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What's up, everybody? Welcome to another episode of Call Her Creator Powered by Stan. I'm Kaitlyn Rhodes and today we are going to be talking about the challenges and the struggles of being a solo entrepreneur. A creator that just feels isolated. Maybe you're burnt out, maybe you can't manage your time. Very good. So we're going to go through different tools and, you know, techniques that I use as a solo creator to stay afloat of all of these things. So we're going to talk about time management strategies, how I avoid burnout, isolation and decision fatigue. Yes, that is a thing, and so much more. So stay tuned to this episode. I cannot wait to get into it and I hope it helps someone out there that is struggling with some of these things. Hey, friend. Welcome back to Call Her Creator Powered by your all in One Creator Store. Stan. Stan is the easiest way for you to make money online. All of your courses, digital products and bookings are hosted within your link in bio. And if you're ready to start your free trial, visit my show notes and click my affiliate link to get started today. So I want to shout out one of our loyal listeners for a fabulous review over on Apple podcast, Tina Bear Rachel. She says, I've been a VA for about a year and this podcast is life changing. It leaves me inspired and ready to tackle the day. Only complaint, I want more. Give me two episodes a week asap. Thank you so, so much, Tina. I love that girl. I don't know if I can keep up with two episodes right now, but I, I will try to get there one day. You guys keep loving the podcast, keep downloading it, keep leaving me reviews. That's the only way to make sure that it is a success. And you know, maybe one day I'll get to two episodes a week. So you guys already know I like to start these episodes out with a social media update of the week. And this week we are talking about the DMs now. DMS. What does that mean? Direct message. You guys should probably already know that, but Instagram has launched new DM updates, including message editing and pin chats. So let's talk about this. So Instagram just introduced some cool new features to direct messaging. I've got my notes here, so I want to tell you guys what those are. They want to make chatting even easier on people and better because what they're seeing is that a lot of people are sharing things privately instead of publicly. So they're seeing a lot of people in the dm. So they're trying to make it Better for us. I actually had a call with Instagram a couple weeks ago, and they were just chatting with me about what I would change if I could. And I know as a content creator, if you have a lot of followers, the DMs can get really, really messy. I was actually at a conference this week, and someone's like, you know, I message you, why can't you message me back? It's probably because I didn't even see it because the DMS have been messy, you guys. They are messy. But I think Instagram's updates, they're trying to fix that, so keep that in mind. I know one of the fixes that they're doing well, two that I like here. Instagram users can now pin up to three chats to the top of their dms. This makes it easier for you to find them. I think this is genius because again, I get so many messages and I might. I might reply back to you, and then after that I lose the message because I'm using many chat automation, people are DMing me. It's all just getting lost. So having the ability to pin a message up at the top is, I think, is super duper helpful. They're also letting users turn on red receipts, so. So if you want people to know you read your message, cool. If you don't want the read your messages, you can actually turn that off. Plus, they're adding new chat themes, so you can actually customize what everything looks like and feels like. The colors. I think that's pretty cool. Not necessarily needed, but why not? And then the last one is a message editing, which is, love this. We need this for text messages too, which I think Apple allows us to do this. I have an iPhone. But what Instagram's letting you do is you can now edit your message in the DMS up to 15 minutes after sending it. So if you send an angry message, you have 15 minutes to delete it. If you are thinking about this big business opportunity with another creator, you send it and then you're like, oh, my God, I don't want to send that anymore. You can totally delete it, but you only have 15 minutes to do so. So I like these updates. Instagram, let's keep them coming, make the DMS easier for us. Guys, I again, this is a sign from Instagram to continue using DMS. They want you there in the DMs, using them, talking to people every time. I told you, every time they are tweaking a feature, that means they want you to use it. So get on up in those direct messages. All right, so today's episode, it's a little heavy. You know, I personally believe that being a solo creator, solopreneur, you can be pretty isolating. Up until I had my team, I now have two girls that work with