Building Systems that work for you (and not the other way around) with Stephanie Blake - Ep 557

Summary

ADHD reWired Ep 557: Building Systems That Work for You (and Not the Other Way Around)

Guest: Stephanie Blake (Business Coach, CEO, The Simple Business School & The Blake Collective)
Host: Eric Tivers, LCSW, ADHD-CCSP
Date: September 30, 2025

---

Episode Overview

This episode centers on how adults with ADHD can simplify, automate, and structure their businesses (and lives) to serve their unique ways of operating—rather than contorting themselves to fit conventional systems. Guest Stephanie Blake, a business coach who specializes in helping neurodivergent entrepreneurs, shares her journey from overwhelm to clarity and covers practical strategies, tools, and mindset shifts for working fewer hours, building authentic brands, and letting go of perfectionism.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Stephanie's ADHD Journey & Family Context

• Stephanie was diagnosed with ADHD at 33, after seeking answers for her son’s behavior.
• The recognition: “I was reading through all these articles, and I was like, oh, no, I have this.” (03:00)
• Meds were life-changing; overwhelm, sensory overload, and noise (especially as a mom) were significant triggers.
• Both Stephanie and Eric acknowledge possible autistic traits and the overlap with ADHD, especially regarding sensory issues.
  “I think I actually have the autism thrown in there. I haven’t been formally diagnosed.” —Stephanie (04:10)

2. Overwhelm, Overwork, and the Power of Simplifying

• Many business owners—with or without teams—tend to overcomplicate everything, especially at the start.
• Common themes: trying to do too much, piecing together countless tools, feeling buried by admin and tech issues.

“It always comes down to one thing, which is simplifying. Simplifying what you're selling and simplifying the back end of your business too.” —Stephanie (06:41)

• Advice: Start by selling ONE thing and dial it in before layering in complexity.
• On tools: Don’t cobble together 20+ apps if you can help it; seek all-in-one solutions or intentional, minimal stacks.

---

3. The Simple Business Suite: Tools and Customization

• Stephanie describes her all-in-one system that’s customized—users only see the tools they need, helping reduce shiny object syndrome and unnecessary distractions.
• Personalization for ADHD brains: removing menu items and features reduces cognitive load and overwhelm.

“If you don’t need an ecommerce shop, you won’t even see that in your account… you’re not getting distracted by all of these different features.” (08:25)

---

4. Team, Delegation, and Letting Go

• A key to working 20 hours a week is delegation—Stephanie has just one main team member, a VA for 20 hours/week, cutting her own hours in half.
• Recognizing financial realities: sometimes you’re not ready to hire, but also can’t afford NOT to.
• Importance of analyzing what tasks can be paused, eliminated, automated, or delegated.
• Letting go of perfectionism (in editing, emails, etc.) frees up time, energy, and authenticity.

“I don’t even edit my podcast episodes because I don’t care… If you resonate with me, you listen to it or you don’t.” —Stephanie (14:00)

---

5. Automations: Where to Start

• You must have a validated offer before automating—don’t automate what’s unproven.
• Use automation for onboarding: application, approval, payment, and scheduling can all be systematized, except the part where you decide if you want to work with someone.

Example automation flow:

1. Website application →
2. Email to you (alert) →
3. Move to “approved” →
4. Auto-email with payment info →
5. After payment, auto-email calendar link (26:00)

• About 70% of online businesses can be automated—but let go of the need for control.

---

6. Maintenance and Simplicity in Automation

• All tech breaks eventually; expect it, but don’t let fear stop you from automating.
• Keep your systems simple: fewer offers means fewer automations to maintain.
• Regular check-ins (maybe every 6 months), but most broken links or emails will usually get flagged by your own audience.
• Map your flow so when you need to troubleshoot, you know where to start.

---

7. Email and Content Automation: Reviewing and Updating

• Review and refresh automated email sequences every 6 months, especially as offers or business models change.
• If using mixed live/evergreen content, align all automations to your current core offer to avoid confusion or misaligned messaging (34:00).
• Let customer feedback drive updates—if something is outdated or breaks, someone will likely tell you.

---

8. Tools & Resources for ADHD Entrepreneurs

Stephanie’s Recommended Tool Stack:

• ClickUp: Project management, notes, reminders (quick add from mobile is ADHD-friendly) (35:01)
• Airtable: Data organization, more robust than spreadsheets, great for launches, bundles, or tracking info (36:14)
• Zapier: Connects apps, automates workflows where native integrations don’t exist (37:17)
• Streamyard: Used for live-streaming podcasts/interviews to multiple platforms, saving time over Zoom (37:31)
• Plus, Stephanie’s own Simple Business Suite for all-in-one backend business operations.

Shiny Object Syndrome:
Both Eric and Stephanie acknowledge the endless temptation of new tools; resist adding unless it clearly solves a current problem.

---

9. Authenticity, Connection, and Perfectionism

• Being real, vulnerable, and authentic fosters better connections and sustainable business (16:00).
• Don’t “scale” what isn’t working—test at small scale first, then automate or promote.
• Take breaks for clarity; don’t be afraid to pivot offers or messaging as markets or your situation shifts.

“Be okay with being you… Truthfully, that’s where that connection piece is going to propel you to the next level.” —Stephanie (16:31)

---

10. Final Advice & Big Picture Reflections

• Keep it simple: Overcomplicating delays progress and steals joy.
• Enjoy the journey: The goalpost will always move; focus on building a sustainable and enjoyable process.
• Let yourself off the hook: Accept imperfection, and don’t be afraid to discard what’s not working.
• Support matters: Don’t go it alone; find or build supportive community (whether for business, life, or self-care).

