Every week it is my goal to share stories from successful business owners and their relationship with time.  Today’s guest is Megan Patton. Megan is a business strategist who has been a management consultant, trainer, and business coach for most of her career. She spends her time working with individuals, companies, and non-profits to help define and implement strategies that enable peak performance and growth. She looks at the way something is done (process); who is doing the work (people); and whether something should be done at all (strategy). Megan approaches client situations from a perspective of what is working well, measured against company goals, and works hand in hand with her clients to develop workable and positive solutions to improving performance.

Megan realizes that the “traditional version” of work/life balance is a myth, so she has developed a strategy of intentionally filling her calendar with the activities that are important to both her business growth and her personal life to achieve work/life integration.  For additional strategies to keep your business and your life aligned, join Megan and me in this thought-provoking conversation.  

Strategies to be Productive:  

• Biological Prime Time - “I try really hard to preserve that thinking time. I know that I think pretty well first thing in the morning, so I tried to put those blocks of time where I can sit, read something, think about it, or I'm creating a new program or I'm writing articles or I'm getting ready to shoot a video so I need to have my notes for that video. That for me, it happens the best early in the morning.”
• Creating work-life integration - “Work-life balance is a myth. We've all been taught throughout our careers to find that work-life balance. Well, as an entrepreneur and a small business owner, for me, work-life balance isn't an actual thing.  Because I have to bring my whole self to my business. I bring my whole self to my volunteer work. I bring my whole self to my family. I can't just say, “Okay, this is business and it's in this little block. And now I'm going to be a community volunteer. And that's this little block. Oh, and now I'm Mom. It flows back and forth.”

Here’s how Megan likes to spend her 25th Hour:

•  Hanging out near water - “Right now it's summer. I would like to use that extra hour to go to the beach and just sit. I love water, water gives me energy. I would love to just go and kind of pull up my chair right to the edge and just put my feet in.”
• Reading a good book - “Curl up with a good book in front of the fire.”

Resources Referenced: National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) 

If you are ready to create a business plan that focuses on your strengths - and that you actually use to guide your business instead of sitting on the shelf, reach out to Megan via the links below. In addition, Megan is offering a complimentary strategy session for 25th Hour listeners. We'll dig into how you can create and implement strategy and what roadblocks you face. Each person who books an appointment will also receive Megan’s Simple Strategic Planning Document.

• Website
• Facebook
• LinkedIn

Ready to accomplish more while working less?  Take this 2-minute quiz. 

Every week it is my goal to share stories from successful business owners and their relationship with time.  Today’s guest is Nancy Hetrick. Nancy is the owner of Smarter Divorce Solutions, LLC, the Divorce Financial Planner Training Center, and is a financial advisor with Better Money Decisions. Nancy has a passion for helping people who are going through a divorce add a sense of sanity to the process as they figure out their finances.   When she realized that this is the most powerful work she’s ever done, she tapped into her background as a teacher to train other financial advisors to maximize their impact. Nancy regularly expands her reach by not only strategically hiring employees - but by also hiring coaches to help her fill her information gaps.   She believes that dedicating 10% of her revenue to personal development is one of the smartest things a professional can do - and in the first year of hiring a business coach, she 5x her income. 

Strategies:  

• Done is better than perfect: “We almost all tend to be very perfectionist, and so we over obsess on making things perfect before we will show them to anybody - before we'll put a website up before we'll do a white paper. We can get into this analysis paralysis. There's a mantra that everybody needs to adopt right out of the gate which is Done is Better than Perfect.”
• Delegate: “The belief is that nobody else can do it like I can do it. So I can't possibly delegate all of these different tasks, because then they won't be getting a service that only I can provide hogwash, right? You have to get over that. You have to surround yourself with a team of people that frankly, once you train them, and they understand your culture and your vision and your purpose, they can do a better job than you.”
• Zone of Genius vs Zone of Competence: “You have your Zone of Genius, then you have your Zone of Competence - things you can do, but don’t love.  You never should you be wasting your time there. You know how many financial advisors are agonizing over doing their own bookkeeping, or doing their own payroll? Get it off your plate.
• Hire a coach: “ About four years ago is when my business had grown to the point where I knew I was in uncharted water. And I didn't know what I didn't know. And I needed to surround myself with people that had gone before me. I really needed something to bring me that next level and I knew if I made the investment in myself, I would make it pay off.”