me full time in house. But before that, it was just me. And it is definitely a lonely place to be if you're by yourself creating content. You know, the world's buzzing with activity around you. You're staring at your phone, you're thinking of the greatest hook or viral video that you get to record. It all sounds peaceful, right? But what we don't realize is that can truly be a breeding ground for isolation and challenges. That can weigh really heavy on a creator's shoulders and hearts. So what I want to do today is kind of walk you guys through how I handle that isolation at times, what I do for time management, I had a lot of DMs on call her creator, asking how I manage all of my time. And then we're also going to talk about some other obstacles that come with being a creator, working by yourself and doing the thing, growing a business. So I'm gonna go over some challenges, some pro tips to combat those challenges, and then at the end of this, you should feel enlightened. You should feel like a weight has been lifted off your shoulders, because I'm at least, one, going to let you know you're not alone. And two, I'm gonna help you fix these feelings. So let's get into it. Challenge number one, which is the most popular in my DMs, is our good old friend, time management. Now, we all know that when it comes to creating this killer content, getting it out there, time management is truly your secret sauce. But we've all been there. You get writer's block, distractions creep in. Before you know it, your schedule's probably a mess, especially working from home. Someone knocks on the door, crap, You're. You're. You're broken up from whatever you were doing. And then you have to remember, oh, wait, I was recording this. And then you run back over to it. So staying focused and managing your content creation, creation time like a pro should be at the top of your list. And hopefully I'm going to give you some tips to do that. Now, how can you still ramp up your content creation game, but also get more done in less time? Let's kind of dive into these tips and tricks to boost your productivity and keep those creative juices flowing. So tip number one, if you want to save Time, Just do it. I was at a again, I told you guys, I was at a conference this week and one of the biggest tips that these content creators, creators were talking about, this woman does YouTube videos, Instagram videos, TikTok videos. And her biggest tip for everyone was to just record. Just do it. Don't just sit on these ideas. You end up wasting so much time. And also don't fall down the rabbit hole of researching ideas. Just get up on that video and do it. Just start. Sometimes we get paralyzed by our idea and then nothing happens. And if you've been sitting there for over 30 minutes and nothing is coming, what I want you to do is skip it and come back later. So you set that timer. If you're ready to do content creation, set that timer for 30 minutes. If you get to that 30 minute mark and you still haven't done anything, it's time to save where you're at, move on to the next task and then you can come back to it later. So what you can do after that, when you're feeling like a creative block, you can just free create. And what I mean by that is you just start creating whatever comes to your head. This is almost like an exercise for your brain. I know you guys remember Icebreakers back in college or high school, think of it like that. So what you can do is just, you know, if you're into art, you could start drawing. If you are content creator that's on video or TikTok, I mean what, what brings you passion? What do you think about all the time? Just start scripting or drawing and just kind of get your creative juices flowing. Now with that tip number two comes in outline your idea or storyboard it. Once you get that idea in your head, if you stop for a second and do some planning around it, like an outline, a storyboard, maybe even like bullet points about the idea, it will help your creation process go smoother. So hash out your outline, pick your topic and then the rest should just start flowing from there. Now if you're absolutely lost and you need some help with topic ideas or you just need some inspiration, I've talked about this website before, but you can go to answerthepublic. Com. All you need to do there is type in a keyword or a phrase that relates to your industry or the pain points that your target audience is suffering with, and answer the public is going to give you like 50 ideas around that specific topic or keyword. Now you're wondering, you're going to want to make sure you're limiting your distractions when you're doing this. So shut your computer off, click out of your 57 windows and focus on this one thing. Now, if you're on Answer the public, obviously you're not going to shut your computer down, but at least exit all those windows out and focus on Answer the public. Put in your keyword, see what's written there, Write them down on a piece of paper. If you're a visualizer, type it up on a Google Doc if that's better