“If you’re not enjoying it, I mean, there’s no benefit to even doing it.” —Stephanie (39:54)

---

Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Diagnosis: “From the minute I walked in and started talking to the physician, she was like, you’re here for ADHD, aren’t you? She’s like, we don’t even really need to do a test.” —Stephanie (02:38)
• On Overwhelm: “I would just, like, lose my shit and freak out on everybody because I was just so overwhelmed…” —Stephanie (03:32)
• On System Overload: “I was spending over $1,000 a month just on tools… and things like the automations were breaking in the back end…” —Stephanie (08:58)
• On Perfectionism: “The last thing that you want to do is scale it... you can’t fix something that’s broken…” —Stephanie (17:17)
• On Simplicity: “Be okay with it being simple and be okay with not overthinking…” —Stephanie (39:09)

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Stephanie’s diagnosis story & neurodivergence: (02:38–04:42)
• Sensory challenges & coping tools: (04:42–05:20)
• Business overwhelm & simplification: (05:52–07:37)
• The Simple Business Suite & ADHD customization: (07:57–08:48)
• Automations: Getting started & practical examples: (25:01–26:50)
• Maintaining automations & process mapping: (29:34–31:54)
• Updating email sequences & aligning to strategy: (32:16–34:33)
• Tool recommendations: (34:53–38:59)
• Closing thoughts & final advice: (39:09–40:25)

---

Where to Find Stephanie

• Website: theblakecollective.com
• Instagram: @theblakecollective

---

Takeaway

Whether you’re running a business or building a life, the same ADHD-friendly lessons apply: simplify, automate what makes sense, focus on what matters, let go of perfection—and always remember, you don’t have to do it alone.

---

(Summary prepared with original language and tone preserved wherever possible, focusing on strategies and mindset shifts valuable for adults with ADHD in business and in life.)

Transcript

[Stephanie Blake]

They've been hustling, right? And they've gotten to a point where they are just also very overwhelmed because they've been trying to do too much. Typically, they've been trying to do too much on their own. So there's, there's so many different ways that you can approach it based on the type of business that you're in. And it always comes down to one thing, which is simplifying.

[Eric Tivers]

ADHD Rewired Episode 557 Since 2014, this has been the podcast for ADHD adults who have really good intentions and is slightly wandering attention. I'm Eric Tivers. I'm a licensed clinical social worker by training and a coach by design. I'm your host. And I'm Audie hd. ADHD Rewired is more than just a podcast. You can learn about our coaching and accountability groups, our virtual co working community, and more all@adhd Rewired.com we are wired for connection and you are not alone. Learn more about our offerings, including our quarterly live Q and a. Q&As. Get additional resources for every episode, including links to any resources we mention on today's show. You can support us on Patreon, sign up for our email newsletter and more, all@adhd Rewired.com and if this is your first time listening, welcome. Don't forget to hit, subscribe or follow on your podcast app so you never miss an episode. We know that starting is the hardest part, so let's get started.

[Audie]

Started.

[Eric Tivers]

Before we get started today, registration is open for our fall season of ADHD Rewired's coaching and accountability groups. Join our next live registration event on Thursday, October 3rd at 12pm Central to save $200. Because after that, our final event is October 9th and the price goes up. Start your pre registration now@coaching rewired.com get your name on our interest list. That's coaching rewired.com all right, on with the episode. Welcome back to another episode of ADHD Rewired. Today's guest is Stephanie Blake. Stephanie is a business coach and CEO of the Simple Business School and Simple Business Suites.

[Audie]

And we're going to be talking today.

[Eric Tivers]

About how to not just run a business when you have ADHD, but but how to do it in 20 hours or less.

[Audie]

Was my skepticism on that too, like palpable? I was like, wait, what?

[Stephanie Blake]

It was. But you're not the only one who says that.

[Audie]

All right? So let's just literally dive right in. So you know your quick story is your mom, you have two kids, they were diagnosed with ADHD. And then you were diagnosed with ADHD when you were 33.

[Stephanie Blake]

Yeah. So I thought my oldest had ADHD. So then that's when I went down. He's five now. So that's when I went down the ADHD rabbit hole, thinking, okay, does. Does he have it? And I was reading through all of these articles, and I was like, oh, no, I have this. He might have it, but I really have this. So then that was when I went in and got a formal diagnosis. And from the minute I walked in and I started talking to the physician, she was like, you're here for adhd, aren't you? She's like, we don't even really need to do a test because I can already tell that you. It's like, yeah, that's what I thought.

[Audie]

Interesting. Okay, so it was more of like, it's clear as day, but let's just do this just for the verification.

[Stephanie Blake]

Exactly.

[Audie]

Okay.

[Co-host or Guest]

Exactly.

[Audie]

So how is your ADHD showing up?

[Stephanie Blake]

I mean. Well, now I'm medicated. Full disclosure. So since I started taking medication that was. It's been about a year and a half. It completely changed my life.

[Audie]

Yeah.

[Stephanie Blake]

And I didn't. I don't even know how I was functioning prior to that, honestly, because now it's like. It's just my life is completely different. But prior to that, it was just getting incredibly overwhelmed by the smallest thing that was, I would say, where it would show up the most. So if I would walk downstairs and see clutter all over the floor for my kids, like they were just playing with toys and being kids, I would just, like, lose my shit and freak out on everybody because I was just so overwhelmed by not only the clutter on the floor, so it's like sensory overload, but then also the noises. That was a big one for me.

[Audie]

Yeah.

[Stephanie Blake]

So I think I'm actually have a U. DHD the autism thrown in there. I haven't been formally diagnosed, so I think there may be some crossover with sensory.

