Show Notes

Kayla: Welcome back to the Designer Practice Podcast. I’m your host Kayla Das.

Has productivity, or the lack thereof, kept you from moving forward in your business?

Maybe you’ve been behind in case notes and it’s creating overwhelm.

Or perhaps you’re wanting to spend more time marketing your practice to get more clients in, but you’re already feeling strapped for time.

Or maybe you’re wanting to add new passive income streams inside of your private practice, but with your regular practice tasks, you just don’t know where to fit in the time.

Well, if you’ve been struggling with productivity, you’re going to want to keep listening to this episode, because today I’m sitting down with Brittany Dixon, Minimalist Business Strategist and Productivity Coach to discuss how we can improve productivity in our private practices.

Hi Brittany. Welcome to the show. It’s great to have you here today.

Brittany: Hello. Thank you so much for having me.

Introduction

Kayla: So, before we dive into today’s episode, please introduce yourself, where you’re from, tell us a little bit about why you created a career out of helping others build productivity strategies in their life and business.

Brittany: Yeah, for sure. Well, like you said, my name is Brittany Dixon. I’m actually from Columbus, Ohio. Mom of twins and I have been an entrepreneur for almost seven years. I actually started off in the home organization space prior to that. I actually organized events. So, I was an event planner and organizer. And then, I actually got let go and became an accidental entrepreneur. Never had this on my radar, like at all, decided to jump in and start my professional organizing business to help moms, other twin moms to organize their house.

Really didn’t know what I was doing running a business. So, I decided to hire a business coach. And at that point, she kind of interviews me to this entire online business space with coaches, consultants, courses, like the whole nine yards. So, I essentially started doing that and then really fell in love with the business side of it. So, I kind of let go of the home organization side, dove into business and really helped business owners to organize all the back ends processes, time management, all of that. I just saw so many business owners, like they didn’t start a business to run a business and they were getting stuck in all of that because they didn’t have systems in place for everything that has to be done as an entrepreneur, but they were so good at what they did and it was holding them back.

So really dove headfirst into that. I created a podcast. I do consulting work. I had a group coaching program. All kinds of things. But really, the end goal is to help people work smarter, not harder. Get more done so that they can get back to life and not be working 24/7

Kayla: I love that. That’s my mantra. Smarter, not harder, because I always say we can be busy, but it doesn’t mean we’re being productive. And that’s why I love this episode.

Brittany: Yes.

Defining Productivity

Kayla: So first of all, how do you define productivity? And how can incorporating productivity strategies in their daily life, help therapists and coaches with their business?

Brittany: Yeah, so I think productivity is a really big buzzword, right? Everyone wants to be more productive, but I think the end goal of productivity is really just to get the important things done so that you can get back to living, right? It’s to get back to family time, to get back to doing what you love, to being able to sleep enough and self-care and like all of these things. Productivity is really the thing that’s getting us that, so the more efficiently you can work and get the things you have to get done. Then you can go do that stuff. So, like you said, it’s not just being busy and checking things off of your list. It’s actually doing the things that are moving the needle forward in your business and letting go of the other things that don’t so that you can actually have time to do stuff.

I remember back when I was in my life, beginning stages of entrepreneurship, and it is different during each stage. There was a lot of late night. It’s a lot of laptop at the nighttime, falling asleep on the couch, like the hustle. And I think when you can start to incorporate more efficiency and getting things done faster, there’s a lot less of that and there’s a lot less burnout. So I really think the end goal of it is just to be able to enjoy life more after you get the important stuff done.

Kayla: I really liked that you connected it back to our personal lives and being able to have more time in our day to do the things that we love because going back to that phrase of being busy doesn’t mean productive is, sometimes we try to be more productive so that we can fit more work in our day. And in some cases, that’s needed, necessary and appropriate. But really being productive doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to be working 24 hours a day, even if that is what you’re doing. And you can be more productive. It’s about how can we create that balance or how can we create those other pieces in our lives so that we can do the things that matter to us.

Brittany: Yeah, and rest is productive. I think so many people, myself included, I grew up in a really low-income family where you had to work, work, work, work, work. And I think so many people have that mentality that if you rest, you’re not being productive. But the whole thing is rest can be productive because if you rest, then you have the space and the time to be more creative, to come up with better ideas. To have time with family so that you can recharge to get back into work and business.

So, I think a lot of people, there’s a mindset shift there that if they sit down and read a book, that’s not productive. It is. If you sit down and take a nap, it’s not productive, but it is because if you need that, and it’s going to make you work better and do your business better and show up for people better, then that is going to increase your productivity regardless.

