know, I tell peoplewith ADHD make sure you block
off some white space too, sothat you're not just it's not
just back to back to back,because then if one little thing
goes wrong, it's like a dominoeffect Everything's thrown off
(11:27):
for the rest of the day.
So you have to schedule buffertime in between.
And then one of the things thatI do and this might be
something that would come alittle later, not right at the
beginning when you start yourbusiness, but I batch tasks.
So, for instance, on Monday ofthis week I recorded about four
(11:52):
different videos of differenttrainings and I just changed my
shirt in between each one.
There's my little secret, andyou know scheduled those to be
posted and I did it all at onceand so now I don't have to each
week oh, I got to, I got to gorecord this.
(12:14):
You know a batch similar taskstogether, so different errands,
all you know, all together atthe same time, or emails or
things like that, instead ofjust constantly looking at your
phone checking email constantly,just pick like three times a
(12:34):
day to deal with email and thendon't look at it in between and
because it's just, it can eat upyour time.
You know so little things likethat help with the schedule and
you know the schedule varies.
I mean, like right now, now I'mtalking to you in the middle of
the day.
That's not something that I doevery day, so you have to put in
(12:57):
those little one-time events aswell.
But your main things need to beplanned out ahead of time, you
know.
So like, for instance, lastnight I did a free live
masterclass and that wasn'tsomething that I could just do
spontaneously, because I had totell people about it and I had
(13:19):
to send emails and things likethat.
So you have to look ahead, geta good planner, and people
always say, well, what's thebest planner?
Well, I have a planner out onAmazon, you can look.
If you look up Cindy Baker,though, there's a.
There's a novel about a middleschool kid named Cindy Baker
that's not me, but there's aplanner.
(13:41):
It's just a simple planner, but,honestly, the best planner is
the one that you will use.
So that might be digital, itmight be paper.
There isn't a magic planner forentrepreneurs or for ADHD.
The key is just writeeverything down and then look at
it at the.
You know.
Put it up at the same place atyour desk, or open up that tab
(14:06):
every day and look at it, sothat you're not just walking
into the day going.
What am I going to do now?
You know?
Aliese Halcomb (14:21):
intentional ahead of time.
You've thought about it?
Yeah, absolutely.
I love that.
Yeah, I really wanted to be apaper planner person.
I can't be.
My phone tells me what to doand when to be there and all the
notifications.
The paper planners arebeautiful, but they don't set
off alarms, so it's not for me,but they are for some people
like in there.
That's totally good.
Whatever you'll use, that's thebest, so okay.
So what are some commonchallenges that entrepreneurs
(14:44):
with ADHD face and how do youhelp them overcome those?
Cindy Baker (14:47):
Yeah, yeah, we've kind of touched on it before,
but one of the biggest ones isjust what we call time blindness
.
People with ADHD view.
They actually view timedifferently than other people
and they don't.
They live in like two timeperiods now and not now, time
(15:10):
periods now and not now.
So you know, if you havesomething that's due two months
from now, your brain says, oh,that's not now, so I don't need
to think about it.
But realistically, you probablyneed to be working on it a
little along the way before thattwo month deadline, two-month
(15:39):
deadline.
And so you know, a lot of timesthey don't see the passing of
time in hours and minutes likeother people.
They just it's just now or notnow, and that makes it difficult
to figure out how longsomething's going to take to do,
and so they tend tounderestimate.
That's why they're alwaysrunning out of do, and so they
tend to underestimate.
That's why they're alwaysrunning out of time.
And then they kick it into highgear right before a deadline
(16:00):
and run themselves ragged tryingto do everything at the last
minute, you know.
So that's a challenge, and inmy coaching program we have, we
spend a lot of time on that.
We talk about procrastinationand motivation, time management
(16:21):
and there are a lot of ADHDfriendly tricks and tips that I
share.
So time management's one, Ithink, focus, having clarity,
knowing how to prioritize.
(16:41):
Sometimes people with ADHD willhave this giant list and then
everything looks equallyimportant and so they just start
at the top of the list andstart going down, when really
some of those things could waittill another day, or some of
those things don't even need tobe on the list, you know.
And so helping them learn toprioritize what's urgent, what's
(17:07):
important and what things aregoing to move the needle in your
business, those things, youknow, revenue producing
activities need to be thepriority.
