Issue #17: Free Time Book Club Wrap-up!
Deep-diving into my virtual bookshelf and a Notion template for book-notes š¤
Hi all!
If youāre joining us for this quarterās book club pick, Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business by Jenny Blakeā¦howās it going? The mindset shifts of part one and two have been so refreshing for this new year, and my brain is exploding with new ideas for āfreeing my mind, time, and teamā on both the business and personal front ā especially before baby boy joins us this summer.
Some highlights include:
Creating an externalized mind for areas of life beyond my business. We already have a fairly robust process manual for all things on the agency front, though itās definitely on my mind to give it a refresh! Iām also pulling together a more formally organized āmanager manualā for all things in our household, from utility information and shared passwords, to processes for those once-in-a-while occurrences, like when the power goes out (as it did last weekend!) or setting up our home for seasonal shifts. Maybe even a babysitting manual later down the road, for all our sonās latest favorites and routines for anyone who watches him :)
Scaling and thinking big: We all daydream about how our businesses and creative endeavors could take off one day. I love how Free Time actually puts this blue-sky pondering to use ā prompting us to think about what weād need to build and put in place if that ābig breakā happened sooner than we thought (perhaps from inviting a nonlinear breakthrough?!).
Delegating more than I think I can: This, I know, is going to be a huge challenge for me, as I tend to prefer independent work and āowningā all parts of my processes. That, mixed with some internalized (mis)beliefs around my own worthiness of asking for and accepting help, makes my reluctance to delegate not just a systems bottleneck but a personal block that I know I need to confront sooner than later, especially with postpartum life around the corner. Of course, Jenny and Free Time reduce starting friction here with a delegation observation tracker, easing into more delegation by starting with awareness and noticing.
What have your favorite highlights and aha-moments been?
Free Time is a perfect example of a book thatās chock-full of lessons and ideas, but it does take effort and intention to implement! Iāve got my weekly Founder Time scheduled in my calendar, and (you guessed it) set up my own Notion space for all things Free Time. Hereās a deeper dive into my Notion space for book note-taking.
(And if you havenāt already, I recommend first checking out my video tour of how I use Notion for learning and curriculum-building!)
For paid subscribers! Check out the end of this post for my Notion template for book notes š¤
So thrilled that Together Agency got quite the love from Jenny in a few of her podcasts over the last few months. Check these out for a bit more behind-the-scenes of brand-building:
265: š¦§Ā What to Do When You Lose Your Biggest Client (Part Two)
248: Four Brand Personas, Biggest Mistakes, and Best/Worst Clients with Adam Chaloeicheep
This week! Does your business pass The Fiji Test? Join Jenny this Thursday, March 28 at 12pm ET to see some Free Time systems in action. Sign up for her newsletter
and register for this free event here.Coming up in May! Iām honored to have been invited to present at First Round New York on Friday, May 10. This is a one-day showcase of original first-round design presentations made to clients. Itās an exclusive opportunity to see behind-the-scenes of a client presentation ā all the thinking, heart, and creativity that goes into big brand endeavors. And, drumroll pleaseā¦Iāll be presenting our work for Free Time šøĀ In person and remote access is available, and use code FR-NYC-TOGETHER for a 10% discount.
This wraps up our winter book club! I hope you enjoyed it, and would love to hear what books youād love to see featured next in our seasonal reads!
This is already included in the template for personal curriculums from my previous post ā but I thought Iād offer a standalone version if youāre interested in just the book note-taking aspect :)
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