Host 0:03
Welcome to The Blogger Genius Podcast brought to you by MiloTree. Here’s your host, Jillian Leslie.
Jillian Leslie 0:10
Hello, everyone. Welcome back to The Blogger Genius. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before, but if you use the MiloTree email pop-up to grow your email list, did you know that you could add an image right there on your pop-up, and it’s super easy. Do it in the MiloTree dashboard.
If you are not using MiloTree to grow your email list, head on over to MiloTree.com, sign up now. Even before the episode goes, just press pause.
Anyway, today, my guest is my friend Stephanie Uchima-Carney. And what I love about Stephanie, is her business is to keep entrepreneurs focused.
So what she does is she cuts through all the noise, you know, we like as entrepreneurs, to chase lots of shiny objects. And Stephanie is there to help us prioritize, figure out what’s important for our businesses, and really be intentional and stay focused.
So if any of that sounds like you might suffer from some of that distraction, Stephanie is your person. So without further ado, here’s my interview with Stephanie Uchima-Carney. Stephanie, welcome to the show.
Stephanie Uchima-Carney 1:34
Thank you so much for having me. I’m excited to be here.
Jillian Leslie 1:37
Yeah. Well, we just reconnected at Alt Summit, the conference in Palm Springs, and we first met at Mom 2.0 last year standing in line for lunch.
Stephanie Uchima-Carney 1:48
And then I think we met again, this time, almost the same situation in the lobby, and then we went for lunch.
Jillian Leslie 1:55
Exactly. And last time, the first time I met you, you were the cutest pregnant woman and now you have had your baby.
Stephanie Uchima-Carney 2:02
Yes, I can’t believe she’s almost 10 months old now. Time flies so fast.
Jillian Leslie 2:07
Wow. That’s amazing. Okay, so I’m excited to have you on the show today because I think your perspective is really unique. And just briefly, you work with entrepreneurs to help them kind of align their goals and stay focused, that kind of thing.
So can you share how you got to be where you are and what you do?
Stephanie Uchima-Carney 2:30
So my background is, ironically, in math and physics, that’s where I started. Yeah, engineering.
Transitioned into management consulting because I realized I was a people person who happened to be really good at logical thinking and problem solving.
And so I kind of started my life in consulting, did the normal path of going to business school, and then happened to graduate when the economy crashed in 2009. I mean, no jobs, anything.
And I grew up in an entrepreneurial family. And I always knew that I wanted to do my own thing. And so I ironically launched an event planning company, because I thought doings events and helping do that was so much fun. It was something I always did on the side.
And so that kind of started my entrepreneurial journey. However, being in a creative kind of entrepreneurship field, I noticed that a lot of people were struggling with the business aspect of things.
And so even though I had this company, and I was doing event planning, I was mentoring on the side. I was doing a lot of business help, kind of coaching people, consulting people on just how to really run their business, how to figure out what to do, how to manage all that.
And I realized there was just a huge need for it and it’s something that I was super passionate about.
So after I had my first kid, I decided, you know, I think I need to take a step back from doing event planning. It was very laborous, it was nights and weekends, it didn’t fit in with my schedule, and decided to pursue full-time, my true passion, which is in really helping creative and online entrepreneurs focus in and build their business on a solid foundation.
So that’s kind of how I ended up to where I am right now. But I really leveraged everything I had in my past from consulting to, you know, math and problem-solving to business skills, and then my background and just understanding creative entrepreneurs and really helping them form their own business.
Jillian Leslie 4:41
Absolutely. Now, Stephanie, again, I had mentioned this on a previous podcast and some people reached out to me, which is I like numbers and I like analytics. But I feel like we are in the minority.
Stephanie Uchima-Carney 4:54
Definitely.
Jillian Leslie 4:55
That most people are like, “Yeah, don’t tell me about this, and I don’t want to keep track of that. And I don’t want to, you know, balance my checkbook and have to think about my taxes,” and all of that. So I feel like we are kindred spirits in that way.
And it’s been funny, because I feel like in my own life, I am very creative but also analytical. And those two things can kind of bump up against each other.
Stephanie Uchima-Carney 5:20
Exactly. And I just had this epiphany actually recently, where I finally accepted, I guess my true kind of like personality, my true innateness. I was trying to, like, I love the numbers, and I love being this, like kind of problem solver and taking things apart.
