Streamlined Solopreneur: Easy Productivity & Tech Systems for Solopreneurs

Lots of people look at the overnight success of creators, and wonder why it’s not happening for them. But the truth is…it wasn’t overnight. There’s a lot of trial and error, learning, and adjusting until you get it right. And that’s what Haley Akins is here to talk about today. She’s had quite a journey as a motion designer, surviving the death of Flash to emerge as a course creator and educator showing a new generation of motion designers how to be successful. And she does it with a little help from YouTube.

Top Takeaways

• Play with gateway videos. Look for popular topics on YouTube, and make a video about them to get people subscribed. They give them lots of value.
• Looks like VidIQ and TubeBuddy can be super helpful. Be sure to look at the analytics and see what’s working for you and what isn’t YouTube loves consistency and predictability.
• It takes time to become successful on YouTube. Be patient, and keep going.

Show Notes

• Hayley Akins
• Hayley on Twitter
• Hayley on Instagram
• Hayley on Linkedin
• Podcast Liftoff
• Jack Thomas
• The YouTube Formula
• What Would You Do with an Extra 10 Hours Per Month?
• Making the Most of Your Stream Deck with Cat Mulvihill

Sponsored by: Groundhogg | Learndash

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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’m a pen and paper guy for sure, but the Kindle Scribe is a perfect companion for me. And as a result, I’ve been using the freeform notebooks more like a planner. I still use (and love) my William Hannah notebook, but my friend Brian sent me an interesting link the other day: hyperpaper.me. It's a customizable PDF planner for eInk devices, and I love it.

Read the review here

Brought to you by TextExpander

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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/

Alex Marshall started coaching in February 2020…I think I just heard the collective groan. Alex did too, which is why she turned to social media — specifically Instagram — as a way to gain followers and leads. And while most of her leads still come through social media, in the intervening 3 years since she started coaching, she want on a journey that nearly lead to burnout and leaving social altogether. Today she’s back in a way that works best for her, and we discuss how you, dear creator, can have a healthy relationship with social media too. Plus in the Pro show, we discuss ChatGPT. It was newly hot when we recorded. It was fun listening back given where it is today.

Top Takeaways

• It’s easy to put too much pressure on yourself when you feel you need to post every single day, or that your whole life is content. But you need to do what’s best for you.
• It can also feel like you need to be everywhere. Alex recommends picking one platform that does well for you and stick with it for a while. For her it’s Instagram. For me it’s LinkedIn.
• Don’t be in an all or nothing mindset. It’s OK to miss a day, or a couple. It’s OK to only post in one place. And it’s OK to not share everything you do.

Show Notes

• Alex Marshall
• Alex Marshall on Instagram
• Joe on LinkedIn
• Khe Hy

Sponsored by: Groundhogg | TextExpander | LearnDash

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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’m experimenting with the Due app for iOS. What makes it interesting is the persistent reminders — which will repeat until you mark the task complete.

Check out the blog post here.

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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/

Look I’ll cut to the quick: YES. As a creator, you still need a lawyer. Actually, the rise of the creator economy reminds me a lot of the rise of online freelancers. The internet has made making money so easy, most people don’t do their due diligence. That’s why I called my friend Sam. See, she became a young, successful lawyer, before throwing it all away to start…a food blog. That flopped.

But she learned from that experience. And today, she helps online educators, coaches, and creators through her legal knowledge and experience. And in today’s episode, we’re putting that to the test.

Top Takeaways:

• In starting her legal business, Sam did 3 important things: talk to her customers, write 10 hyper-SEO’d blog posts, and got people on her mailing list (where she always has soft promos)
• When it comes to digital products, you still need a contract in the form of Terms and Conditions. Make sure you have the user opt-in at checkout before they make the purchase!
• Submit your big important content to the US Copyright Office. It’s easier than you think and provides you extra legal protection in the case of piracy.

Show Notes:

• Sam Vanderwielen
• Sam on Facebook
• Sam on Instagram
• Sam on YouTube
• The Ultimate Bundle
• Join the How I Built It Pro

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Streamlined Solopreneur helps solopreneurs stop doing it all themselves, with simple systems that give them their time back.

Each week, Joe Casabona shares one practical idea — a system, tool, or strategy to help you get your time back without having to make another decision, hire employees, or sell your soul to AI.

Looking for a place to start? Take the Solo Systems Starter Quiz. 60 seconds, 8 questions, and I will tell you what system you should build first, and exactly how to build it (so YOU don't need to make another decision). https://streamlined.fm/quiz 

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

Every so often I consider switching to Notion...that is until earlier this year when I decided I was going to double down on Airtable. See, Notion scares and confuses me. It doesn't work the way my brain works, and I'm already a huge fan of Airtable. It's the very basis for my podcast planners.