And you know, if you're goingto spend two hours picking out
the perfect font on Canva,that's probably not a good use
(17:29):
of your time, you know, eventhough that's easier and that's
what we do a lot of times as wegravitate towards what's easy,
the path of least resistance.
But if you're going to be anentrepreneur, you have to do
hard things.
You know, I used to have afitness instructor and she would
say my name is Cindy and I dohard things, and I was like, oh,
shut up.
But it's true, you know, yousay to yourself I can do it.
(18:00):
I can do hard things becausehard things are what it takes
sometimes to be successful.
So there's a lot of otherthings, but the impulsivity is
another thing.
You know, I call it being aserial signer upper People will
chase all these shiny objectsand there's, oh, you know, I'm
(18:20):
going to take this course or I'mgoing to sign up for this free
thing, and then they just getscattered.
So instead, just write downthose three most important
things each day and focus onthose, you know.
Aliese Halcomb (18:30):
Yeah, that's wonderful.
So you touched on it a littlebit, but we're going to let me
ask another question about it.
What mindset shifts do youthink are essential for an
entrepreneur to succeed?
Cindy Baker (18:58):
you know there's a lot to that.
One would be about money.
You have to kind of look atyour past and how you were
brought up to view money.
You know, for instance, I was ateacher and no teacher really
makes a lot of money.
So the thought of asking of um,asking for the sale is, was
awkward at the beginning, youknow, cause I wasn't used to
(19:18):
doing that.
So you have to, um, look atyour, at your money mindset.
You know, uh, that it's okay tomake money, it's okay to charge
what you're worth, um, and thatyour time is valuable, it's
okay to charge for that, youknow.
And then why are you wanting tomake money?
(19:39):
You know what is the moneygoing to be used for, what good
can you do in the world with it?
So that's one mindset shift.
I think another one is just thatconfidence and knowing that you
can do it, that you are able tolearn, kind of having that
(20:01):
growth mindset.
We talk about that in educationa lot.
You know a kid might say, well,I'm not good at math, and we
teach them to say, well, I'm notgood at math yet, but learning,
and so there's that idea that,well, I don't know how to, you
know, I don't know how to editvideos, so I can't.
(20:22):
I can't do that, you know.
Well, you can learn.
You know, and especially forsomebody older like me who's
didn't grow up with all thetechnology that everybody has
now, I had to learn a lot ofthings that were out of my
comfort zone to be to have anonline business and, um, you do
get that confidence.
(20:43):
Each time you learn somethingnew, you're like, wow, you know,
I can figure this out.
I can watch a YouTube video andlearn how to do this thing, and
so so that's, that's part of it, that confidence.
There's others, but a couple,yeah.
Aliese Halcomb (21:07):
Those are great.
That's perfect.
Yes, I feel like entrepreneursare figure it outers Like you.
Just have to be willing to dothe research and make it happen.
All right, so let's see where.
Do you have any upcomingprojects or programs that you'd
like to share with the audience?
Cindy Baker (21:24):
Yeah, well, I'm actually writing a book, so you
can be looking for that.
Don't know exactly.
It'll be this quarter that itcomes out.
What's it called?
Do you know yet?
Sorry?
Uh, focus to fortunes, okay,which is also the name of my
group coaching program, and sothat's something I'd love for
your audience to know about.
(21:44):
Um, I help, uh, withproductivity and I have
different levels, so there's athere's a pretty affordable
entry level, but then, if youwant more of like business
coaching, you can upgrade.
I have a free gift that I wouldbe happy to give your listeners
(22:05):
, and that's a course to help.
It's called the Wait no MoreSystem to help beat
procrastination, which issomething a lot of people
struggle with.
So it's WaitNoMorenet and theycan opt in for that.
So there's a lot going on.
(22:26):
If they get on my mailing list.
I have a free Facebook groupwhich kind of has a long name.
Let me see if I can tell youthat.
I'm going to look it up whilewe're talking.
Aliese Halcomb (22:39):
Perfect, okay, yeah, so we will definitely link
everything in there too.
Cindy Baker (22:43):
Productivity, for Profits, for ADHD Professionals
and Other Distracted BrainsPerfect.
That's why I picked such a longname.
Aliese Halcomb (22:51):
It's very descriptive.