Common Barriers to Productivity

Kayla: So, from your experience, what barriers prevent business owners from moving forward in their business?

Brittany: Yeah, so honestly, I think I see a just lack of general organization, which leads to a lot of wasted time and frustration with trying to find passwords, usernames, links, logins, PDFs, like all of that information that you have to keep and use on a daily basis. Or even just text messages, emails, DMs, like all of that. So not having some sort of organized system for things is definitely something that holds people back, because if you’re wasting a lot of time each week. Which there’s actually a stat that we waste 12 and a half hours a week searching for information. If you’re wasting that time, that’s holding you back from helping more clients, which increases income and all of that. So I think lack of organization is definitely one thing.

Lack of planning and routines is definitely another so kind of just letting the week happen instead of being in control of it and planning out your week is definitely one that I see a lot. For me, I sit down and plan every single Friday and map out the week. Now, does it go perfectly according to plan? Absolutely not. But, I’m more in control of it because I had a roadmap going into it. So, I think when you don’t have that planning and routine stuff in place, it can make it hard to move forward and you can feel stuck.

And then honestly, I think lack of clarity. So that lack of clarity really, it takes away your ability to make fast decisions because if you’re not clear on where you’re going and where you want to go, it takes you a lot longer to make those decisions, right. So, I think that lack of clarity really holds people back because you can’t make those quick decisions. And as we know, as entrepreneurs. It’s kind of fast paced. You have to make fast decisions on things. And I think when you get stuck in that, that it can definitely hold you back.

So, lack of organization, lack of clarity and lack of planning, I think are probably the top three, I would say.

Kayla: And yeah. When I work with therapists and coaches, that’s one of the things that they struggle with the most because often therapists and coaches come into the field to help people, not necessarily to do all that organization or that business building type of strategies. So, I think it’s really important to remember to come back to that because when it comes to productivity. If we’re looking for everything and we’re having to go there, here and everywhere, that’s going to start creating inefficiencies in our day that’s actually going to take more time away from doing the things that we actually love.

Brittany: Yeah, for sure. And that goes back to what I said about people not starting businesses to run businesses, right? We start a business because we know we’re really good at something. We know we can help people and we know we can make money with it. But in order to do that, we have to have all of this other stuff in the back, right? You have to wear all the hats in the background. You’ve got to be the sales and marketing. You have to be the fulfillment. You have to do operations and admin. And that’s where I think if you don’t have the systems in place, it can really bog you down and hold you back from being able to help people for sure.

#1 Strategy for Focusing on the Things That Matter

Kayla: That’s a really great point. In your opinion, what’s the number one strategy to help therapists and coaches focus on the things that matter in their practices?

Brittany: Yeah. So, I think this is something where you really want to do an audit, right? And kind of slow down to be able to speed up. I think that you’ve got to really look at your week and say, what are the things that are actually moving my business forward? Again, back to the clarity, right? You’ve got to know what the things are that drive business, that bring more clients in, that bring more money in and that fulfill you.

And once you start to sift out all the things that you’re doing on a daily basis, you can really start to see this stuff doesn’t make me money, this stuff does. And then you could decide the stuff that doesn’t make you money. Is it something somebody else could do faster, if you paid someone to come in and do it for you? Is it something that you could pass off and delegate and have a different team member do? Because what happens is when you start to divide those things out and see revenue generating versus not, you start to really see that the stuff that’s not revenue generating is actually sucking away most of your time. And it’s a hard shift. It’s a hard mindset thing, especially if you’re in the beginning of business and you’re not making a lot of money. But you’ve got to start moving more of your time towards this. Even if it’s like a 50/50 split and then it’s a 60/40 split. And then it’s a 70/30 split, like you’ve got to start inching your way towards those revenue generating things or else you’re going to continue to be stuck in the admin stuff.

When to Allow Time for Revenue Generating Tasks

Kayla: That’s really helpful. And something that I’m thinking is, and you may not have the answer to this, but when we think of the revenue generating type of activities. What if we’re starting out with something and we’re not necessarily seeing the revenue right away because we’re still at that building stage. Like, I’m thinking like digital courses, podcasting, or different passive income streams will say. First of all, how should we be able to identify when to stop moving forward or at least allowing it some time to see if it will be revenue generating.

Brittany: Yeah, for sure. And I think revenue generating things to it doesn’t have to be something that is creating a course or creating digital products. It doesn’t have to be that if you know that going to a networking event gets you five phone calls. And out of those five phone calls, you’ll book a client. If you know that, then you just focus more on that, right? So, it’s going to be different for every single person and it’s not necessarily going to be to go and create a course or go create these different things that bring in money because there’s a lot of marketing that has to go into that.