[Audie]

Yeah, that's where I'm at too. Not formally diagnosed. But over this last year, I've really been exploring that very seriously. And it's like the red car effect. Like, when you get a red car now you see all the red cars. Now that I've seen certain things in certain ways and things show up for me, I'm like, oh, it just seems so clear that I'm the part of audienced as well. You mentioned the sensory stuff, especially the noise. That's a huge one for me. Yeah, it really is.

[Stephanie Blake]

It's so bad. I have like, these are on my desk right now, these little flare earplugs. I don't know if you've seen these before, but I wear these all day long. If you could say. I say flare, but they're these little. I can pull them out so you can see. Nobody listening can see what I'm doing. But they're called flare. There's little earplugs. So, like there's these tiny little silicone things and you put them in your ear and you can hear everything, but it stops the loud sounds, like the really jarring sounds. And I have a one and a half year old that loves to scream for no reason.

[Eric Tivers]

I have a 13 year old that.

[Audie]

Loves to scream for no reason.

[Stephanie Blake]

So they're great for that. And I. My husband is working now and my youngest, they have them for kids too. So.

[Co-host or Guest]

Yeah, it's great.

[Audie]

Wow. Okay, so you run two companies and your businesses, you help people basically run online businesses.

[Stephanie Blake]

I help them run online businesses, but simplify them. That's my whole thing. Make it really simple so you don't overwork and you don't overcomplicate it. What are big thing I see people doing?

[Audie]

What are some of the common things that you see with people and how they overcomplicate things? And I know like every business is different, but I'm sure there's some sort of patterns that you see that are fairly common.

[Stephanie Blake]

Yeah, absolutely. So the biggest one is just trying to do too much. So it's kind of dependent based on the stage of business that you're in. So when you're first getting started in business, everybody is so excited. They think that this is the thing that's going to change their life. But then they very quickly realize that they don't know what they're doing. So then they have to learn all of these different things that go into running a business, from anything from marketing to potentially hiring to just figuring out what you're going to sell and how to price the thing that you want to sell. There's so many different things that go into it. So that first really like beginning stage, that foundational stage of business is very overwhelming for so many people because they don't know what they're doing. But then there's also those people who have been in business for a longer period of time and they've been hustling, right. And they've gotten to a point where they are just also very overwhelmed because they've been trying to do too much. Typically They've been trying to do too much on their own. So there's, there's so many different ways that you can approach it based on the type of business that you're in. And it always comes down to one thing, which is simplifying, simplifying what you're selling and simplifying the back end of your business too. So instead of trying to sell five different things, sell one thing, really dial that thing in. And then once it's dialed in, once you're making money from it, once you're not overworking, then we can add on other things.

[Co-host or Guest]

Right.

[Stephanie Blake]

Same with the tech in the back end. You don't need to have 20 different tools pieced together.

[Co-host or Guest]

Right.

[Stephanie Blake]

Like that. That's why I created the simple business suite, because you could have it all in one place and it can all be set up very simply. But again, these are things that people try to overcomplicate because they think they need to have the best of the best. I mean, again, there's so many different things, but that's really where that over.

[Audie]

Complication comes in as far as the tools go.

[Eric Tivers]

You mentioned that a simple business suite.

[Audie]

So is that like software that you've developed? Because that's, you know, for people who are trying to do online business, it's, there's definitely a bit of a piecemeal duct taping all the multiple Google suite tools together with some other things. So like what does yours look like?

[Stephanie Blake]

Yeah, absolutely. So it's an all in one system where it can host your CRM, your website, your products, your E commerce shop, your social media planning.

[Co-host or Guest]

Right.

[Stephanie Blake]

Your web chat bots. Right. There's so many different features that it encompasses, but the cool thing about ours is that we customize it to each user based on what they need. So for example, if you don't need an E commerce shop, you would not even see that in your account because the whole thing is about simplifying. So you're not getting distracted by all of these different features in your account. And that's where I see a lot of people getting stuck because they're getting distracted. There's all of these shiny objects, especially for people with adhd. We love our shiny objects.

[Co-host or Guest]

Right.

[Stephanie Blake]

So when you just kind of completely remove that from the picture, you don't even have that distraction.

[Audie]

So how can someone tell if the, you know, whether it's your software suite or someone else's? Is this the next shiny object or is this actually a viable solution?

[Stephanie Blake]

I mean, only you can answer that honestly. Because again, every business is different. Before I created this, I was piecing together all of those different pieces of software. I had a different email marketing tool, my website was in a different place, I had a social media planner and I was just piecing all these things together and eventually a point where I was spending over $1,000 a month just on tools. And I was like, this is insane. And on top of that, the different tools, they weren't connecting properly. So things like the automations were breaking in the back end and that was having a negative effect for the people that I was working with. Like people weren't getting the stuff that they needed.

[Audie]

I had an opposite problem not that long ago with one of my autom where they were getting it, but they were getting it three times and I was like, where is this happening? Where is this glitch in my funnel? And I finally figured it out but like the amount of testing trail and error and just like for a while I was literally manually going in and like unsubscribing people from the second and third time they got subscribed to that list. And it's like, why isn't this tool just recognizing that why would someone want to be on any list more than once?

[Stephanie Blake]

Right, Exactly. And that was something that has happened to me as well because I would send emails from multiple places, right? So it was like, okay, I was sending it from Airtable for example, and then I was also sending it through my email service provider and like you, I didn't know where these emails were going from. So then you have to spend all that time troubleshooting to figure out what do I even have set up, you know, and it gets so overwhelming because then you don't even remember what you set up four years ago.