It's wonderful, yes.
Cindy Baker (22:55):
Productivity for Profits.
That's why I picked such a longname, but it's very descriptive
.
It's wonderful, yes, so.
So yeah, I do free training inthere every week and just have a
lot going on.
So if they get on my mailinglist and in my group, that's how
they would hear about differentworkshops that I do and courses
and the group coaching and allof that.
Aliese Halcomb (23:15):
Wonderful.
Yes, in your book I'm sureyou'll be telling everybody
about it and those things.
That's very exciting, okay.
So if you do, you have anyother words of wisdom, things
that you'd like to talk to tellanybody that is still listening?
Anything else.
Cindy Baker (23:29):
Yeah, just encouragement that you know I've
helped so many people go fromchaos and overwhelm to being
focused, successful, reachingtheir goals.
And they're just normal peopleand if they can do it, if I can
do it, then anybody can do it.
(23:50):
Most people just haven't hadsomebody show them how.
So if they want that supportand that help, reach out to me.
I always tell people I don'tever talk anybody into joining
my coaching program because Idon't want somebody in there
that feels like they didn't getto really think it through first
(24:14):
.
So if we connect on Zoom and Ifind out more and we mutually
decide it's a good fit, then thegroup coaching might be a great
way to start the new year, youknow.
But it's rewarding to see thathope come in people's eyes when
(24:36):
they see that there's adifferent way to live.
You do not have to live.
You don't have to say, well, Ihave ADHD and so I'm just going
to always be unorganized.
No, you know, it's a learnedskill and you need somebody who
understands ADHD to help teachit to you, you know.
But that you can do it and ifyou are a person of faith, you
(25:03):
know pray about what directionGod wants you to go in and and
lean on his help, but that'sanother thing that's always
helped me.
Aliese Halcomb (25:13):
Yes, absolutely Okay.
Well, thank you so much, cindy.
That's awesome, and I willdefinitely link that free gift
in the description of this, soif anybody wants to grab it,
it'll be right in there.
Thank you so much for coming.
Cindy Baker (25:24):
Thanks for having me.
Aliese Halcomb (25:26):
Absolutely.
Hello everyone.
We're so glad that you're here.
Welcome to the PeacefulMompreneur.
I have a special guest today.
Her name is Cindy Baker and I'mgoing to let her introduce
herself.
And so, cindy, tell us who youare, who you serve, and just a
little bit about yourself andwhy you do what you do.
Cindy Baker (00:20):
Yeah, well, thanks for having me.
So I'm a productivity coach andan ADHD strategist.
I work with a lot ofentrepreneurs and just other
creative professionals, businessowners, that kind of help them
overcome that sense of overwhelm, help them manage their time,
(00:43):
their energy and their focus sothey can grow their businesses.
And before that, excuse me, Iwas an educator, a middle school
teacher and a school counselor.
Did that for many years, and sonow I'm working with adults.
Aliese Halcomb (01:03):
Okay, all right.
So what inspired you to starthelping busy, distracted
entrepreneurs?
Cindy Baker (01:10):
Yeah.
So it's interesting I wasworking with a lot of students
who had ADHD and their parentsand I thought, you know, I
really recognize these symptoms.
I think I have this and I endedup getting a diagnosis as an
adult, Because when I wasgrowing up nobody really talked
(01:32):
about it much and when they did,it was only about boys, and so
a quiet, smart girl just wasn'ton anybody's radar, you know.
But I was struggling and Ithink I just worked 10 times
harder than everybody else justto try to compensate.
But once I got that diagnosis,I looked back and everything
(01:53):
kind of made sense.
I was like, oh okay, so that'swhy I had a gajillion jobs and I
couldn't settle and I was lateall the time and over scheduled
myself and and just all thatchaos.
And I began to just learneverything I could about adult
ADHD, mostly just because Iwanted to help myself, figured
(02:17):
out what worked, what didn't,you know, did a lot of research
and tried different things.
And then what?
What happened is other peoplestarted to, you know, to hear
about some of my strategies andit worked for them too.
So I just decided I was kind ofready to do something different
(02:38):
and I just decided I'm going tostart my own business.
I want to be my own boss andand have that time, freedom and,
you know, still be helpingpeople, but do it in my own
creative way.