I mean, as a kid, I used to take things apart all the time and try and put it back together, so really figuring that out.
But then I was in this creative field, you know, you don’t really do that. And it’s kind of like looked upon as “Uh-huh, interesting,” like, kind of nerdy. And so I finally embrace that, No, this is what I love doing and I’m going to help others do it for them so that they don’t really have to do it themselves.
Because they just want to they just want to focus in on what they love, and that’s the creative aspect.
Jillian Leslie 6:10
Absolutely. Now, where do you think creative entrepreneurs, bloggers, where do you think they struggle?
Stephanie Uchima-Carney 6:19
Definitely, I guess you can say it’s a buzzword in the field, but shiny object syndrome.
Jillian Leslie 6:24
What is that?
Stephanie Uchima-Carney 6:25
And all of a sudden, they have a laundry list of 15+ things that they want to pursue and they get overwhelmed. And then they get stressed out, because, you know, they produced one YouTube show or one podcast and they couldn’t follow through.
Shiny object syndrome is they go to conferences, they listen to podcasts, they see all these things that they could do and they decide, “Oh, I’m going to launch a YouTube channel.” “I’m gonna, you know, take this course on Instagram.” “Oh, wait, no, I need to be on Pinterest.” “Oh, no, I need to blog and blog,” and you name it.
So entrepreneurs really struggle with thinking that they need to do all the things to have a successful business, instead of really looking to see what is good for their actual business.
Kind of like a parenting tip. When people ask for parenting tips, my go-to is do what’s best for you and your family, you and your kids. You can listen to thousands of things and a lot of advice. But in the end, you need to do what’s best for you.
So I get that same advice in business. Entrepreneurs go all over the place and think that they need to do all these things, when they really forget to really dive deep and look into their business and see what works for them.
Jillian Leslie 7:35
Okay, and then how do you do that? I mean, I always say my advice is follow the money, which is where are you making money go toward that. What is your take on this?
Stephanie Uchima-Carney 7:45
So yes, that’s part of it. So what I like to start with, I call it my focus map: mindset, intentional action, and people. And those are three categories I look at when helping people focus.
And so one of the the things in order to really figure that out is to start off just wondering, why are you in this business and what do you want.
Obviously, the end goal is to make money. You can’t be in business if you’re not going to make money. I mean, that’s just a given. So I kind of put that aside. I’m like, money will come as long as you’re in business. So let’s really figure out the basis and the foundation for why you’re in it.
Jillian Leslie 8:22
Wait, I just want to stop for a second, and just to push back. I have known entrepreneurs who don’t think about the money and they are building YouTube channels, and they’re on Instagram, and they are working so hard.
And at the end of the day, they’re not making anything. So that’s, you know, I feel like as women sometimes that is uncomfortable to go, Oh, my God, I have to think about the money where I just want to go create and feel like I’m busy and doing/ So that.
Stephanie Uchima-Carney 8:51
Actually, no, you’re completely right. So part of what I do is really stripped down to figuring out, okay, let’s lay out all your products and services that you offer, and let’s now rate the ones that are actually like take aside the ones that are making money.
And let’s figure out if those services or products that are making money are the ones that you want to continue doing. So yes, money is definitely there.
But I don’t focus on do something just because it makes money. I want to make sure that what you’re making money with is the thing that you also want to continue doing.
So how how I kind of go about that, is I say let’s kind of Marie Kondo this. So before Marie Kondo became all like, pop like, you know, all her stuff on Netflix this year, I used to say I was like the Marie Kondo for business.
Because what I would do is I would take out everything you’re doing, so just jot down literally, like I called it a brain blow out– it was inspired by my kids’ blow outs. And just write down everything you’re doing in your business.
I mean, write down like, Okay, I’m posting on Instagram three times a day. And these are all my services, my products, how much I’m making. Everything. Like get it all out there and now let’s look through each of those and kind of rate and figure out which of those are working and which of those aren’t.
In terms of which ones are making money, which aren’t, but also which ones you enjoy, and which ones you don’t. And making sure those are aligned.
And so we go through kind of this whole process of really kind of like Marie Kondo. clearing the clutter, taking out all of this stuff, brain dumping, organizing and sorting, and then tossing, tossing a ton of things out of your business that aren’t serving your business. aren’t making money. aren’t serving you, and really focusing in.