[Audie]

Right. Because if you're not really good at sort of documenting all of your processes and as people with adhd, it's not always our strength. Yeah, it's like if we set something up years ago. I actually, I've been trying to use a tool that I've used for, since I've been in business and using it again in a couple different ways and I'm finding like, wait, where is this? Like it'll send like a confirmation email, but has my old address like, and it's just like, oh God, like where. I don't even know where to update that. So it's, it's an interesting sort of part of doing online business for as long as I've been doing it. Now let me ask you, so the idea of having a profitable, sustainable business working 20 hours or less a week, you gotta have people, right? I mean, I can't imagine doing it on my own at 20 hours.

[Stephanie Blake]

I mean, yes and no. I have. Currently, in my business, I have one main team member.

[Audie]

Okay.

[Stephanie Blake]

I have a virtual assistant, and she helps me about maximum 20 hours a week.

[Audie]

Okay.

[Stephanie Blake]

So if I didn't have her, then it would probably be 40 hours a week.

[Audie]

So you're saying by half of what you're doing really was, like, administrative type of work?

[Co-host or Guest]

Yeah.

[Audie]

So how when you're talking with someone who's, you know. Because I've been. I've kind of gone through these various phases in my business where, like, I had more work than I could handle for a while, but I was at a place where I couldn't quite afford to hire someone. Then I felt like the different phases of growth that I've been in, I kept kind of going through these phases.

[Eric Tivers]

Of, like, I need more help, but I can't quite afford it yet.

[Audie]

But I also can't afford to not do it. And right now, people who have listened to me, I'm recording this at the very end of August 2024. My business here has been struggling a bit, and it's like, right now, I don't have any administrative help at all. And I'm just trying to respond to the market. I have not been putting out a lot of podcast episodes as of lately, and I would love to get back to getting weekly episodes out. What I'm doing right now, this is the part of podcasting I love having these conversations, everything after we stop recording, I don't want to touch it. I want somebody else to take care of it.

[Stephanie Blake]

I'm the same way.

[Audie]

I had my. So, you know, as we're recording this, last week's episode that came out was with Matia Marais, and she volunteered to edit that episode because she also does a podcast. And she knew that I was kind of struggling with my time and just getting, like, putting my ads in there to promote our coaching groups. And if you count the procrastination hours I spent on it, not doing it. It took me all week to get that episode out, and I'm just like, oh, my God, like, this is so draining to me. And it's like trying to figure out, okay, like, I have to be careful about my expenses in the business, and I also need to be careful about my energy levels. It's this weird place that I'm in.

[Eric Tivers]

Right now, and I would imagine you're.

[Audie]

Seeing that as well as a lot of Clients you're working with.

[Stephanie Blake]

Yeah, no, I am, absolutely. And this is. I mean, there's so many different nuances to what you shared. And I mean, there's a piece where, okay, you can get rid of a lot of the things that are on your plate. Right. There's probably a lot of different pieces that don't even need to be done. A lot of different things in your business that you can just either get rid of right now or just put on pause.

[Co-host or Guest]

Right.

[Stephanie Blake]

Also, there's probably automations that can be set up to take care of a lot of different elements. And that's the part that people always want to do. They're like, I want to automate all of the things, but they don't know how to do it.

[Audie]

Yeah.

[Stephanie Blake]

Or they don't know what to automate.

[Co-host or Guest]

Right.

[Stephanie Blake]

That's a big piece for people who come to me. They're like, okay, I know that I can do less. I know that I can get rid of things. I know I can automate them. I don't know what I can automate. I don't even know how to set up those automations.

[Co-host or Guest]

Right.

[Stephanie Blake]

And then really the third piece of it is letting go. And we were talking about this offline or off air a little bit, and I was saying, I don't even edit my podcast episodes because I don't care. It's like, you resonate with me, you resonate with the people I bring on the show. You listen to it or you don't. And that's just part of the mentality that I've had to create and accept for myself because I was stuck in those feelings of everything needing to be perfect. If it wasn't perfect, then people wouldn't like me. And I was just going down this whole, whole trauma spiral.

[Co-host or Guest]

Right.

[Stephanie Blake]

So there was a lot of. I mean, for me personally and the people that I work with, there's a lot of, like, inner work, healing that needs to be done in order to get to the place where they're like, okay, if somebody doesn't want to listen to my podcast because it's not edited, I don't care. You know, but again, that's not something that happens overnight. That, that takes time.

[Co-host or Guest]

Yeah.

[Audie]

And part of why I've been sharing, you know, where I'm at with my business on the podcast, you know, it's like, to me, like, I think of vulnerability is like my love language. And it's like, if I'm not going to be real and authentic, because here's the thing, I've Been talking to so many different ADHD coaches over the last year, and what people aren't talking about, oh, you go online, you won't see this. People are struggling in this industry right now. Like, people who are good at what they do are struggling to actually have their business be profitable because, like, there's so much saturation currently in the market. And so, like, I'm. I've been trying to, like, do some pivoting and figure out and sort of even just like taking a little bit of a step back to allow for clarity of mind, which I find to be really helpful. When you're, like, in it all the time and there's so many moving parts to it, it's sometimes hard to take that perspective. So.

[Stephanie Blake]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Audie]

You know, you talked about automation as a way to sort of create time freedom in your business.

[Eric Tivers]

What are some of the things that.

[Audie]

People can start with when it comes to automation?

[Co-host or Guest]

Yeah.

[Stephanie Blake]

Can we go back to what you were talking about with authenticity?

[Audie]

Sure, absolutely.

[Stephanie Blake]

You cool with that?

[Co-host or Guest]

Yeah.