So that's what I did.
Aliese Halcomb (03:00):
Yeah, that's awesome.
Ok, so so I know, because Italked to you earlier, that you
were working full time still asa teacher during this time, or I
don't know if it was a teacher,but in the education system
during the time that you startedyour business and you just
retired.
Is that correct?
Cindy Baker (03:18):
That's right.
Aliese Halcomb (03:19):
Yeah, awesome, this is my first year to be a
full time entrepreneur year tobe a full-time entrepreneur
Wonderful, so tell us about whatit looked like whenever you
were doing both right.
So you have to practice whatyou're preaching and making sure
that you are focused and notdistracted by stuff, because
you're working full-time andyou're running a business.
Cindy Baker (03:37):
Yeah, and I'm not going to lie, it was not easy.
And you know, being anentrepreneur period is not easy,
especially if you're trying todo it on the side while you're
doing something else.
So I had to make sure that Iwas doing my best at my main job
(03:59):
.
I wouldn't say nine to fivebecause teachers work more than
nine to five.
I wouldn't say nine to fivebecause teachers work more than
nine to five, and I was alanguage arts teacher, so I had
to grade writing and things likethat at outside of school hours
.
So I couldn't go at the pacethat I wanted to.
I had to, like you said, befocused.
(04:20):
I had to decide okay, what is,what is the main thing I need to
focus on this week and today?
And if you're an entrepreneur,you know a lot of times 20% of
your effort yields 80% of thevalue, and so you can waste a
(04:42):
lot of time doing things thataren't going to move the needle,
or you can just let go of someof that and say, okay, what do I
need to be doing?
That's going to grow thisbusiness.
It's going to make money.
I joined a business coachingprogram so that I could learn
how to run an online business,and so I just made a schedule.
(05:05):
And when I could participatelive in the Zoom calls, I would,
and other times I would watchthe recordings on Saturdays.
So I was working at night andon the weekends and I just had
to make sure this is somethingthat I teach my clients as well.
(05:26):
I had to make sure that the bigpriorities were in place first.
You know so, for instance, I'ma person of faith and so I made
sure that church was in there.
I sing in the choir and Tuesdaynight is choir rehearsal.
That was in there.
Physical exercise time with myhusband.
You know, I had to put thosethings in first because
(05:50):
otherwise I would just be all mytime would be eaten up.
So I kind of had to play thelong game.
You know, I had to grow itenough that I could do it while
I was in school, even though Ireally wanted to do more, you
know.
So I don't know.
There's a lot more I could sayabout that, but that's great.
Aliese Halcomb (06:14):
No, that's wonderful advice.
I love that.
So a lot of our the audiencehere is they're young.
They're not young.
They may be young, I don't know, but they're moms with young
children, right, and so they.
They may be staying at home,but they also might be working
full time, but they're alsotrying to grow a business.
And I love what you said.
You're playing the long game,right.
(06:35):
You have to focus on what'smost important and your
priorities.
Talk a lot about that here andI'm just leaning into those
things, making sure they'reimportant and doing the things
that move the needle.
But that's awesome.
So if you were talking to a momwith young kids and she's
overwhelmed, what would you say?
Like, what would you tell her?
Like, the first step.
Like she doesn't need to knoweverything, she just needs to
(06:56):
know what to do first.
Like I want to have thisbusiness and I don't want to
sacrifice my family because ofit.
I'm just overwhelmed.
Cindy Baker (07:05):
Yeah, well, I mean it depends.
I mean there wouldn't be justone answer.
It would depend on the personand what their skills are, their
interests, you know.
If they have no idea what to do, I would say start with doing
some research on a businessniche.
(07:26):
Or some people say niche, I sayniche, I don't know.
You know that might beprofitable.
I say niche, I don't know, youknow that might be profitable.
I mean you can even ask chat GPT, you know, to give you a list,
but you don't want to picksomething that you're interested
in but that no one wants toinvest money in, and you also
(07:49):
don't want to pick somethingthat's profitable that you don't
know anything about.
So you have to look at your ownskills.
You know, in my case I had ADHD.
Personally, I have a master'sin counseling and a background
as an educator, so it was a goodfit for me.
And it also was something thatI saw that other people were
(08:13):
running a business in, but nottoo many people, you know.
So I would start there.
