Streamlined Solopreneur: Easy Productivity & Tech Systems for Solopreneurs

Choosing the right platform can feel like an impossible task sometimes. There are so many options, from services to creating your own website and owning everything – how do you choose? Well, Nathalie Lussier and I have both been around the block. She owns a popular WordPress-based LMS called AccessAlly, and I’ve tried dozens of platforms for memberships, including ones I’ve built myself. 

So it was interesting timing when we both decided to start publishing on Substack in late November/early December. Today, we’re going to trade notes, going over why we decided to move there, what migration was like, and what we like and dislike about the platform. For members, we’ll discuss our timing to move within the context of a bigger controversy surrounding Substack. 

Top Takeaways

• Social Media for promoting and growing your work has been going downhill for a while now. But Substack has built in a number of features, like Notes and Recommendations, to incentivize sharing while also staying on the platform. 
• One of Substack's best features is its interoperability. You can easily import email lists, content, and even paying subscribers through Stripe. And moving is easy too. Everything you can import, you can also export. 
• The best way to leverage Substack’s network effect is to find your tribe – people who you can work with to restack, recommend, and follow on Notes. Just like any social network, don’t discount the “social” part. 

Show Notes

• The Momentum Memo
• AccessAlly
• How Knowing Your Customers Lets You Charge More with Nathalie Lussier

Sponsored by Liquid Web

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Streamlined Solopreneur is the podcast for solopreneurs who want to automate their business and take time off worry-free. Each week, Joe Casabona shares practical systems, tools, and strategies to help you reclaim your time and run your business without sacrificing your the rest of your life, or your health. 

Start with the free Solopreneur Sweep — a step-by-step method for finding where your business is losing time: https://streamlined.fm/sweep

If this episode helped you, leaving a review on Apple Podcasts helps other solopreneurs find the show — it only takes a minute and means a lot.

Connect with Joe on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcasabona/

One of my favorite Disney+ shows is Loki. It’s a truly fascinating look at time travel, predetermined events, and controlling your own destiny.

And now I’m going to give you a major (if not very simplified) spoiler, if you haven’t seen it.

In the finale, Loki masters the ability to “time slip,” or transport to any time, any place, in any timeline (for all intents and purposes, a timeline is a parallel universe). This also allows him to relive events over and over again.

So as all of existence faces eradication, he can take as much “time” as he wants to learn how to save everything and everyone, on every timeline.

He continuously, over thousands of years, learns everything he needs to learn, and practices, through trial and error, to improve his process, and his odds of saving everything and everyone.

And while we don’t have thousands of years, or the ability to time travel, we do have the ability to take a step back and consider the question, “What’s missing?”

Read the full article here

Sponsored by Liquid Web

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Streamlined Solopreneur is the podcast for solopreneurs who want to automate their business and take time off worry-free. Each week, Joe Casabona shares practical systems, tools, and strategies to help you reclaim your time and run your business without sacrificing your the rest of your life, or your health. 

Start with the free Solopreneur Sweep — a step-by-step method for finding where your business is losing time: https://streamlined.fm/sweep

If this episode helped you, leaving a review on Apple Podcasts helps other solopreneurs find the show — it only takes a minute and means a lot.

Connect with Joe on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcasabona/

It was Christmas Eve, and I was waiting in line for bagels.
As someone who grew up in New York now living close to Philly, I’m admittedly a snob about the quality of the bagels I eat. But there’s a bagel shop not 5 minutes from my house that makes the best bagels I’ve ever had outside of NY/NJ.
And they offer preorders for Christmas Eve. It’s become a bit of a tradition in our house to get those bagels and do a Christmas Eve brunch.
They also have a select stock for people on a first come first serve basis. People who preorder can buy from this stock. The many preorders combined with the select stock creates a long line. After-all, these bagels are superb.
So we waited.
And during that wait, there were some people who complained about the wait1.
But no one left the line or cancelled their order. After all, if all they wanted was bagels, they could have gone to the grocery store a few doors down and buy bagels immediately.
But those are not even good bagels. And we wanted great bagels.
See, there’s a dirty little secret that no one wants to hear these days:
Great things require time. And they’re worth the wait.

Read the full article here

In the PRO show, I explain how I plan for conferences, and how I measure direct ROI from events. Join here.