[Stephanie Blake]

Because that was, again, one of the things that I really struggled with for a long time was just being my true self, being authentic. And I noticed that as soon as I started doing that and I just started to, like, not really give a shit. People really resonated with that because I feel like so many people are so buttoned up and they're trying to be so professional that when they can see the real person behind the scenes, they're going to connect with that so much more clearly. Doesn't even make sense. They're going to connect with that so much more than somebody who they think is fake.

[Co-host or Guest]

Right.

[Stephanie Blake]

Like, you can tell. So, I mean, that would be my big piece of advice to anybody listening is to be okay with being you.

[Audie]

Yeah.

[Stephanie Blake]

And I know that sounds so cheesy, but truthfully, that that's where that connection piece is going to propel you to the next level of whatever you want, because people resonate with that more. Because everybody's struggling in some way.

[Audie]

Yeah.

[Stephanie Blake]

Whether they have a business or not. Somebody is struggling listening to this right now.

[Audie]

Absolutely. So it's true, because if you're especially for thinking about scaling a business, you don't want to scale something that's not really authentically you because that's just going to create more inauthentic versions of you, which is not going to help you at all if you have adhd, especially.

[Stephanie Blake]

Yeah, exactly, exactly. If it's not working right now, the last thing that you want to do is scale it. I tell it to people who are running to. They want to run ads for their business. And they're like, okay, well, I created this new offer. I'm ready to get people into it. I said, okay, well, have you actually tested this offer? Do you know if people actually want to buy this thing before you start running ads to it? Because you can't fix something that's broken, right? You need to test it. You need to make sure it's working. And when it comes to marketing, especially being your true authentic self, whether that's on a podcast, whether that's through email marketing, through social media, that. That will always be so much more well received than you just acting buttoned up and polished and wearing a mask.

[Audie]

Frankly, that wearing a mask, we could.

[Eric Tivers]

Do it at times, but it gets.

[Audie]

It's exhausting after a while and it's. It's not good for anybody, not good for whoever you're serving. It's not good for you, right?

[Stephanie Blake]

And frankly, that's where a lot of people's time is going is like, spending all of that time and energy trying to do things to keep that mask on. So, for example, instead of just typing up an email in 10 minutes and sending it out, they're taking three days to make sure that email is perfect and making all of these tweaks and changes to it when it could have just taken you 15 minutes, but now it's taken you three days, you know?

[Audie]

Well, I've got to tell you, thank God for ChatGPT because that has been my writing process, like, exponentially faster. It's. It's a great writing partner, you know, because you get to kind of go back and forth with it and there's no, like, fear of any judgment because it's a machine, you know?

[Co-host or Guest]

Exactly.

[Audie]

All right, let's do this.

[Eric Tivers]

Let's take a quick break. When we come back, let's talk tools.

[Audie]

And where people could focus on with automation.

[Eric Tivers]

So we will be right back. If you're listening to this episode, you might be thinking about how to automate the right things in your business or in your life. But here's the thing about adhd. Even the most beautifully automated system can become invisible once your brain gets used to seeing it. That's visual satiation. Your brain sees the same task list, calendar, or sticky note so often, it literally stops noticing it. It's like when you repeat a word until it doesn't really sound real anymore, except now it's your entire system. And that's where ADHD rewire its coaching and accountability groups. Come in our next live registration event is Friday October 3rd at 12pm Central and if you register then you can still save $200 after that. Our late registration pricing kicks in on Thursday October 9th at 10am Central or you can schedule a one on one registration call with me once you've completed your pre registration. More pricing information is on the website@coaching Rewired.com we also have three and six month payment plans so you can pick what works best for your budget. If your systems have stopped working for you, let's build new ones together. Start your preregistration today@coaching Rewired.com it takes 20 to 30 minutes to get started. If you've been wondering what group coaching and the power of community and accountability could do for you, don't wait. You can join by going now to coaching Rewired.com to add your name to our fall interest list. If you're new to the podcast, I am so glad you're here because I want you to hear right now. Well listeners, just like you said, after being a part of our coaching groups.

[ADHD Rewired Group Member 1]

Being a part of this group has been a life changing, life soothing experience.

[ADHD Rewired Group Member 2]

I feel like if I'd had this group 20 years ago, I can't imagine how much better my life could be now. But I'm really excited to continue to work this process going forward.

[ADHD Rewired Group Member 3]

So a lot of people are saying that they wish they had found this 20 years ago and I'm saying I wish I had found it 50 years ago. But as someone who's turning 70 this year, I wanted to talk to older people who are listening to this and say it's never too late. I am so glad that at this time in my life I am still doing this. One thing I would like to say was Eric keeps asking about, have you accepted your adhd? And I've always answered yes. I mean I've accepted it for 25 years now, but I accepted it as a diagnosis of defeats. And what I see now is I.

[Stephanie Blake]

Just mean I see it differently.

[ADHD Rewired Group Member 3]

I see there's hope.

[ADHD Rewired Group Member 1]

I came into this course with high expectations of what I was going to learn about ADHD and what I've learned about ADHD and the community of people who share these symptoms. What I've learned and what I've taken forward with me has greatly exceeded my expectations.

[ADHD Rewired Group Member 4]

This clip is like a secret weapon.

[Co-host or Guest]

I just feel like it's the tool.

[ADHD Rewired Group Member 4]

In my arsenal and like I definitely.

[Co-host or Guest]

You know, anybody that's struggling with something.

[ADHD Rewired Group Member 4]

Similar, I'm like, oh my gosh, like.

[Co-host or Guest]

This a missing link So I would.

[ADHD Rewired Group Member 2]

Encourage anyone who's at the beginning, who doesn't feel like they have their tools dialed in, or who doesn't know what we mean when we say, you know, a to do list, get on the group.