Here’s how Nancy likes to spend her 25th Hour:

• Yoga - “I'd like to finally figure out how to actually squeeze in yoga every day.”
• Riding motorcycles - “That's kind of our stress relief - riding our motorcycles.”

Resources Referenced:

• Divorce Financial Planning: Building a Successful Niche Business by Nancy A. Hetrick
• Profit First by Mike Michalowicz 
• Clockwork by Mike Michalowicz
• Fix This Next by Mike Michalowicz

Looking to learn more about the Divorce Financial Planning industry?  Reach out to Nancy at:

• https://smarterdivorcesolutions.com
• https://www.facebook.com/smarterdivorce/
• https://twitter.com/SmarterDivorces
• https://www.linkedin.com/company/smarter-divorce-solutions-llc 

Ready to accomplish more while working less?  Take this 2-minute quiz.  https://impactivestrategies.com/quiz/

Every week it is my goal to share stories from successful business owners and their relationship with time. Today’s guest is Katie Mongelli, CPA, the founder and CEO of Monarch CPA Services, an accounting and tax consultancy dedicated to helping small businesses grow in revenues and in financial knowledge. Since 2005, Katie and her team have worked to guide small businesses towards financial peace of mind based on her values-based approach to accounting and tax work that involves prioritization, organization, and goal setting.

Three years ago, Katie realized she was working way too much and decided to do a deep dive into how to be more productive, effective, and efficient . . . while still growing her business. What resulted was a workweek that decreased from 60 hours to 32 hours. Listen in to learn more about how Katie accomplished this, and how you can as well!

Strategies: 

• Prioritizing
• Email 
• Meetings
• To-Do lists

Here’s how Katie likes to spend her 25th Hour:
Writing

Resources Referenced:
A New Beginning (Lakeside Hideaway) by Katie Mongelli: https://amzn.to/34yn562
Productivity Project by Chris Bailey: https://amzn.to/34yGIuD

Looking for someone to help you understand your numbers? Reach out to Katie at - 
Website: http://www.monarchcpas.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MonarchCPASe...
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katiemong...

Ready to accomplish more while working less? Take this 2-minute quiz.  https://impactivestrategies.com/quiz/

Every week it is my goal to share stories from successful business owners and their relationship with time. Today’s guest is Arielle Minicozzi, founder and CTO of Spynx Automation and Certified Zapier + Mailchimp expert. Arielle and her husband, Mark, help financial advisors, accountants, attorneys, and bookkeepers systematize their workflows and automate their processes using Zapier and other tools.

Arielle has a passion for helping people maximize their finances. She realized early in her entrepreneurial journey that, working with clients one-on-one as a financial planner, she was limited as to how many people she could support. But, when she helped other financial advisors spend less time on the administrative tasks, they could see more people and experience an exponential impact growth. Jump in the episode for some ideas on where you can automate.

Strategies:  
Calendar - “By putting something on my Google Calendar, psychologically it tells me that this is a money-making activity that I need to be doing, so I prioritize it differently by default.  It changes my mindset about it a little bit.” 

Automation - “I love using automation for as many things that will save me time as possible. It really just helps me focus on actually working with my clients on their projects instead of administrative details.”

Here’s how Arielle likes to spend her 25th Hour:
Spending time with her husband -  “I would definitely spend it with my husband, because he's a very patient man, and he's a partner in my automation business. But we do feel like we never get enough time to spend together.”

Resources Referenced:
Zoe Meggert at Perfectly Planned Content: https://perfectlyplannedcontent.com/

Looking for someone to help you spend less time doing administrative tasks?  Reach out to Arielle at:
Website: http://www.sphynxautomation.com 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sphynxautomation 
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/arielle-minicozzi-cfp-cslp 
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/sphynxautomator 

Are you more of a DIYer when it comes to business automation, or do you want to check out our offerings before committing to a bigger project? Click this link to view Arielle's form and email templates: https://sphynxautomation.com/templates2  

Use coupon code IMPACTIVE for 10% off templates with training through 9/30/2020. Take advantage of Arielle's offer!

Every week it is my goal to share stories from successful business owners and their relationship with time. Today’s guest is Marc Mawhinney, a lifelong entrepreneur who helps coaches get more clients (without paid advertising)! 

He achieves this with his coaching programs: the popular Natural Born Coaches podcast, his Facebook group The Coaching Jungle, and his exclusive print newsletter – Secret Coach Club. He’s been a speaker at events like Social Media Marketing World, Entrepreneur City Live, and the TP3X conference. He frequently makes media appearances and contributes to online publications like Entrepreneur.com

Marc has built an online business supporting coaches - so it is unheard of that one of his strategies to be productive and effective is to actually limit his screen time!  Sit back and let Marc’s wisdom help you improve your “get it done” strategies.

Time Management Strategies:
Reduced News Consumption - “I limit my news consumption to 10 minutes a day to scroll some sites that I visit, and then I'm done.”
Set Schedule for Social MEdia Each Day - “For social media, I have set times through the day that pop in, I do what I have to do (I do my posts or respond to my messages or whatever), then get the heck out of there.”

Here’s how Marc likes to spend his 25th Hour:
Sketch. “One thing I've started picking up again, which I used to do a lot as a kid, is to draw. I have a sketchbook and I did a little bit of it last week and really enjoyed it”

Resources Referenced:
Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport https://amzn.to/3gPuSj7
Deep Work by Cal Newport https://amzn.to/31MTx18
Decoded by Jay Z https://amzn.to/2FctKI9
The Cost of Interrupted Work by Gloria Mark https://www.ics.uci.edu/~gmark/chi08-mark.pdf 

If you want to attract more clients without using paid advertising, reach out to Marc at:
Website: https://www.naturalborncoaches.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcmawhinney/?originalSubdomain=ca
Twitter: https://twitter.com/marcmawhinney

Ready to accomplish more while working less?  Take this 2-minute quiz.  https://impactivestrategies.com/quiz/

Every week it is my goal to share stories from successful business owners and their relationship with time. Today’s guest is Michael Murray, the President of Peabody Wealth Advisors based in Danvers, MA.

Mike has a passion for helping bring organization to your financial life so you can spend more time in your personal life. He learned early in his career that if he concentrates on only working with nice people, he’s more productive, clients are happier, and business his grows.

Strategies to be Productive: 
Zone of Genius -  “I love the business building and I love managing the relationships. So I've really come to focus on that.”

Diverse Team - “Bringing a diversity of thought to the process, because if you have all people that think as you do, you don't get to the places you want to go. You want dissenting opinions, and you want ideas that help make your business better.”

Delegate - “It's a challenging transition, but you start to realize if you don't delegate, it's fatal for your business. You will stagnate forever.”

Using Technology - “If a client can meet us on a Zoom call, or they have to come in person, get a babysitter, arrange all this stuff, or they can meet at their kitchen table or in their living room, which would they rather do?”

Here’s how Mike likes to spend his 25th Hour:
I'd be walking down the beach in Florida and on my way to listen to some live music and my wife and I stop in a local fish shack on the water.

Resources Referenced:
Malcolm Gladwell Outliers: https://www.amazon.com/Outliers-Story...

Ready to organize your financial life so you can have the personal life you love? Reach out to Mike at:
Website:  http://www.peabodywealthadvisors.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PeabodyWealt...
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmurraypwa
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PeabodyWealth

Ready to accomplish more while working less? Take this 2-minute quiz.  https://impactivestrategies

Every week it is my goal to share stories from successful business owners and their relationship with time. Today’s guest is Leah Hadley.

Leah is the Founder of Great Lakes Divorce Financial Solutions and Great Lakes Investment Management. She started her journey in financial services as an administrative assistant and worked her way up to a publishing senior equity research analyst in 6 years. While on the job, she learned how to select investments and build portfolios, and at home, she learned how to manage a family budget as well as balance short-term and long-term personal goals.

Now Leah is an Accredited Financial Counselor (AFC), Certified Divorce Financial Analyst (CDFA), and a Master Analyst in Financial Forensics (MAFF), she uses all of her knowledge and 15 years of experience to help her clients make wise financial decisions so they can begin the next phase of life with the strongest possible financial foundation.

Leah realized early in her career that she could spend more time with her kids AND serve more clients when she could stay in her zone of genius doing the work she excels at and delegating the rest.  Tune in to hear Leah’s story and how being more efficient allowed her to start her 3rd business, Watch Her Thrive.

Strategies: 
Prioritizing - “There are so many different things that are always calling for my attention, that I really have to look and see what's most important.”
Delegating -  “Anything that anybody else can do I'm delegating completely.”
Utilizing Technology - “There are some really great tools out there that can allow me to get even deeper into some people's goals and options and looking at various scenarios and a really efficient way.”

Here’s how Leah likes to spend her 25th Hour:
“I want to spend it with my kids. I mean, that is the whole reason that I'm in a business where I have the flexibility to create the life that I want is to spend it with my kids. And so I would love to be able to take more vacations”

Looking for someone to provide financial guidance and financial support?  Reach out to Leah:
https://www.greatlakesdfs.com/
https://www.facebook.com/greatlakesdfs
https://www.linkedin.com/in/leahahadley/

Ready to accomplish more while working less?  Take this 2-minute quiz.  https://ImpactiveStrategies.com/quiz

Every week it is my goal to share stories from successful business owners and their relationship with time - how they’ve used time well while building their business - and potential struggles they have had along the way. 

Today’s guest is Jennifer Hottle. Jennifer earned degrees from the Ohio State University (BA) and Cleveland State University (MBA), as well as Certification as a Profit First Coach. Along the way, she built successful businesses in medicine, independent film production, video game development, and professional coaching.

Today, Jennifer shares key lessons on entrepreneurship and finance as an adjunct professor at Baldwin Wallace University, on her Crush The Journey podcast, as a keynote speaker, and in one-on-one consultations with her clients. She has also served on the board for the National Association of Women Business Owners, Cleveland chapter, as the Director of Programming.

As a Profit First Coach, Jennifer recognizes the connection between deliberately investing your money and proactively investing your time.  Listen in to learn more about some of the strategies Jennifer uses to be productive and her distinction between how she works best vs how she produces best. 

Strategies:  

• Utilizing Parkinson’s Law
• Getting into the Zone
• Time Blocking

Here’s how Jennifer likes to spend her 25th Hour:

• Baking
• Hanging out with her kids

Resources Referenced:
Profit First https://amzn.to/3h9TMJO

Looking for someone to help increase your profit?  Reach out Jennifer at: https://j2hconsulting.com/
https://www.facebook.com/j2hmoneycoach/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferjuguilonhottle

Ready to accomplish more while working less?  Take this 2-minute quiz. 
https://impactivestrategies.com/quiz/

The 25th Hour Podcast… why? And why now?

Everyone has strengths, their ways to navigate busy businesses to save time. No matter how busy they are, they can still grab little blocks throughout the day, the month…

And I thought, "Why not share those ideas?"

No matter how busy these business owners are, no matter how often they feel like everything is out of control, they still have things that work, strategies they've developed that work for them.

Why a podcast?

Those of you who know me well know I'm an introvert and don't love networking.

I LOVE meeting people one on one. The podcast is a perfect way for me to continue to grow my network and learn from talented business owners, to meet amazing new people and learn what they're passionate about.

Why the name The 25th Hour?

Wouldn't it be amazing if you could have an extra hour every day? An hour to do more of the things you're passionate about? 

As you listen to the content you'll connect with my guests and start to build your own systems to create a 25th hour in your day!