But up until now, I haven't really been using Airtable to its fullest potential, probably because I've had my eye on Notion. So here is a controversial opinion: Airtable is better than Notion.

This clip is brought to you by TextExpander

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Streamlined Solopreneur helps solopreneurs stop doing it all themselves, with simple systems that give them their time back.

Each week, Joe Casabona shares one practical idea — a system, tool, or strategy to help you get your time back without having to make another decision, hire employees, or sell your soul to AI.

Looking for a place to start? Take the Solo Systems Starter Quiz. 60 seconds, 8 questions, and I will tell you what system you should build first, and exactly how to build it (so YOU don't need to make another decision). https://streamlined.fm/quiz 

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

I wax poetic on a number of automation-based topics, like switching from Zapier to Make, how ChatGPT can help creators (and exposes a gaping hole in the education system), and rebranding the YouTube channel to focus on automation tools. In PRO, I'm thinking of switching off of Castos, and sales numbers from my latest launch.

Show Notes

• Join How I Built It PRO
• Make vs. Zapier: Why I Moved
• ChatGPT is Exposing Our Broken Education System
• The Automated Solopreneur | YouTube

Sponsored by: The Solo Creator Club | Groundhogg | LearnDash

• (00:00) - Intro

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Streamlined Solopreneur helps solopreneurs stop doing it all themselves, with simple systems that give them their time back.

Each week, Joe Casabona shares one practical idea — a system, tool, or strategy to help you get your time back without having to make another decision, hire employees, or sell your soul to AI.

Looking for a place to start? Take the Solo Systems Starter Quiz. 60 seconds, 8 questions, and I will tell you what system you should build first, and exactly how to build it (so YOU don't need to make another decision). https://streamlined.fm/quiz 

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

A few weeks ago, I wrote that I was Considering a Different Calendar App. After testing BusyCal, Cron, and Calendar 366, while also looking at several others, nothing comes close to Fantastical. Here's why.

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Streamlined Solopreneur helps solopreneurs stop doing it all themselves, with simple systems that give them their time back.

Each week, Joe Casabona shares one practical idea — a system, tool, or strategy to help you get your time back without having to make another decision, hire employees, or sell your soul to AI.

Looking for a place to start? Take the Solo Systems Starter Quiz. 60 seconds, 8 questions, and I will tell you what system you should build first, and exactly how to build it (so YOU don't need to make another decision). https://streamlined.fm/quiz 

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

There’s nothing better than good gear and automation talk, and that’s exactly what we’re getting today. Cat Mulvahill is one of my favorite YouTube creators because she has shown me so many cool things about eCamm Live. But it turns out we’re both also huge Stream Deck nerds. So if you’ve been looking to get the most out of your Stream Deck (or need a compelling argument to buy one), today’s episode is for you.

Top Takeaways:

• Cat uses her Stream Deck with eCamm Live to do transitions, lower thirds, and more during recording. Because of that, she barely has to edit her videos. It’s like storyboarding your whole video in advance!
• She and I both use our Stream Decks for more than just streaming though. One of Cat’s cool actions in a multi-action that sets up her entire bookkeeping workspace. This cuts down considerably on the amount of time she spends on the actual accounting stuff.
• When it comes to creating content, she picks topics that are interesting and solve a problem. That usually generates comments and questions, that in turn, leads to more content ideas!

Show Notes:

• Cat Mulvihill
• Cat on YouTube
• Cat on Twitter
• Cat on Linkedin
• eCamm Live
• Stream Deck
• Open Broadcaster Software (OBS)
• Join the Creator Crew

Sponsored by: The Solo Creator Club | Groundhogg | LearnDash

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Streamlined Solopreneur helps solopreneurs stop doing it all themselves, with simple systems that give them their time back.

Each week, Joe Casabona shares one practical idea — a system, tool, or strategy to help you get your time back without having to make another decision, hire employees, or sell your soul to AI.

Looking for a place to start? Take the Solo Systems Starter Quiz. 60 seconds, 8 questions, and I will tell you what system you should build first, and exactly how to build it (so YOU don't need to make another decision). https://streamlined.fm/quiz 

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

RSS has been such an integral part of my life basically since Google Reader. And since Google Reader shut down, I have been on a bit of a quest to find a good replacement. I think Reader by Readwise is that Replacement.

This clip is brought to you TextExpander

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Streamlined Solopreneur helps solopreneurs stop doing it all themselves, with simple systems that give them their time back.

Each week, Joe Casabona shares one practical idea — a system, tool, or strategy to help you get your time back without having to make another decision, hire employees, or sell your soul to AI.

Looking for a place to start? Take the Solo Systems Starter Quiz. 60 seconds, 8 questions, and I will tell you what system you should build first, and exactly how to build it (so YOU don't need to make another decision). https://streamlined.fm/quiz 

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