[Stephanie Blake]

Do it now.

[ADHD Rewired Group Member 5]

So I decided joining because I was trying to do this by myself and it just wasn't working. In 20 plus years I read the things, I listened to every podcast. I had all the tools and still I was losing jobs. Always stress. The guilt and disappointment were just ruining my life and I had to admit to myself that I just couldn't do it alone.

[ADHD Rewired Group Member 4]

So if you're thinking about doing this group, go for it. Check out the podcast, talk to Eric, or talk to people who are available. This is the place if you have ADHD to beat. If you're thinking about joining, please do. Please do. Like, like a lot of people said, I wish I joined sooner or made this step sooner because I just feel like I grew a lot personally in ways I didn't expect. It's so heartwarming and like soul fulfilling. It just feels incredible. It feels amazing.

[Eric Tivers]

Take the first step. Go to coachingrewired.com Add your name to our interest list and watch your email. And if you are intending on doing it but can't do it right now, pause this audio and set yourself a reminder to go to coaching Rewired. That's coaching Rewired.com support for this podcast also comes from Adult Study Hall, ADHD Rewired's virtual co working Community. You can join us in our always on quiet co working room that we call Ash 247 Ash's Adult Study hall or one of our many themed or facilitated sessions throughout the week. Go to adult study hall.com to learn more. It is free to try for the first week and at 1999amonth after that or 150 for the year, which saves.

[Audie]

You I think like 40 something percent.

[Eric Tivers]

It'll show you on the website when you're there. So that'[e-mail] you can also support us on Patreon. If you like the work that we are doing, consider giving a few [e-mail] ADHD Rewired contributors at $25 a month can join me once a month for a group coaching call that we do just about every fourth Tuesday of the month at 3:00pm Central. All right, that's all for the ads. And now let's get back to talking about automation where I'm about to ask.

[Audie]

Stephanie about what tools she likes. All right, we are back with Stephanie Blake. All right, Stephanie, let's talk automation tools. So people, and I hear this all the time too, like I want to.

[Eric Tivers]

Automate this and that.

[Audie]

Where do I start? Where do you think people should start?

[Stephanie Blake]

Yeah. So I mean first you have to have an offer that is selling, right? So that offer could vary greatly. It could be one on one coaching, it could be a group program, it could be a membership, it could be an e commerce store, right? So first we need to have something that is selling because again, the last thing that we want to do is automate something because if it breaks, then it's going to break 10 times over. So when it comes to automation, we want to start slow and then ramp things up. So let's just use one on one coaching as an example. That's really the easiest thing. Lowest hanging fruit. So when you are working with somebody on a one on one basis, you can automate essentially all parts of that application to payment process. So for example, if you have somebody filling out an application, okay, you can have them fill that out on your website, then it can automatically send you an email letting you know that this person applied. Okay. Then you can go into your CRM and you can move that person from the stage of applied to approve and then from there, once you move them to that stage, guess what, it can send them an automated email saying, hey, I can't wait to work with you. Here's the link to pay me.

[Co-host or Guest]

Okay?

[Stephanie Blake]

And then guess what? That process is also automated. So once they complete that payment, you can send a follow up email with the details to book their call.

[Co-host or Guest]

Right?

[Stephanie Blake]

So every single piece is automated with the exception maybe of you deciding whether or not you want to work with that person.

[Co-host or Guest]

Right?

[Stephanie Blake]

Very dependent on the type of business that you have and the type of offer. But for most online businesses, I mean this is a very rough number, but I would say 70% of your business can actually be automated. But a lot of people just want to have their hands in everything because that's where the control piece comes in.

[Audie]

And it's what I wanted to ask you about because you mentioned this. The only thing you have to really do is decide if you want to work with that client. And so part of it, this is deciding where are you okay with letting go of and where can you like the scheduling tool that I've used for well over a decade, I think it was called Schedule Once. Now it's something called Once Hub. You know the way the settings are, you can either have it where someone can like Ask for three different things and then you have to like respond to approve one of those. Or you just. They pick the date that's available and it just gets scheduled. And when I first started using it, I was doing the, you pick three and then I'll respond. But I wasn't responding and so that wasn't working. So I decided, you know, I'm going to sort of go on the opt out approach. I'm going to let them schedule it and if I realize that doesn't work, then I will reach out and say, hey, actually I need to schedule a different time. So it's sort of like that letting go and being okay.

[Eric Tivers]

If it doesn't work, that's okay.

[Audie]

I could then take action to reschedule something.

[Co-host or Guest]

Right?

[Stephanie Blake]

Exactly. Even as you go through the onboarding process with your clients too. I used to do system setups and onboarding. I would create the processes and then I would set all the tech up. Now what the big thing that people would say to me is like, I don't want every piece to be automated because I don't want it to feel like a robot.

[Co-host or Guest]

Okay, great.

[Stephanie Blake]

Well, there's a lot of touch points that we can add in there to make it feel like a human is contacting them. Or you can add in a mix of manual and automatic activities. So if you really want to send an email, you don't want the robot to send the email. Guess what? We can add in a step in your automation to create a task in your project management tool that says, hey, send an email to John Doe letting them know that they can book a call or whatever.

[Audie]

That, that in between space between manual and automated I look at as templates. Right? Because like, you can take the time to like have your voice, to have the, the what you're really trying to.

[Eric Tivers]

To get across and have the room for customization and personalization.

[Audie]

I do that with a lot of my communications with people. It's like, I don't need to reinvent this wheel all the time. Like, you know, start off the conversation in it with a template that you have a little bit of personalization with and then let the conversation go where it goes.