And then, as far as just thatfeeling of overwhelm, I would
say just write down the topthree things each day that you
want to accomplish, just yournon-negotiables, like, at the
end of the day, if you didn't dothose three things, you would
(08:36):
feel frustrated, you know, andmake sure those get done.
All the other stuff on yourhundred item to-do list, you
know that can kind of come lateror maybe not at all, but those
three things, that's whatmatters, you know.
And then you have to learn howto manage distractions,
(08:59):
especially if you have youngchildren, if you are at home, I
mean you have to figure outthose little windows of time
that they're taking a nap.
Or you know you can't wastethose little windows of time
because if you're scrolling onsocial media, 30 minutes will go
by and then the baby wakes upand you're like I didn't get my
(09:24):
emails done or whatever.
So you have to really guardthat in-between time when you're
a mom.
So I don't know, that's hard toanswer because you know I would
say something different to eachperson depending on their
situation.
Aliese Halcomb (09:42):
Yeah, absolutely no, that's perfect and I would
100% agree with you.
It's being very intentionalwith the pockets of time that we
have.
Yeah, so let's see.
Um, so you were talking earlierabout your schedule and you had
created a schedule for yourselfand you, you know, mostly,
unless something crazy happened,I'd imagine you stuck to that
(10:03):
schedule.
So how did you create it?
Like?
What did that process look like?
If, if someone's starting outand they want to say, okay, I
know these are the things thatare important to me, now, what
do I do?
Cindy Baker (10:22):
Yeah, well, there are different ways.
Some people like time blocking,where you get a calendar and
instead of you know, writingsomething like, let's say you
had a doctor appointment atthree o'clock instead of just
writing on a horizontal linedoctor appointment at three
o'clock you would actually blockoff a whole square, so it would
be 230 to four, you know,because that's more realistic.
(10:45):
You got to have time to getthere, find a parking place,
fill out the paperwork.
Doctor offices always takelonger, especially later in the
afternoon like that, becausethey're backed up.
So you just have to trick withyour brain to see more
(11:05):
realistically how much timesomething's going to take.
And that works for a lot ofpeople.
Now, you know, I tell peoplewith ADHD make sure you block
off some white space too, sothat you're not just it's not
just back to back to back,because then if one little thing
goes wrong, it's like a dominoeffect Everything's thrown off
(11:27):
for the rest of the day.
So you have to schedule buffertime in between.
And then one of the things thatI do and this might be
something that would come alittle later, not right at the
beginning when you start yourbusiness, but I batch tasks.
So, for instance, on Monday ofthis week I recorded about four
(11:52):
different videos of differenttrainings and I just changed my
shirt in between each one.
There's my little secret, andyou know scheduled those to be
posted and I did it all at onceand so now I don't have to each
week oh, I got to, I got to gorecord this.
(12:14):
You know a batch similar taskstogether, so different errands,
all you know, all together atthe same time, or emails or
things like that, instead ofjust constantly looking at your
phone checking email constantly,just pick like three times a
(12:34):
day to deal with email and thendon't look at it in between and
because it's just, it can eat upyour time.
You know so little things likethat help with the schedule and
you know the schedule varies.
I mean, like right now, now I'mtalking to you in the middle of
the day.
That's not something that I doevery day, so you have to put in
(12:57):
those little one-time events aswell.
But your main things need to beplanned out ahead of time, you
know.
So like, for instance, lastnight I did a free live
masterclass and that wasn'tsomething that I could just do
spontaneously, because I had totell people about it and I had
(13:19):
to send emails and things likethat.
So you have to look ahead, geta good planner, and people
always say, well, what's thebest planner?
Well, I have a planner out onAmazon, you can look.
If you look up Cindy Baker,though, there's a.
There's a novel about a middleschool kid named Cindy Baker
that's not me, but there's aplanner.
(13:41):
It's just a simple planner, but,honestly, the best planner is
the one that you will use.
So that might be digital, itmight be paper.
There isn't a magic planner forentrepreneurs or for ADHD.
The key is just writeeverything down and then look at
it at the.
You know.
Put it up at the same place atyour desk, or open up that tab
(14:06):
every day and look at it, sothat you're not just walking
into the day going.
What am I going to do now?
You know?
Aliese Halcomb (14:21):
intentional ahead of time.