Sponsored by Liquid Web

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Streamlined Solopreneur is the podcast for solopreneurs who want to automate their business and take time off worry-free. Each week, Joe Casabona shares practical systems, tools, and strategies to help you reclaim your time and run your business without sacrificing your the rest of your life, or your health. 

Start with the free Solopreneur Sweep — a step-by-step method for finding where your business is losing time: https://streamlined.fm/sweep

If this episode helped you, leaving a review on Apple Podcasts helps other solopreneurs find the show — it only takes a minute and means a lot.

Connect with Joe on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcasabona/

I sweat bullets over finding the right tools. Some might say I am an Overthinker.

And that is an asset to me. But occasionally, it causes crippling analysis paralysis. I’ve spent every day of this very young year, thinking about the implementation for my membership, even though I know the simplest solution is to use Substack. And last week, I would have told you that’s the end of the story. But it’s not.

So today, I’m going to tell you about a journey that led me to Substack and grossly overcomplicating my publishing process. And why that could be a good thing.

For members, we discuss how I’m managing multiple publishing places, why “Be Everywhere” is so important to me, and my goals for this experiment.

Sponsored by Liquid Web

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Streamlined Solopreneur is the podcast for solopreneurs who want to automate their business and take time off worry-free. Each week, Joe Casabona shares practical systems, tools, and strategies to help you reclaim your time and run your business without sacrificing your the rest of your life, or your health. 

Start with the free Solopreneur Sweep — a step-by-step method for finding where your business is losing time: https://streamlined.fm/sweep

If this episode helped you, leaving a review on Apple Podcasts helps other solopreneurs find the show — it only takes a minute and means a lot.

Connect with Joe on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcasabona/

It was a wild year for social media in 2023. Twitter turned into X. Meta launched Threads. And LinkedIn started off the year as a promising platform for engagement and growth before tweaking the algorithm and tanking all of that. 

Matt Clark, founder of The Virtual Edge, host of the Rainmaker Show, and expert in sales argues that we shouldn’t treat LinkedIn like a social media platform because it’s not one. It’s a professional networking platform. 

That means we need to treat it more like a networking event if we want to make the most of it. And today, he’s going to tell us how.

In the subscribers-only show, Matt and I talk more about building a lifestyle before you build your business. We touch on how people like Alex Hormozi oversimplify how they do things in order to push how "easy" it is to build a business. We also talk about the difference life choices we've made, and how our businesses support that — and what you should consider as well!  

Top Takeaways

• LinkedIn wants you to be intentional. That means you need to know WHO you’re talking to, and HOW you help them. 
• Make sure your profile is optimized for your client. Do some research to figure out their biggest problem, and how you can fix it for them. 
• If you don’t know where to start, run a poll. This will re-engage your connections. Ask 3-4 questions that are targeted to your ideal client. Then for the people who DO engage, follow up and ask to get on a quick call.

Show Notes

• Matt Clark
• Matt on Linkedin
• Stop doing “Sales” and Start Having Conversations with Nikki Rausch
• Why You Need to be on LinkedIn if You’re a Creator with Kathleen Celmins
• How to be a Scrappy Researcher (to Actually Sell Products) with Becky Pierson Davidson
• Power vs. Force
• Leonardo Da Vinci
• Chris Lema

Sponsored by: Liquid Web

Sponsored by Liquid Web

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Streamlined Solopreneur is the podcast for solopreneurs who want to automate their business and take time off worry-free. Each week, Joe Casabona shares practical systems, tools, and strategies to help you reclaim your time and run your business without sacrificing your the rest of your life, or your health. 

Start with the free Solopreneur Sweep — a step-by-step method for finding where your business is losing time: https://streamlined.fm/sweep

If this episode helped you, leaving a review on Apple Podcasts helps other solopreneurs find the show — it only takes a minute and means a lot.

Connect with Joe on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcasabona/

The word 'Control' evokes various thoughts and emotions, many of which are negative. Control is often associated with an excessive desire to dominate or dictate every aspect of a situation.The bad guys in movies and in real life desire control at almost any cost. Emperor Palpatine in Star Wars said the only way to improve life in the galaxy was for him to seize control. Thanos said the only way to save the universe was to control the population by controlling the infinity stones.

Countless dictators and wannabe dictators have justified taking control because they’re the only ones who can save us.

It sounds micro-managy, almost authoritarian when you say, “I want to be more controlling.”

