The 4 Strategic Time Blocks You Need to Schedule Monthly for Business Growth

Episode 3 transcript: The four strategic time blocks

Hey there, and welcome back to Your Fun and Profitable Online Business, where we make growing your business feel as good as it looks. I'm Wendy, a money coach and business strategist, and I'm here to help you simplify, streamline, and actually enjoy the process of growing your business. Today, we're talking about something that has been an absolute game changer for me. It's four four-hour blocks that I schedule every single month, and it keeps my business moving forward without the chaos.

Because let's be real, when we don't intentionally make time to do the things to grow our business, they just don't happen. If you've ever found yourself scrambling at the end of the month, wondering where all the time went, or just feeling like you're constantly working, but not actually making progress, this episode's for you. All right, let's jump in. Now, one thing that I've learned about running my business is that if you don't schedule time for growth, the day-to-day stuff is going to eat up every last minute.

And you're going to look at the end of the day and be like, what did I do? Look at the end of the week. What did I do? Or look at the end of the month and be like, I have nothing to show for it.

I feel like I'm just working and I don't know what's happening. We have to be intentional with our time. And that's something that's really important. And I'm probably going to thread it throughout a lot of my conversations.

This is because of email, client work, social media, which I have a hate-hate relationship with social media, and a hundred other things that come on our plate. So it's our job as business owners to be protective of our time and to grow our business the way we want to grow it. So I created this system, and it helps me move things forward without getting overwhelmed. Now, these aren't just the day-to-day tasks.

This is intentional CEO time that keeps my business growing in a way that works for me and is fun and sustainable. I'm going to break them down for you.

Block 1: Planning your month

The first block is what I call planning. Now, this sounds really, really simple. I get it. But this is my chance to step back every single month and set it up for success.

I generally do this in the first week. I try to start the first of the month, but maybe it'll be a little bit after that just because of schedules and everything else. But this is where I make sure that things are happening, because I intentionally want them to happen, not just happening for the sake of happening. And in this block, I focus on reviewing what's coming up that month, maybe there's launches, events or collaborations.

So I go through and I look at all that. I decide on the three things I want to accomplish that month, that'll move the needle in my business. Now, these are generally things that I've decided at the start of the quarter, and we can talk about setting up our quarter for success in another conversation. But these are the three things that I've already decided are going to move the needle forward.

So I put them down, I write them. And then I map out when I'm actually going to work on these things. I don't leave these up to chance. And a lot of clients have access to my calendar.

I've got to protect my time so it doesn't get filled in with all the other things. So I intentionally schedule that time. Now, here I also set up weekly themes. I don't write my content in advance, but I have an idea of what I'm going to talk about each week.

So they're general overarching themes. Sometimes it'll be tied to the podcast. Sometimes it might be tied to my emails and it might be the random social media posts that I do, but I'm intentionally having some sort of theme that's moving the ball forward. Keep in mind, this is not a step-by-step 47 IKEA instruction process.

This is really simple, it's strategic, and it's effective. I look at what's working, what's coming up next, and how I want to show up in my business that month. And by the end of it, I have a clear focus for the month. and I know exactly what matters and why I'm doing it.

Now, number two, this is by far one of my favorites.

Block 2: Big Vision Energy

I call it BVE. That's for big vision energy. And this is where I dream really, really big. I often look out the window and watch the birds or, you know, see what the squirrels are doing.

But I really use this time to think and just let anything that pops up in my brain have a little bit of space. The problem is we get so caught up in the day to day of our business, we don't leave white space to actually think about what we want to do, that enjoyable aspect of it. So this time block is all about zooming out, going way up in the clouds, and making sure I'm still excited about the direction that I'm heading. In this session, what I do is I reflect on where my business is going and how I feel about it.

I brainstorm new ideas, new offers, new collaborations, new ways to grow, the list goes on and on. And I ask myself, if I could wave my magic wand and make something happen, what would it be? I don't have to think at this point, oh, that will never happen, or oh, I've got to do all these things to make that happen. I let myself have the space just to just dream big.

And I write it down. I do not do any editing of my thoughts here. I just write them all down. Because when you give yourself permission to think big, it's so much better than your to-do list.

You allow yourself to see what's possible, not what can't happen because we don't have what we need or whatever else the case may be. Now, if you've been feeling stuck or uninspired, this one four-hour block will change everything for your month. Allow yourself to just see the possibilities.

Block 3: Learning for fresh perspective

The third block is learning. Now, this one might surprise you, and I say that very sarcastically. I love learning. I'm a lifelong learner in my heart, and this is actually a reward for me.

I do a lot of learning to reach my goals and to achieve my plans, but this one is a reward where I let myself learn anything I want to learn that's outside of my goals. This might be an event that a friend has forwarded to me. This might be a book that I wanted to read. This might be just a topic I've been curious about, but doesn't really move my goals where they want to be.

Now, this one's really helpful because it allows me to have some breakthroughs that maybe I didn't have. Whenever we get this fresh perspective, and often these are outside of my industry, knowledge, but whenever we allow ourselves to have a fresh perspective, we can really come to the board with a new way of looking at it. So this one's about giving yourself permission to learn just for the sake of learning. The last block is probably my least favorite, but it's still necessary.

Block 4: Closing loops before the next month

And this one's what I call wrap up. This one's about catching anything before it falls through the cracks. Because there's always something. This one's where I follow up with connections I meant to check in with.

I do love connecting. So this is a great time for me. I send emails or schedule coffee chats or whatever that may be. I do any lingering admin tasks like bookkeeping or organizing files.

And then I tie up any loose ends from the month. So I'm not carrying them into next month. I want to make sure that month stays clean. It may not have been my best month.

I want to make sure it stays clean and stays where it needs to be. Now, this block is like a business reset button for me. And it keeps me from feeling overwhelmed. All right, let's talk about your next best action as it pertains to this.

I want you to go grab your calendar. If it's a paper calendar, great. If it's a digital calendar, even more awesome, whatever it is. And schedule these four blocks, four hour times.

So there's four hour blocks, four different times on your calendar next month. Just put them on there. Make these a non-negotiable. Promise yourself that you're going to do these things because you're a CEO and you're going to make your business everything you know it can be.

So let's recap real fast. We have planning, where we set our month up for success and identify our top three priorities. BVE, big vision energy, where we dream big, brainstorm, and make sure all the things we're doing are heading us in the right direction. Learning, where we explore something new just for the sake of learning.

And wrap up, where we close the loops and make sure nothing slips through the cracks. That's just 16 hours a month. And I promise you, it'll make everything feel so much more intentional, clear, and definitely fun. All right, that wraps up this episode.

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