So, I think it’s just really looking at for you, like make a list of your clients and say, where do these clients find me? How did they get to me to pay me? And start to see the connections. A lot of times it’s going to be referrals or word of mouth. Somebody has given them your name. A lot of times it could be social media, right? So, if you see that most of your clients are coming from social media, we should probably put some more time into creating content for social media. If it’s networking, probably should find some more networking events. So, I think it’s really just identifying those things that are making you money and then going all in on those things instead of trying to scatter yourself everywhere. So, I think it’s really just like doing an audit of what’s working, what’s not working really.

Kayla: I love that you connected it to, it doesn’t necessarily have to be directly revenue generating, like, for instance, networking or doing a workshop, you might do a free workshop. But if you know that you’re going to get five consults, and then you’re going to get a client out of those five consults, that’s indirect in a sense, because you’re getting the consults, and then you’re getting the client. But it’s also understanding, are you doing these free workshops and never getting anything out of it.

Brittany: Back to the clarity, right? Like knowing, “Okay, I’ve continued to do these things and it’s not working. Maybe I need to pivot and do something else,” kind of thing. And a lot of those marketing things are going to be kind of long term. I know this is cliche, but it comes back to consistency, right? The more you’re posting, the more people see the more they’re going to follow you and that sort of thing. And a lot of things in marketing are the long game, but there are some things that you can pinpoint based on where your clients came from and kind of pour gasoline on that and go for it.

Productivity Hacks

Kayla: That’s great advice. So, what productivity strategies or hacks have you found helpful for your own clients when they are trying to either reframe or refocus their business priorities?

Brittany: Yeah, so I think this all comes back to time management. Almost everything business wise comes back to time management and mindset, in my opinion. And really just that evaluation period and that slow down. There are a lot of tactics that we can put into place to make you more productive. There’s a lot of tools we can put in place. But if you don’t know what your goals are, what those projects are that are getting you to those goals, what things you need to be working on, if you don’t have clarity on that, it’s going to be really hard to manage your time throughout the week, right?

So, when you finally get clarity on that, you know how many clients you need and know how many consults you need to turn those into clients. When you know all of that information, then we can start to use the tactics, right? Then we can start time blocking. And I do time blocking a little bit different.

I actually use my BCO method. I see in the time blocking space, I feel like people try to get too granular with our time blocks and then they don’t stick to it because it’s hard to stick to it when you’re so specific. So, I actually break things up into just three buckets: business development, client services and operations. So, it’s kind of three different brain waves to business development, it’s all the sales, marketing, and growth stuff. Client services is taking care of your clients. And operations is all the admin stuff. So, when you can kind of time block in that way, it starts to allow you to stay in one brain space at a time.

So yeah, we can definitely start putting some of those tactics in place. I’m a color code fan. So, like I got all the color coding on my calendar. I’ve got task management tools in place. But I think really, again, knowing the clear vision is going to help you to know what things you need to be working on as far as productivity goes.

Kayla: That’s fabulous. Actually, one of my favorite productivity strategies that I implement in my business because I know I’m a list person and I know that a lot of listeners might be list people. But one of the issues with lists is that it can get really overwhelming and then you don’t really get through it and you don’t feel accomplished because that list just keeps growing. But I love the top 3 alternate 3 strategy. So, I put what are top 3 things that I need to focus on this week. And when I say need, it’s more about moving my business forward. As a therapist, I’m not going to put case notes on that because I’m going to do that every week anyway. It’s important that I’m going to do it, but it’s not going to really help move my business forward, but I might want to do something else. So, what are the top three things that are important for me? And then the other thing is what’s three alternate things that I would focus on as well, if I were to get those three done.

And you were talking about color codes. I love post-it notes. And I know listeners can’t see, but I’m like literally holding up Post it notes. And what I do is I use two different colors. I’ll put my top three and one color posted note and then I’ll put the alternate three and another color posted note. So, it really helps me. And it doesn’t mean that I get rid of my lists. I still think my list is important, but it helps me really prioritize and focus on the three things that’s going to move my business forward. I don’t use the buckets, but I think that your buckets that you talked about, you can really focus on that too. Maybe even have one in each of those buckets that you need to focus on. That’s really been a game changer for me and my business.

Brittany: Yeah, I love that. And here’s the thing, productivity is not a one size fits all approach. A lot of the tactics that I use, the tools that I use are very interchangeable across different businesses, different types of people, like how they work, those sorts of things. But there is no one size fits all approach.

The biggest thing is you have to pick something that works and you have to stick with it again, back to consistency, right? Because I think the biggest thing with productivity is because it’s such a buzzword. The next hottest planner or tool or thing that comes out that’s going to make you more productive. People are very prone to jump onto, right? And when you switch from tool to tool or system to system or planner to planner, you’re not really consistent in using it, right?

I work with a lot of creatives and they’re like, “Oh yeah, I have like 14 different planners and they’re all so pretty.” and I’m like, “Okay, so it works really well. And you got your days planned out?” They’re like, “No, hot mess express because I don’t use any of them.” So, I think the biggest thing to take away is that whatever works for you do it and continue to do it consistently because it’s actually going to help you stay in the flow of things.

I’ve had the same planning process, the same tools for the past three years. And I probably do it in my sleep at this point. And is it hard to not do all the shiny things? 1000%. But I know that this works for me. So, I know if I stick to it, I can actually be more consistent with it.

When to Ditch Strategies that are not Working and When to Stick it Out

Kayla: So, when should we know that we’re putting productivity strategies in place, and they’re just not working? Because something that I’ve heard lots of business owners and entrepreneurs say is that I’ve been doing the same thing and not seeing results. So, when should we think about getting a new system or looking for new strategies?

Brittany: Yeah, I love that. And again, I don’t know that there’s a set time, but I would definitely say, if you are consistently using a planner, a tool, whatever for a 60-day time period, and it is just not working for you. It’s probably time to give it up. I would say 30 days, but 30 days is also still tough because I think building a habit is like 21 days, right? So that’s one extra week on top of that. So, I would say give it a solid two months of using it all the time, every week, doing the same planning process, using the same to dos, planner, whatever it is. And after that, if it’s so resistant that you’re not using it, it’s not going to work anyway. So, you need to look for something else at that point.

Days by Design

Kayla: I know when we were talking offline, you mentioned your Days by Design method. So, can you tell me a little bit about that? And, what does that look like?

Brittany: Yeah, I love this. So, I came up this Days by Design concepts, because I feel like if entrepreneurs could control their calendar and their week, then they’re going to see success so much faster and also be able to have this stuff in their personal life. Because Days by Design for me is not just the business side and its actually life stuff first and then business and I see so many entrepreneurs go all in on business and then life stuff is like the little bit that’s left and that’s not what we’re living for. Like, yes, we love what we do. We love our work, but we’re living to take care of our families and interact with people and spend time with them.

So, I really encourage people to put life things on their calendar first. This is going to include taking lunch, because I see a lot of entrepreneurs not eating lunch because they’re so busy. This is being off work at five o’clock or whatever time works for you. This is taking off weekends. This is going on vacation without your laptop, right?

So how I do this is I go build this stuff into my calendar. So, I think about it kind of big picture, but then I actually tangibly put it in my calendar. I block off for myself every single Friday. I have lunch blocked off. I have my kids, I and my husband play board games every Thursday night. So, I put that on there. I’m putting in the life things first so that I can fill it in with business and not take over my entire calendar.

So, then I’m going to really look at the business side of it, and you need to put admin time in on reoccurrence. I don’t care if that is every Monday for two hours. Every Friday for two hours. Whatever that is for you. I see too many entrepreneurs filling up their calendar and admin is not on there. And then they have to do it after the fact. Like you were just talking about case notes, right? You see patients and people all day long. You still have to do the notes after the fact. So, if you put a block in and it doesn’t allow patients or clients or whoever to book, then you have that time to do that.

Same thing with sales and marketing. I actually have a block on my calendar every single day, Monday through Thursday, for an hour to do sales, marketing, content, networking, whatever that is, because now, when you start to put these things in, you see how little white space there actually is. And then you can fill that in with other stuff, right? Like those projects that you’re talking about that you want to get done for the week or maybe just take a day off or take two hours off or go get your hair done, whatever that is. Now that you’ve started building your Days by Design and this ideal week, you know what you want that to look like and you can kind of mold things to fit within there. So, it really is like the lifestyle first and then fitting in business and making sure that we put everything in there that’s recurring. So, we know how much time we actually have left.

Kayla: It’s like a mindset shift because I know that many of us live by our calendar, but we do it the opposite way. We’ll fill in all the work stuff and then all of the extra, like the admin, marketing. And of course, self-care is usually last. Is either not blocked in or blocked in after the business stuff. But I love that reframe because that brings back to productivity isn’t just your business. Productivity is your rest. Is having that self-care built into your practice or your business. So, I love that mindset shift.