But Control at the right scale is super important. If you don’t control your car, bike, or other vehicle, for example, you will end up hurting yourself or someone else.

In thinking about my next yearly theme, a recent conversation I had with my therapist was top of mind. I told her that I didn’t feel like I was in control of anything. Not my health. Not my money. Not my time or schedule.That's why my 2024 Yearly Theme is *The Year of Control.*

For members, we discuss the themes I didn’t choose, how the membership will work in 2024, and the direction of the podcast in general. You can join here.

Links

• My 2024 Yearly Theme
• Favorites of 2023
• Cortex 2024 Yearly Themes

Sponsored by Liquid Web

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Streamlined Solopreneur is the podcast for solopreneurs who want to automate their business and take time off worry-free. Each week, Joe Casabona shares practical systems, tools, and strategies to help you reclaim your time and run your business without sacrificing your the rest of your life, or your health. 

Start with the free Solopreneur Sweep — a step-by-step method for finding where your business is losing time: https://streamlined.fm/sweep

If this episode helped you, leaving a review on Apple Podcasts helps other solopreneurs find the show — it only takes a minute and means a lot.

Connect with Joe on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcasabona/

Over the last few weeks, you’ve heard from multiple guests about the importance of research – Dappz talking about calculated risks and doing research for the actual calculation. Nikki Rausch talking about speaking your potential customer’s language. Adriana tells us to do research when we’re guesting on a podcast. 

But that begs the question: how? How do we make sure we’re doing the right kind of research to yield helpful information – especially if we’re not a huge company? 

We need to do scrappy research – which is why I brought in my friend, Becky Pierson Davidson. She’s an educator, speaker, and community-driven product strategist who’s focused on helping people like us simplify our customer journey, improve retention, and increase customer LTV. And she’s got the receipts, working with diverse clients, including personal brands, fortune 500 companies, creative service agencies, and startups.

So I thought there was no better way to close out the year than to talk to her about scrappy research. 

Top Takeaways

• Research prevents you from building the wrong thing. Launches that flop are usually launches that have no research backing them up. 
• Don’t just build something for you. It’s not about you. Sure, some people will tell you to dog food your own product – but your business won’t survive if you’re the only customer. 
• You want quantitative and qualitative research. Look at all of your analytics, see what content performs well, but also survey your audience, and have real conversations with potential customers. You only need 5 to find a problem to solve. 

Show Notes

• Becky Pierson Davidson
• Becky on Instagram
• Becky on Linkedin
• Get $100 off Journey Makers Live with code FRIENDOFJOE
• Steve Woodruff "King of Clarity"

Sponsored by: Sensei

Sponsored by:

• Sensei: Save 20% FOR LIFE with code JOECASABONA

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Streamlined Solopreneur is the podcast for solopreneurs who want to automate their business and take time off worry-free. Each week, Joe Casabona shares practical systems, tools, and strategies to help you reclaim your time and run your business without sacrificing your the rest of your life, or your health. 

Start with the free Solopreneur Sweep — a step-by-step method for finding where your business is losing time: https://streamlined.fm/sweep

If this episode helped you, leaving a review on Apple Podcasts helps other solopreneurs find the show — it only takes a minute and means a lot.

Connect with Joe on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcasabona/

A few weeks ago, I ruffled some feathers on social media. I said, “Telling people you wrote your book with AI is like telling people you ran a marathon with your car.” 

Wow. People took umbrage with that statement. And while I stand by what I said, I thought it would be a good idea to talk to an AI expert. So I reached out to Bryan McAnulty of Heights Platform to see me (or everyone else) straight. And you know what he told me? 

We’re all doing it wrong. We shouldn’t use AI as a proxy for Google. We should use it as an actual assistant. And for that, we need to give it a ton of context.

Top Takeaways

• Instead of thinking of AI as a tool, think of it as an instrument. You need to learn how to play it and personalize it to play your kind of music. 
• In the long run, you won’t be able to use AI to cheat, because what makes your content unique is your personal experiences. 
• Since AI works on how you train it, You can have as many AI assistants as you want. It doesn’t just have to be one.

Show Notes

• Bryan McAnulty
• Obsidian
• Smart Connections
• Copilot
• Cortex Podcast
• All the News from Open AI's First Developer Conference
• Heights Platform
• Creator Climb

Sponsored by: Sensei

Sponsored by:

• Sensei: Save 20% FOR LIFE with code JOECASABONA

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Streamlined Solopreneur is the podcast for solopreneurs who want to automate their business and take time off worry-free. Each week, Joe Casabona shares practical systems, tools, and strategies to help you reclaim your time and run your business without sacrificing your the rest of your life, or your health. 