[Stephanie Blake]

Exactly, yeah. So when I work with people, I have a template and then I explain why I'm so excited to work with them. Here's what we're going to do during our time together. Because it's going to be different based on what you're doing with each person. Right. So that is where you can add in those manual touch points. But automation doesn't have to be scary. That's another big thing that people are really afraid of because they're afraid that all of these random automations are just going to be running, emails are going to be sent out randomly and they have no control over it. When it's set up correctly, that's not what happens at all.

[Audie]

You know, I was thinking about this, this idea of like when we get.

[Eric Tivers]

Our automation set up and it's working.

[Audie]

Well, it's going to work well for a period of time and you know, as time passes, things may change.

[Eric Tivers]

What do you recommend or what do.

[Audie]

You do for sort of maintenance around automation?

[Stephanie Blake]

Yeah, absolutely. And one thing I will say is automation is tech and tech breaks, that's inevitable, right? So that is something that you need to be okay with because the chances of it breaking are much less than the time you're saving using those automations. I hope I phrase that properly, but you are getting so much more benefit from using these automations versus the 1% chance that something's going to break. So I did want to say that, but in terms of maintenance, again this is why it's so important to keep everything in your business really simple. Because the more offers that you're trying to sell, the more automations you're going to have, the more sales pages that you're going to need, right? So when you start to compound all of these different offers that you're selling, that compounds everything else in the back end. So that's why I always say get to a point where you're comfortable with the amount of money that you're making and the amount of time that you're working and then you can start to add more on because at that, that point you will likely have the space to bring in other people to support you.

[Co-host or Guest]

Right?

[Stephanie Blake]

So once we're at that point when it comes to the maintenance for the different automations, there really shouldn't be that, it shouldn't be that complicated because you have your one offer, you ideally have like a flowchart or something with the process. So it's like somebody comes in through this route, then they go to your email, then they go to this, right? So that would be my recommendation to do, if you have not done yet, just have a general overview of how your offer is working in the backend so that you know if something does break, okay, this is where it broke. Like if John is getting four emails, I know that because I set it up in this tool, that's where I have to go to fix that. So then that's where you can just set reminders maybe like once every six months to go in and check and make sure everything's working properly. But nine times out of 10, if something's not working, somebody's going to tell you. That's kind of the point where I'm at now. It's like if an automation breaks, one of my members is going to reach out and tell me and then I'll go fix it.

[Audie]

Yeah. That was actually how I discovered that I was for a certain part of my list, they were getting a triplicate of certain emails because they let me know exactly.

[Stephanie Blake]

And honestly that's the way that I prefer to do it. Nobody. And if somebody gets upset or angry about it, like that's just not your person. And they can.

[Audie]

Right. They can go like, did you see it again? Subscribe button. Go ahead and click it.

[Co-host or Guest]

Exactly.

[Audie]

So with a lot of online businesses, email marketing, you know, the idea of having all this sort of like evergreen automation content. So, you know, I think I'm my primary email list. I think I probably have 30 some emails that get trickled out over a period of time. How would you recommend? Like, because let's imagine that like, you know, every once in a while I'll come across one of my emails because someone responds to it and I'm like, oh my God, I made that so long ago. Like, how often do you think it's necessary to review what you actually are.

[Eric Tivers]

Sending out there if it's automated and.

[Audie]

Potentially update if need be?

[Co-host or Guest]

Yeah.

[Stephanie Blake]

So that also kind of depends on your business and your business model. So I've gone through so many different phases with email automation at this point. When I first started, for the first couple of years I just had all of my emails automated. So you would just bounce from one email sequence to the next. Like they would finish one, they would go to the next one.

[Co-host or Guest]

Right.

[Stephanie Blake]

But one thing that I realized is at that time in my business I wanted to move more to launching, so I wanted to do more live launches, I wanted to do live workshops, things like that. And I was finding when I had that set up with the evergreen emails, like a lot of people that I wanted to invite to those live launches, they were still going through these evergreen email campaigns, so they weren't even on my list to send my live emails to.

[Co-host or Guest]

Right.

[Stephanie Blake]

So that would be the first thing I would say is what type of business model do you want? Do you want one where you have a lot of evergreen stuff happening in the background, which is great, do that. Or do you Want one that incorporates both or do you want one where you're just doing a lot of live launches? So that would be the first thing to ask yourself. And if you want a combination of both, that's what I have, then I would make sure that all of your emails are aligned to that one offer that you're selling because again, we don't want random emails going out with old offers that we're not even selling anymore. So I would revisit once every six months and just to make sure that not only the content and the emails is accurate, but the strategy is aligned with the greater strategy of your business. Especially in the last couple of years, so many people have had to pivot their business strategies because of the economy. So you need to make sure that the automations, and especially when it comes to emails, because those are forward facing, those emails are still aligned with your larger business goals and your larger business.

[Audie]

Strategy other than your business suite. If there were like three to five like sort of tools that people who are wanting to get into online business may want to explore, what tools would you say are worth a look?

[Stephanie Blake]

Yeah, absolutely. So I love ClickUp we use for project management. I've been using it forever.

[Audie]

I love that you like it better than Asana.

[Stephanie Blake]

I love it.

[Co-host or Guest]

Yeah.

[Audie]

Yeah you do. Okay, quick question on ClickUp and this is just my own question. So I've used Asana on and off for quite some time. I have not been using it as of lately. One of the things I don't like about it is if I like have a quick thing that, you know, if I'm in my car I want to be able to like just use my phone reminders app. That's, you know, remind me, blah, blah, blah. There's no like quick way to add something to Asana like on the phone. Like you have to go into too many menus, too many clicks and like that is not easy friendly. How is ClickUp?

