This week on the: Creatives Do Money Podcast, Episode #32

Your time is a finite resource, one that you never get back once used up or given away.  And how you choose to spend your time has huge implications for your business, and your life as a whole. Without any judgement or shoulds, my guest today takes us into the arena of time tracking and becoming intentional around spending our time on and in our business.   She tells us about the one app that has made all the difference for her. The big personal event that was her wake up around pricing her services, the one kind of time tracking folks leave out but that can have a huge impact on your success. And so much more.

Jennifer Duann Fultz is the founder of Chief Executive Auntie, a blog and podcast where she helps Asian American and other BIPOC freelancers and creatives earn more money. She believes in leveraging our identity and struggles as an asset, not a hindrance. She also consults as part of the Embrace Change team and teaches other business owners how to create transformational learning experiences.

“When I talk to people about pricing, and I asked “Hey, how would your life be different if you if your prices were higher?”

The number one thing I hear people say is I would work less. It’s like, yes, yes, that’s it. That’s exactly what it is! Your pricing and your time are so interwoven, because your time is the only… time is the only thing you can never get more of. You can get more money, you can get more resources, but you never get back time that you have spent. And so yeah, learning to manage time and manage money have kind of been like a parallel journey for me.”

Jennifer Duann Fultz on Creatives Do Money Podcast, Episode 32

Have a question about getting better with money when you’re self-employed? Email Eowyn your question in text or audio form: hello@plumtreemoney.com and she’ll answer it in a future episode.

What does it look like when we don’t value our time, or really know what we do with it? During a big change of life, Jenn realized she actually couldn’t really pay herself, let alone take care of all her other business expenses and needs with her current prices.A crucial decision at the outset of her current business that set her up to make the most of her time in the office.

How the pandemic influenced her relationship to her time.

5 categories it’s ideal to track when looking at how you spend your time for your work and business:

1. Marketing – connecting with current and potential clients and customers
2. Sales – client time, consults, proposal writing
3. Service / Product production – working on what you actually get paid for
4. Operations – bookkeeping, errands, ordering things, updating subscriptions
5. Business Development – education, coaching for yourself, networking (some put it in marketing)

Key tools that Jennifer uses in her business:

Dubsado, Convertkit, Trello, Good old notebook and paper or whiteboard