Start with the free Solopreneur Sweep — a step-by-step method for finding where your business is losing time: https://streamlined.fm/sweep

If this episode helped you, leaving a review on Apple Podcasts helps other solopreneurs find the show — it only takes a minute and means a lot.

Connect with Joe on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcasabona/

Imagine that you’re going to give a talk on a topic you know really well. You spend time on the presentation, rehearse it 100 times, dial in the slides, and you’re feeling great. You get the conference, deliver the talk, and you think you nailed it. But when you ask for questions, one person raises her hand and says, “Nous ne parlons pas anglais.”

That’s right. You just delivered your talk in English, and the entire audience speaks French. You made an assumption that you knew that audience. And the conference host made that same assumption. 

Now the effects, or embarrassment, may not be as strong if you guest on a podcast, but they can cut against your credibility, and potentially waste your time…and the audience’s time. That’s why you need to be prepared. 

And that’s exactly what public speaking coach (and fantastic guest) Adriana Baer is going to talk to us about today. We chat about everything from research to storytelling, and she even has a few bonus tips. Be sure to stick around until the end for a special bundled deal we’re offering.

Top Takeaways

• Podcast guesting is a gift. While the rest of the world lives in 5 second sound bites, podcasts give us the time and space to flex our expertise.
• To be an effective podcast guest, you need to do your research. Understand who you’re talking to, and how you can help them. 
• You need to tell good stories – you do that but having some prepared, but also by actively listening to the host. 

Show Notes

• Adriana Baer
• Why Podcast Interviews are a Content Goldmine with Tom Schwab
• The Digital Storytelling Aspect of Podcasting
• The Solopreneur's Gift Guide

Sponsored by: Sensei

Sponsored by:

• Sensei: Save 20% FOR LIFE with code JOECASABONA

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Streamlined Solopreneur is the podcast for solopreneurs who want to automate their business and take time off worry-free. Each week, Joe Casabona shares practical systems, tools, and strategies to help you reclaim your time and run your business without sacrificing your the rest of your life, or your health. 

Start with the free Solopreneur Sweep — a step-by-step method for finding where your business is losing time: https://streamlined.fm/sweep

If this episode helped you, leaving a review on Apple Podcasts helps other solopreneurs find the show — it only takes a minute and means a lot.

Connect with Joe on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcasabona/

Recently, I sat down to dinner with my family when the doorbell rang. It was a door-to-door HelloFresh salesman, who wanted to make dinner easier for us (while ironically preventing me from eating dinner). I immediately got frustrated for two reasons: 

1. It was dinner time and the interruption was unwelcomed
2. I had already told this guy’s partner “no” several hours earlier. 

It was a conversation that not only was unwelcome but was already flat-out rejected once before. 

This sort of tactic is what gives sales a bad name, and why folks like us hate sales. But today’s guest, Nikki Rausch, is here to tell us that’s not at all how sales should work – and what we should do instead. 

Top Takeaways

• Sales isn’t a one-way street. It’s a collaborative conversation that you have permission to enter into. And you get permission by asking. 
• The person you’re speaking to has their own language – you need to tailor your offer to meet their needs and use their language. 
• Never make assumptions! You can’t further a relationship without asking questions. Assumptions are driven by limiting beliefs. Questions lead to concrete answers.

Show Notes

• Nikki Rausch
• What Prepared Plumbers Can Teach You About Winning Business
• The Selling Staircase: Mastering the Art of Relationship
• Mastering the Sales Conversation

Sponsored by: Sensei

Sponsored by:

• Sensei: Save 20% FOR LIFE with code JOECASABONA

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Streamlined Solopreneur is the podcast for solopreneurs who want to automate their business and take time off worry-free. Each week, Joe Casabona shares practical systems, tools, and strategies to help you reclaim your time and run your business without sacrificing your the rest of your life, or your health. 

Start with the free Solopreneur Sweep — a step-by-step method for finding where your business is losing time: https://streamlined.fm/sweep

If this episode helped you, leaving a review on Apple Podcasts helps other solopreneurs find the show — it only takes a minute and means a lot.

Connect with Joe on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcasabona/