What’s In This Episode:

Are you full of energy or borderline burnt out? If you're the latter, Brad's got a 5-day email course that he wants you to read, called 5 Days to Get Control of Your Business and Your Life. In it, you'll find a simple exercise to cut down your work hours down immediately, a magic phrase that improves the output of your team and empowers them to solve their own problems, a proven practice to enable you to set boundaries, and a way to start fitting in things that you enjoy.

If this is something you're interested in, you'll find it here. Sign up and let Brad know what you think!

"You've been working real hard for a while and you don't know your own capacity." - Jill

Nobody says that they're going to work until they're burnt out, so how does it happen? Jill thinks it's a natural thing to fall into. You think you can do it all, but you can't. She also thinks that for women, hormones are a factor throughout the month.

Age plays a role too, Brad says. There are limits and that's a good thing - but you don't learn that unless you are of a certain age and have the experience.

"Humans have limits." - Brad

Jill is the queen of impatience - no one ever works fast enough for her. Brad says he's impatient too, but he also doesn't think that he's working fast enough. But both of them have learned patience over time. If people have unreasonable expectations, the best way they find to deal with it is to talk through it. Jill and Brad give listeners tips for dealing with burn out.

How do you deal with burn out?

What’s In This Episode:

Are you ready to go or are you kind of crawling into 2019 a little bit burnt out? If you’re the latter, Brad’s got a 5-day email course that he wants you to read, called 5 Days to Get Control of Your Business and Your Life. In it, you’ll find a simple exercise to cut down your work hours down immediately, a magic phrase that improves the output of your team and empowers them to solve their own problems, a proven practice to enable you to set boundaries, and a way to start fitting in things that you enjoy.

If this is something you’re interested in, you’ll find it here. Sign up and let Brad know what you think!

"Start talking to folks before you throw something into the world by yourself and don't get the tone of the city or the people in it." - Jill

Ashley Quinto Powell of The Bossy calls in and she has a great opportunity to launch a Chicago chapter after founding her business in Madison, Wisconsin. She wants to know the best way to do a launch in the Second City (though she would prefer not to do a fun run). Jill and Brad help her to get practical and less vague.

"The first thing you want to do is to stop solving people's problems." - Brad

Brad's talking about the most popular Harvard Business Review article of all time, published in 1973: "Who's Got The Monkey?" The monkey is a problem that the employee doesn't know how to solve, so they leave it with the business owners. So, ideally, you want to make sure that your office is a no-monkey zone.

So when someone walks in with a problem, the first thing to do is to be really stupid, Brad says. It trains people to come to you with solutions.

How do you deal with the monkey?

What’s In This Episode:

It's a new year! Are you ready to go or are you kind of crawling into 2019 a little bit burnt out? If you're the latter, Brad's got a 5-day email course that he wants you to read, called 5 Days to Get Control of Your Business and Your Life. In it, you'll find a simple exercise to cut down your work hours down immediately, a magic phrase that improves the output of your team and empowers them to solve their own problems, a proven practice to enable you to set boundaries, and a way to start fitting in things that you enjoy.

If this is something you're interested in, you'll find it here (https://anchoradvisors.com/control/). Sign up and let Brad know what you think!

"Are you paying attention to the bigger picture?" - Jill

Are you working in your business vs. working on your business? Now, you hear that everywhere - but in the beginning, it was a reasonable question. And how would you know if you're working in or on? Jill's issue with the question is that it assumes there is a right answer.

In Brad's view, he thinks the goal should be that there's nothing that has to get done this week (as in a deadline) that he - as the business owner - is responsible for doing.

"When you're in the details, it's hard to have any perspective." - Brad

Brad uses Monday mornings to organize, and then by Monday afternoon, he knows what his objectives for the week are. He's not opposed to switching back and forth (from working in your business vs. working on the business) but he cautions against getting stuck on details.

As Jill is going through some changes in her business, Brad thinks that's great: we can only make changes as fast as people can absorb it.

What’s In This Episode:

Happy 2019!

Jill’s got a brand new book called The Best Business Book in the World (*according to my mom)! For anecdotes, biz tricks, tech tips, and tools, you can get her book on Amazon.

Do you ever think to yourself, "I really wish I could talk to Jill or Brad for an hour about MY business?" Now you can! Sometimes you just need a little help, or you have a question to ask that’s been bugging you. You suspect that it’s not really a whole consulting engagement — you just need an hour to talk something overwith someone who understands and can provide perspective. Book an hour with Brad here. 

"When you're starting a business, it's important to have a lot of ideas because you don't know what's going to work." - Brad

Blogger, podcaster, and entrepreneur Gresham W. Harkless Jr. calls in to talk about his focus problem. He has a lot of ideas but how can he laser focus?

Jill suggests he use a whiteboard and write it out and test it out on his podcast or social media. Brad suggests Gresham pick one thing and do it over and over and get known for it. And use his creativity to sell exclusively to one client.

"As you're honing your entrepreneurial instinct, you need a lot of feedback." - Jill

What are your 2019 resolutions? Our producer, Saul, wants to react to situations in a more controlled and measured way. And say "no" more. And finish his album.

Jill's business resolution is to have more interest in accounting. And maybe figure out what's happening with analytics (even though she won't say the word). She's also going to raise her prices.

Brad doesn't make resolutions, but he is interested in changing his habits. So he's going to try to cut out sugar 5 out of 7 days a week. On the business front, he's upping his email game.

Want these show notes sent to your email? Get them every week by signing up for our mailing list here.

What are your plans for the new year? Let us know! 

Guest:

• Gresham “Gresh” W. Harkless Jr.is the founder and Blogger in Chief for CEO Blog Nation (CBNation.co) and is the founder and digital marketing specialist behind Blue 16 Media. Blue 16 Media is a digital marketing company providing digital marketing services to small to medium-sized businesses and organizations. Central to his marketing philosophy is that You Are a Media Company: Developing a Marketing Strategy to Connect with Your Target and Reach Your Goals. CBNation.co is a community of niche blogs for entrepreneurs and business owners including video content and audio content (podcast).