So when I say like mindset, action, and people, those are three categories I like to look at to make sure that your busines is really aligned and focus moving forward.
And one of the things also, I mean, if you’re an entrepreneur, I know you want to succeed, and I personally want an entrepreneur to do what they want to do but I do also want them to make money, but also be happy and have the freedom to be doing what they want to be doing.
So I hope that made a little sense.
Jillian Leslie 11:06
Yeah, definitely. And I think probably, I think your biggest services or the thing that you provide is to tell people, you don’t have to be on YouTube, or you don’t have to be on Pinterest.
We think that because we go to conferences, or because our other friends are doing all these things that you give people permission to go, “Nope, I’m not doing that. I can do it later.” But I don’t have to be spent spinning my wheels, trying to be all places at all times.
Stephanie Uchima-Carney 11:42
Exactly. You cannot be all the thing. So I help eliminate shiny object syndrome. I help, as I said, kill all squirrels to the entrepreneurs.
Jillian Leslie 11:50
Explain what you mean by that.
Stephanie Uchima-Carney 11:52
So entrepreneurs have that if you’ve seen, I think it’s Up (the movie) where the guy where the little dogs like squirrel, squirrel, squirrel, and it’s like, you’re always seeing something new and you have basically project ADD, and you want to keep doing different things.
And you start one thing and you go to the next thing. Entrepreneurs have a terrible Squirrel Syndrome. And so I help you eliminate those.
Now, I’m not saying you only have to focus on one and that’s all you have to do. But I help eliminate, “Nope, that’s not going to work for you. Let’s not do that.”
And so I quote “kill all squirrels”. My goal is really to help entrepreneurs focus but follow through. So not just focus on one thing, but really follow through and execute, because it’s all about doing and getting out there and making those mistakes or seeing if it works.
Because then if you think about it in your head all the time, it’ll never, I guess, come to fruition because you’ll always just keep thinking and analyzing and going in that like rabbit hole of your own thoughts.
Jillian Leslie 12:55
Now how do you then help somebody with follow through? And I will say because a lot of times, there’s a lot of crappy stuff you have to do.
You know, it’s fun, and it seems exciting in the beginning, and you get to create like your cover art and whatever. But then you got to like really roll up your sleeves and do crappy stuff.
Stephanie Uchima-Carney 13:15
Yeah, as you do.
Jillian Leslie 13:17
So how do you get somebody through that when they go, “Oh, I really don’t want to do this”?
Stephanie Uchima-Carney 13:23
Well, here are a couple things, is one, if you’re not good at it and it’s just like, for example, your taxes or whatnot. If you don’t want to do that dirty work, then outsource it and and be okay with outsourcing it.
And I know a lot of entrepreneurs are like, “No, but I have to do it, I can’t afford to do it.” But if you can, say, pay someone one hour of time to do something that would take you 5, and instead, those 5 hours you can spend like building more business or doing higher dollar activities, then that’s the trade off that mentally you need to accept.
And so that’s why a big part of my focus is mindset, is really understanding, “okay, why am I doing this? What do I want? And what am I willing to do and not do?”
And we all tend to do the things that are the path of least resistance. And usually, it’s those things that give us a lot of like fear resistance, are the things we should be focusing on.
But then if it’s the things that “ugh, I don’t want to do that because I really just hate, you know, the project management side,” or, “I really don’t want to build those cover art things,” there’s someone out there that probably loves doing it that you can hire for a lot less than it would take your time and energy to produce.
So the first thing I really go through is like mindset; is really figuring out, okay, what’s your zone of genius? Where do you want to be? What do you love doing? What are the things that you can do that, you know, maybe we can’t outsource? And what are the things that really, you just need to outsource.
And it takes time. I mean, one of my clients, she really, really had this idea that she had to be the one who responded to every email because it was her name.
And finally, after a few months, she got a VA and realized what was she thinking. It’s the best decision she made. She pays her VA like 20-25 bucks an hour. And instead, she charges her clients, because she does service-based business a lot more.
And she said, “Oh wait, the difference I’m making and it wasn’t traumatic, giving away my email.”
Jillian Leslie 15:30
Right. So then how do you help entrepreneurs break down the steps. So let’s say I want to launch a YouTube channel, let’s say I want to create a course. You know, those have lots of different steps.