Brittany: Yeah, and it is. It’s a mindset shift and there’s a lot that goes into it. There’s boundaries that you have to have with yourself, right? Like I block off every Friday and I’ve been doing this for the past two years. And it says time block, but there are boundaries in myself where if somebody is like, “Hey, I want to book on a Friday or I want to book this.” And I’m like, “Should I do it or should I not?” So, there’s a lot of boundaries, things that you have to think about as far as actually blocking that time off. But I think it just gives you so much more freedom because now, that Friday, no one can schedule on my scheduler, and if I want to take a call, I can. Or I can take the day off. Or I can work on a project like now I just have this like whole opening of what am I going to use this time for and it has been a game changer, being able to have three-day weekends.

Now, am I saying I take every single Friday off? Absolutely not. I’m an entrepreneur, I have ideas I want to work on stuff like I still do things. But now I can have a slow morning. I can do some work stuff. I can go to the park with my kids. I can have more balance. And I think that’s the biggest thing. So many people think if they live by their calendar, they’re not going to actually have freedom. But I think when you block all this time off, you’re just being more proactive. And it actually does allow you to have more freedom, so

Additional Insights

Kayla: 100% agree. So, do you have any additional advice or insights for therapists and coaches who want to build more productivity in their day or week?

Brittany: Yeah, I think the first thing is sit down and think about what your perfect week looks like. I don’t think any weak is ever perfect, stuff always happens. But if you were to build out a perfect week, build it out, map it out. What does that look like? Taking Sundays off admin on Mondays and I’m going through mine, obviously. Admin on Mondays and then clients on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Friday off. What does that look like for you? I had mentioned board games on Thursdays and time off on Saturdays and Sundays for us.

I think if you do that and have those boundaries and those bumpers, when you go to schedule things into your calendar, if you know that ahead of time, you’re like, “No, I actually wanted to do admin work during this time, so I’m not going to book anything.” it’s a mindset shift. It’s being more intentional. But I think if you can know what that looks like, it’s easier to decide what goes into those spots.

And then the other thing is a weekly planning routine. Honestly, this was the game changer for me when I sat down on Fridays and mapped out the following week, what I wanted to do, what I needed to do, my appointments. I could let it go and not think about it all weekend instead of coming into it on Monday morning and like trying to frantically create a to do list and what I’m working on this week as stuff’s coming in and calls and emails, I think just being more proactive and having that plan in place. It takes off a lot of stress and anxiety. So those would probably be two of the biggest things I would say. And then just from a tactical standpoint, like really nailing down that calendar and controlling it instead of it controlling you. 

Brittany’s 7-Day Podcast Challenge

Kayla: Wonderful. Brittany, I know you have a seven-day podcast challenge that you’d like to share with our listeners. Can you share a little bit about the podcast challenge and what listeners can expect if they sign up?

Brittany: Yeah, absolutely. So, it’s the Days by Design private podcast. So it is $7 and there were seven episodes for seven minutes each, approximately. I like all of my numbers, right? But basically, what it does is it walks you through my process. And at the end of each of them, it sends you an email daily and tells you the one thing to go do.

I think so many times we listen to all these podcasts and it’s so great, like all this information, but there’s no tangible action to go do. So that’s what I did. I made these short and sweet. I explained the process, talked through it. And then we send an email and tell you exactly the thing to go do to boost your productivity.

So, we walk through purging and detoxing, like digital clutter. We talk about setting up systems, planning and routines, and then just the action and accountability and staying in the flow of getting stuff done. So, the one thing in the email is my favorite because I’m a minimalist. So, I’m like, go do this one thing. Listen for seven minutes. Complete this one thing and do it again seven times and you’ll increase productivity.

Kayla: I love it. It’s like lucky seven.

Brittany: Seven’s my favorite number, too.

Kayla: Oh, fabulous. Actually, 17 is mine. So it’s still a seven.

Brittany: Oh, there we go.

Kayla:  To sign up for Brittany’s Days by Design 7-day Private Podcast challenge. Check out kayladas.com/brittanydixonchallenge.

That’s kayladas.com/brittanydixonchallenge

Or you can simply scroll down to the show notes and click on the link.

Brittany, thank you so much for joining us today on the show and sharing some valuable tools and strategies that we can start implementing in our own lives and our businesses.

Brittany: Absolutely, thanks for having me.

Kayla: Thank you everyone for tuning in to today’s episode, and I hope you join me again soon on the Designer Practice Podcast.

Until next time, bye for now.

Credits & Disclaimers

Music by ItsWatR from Pixabay

The Designer Practice Podcast and Evaspare Inc. has an affiliate and/or sponsorship relationship for advertisements in our podcast episodes. We receive commission or monetary compensation, at no extra cost to you, when you use our promotional codes and/or check out advertisement links.