You've thought about it?
Yeah, absolutely.
I love that.
Yeah, I really wanted to be apaper planner person.
I can't be.
My phone tells me what to doand when to be there and all the
notifications.
The paper planners arebeautiful, but they don't set
off alarms, so it's not for me,but they are for some people
like in there.
That's totally good.
Whatever you'll use, that's thebest, so okay.
So what are some commonchallenges that entrepreneurs
(14:44):
with ADHD face and how do youhelp them overcome those?
Cindy Baker (14:47):
Yeah, yeah, we've kind of touched on it before,
but one of the biggest ones isjust what we call time blindness
.
People with ADHD view.
They actually view timedifferently than other people
and they don't.
They live in like two timeperiods now and not now, time
(15:10):
periods now and not now.
So you know, if you havesomething that's due two months
from now, your brain says, oh,that's not now, so I don't need
to think about it.
But realistically, you probablyneed to be working on it a
little along the way before thattwo month deadline, two-month
(15:39):
deadline.
And so you know, a lot of timesthey don't see the passing of
time in hours and minutes likeother people.
They just it's just now or notnow, and that makes it difficult
to figure out how longsomething's going to take to do,
and so they tend tounderestimate.
That's why they're alwaysrunning out of do, and so they
tend to underestimate.
That's why they're alwaysrunning out of time.
And then they kick it into highgear right before a deadline
(16:00):
and run themselves ragged tryingto do everything at the last
minute, you know.
So that's a challenge, and inmy coaching program we have, we
spend a lot of time on that.
We talk about procrastinationand motivation, time management
(16:21):
and there are a lot of ADHDfriendly tricks and tips that I
share.
So time management's one, Ithink, focus, having clarity,
knowing how to prioritize.
(16:41):
Sometimes people with ADHD willhave this giant list and then
everything looks equallyimportant and so they just start
at the top of the list andstart going down, when really
some of those things could waittill another day, or some of
those things don't even need tobe on the list, you know.
And so helping them learn toprioritize what's urgent, what's
(17:07):
important and what things aregoing to move the needle in your
business, those things, youknow, revenue producing
activities need to be thepriority.
And you know, if you're goingto spend two hours picking out
the perfect font on Canva,that's probably not a good use
(17:29):
of your time, you know, eventhough that's easier and that's
what we do a lot of times as wegravitate towards what's easy,
the path of least resistance.
But if you're going to be anentrepreneur, you have to do
hard things.
You know, I used to have afitness instructor and she would
say my name is Cindy and I dohard things, and I was like, oh,
shut up.
But it's true, you know, yousay to yourself I can do it.
(18:00):
I can do hard things becausehard things are what it takes
sometimes to be successful.
So there's a lot of otherthings, but the impulsivity is
another thing.
You know, I call it being aserial signer upper People will
chase all these shiny objectsand there's, oh, you know, I'm
(18:20):
going to take this course or I'mgoing to sign up for this free
thing, and then they just getscattered.
So instead, just write downthose three most important
things each day and focus onthose, you know.
Aliese Halcomb (18:30):
Yeah, that's wonderful.
So you touched on it a littlebit, but we're going to let me
ask another question about it.
What mindset shifts do youthink are essential for an
entrepreneur to succeed?
Cindy Baker (18:58):
you know there's a lot to that.
One would be about money.
You have to kind of look atyour past and how you were
brought up to view money.
You know, for instance, I was ateacher and no teacher really
makes a lot of money.
So the thought of asking of um,asking for the sale is, was
awkward at the beginning, youknow, cause I wasn't used to
(19:18):
doing that.
So you have to, um, look atyour, at your money mindset.
You know, uh, that it's okay tomake money, it's okay to charge
what you're worth, um, and thatyour time is valuable, it's
okay to charge for that, youknow.
And then why are you wanting tomake money?
(19:39):
You know what is the moneygoing to be used for, what good
can you do in the world with it?
So that's one mindset shift.
I think another one is just thatconfidence and knowing that you
can do it, that you are able tolearn, kind of having that
(20:01):
growth mindset.
We talk about that in educationa lot.
You know a kid might say, well,I'm not good at math, and we
teach them to say, well, I'm notgood at math yet, but learning,
and so there's that idea that,well, I don't know how to, you
know, I don't know how to editvideos, so I can't.