You can have this vision and it looks really cool. But then you have to know how to put one foot in front of the other. And how do you help people do that?
Stephanie Uchima-Carney 15:53
So the first thing I usually do is figure out, okay, what is your end goal? Where do you want to be?
And so if you want to be visible, if you want to get in media, if you want to be in that track, then we really figure out, okay, so let’s go back to the beginning. What is the first step we need to take in order for you to get there? So what’s the first project?
Is it now because you want to be on media. So let’s backtrack. Let’s start from your end goal and work backwards.
And so if you want to be say on video, then what we need to do is start building your video presence, building that. Let’s start reaching out to podcasts. Let’s start filming videos. Let’s start doing that.
I always like to start with the angle and work backwards. And the question is, okay, well, I need to be on Instagram, I need to be on this. No, you don’t.
Where is your audience currently? So one of the questions I always ask besides, okay, what do you really want your end goal to be? Where do you see yourself in, say, a year five years?
Where is your audience? Is your audience on Instagram? Is it on Facebook? Where does your audience lay?
Because if you are putting stuff out there that isn’t in front of where your audience is, then why are we working on that?
So I know like I was talking about at Alt Summit, just online challenges. I like to look at when I was telling them like how to run an online challenge and stuff, it works for all businesses; however, you need to be in front of wherever that audience is.
So if you want to run an online challenge via email, or via Instagram, or via Facebook, don’t run it on a place where there’s no people because that doesn’t make sense.
I know it’s so simple. People don’t actually think about that. Because they see, “Well, this person was successful here, I think I should do that.”
But just because they’re successful, like people forget to reflect inward on what their true business is about and what they do. So yeah, so to start, we start with your end goal, work backwards on how to get that that point, and pick one project at a time to really work on, and one kind of general goal.
So for like, example, one quarter’s goal could be build your email list, like the number of people on your email list. Okay, so what activities can we do that will end up in that end goal?
Now, it’s not the goal of, Okay, I need to do an email newsletter every week. The goal is build your email list following, so it’s a little bit more general and then we can pick projects that work within that.
Jillian Leslie 18:35
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And what about this idea of: I have this vision and I want to make a course. And I spend a lot of time on this course, and I put it out there and it doesn’t work. How do you know when to keep going or when to pull up? And to pivot in another direction?
I mean, I am a big proponent in test, test, test, find small tests, do them and see where you’re getting success. But then people will ask me, well, do I keep going? Like, let’s say I’m not getting success yet. Do I keep going? Am I my pulling up too early? Am I pulling up too late?
Stephanie Uchima-Carney 22:32
So my advice for that is keep going if you think it’s what your market wants. Now, a lot of times we forget. We throw this out there, but we missed a step.
So if, say, you have a flop. You launched your course and five people signed up and you are hoping for a hundred. Let’s kind of troubleshoot and look at the data. Where did we go wrong?
So let’s start from, okay, let’s start from the beginning. Was the first step you took, was the concept what your audience wanted or what was going to sell?
And if so, okay, next step. Was it the messaging? Was it what I was offering? Was it maybe they didn’t want to learn about certain things? And really, asking; asking questions, asking the people who might have clicked on it and didn’t buy, why didn’t you buy.
I’m all about also testing and adjusting. I mean, that’s how I’ve done everything, is test, adjust, and if it doesn’t work out, look at the data.
Entrepreneurs have a hard time of looking backwards. They’re like, okay, it didn’t work out, let’s toss it, let’s go to something new. Again, shiny object syndrome. That’s the entrepreneur’s biggest, biggest enemy is that they give up and try something new.
If you keep jumping, you will never succeed. Because what will happen is, you might make the same mistake with the new shiny object. And then the next next time you jump to another shiny object, same mistakes. So you need to get to the root of the problem.
Jillian Leslie 24:03
I like that. It kind of reminds me of dating. In that this relationship didn’t work, so I’ll just jump into another relationship. And then at the end of the day, you’ve had five failed relationships. And instead of like blaming the boyfriends, you go, Wait, maybe there’s something about me here that I need to go deeper in and explore.
Whereas when you jump from thing to thing, thinking it’s going to be this that gives you success, or no, okay, that didn’t work, I’ll go to here, this will give me success. And then that doesn’t work.
You know, I’ll start a podcast, I will make a course. Who knows? And then to go, Wait, let’s step back here and really evaluate why isn’t this connecting.
Stephanie Uchima-Carney 24:45
Exactly. I mean, it’s just like, it always reminds me of… so also, one of my random background is, besides my MBA, I have a masters in real estate development.
So I love looking at actually business too from kind of like a building a house, building perspective. And flipping homes, for example, a lot of times it’s just lipstick on a pig. They take something that’s like not really working, make it pretty and sell it.
And I feel like a lot of creatives tend to package things pretty, think it’s going to sell and it doesn’t. But what they forget to do is peel back the walls and look at the inner workings and notice that the electrical is not working or that, and really getting to that root of the problem.
And so that’s why I like to do this whole blow-out and start from the very, very beginning and start for, Okay, what’s working, what’s not working, analyze the past data. Because if you keep moving forward on bad footing and bad data, you’re really just going to build a house on a crappy foundation. Oops, sorry,
Jillian Leslie 25:48
Right. No, that’s true in a crappy neighborhood.
Stephanie Uchima-Carney 25:50
Yeah, exactly.
Jillian Leslie 25:52
How do you help entrepreneurs then figure out where the opportunities lie. So let’s say I’m like, Well, I make jewelry and I could sell it here, I could sell it there. I could teach courses on how to make jewelry.
But wait, I don’t even need to make jewelry, I could make something totally different. There are so many opportunities. And I can make a YouTube channel. How do you help people figure out what opportunities to go after, especially if they’re creative and they’ve got lots of interests.
Stephanie Uchima-Carney 26:33
So a couple things. One in my whole map, one is people. So talk to the people that you, again, I can’t reiterate any more. I love getting feedback from your audience, from people.
So one of the things that they can do is just talk to people that they would love to sell to or that they have sold to and see what they want. Not exactly what maybe they want, but just run kind of some of their ideas by them and see if that piqued interest or didn’t just to get some feedback on what the market is.
Because again, we think in our heads like oh, this will sell like hotcakes. And then they put it out there and nothing. They get, you know, crickets. And the reason they get crickets is because they forgot to talk to people, talk to what’s out there.
Research. I love looking at, Okay, what’s currently out there in that field, what’s working for other people. And then also just again, I go back to the basic of really mindset and knowing what you want.
Because if you feel like selling an online course and being miserable behind a computer and not dealing with people versus like you get so much joy out of creating with your hands and creating jewelry and finding the perfect metals and doing that, then don’t create an online course.
So it’s back to the fundamentals of, you know, aligning what you really want, what you think every… I mean, you know, analyzing people, and also looking at, you know, how many action steps is it going to take you to get to where you want, and do you have it in you to do that.
Jillian Leslie 28:15
And how do you help people with FOMO in the online world which means like, “Well, everybody else is doing this, I should do it too!”
Stephanie Uchima-Carney 28:28
Everybody has enough friends. You know, you have your friends, I’m not looking to be your friend. So I’m looking to give kind of hard, true advice. And anytime someone says that, I said, yeah, okay, so like, who cares?
And I basically tell them, put your blinders on and figure out what you want, and let’s talk about you. We’re not talking about other people. I don’t care if that person has 100,000 Instagram followers. What you don’t know is what’s behind there.
Did they buy their followers? You know, is that all their business is based off and they have an email list of one, and so you have an email list of even 100. Like, you don’t know what someone else’s business looks like because you’re not in it. So don’t compare yourself and don’t judge.
And that might work for them also versus working for you. Maybe that other person has no kids, and you have four kids. And so you really have to look at your own situation.
So when people, you know, come to me are like “But this person is doing this. And they did this and I started at the same time,” I’m like, “So? That’s great. What are you going to do about it?”
Like, what are you personally going to do to change that? I don’t really care what other people are doing. I only care about what you’re doing because there’s only one of you.
Jillian Leslie 29:42
And I think it is the blessing and the curse of the Facebook group.
And even, by the way, at conferences, I have to check myself that, you know, somebody is teaching a course on Pinterest or teaching a session on Facebook or YouTube or whatever.
And you always have to say, Well, okay, this works for them but it might not work for me, or it might not be the be all end all. Or it might not be the way that I need to go.
Like you have to instead of going this is the gospel, you know, all these rumors go around about Pinterest. And you know, nobody knows. But somebody who claims they’re an expert says something and then we all follow like lemmings.
Stephanie Uchima-Carney 30:27
Exactly. You know, I do have to say, though, being at least aware of what’s out there is good and so like, you know, like, Pinterest is out there, that could be an option for SEO’s sake, you know, YouTube could be.
But really understanding also, what are you good at. If you were terrible at video, and you don’t want to be in front of the video, in front of a camera, then don’t go to YouTube. And just because someone else is great at it, maybe they’re terrible elsewhere and they can’t write a single sentence on a blog.
So understanding your own personal strength is really important too and what you’re good at. And knowing that, you know, there’s only one of you. So what you can bring to the world is going to be different than someone else, and being okay with that.
Jillian Leslie 31:18
Okay, now talk to me about any tools you recommend online entrepreneurs, creative entrepreneurs use to keep them on track or to keep their mind less busy.
Stephanie Uchima-Carney 31:33
So I’m kind of a nerd when it comes to like software stuff. I love using Asana. I keep everything on there. It’s a project management software and to most, a lot of entrepreneurs, they probably use Trello or, which is similar, Asana.
I keep everything from like blog ideas to I don’t actually even use it as a project management tool per se like it’s supposed to be used. I almost use it as a place where I bring different things, so I can categorize it.
I can put, you know, different columns of stuff like oh potential to-do things that I would love to do someday or just blog ideas I have, or content ideas, or starting to create systems in there. I love Asana. It keeps my thoughts organized.
But the other thing that everyone has access to that’s super easy to use that I can’t live without is honestly just Google Drive.
Yeah, literally my life is in Google Drive. Like, I keep everything in there because of spreadsheets and notes. And I mean, literally my life is in Google Drive. So if Google ever closed, like I’d be so screwed.
Jillian Leslie 32:43
Yes, yes, yes. We use Trello. In real life, I love Post-Its. And I am looking at my desk right now, I have Post-Its all over my desk. So Trello works for us because it is like Post-Its.
And I would die without Google Docs and Google Sheets and Google Slides and things like that. And is that what you recommend for entrepreneurs?
Stephanie Uchima-Carney 33:11
Yes, I would. Simple, easy-to-use, accessible anywhere, especially you know, since we’re always on our phones and everything.
I mean, there are times where I’m like sitting at the doctor’s office for a kids appointment. I’m like, ooh, I have 10 minutes here, let me just open up my Google Docs and continue to write certain things. I mean, I love it.
Anything that you can access anywhere is key to entrepreneurs, especially if you want the freedom to be anywhere.
Jillian Leslie 33:39
And how do you work with entrepreneurs about managing their day or their time?
Stephanie Uchima-Carney 33:44
So one of the things, so I am a self-proclaimed procrastinator. I will have to say, my husband will yell at me and say I’m terrible at time management.
However, what I am really good at is keeping organized within the time that I have. So what I mean is, I like to implement theme days and time blocks. So theme days are every single day of the week. I have kind of a different theme for the day of I have to do one thing in that theme per day.
So for example, Monday is my client work day. I don’t have to spend eight hours on clients at work but I do make sure I do one thing aligned to client work that day.
Tuesday’s my content day. So Tuesdays are when I will schedule anything content-related.
However, it doesn’t mean I won’t do client work or other stuff. It just means that I know if I declare that every single day of the week has some sort of theme and I do one thing every single day that relates to that, I will be one step ahead of where I would have if I didn’t.
So like finance and admin, we always push it aside. So I make Fridays like my admin day. And so if I spend at least 30 minutes on admin work, even if it’s like only 30 minutes, then I’ve at least attacked that theme for the day, and I’ve done 30 minutes more admin work than I would have done if I didn’t set myself to that.
So I like doing that. And then time blocking. You know, I have two kids under the age of four. And I try.
Jillian Leslie 35:18
Like if you get a shower in, I feel like you’ve won for the day.
Stephanie Uchima-Carney 35:22
Exactly. Usually my showers are combined now, it kind of sucks. But you know,so I’m like literally bathing the 10-month-old while taking a shower while my three-year-old is running around me in circles in the shower. It’s real fun.
Jillian Leslie 35:35
I get it.
Stephanie Uchima-Carney 35:38
I had a solo shower in a while, maybe I don’t actually because I was in my own space. But so for example, like today, I know that I have four hours of time, which is amazing, like straight.
So I will batch up all the things that I know I need to do like back to back to back. And I try and make it as easy as possible.
So we’re recording this podcast. So I am going to do anything related to like content or audio or since my setup is here, I have my microphone out.
So I’m going to record or do whatever I need to because it’s all set up and done. And that’s kind of how I loosely manage my time. But I can’t schedule every hour of my day, it just doesn’t work that way, especially with kids. But what I do try and do is, you know, theme them or batch work.
Jillian Leslie 36:30
I like that. I would say for me, my best tool that I use continually is the Pomodoro method. So there’s something called Tomato-Timer.com.
And if I have you know, sometimes like I’ve got an hour and I can’t sit myself down and I can’t get work and I’m just answering emails and all of a sudden the hour is gone, and I’ve done nothing, and I will set the timer, go to Tomato-Timer.com, and it’s 20 minutes…
Stephanie Uchima-Carney 36:56
Twenty minutes and then five minutes off.
Jillian Leslie 36:58
And five minutes off. And I set it and I go, I can work for 20 minutes, I can force myself, I can just do it. And I said it and I get work done. It is like this weird trick to my brain. And it actually for me works.
So anybody who, you know, I go, Okay, I can just do it for 20 minutes, even if I hate it, I will do it. And so that is my…
Stephanie Uchima-Carney 37:18
I’m going to have to go to that Tomato Timer.
Jillian Leslie 37:20
Tomato-timer.com. But I find it to be like a weird brain hack for me.
Stephanie Uchima-Carney 37:27
So one of the things that I learned from one of my mentors, Todd Herman, is about context switching. And so along the lines of like that whole method is, if you switch from task to task to task, it takes a certain amount of time for your brain to actually adjust.
And so that’s why I love the Pomodoro Method because I will say, okay, I can break it down, but then also, I know, I’m going to continuously work on one sort of, I guess, idea or project right now.
And I feel like I get so much more done in, say, one hour of time than I do in like, five when I’m constantly juggling different things.
So yeah, I don’t believe in multitasking because… and at first my husband’s like, oh, you have like a one track button. You know how men like usually can only do one thing at a time. But we’re like, oh, we’re women, we can do everything.
When it comes to work, I try not to because then I realize, wow, I just got nothing done in an hour by ADD-ing on 10 different tasks.
Jillian Leslie 38:29
I’m so with you. I’m so with you. Well, Stephanie, this has been so helpful and enlightening. And I like that you give entrepreneurs limits, boundaries, kind of like with children. Children don’t want to be totally free. They want to know where the boundary is.
Stephanie Uchima-Carney 38:50
So one of the most ironic things is when I run these like bootcamp programs, it’s the the Get S-H-I-T Done boot camps. And in the beginning, I had asked, you know, my clients, how do you like to stay accountable?
And I’m like, do you like reminders? And they all said, No, no, no, no. Like, don’t hound us, don’t remind us, I don’t like to be asked.
But then what I realized is they need that. And so when I started doing it, they’re like, Oh, actually, we do really need that. Like, we didn’t want it but, Oh, wow. If you didn’t check in with us like three times, like we would never have done it because we would have just procrastinated.
So yeah, I kind of keep people in check and keep people in line.
Jillian Leslie 39:35
I love that. Okay, Stephanie, how can people reach out to you, learn about you, all of that?
Stephanie Uchima-Carney 39:40
You can head to my website. It’s Stephanie Uchima. It’s U-C-H-I-M-A.com Find me on social media. It’s just under the same Stephanie with a P-H-A-N-I-E Uchima and you can find me there. And I’m also hopefully launching a podcast soon.
Jillian Leslie 40:00
I love that. Alright, well, Stephanie, thank you so much for being on the show.
Stephanie Uchima-Carney 40:06
Thank you so much for having me and I look forward to seeing you soon.
Jillian Leslie 40:09
Yes, and we’ll be seeing each other at Mom 2.0.
Stephanie Uchima-Carney 40:13
Yeah, like in two weeks or something like that.
Jillian Leslie 40:15
Exactly. Awesome.
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