[Stephanie Blake]

It's amazing. And that is the only way I function because well, I have a million reminders on my phone. Just let's be real, I need reminders for everything. Yeah, but in terms of click up here, I'll show you. I'll just pull it up on my phone right now so nobody listening can see this. But if I were to just go in. So this is just like the home screen of my app. You can click down here it says create. So you can click that and you can create either a new task or a reminder. So if I click reminder I can just create a one off Reminder for myself. So if I'm like, check on funnel, okay? That will automatically pop up for today as a quote unquote reminder for me.

[Audie]

Okay, so ClickUp, what else?

[Stephanie Blake]

So that's great for project management. And then I also love using airtable. So Airtable, they call themselves a project management tool. They're not.

[Eric Tivers]

It's a database, right? It's like a database right click on airtable.

[Stephanie Blake]

It's basically like Google sheets on steroids. You can't even really connect the two together. But if you're thinking of collecting information in some way, like either in a spreadsheet view or a visual view, airtable is the place. So, for example, we do a lot of launches. So I do a lot of bundle launches, which is like a collection of resources. We have over 50 contributors coming together. So when I do those, I need a place to keep all of the information organized and all of the data in one place. So we use Airtable for that. And it also has really great automations built in as well. And then another really great tool is Zapier. So that allows you to basically connect any apps together that aren't natively connected. So before, when I was using all of these different tools, I was using Zapier to connect them all together. And that's what I was saying. Like, sometimes they would break and I wouldn't know where they were breaking, so then I would have to dive into zapier.

[Audie]

Zapier is great.

[Stephanie Blake]

It is. It really is. It's great. And I still use that for some things, but I mean, the majority of our automations in the suite, they all work together, but I still use it for a couple of things just because I love using it.

[Eric Tivers]

Okay, what else? What other tools?

[Stephanie Blake]

So we, for our podcast, we host all of our episodes live in front of our members. So we use Streamyard for that, to stream that into our community. And whenever I do launches, I also like to do live interviews with the collaborators. So we'll stream those to Instagram, Facebook, YouTube. It's basically one place that allows you to record and then you can stream it to multiple platforms, which again, is just saving so much time.

[Audie]

I definitely thought about switching to Streamyard for the podcast because I know it has some little bit better quality on some of the audio features and some other tools that Zoom doesn't have. You know, it's, you know, that whole idea of like, how many tools is too many tools and I like Traffic. Yeah, this is cool. But I use Zoom for so many other things, so maybe I'm Just gonna stick with Zoom, you know, it's because I definitely can get. I used to get into that, like, ooh, new shiny tool syndrome. You know, it's. And so I've been very sort of like, okay, this is working well enough. I'm not. I'm not looking for a tool, you know, so, yeah.

[Stephanie Blake]

Oh, we could talk about shiny objects with tools all day. I have a whole graveyard of shiny object tools that I've signed up for that I've never used just because it looked fun to play with. So. Yeah, but I mean, the reason that I use streamyard instead of Zoom is because I literally stream it.

[Co-host or Guest]

Right.

[Stephanie Blake]

And that's not something that Zoom allows. So again, that's just going back to your strategy to say, like, what am I doing?

[Audie]

Do I.

[Stephanie Blake]

Actually, it's going to help.

[Audie]

I think with Zoom, you could stream to one source, but I don't think you can do multiple sources in streaming.

[Stephanie Blake]

Correct. Yeah, it's not great for that.

[Audie]

All right, what else would you like to share? As we're. I think we're going to bring this one to a close here pretty soon. We're trying to keep this a little shorter.

[Stephanie Blake]

Yeah, absolutely. So I would say my biggest recommendation for anybody wanting to start a business or if you've been in business for a while, is be okay with it being simple and be okay with not overthinking. Because that's like I said before, a big thing that I see people doing is just overthinking and over complicating to try to get to that imaginary goal post even sooner. But truly, and this is again going to sound cheesy, but it's really about the journey. Because that imaginary end goal that you have in your mind, the six figure year, the million dollar business, once you get there, guess what? It's just going to be pushed back even further. So really, one, simplifying your business and two, really staying focused on enjoying the journey. Because as entrepreneurs, it's really hard. It's really, really hard. And if you're not enjoying it, I mean, there's no. There's no benefit to even doing it.

[Eric Tivers]

Your website is the Blake Collective. It's B L A K E collective dot com. Thank you so much.

[Audie]

Is there anywhere else people can find information about you or is your website the best sort of starting point?

[Stephanie Blake]

Yeah, the website is the best place. And then Instagram is the main place that I hang out. So my handle is the same. The Blake Collective over there.

[Audie]

Stephanie, thank you so much. This was a lot of fun.

[Co-host or Guest]

Yeah.

[Stephanie Blake]

Thank you for having me.

[Co-host or Guest]

This is great.

[Audie]

Of course, thanks.

[Eric Tivers]

Even if you're not technically running a business, if you're an adult with adhd, you're kind of already an entrepreneur. Because being the CEO of your own life takes just as much experimenting, simplifying and making hard decisions. You're building systems, managing energy, dealing with unexpected fires, and constantly having to pivot when things break or when you're brain shifts gears without warning. Whether you're building a business or trying to build a life that works for you, the takeaway is the same. You don't have to do it alone. Simplify what you can, automate what makes sense, let go of what's no longer serving you and surround yourself with support wherever possible. You want to learn more about the coaching and accountability groups and our adult study hall community? Go to ADHD Rewired.com thanks for listening. And remember, you're not just managing ADHD, you're leading a life. So lead it your way. Until next time.