(20:22):
I can't do that, you know.
Well, you can learn.
You know, and especially forsomebody older like me who's
didn't grow up with all thetechnology that everybody has
now, I had to learn a lot ofthings that were out of my
comfort zone to be to have anonline business and, um, you do
get that confidence.
(20:43):
Each time you learn somethingnew, you're like, wow, you know,
I can figure this out.
I can watch a YouTube video andlearn how to do this thing, and
so so that's, that's part of it, that confidence.
There's others, but a couple,yeah.
Aliese Halcomb (21:07):
Those are great.
That's perfect.
Yes, I feel like entrepreneursare figure it outers Like you.
Just have to be willing to dothe research and make it happen.
All right, so let's see where.
Do you have any upcomingprojects or programs that you'd
like to share with the audience?
Cindy Baker (21:24):
Yeah, well, I'm actually writing a book, so you
can be looking for that.
Don't know exactly.
It'll be this quarter that itcomes out.
What's it called?
Do you know yet?
Sorry?
Uh, focus to fortunes, okay,which is also the name of my
group coaching program, and sothat's something I'd love for
your audience to know about.
(21:44):
Um, I help, uh, withproductivity and I have
different levels, so there's athere's a pretty affordable
entry level, but then, if youwant more of like business
coaching, you can upgrade.
I have a free gift that I wouldbe happy to give your listeners
(22:05):
, and that's a course to help.
It's called the Wait no MoreSystem to help beat
procrastination, which issomething a lot of people
struggle with.
So it's WaitNoMorenet and theycan opt in for that.
So there's a lot going on.
(22:26):
If they get on my mailing list.
I have a free Facebook groupwhich kind of has a long name.
Let me see if I can tell youthat.
I'm going to look it up whilewe're talking.
Aliese Halcomb (22:39):
Perfect, okay, yeah, so we will definitely link
everything in there too.
Cindy Baker (22:43):
Productivity, for Profits, for ADHD Professionals
and Other Distracted BrainsPerfect.
That's why I picked such a longname.
Aliese Halcomb (22:51):
It's very descriptive.
It's wonderful, yes.
Cindy Baker (22:55):
Productivity for Profits.
That's why I picked such a longname, but it's very descriptive
.
It's wonderful, yes, so.
So yeah, I do free training inthere every week and just have a
lot going on.
So if they get on my mailinglist and in my group, that's how
they would hear about differentworkshops that I do and courses
and the group coaching and allof that.
Aliese Halcomb (23:15):
Wonderful.
Yes, in your book I'm sureyou'll be telling everybody
about it and those things.
That's very exciting, okay.
So if you do, you have anyother words of wisdom, things
that you'd like to talk to tellanybody that is still listening?
Anything else.
Cindy Baker (23:29):
Yeah, just encouragement that you know I've
helped so many people go fromchaos and overwhelm to being
focused, successful, reachingtheir goals.
And they're just normal peopleand if they can do it, if I can
do it, then anybody can do it.
(23:50):
Most people just haven't hadsomebody show them how.
So if they want that supportand that help, reach out to me.
I always tell people I don'tever talk anybody into joining
my coaching program because Idon't want somebody in there
that feels like they didn't getto really think it through first
(24:14):
.
So if we connect on Zoom and Ifind out more and we mutually
decide it's a good fit, then thegroup coaching might be a great
way to start the new year, youknow.
But it's rewarding to see thathope come in people's eyes when
(24:36):
they see that there's adifferent way to live.
You do not have to live.
You don't have to say, well, Ihave ADHD and so I'm just going
to always be unorganized.
No, you know, it's a learnedskill and you need somebody who
understands ADHD to help teachit to you, you know.
But that you can do it and ifyou are a person of faith, you
(25:03):
know pray about what directionGod wants you to go in and and
lean on his help, but that'sanother thing that's always
helped me.
Aliese Halcomb (25:13):
Yes, absolutely Okay.
Well, thank you so much, cindy.
That's awesome, and I willdefinitely link that free gift
in the description of this, soif anybody wants to grab it,
it'll be right in there.
Thank you so much for coming.
Cindy Baker (25:24):
Thanks for having me.
Aliese Halcomb (25:26):
Absolutely.
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