for you. But just kick out those distractions and focus on that one thing. Now, when it comes to distractions, I learned this from an old boss a long time ago. I was extremely flustered because I was working for an agency and I had 25 clients to manage and I was getting overwhelmed because I was trying to post on their socials and I just kept getting emails over and over again from different clients. And so I'd have to stop what I was doing, go answer the email, do whatever they needed to do, and then I'd get back to my task. Oh, another email just came. Let me go do this. Oh, gotta get back to my task. You see, when I started doing that, I started getting a little bit lost in my creation process. I was overwhelmed, I was getting distracted, and then I was just getting upset. So I went to my boss and I'm like, listen, 25 clients is way too much. I cannot handle this workload. This is crazy. And he looked at me and he's like, you know, we've kind of set time timelines for each client. You should be fine. What's going on here? What are, what, what's distracting you? And I was like, well, there's a bunch of people that keep emailing me and I have to keep answering to what they're doing, so what am I supposed to do? And he told me to time block. And I know that sounds so simple, but I had no idea what really, what was time blocking. So he suggested, kaitlyn, you're going to check your email around 8 o' clock and then you can check your email around 1 o'. Clock. Besides that, you don't need to be checking that email constantly. There's no reason for you to do that. I think I do that naturally because I have attention deficit disorder and I'm just like, oh, I'm bored here, let me go check my email. So what I have to do is I have to exit out of my email and literally put time blocks on my calendar. Check your email. I do it around 8 o'. Clock. Or 9 o', clock, whenever your working hours are, and then again around the afternoon. Now obviously you might want to add one more in around 4 o' clock before you check out. If you work, you know, nine to five. I know as content creators, we're not chained to that 9 to 5, but for a typical like 9 to 5 schedule, check your email three times in the day and put it on your calendar. I like to use Google Calendar to help me do this. I also have Asana. I'll assign myself a task with a due date and then if I have something super important to get done, I'll put it on my calendar as well. But you know, I've got my tasks set in two different places. For this podcast we use Notion. That's another task for management tool. It's kind of like if you're a really big list person, Notion's really great for that because you kind of check off your list. Asana is the same way. So those are my three time management tools that I use and they're super duper helpful. So that's Google Calendar, Asana and then Notion. Now you don't need Asana and Notion. The only reason I have both is because I personally use Asana for my agency and for my content creation for social marketing Queen. And then Notion is for call her creator. Since it's powered by Stan, it's with another team. You know, that's what I have over there. Now. Speaking of time management, if you're feeling burned out as a content creator, I'm sure you are, or you have been, I want you to consider content batching as well. Now, it doesn't mean you have to always do content batching. I know, you know, we have to stay on the trends and stay with these timely new like the news, whatever's going on in the, in the moment, you want to stay timely on that. So I don't recommend content batching all the time, but if you're feeling a little burnt out, go ahead and put like an hour on your calendar and just boom, batch, record a bunch of videos or batch, create some blogs, whatever kind of content creator you are, go ahead and do that in an hour time and then save it. And then you can always go back to it later when you're, whenever you're ready to post it. Some other quick tips for time management. Number one, learn when you are the most productive and work during that time. For me, mornings are my time to work because I have children, I'm married, you know, we've got baseball practice, picking up the kids dance class, whatever it is that I'm doing. So I have to tell myself, okay, I'm going to hone in and focus on my work from 8am to about 2pm after that, you know, I'm still checking emails sometimes if I need to, but I know in my heart and on my calendar that I'm going to be working from 8 to 2. So figure out what time of the day works best for you and make that your working hours. I have a friend, graphic designer Kyle, he's a night owl, so his working hours are in the evening. So you don't have to do a certain time. Just pick what is best for you and make those your working hours. The next tip I have is prioritize your tasks. This is a struggle that my team had for a little while. They were again, they were getting emails from clients and they were having to hop on that. So I told them, you know, prioritize, focus on what is the most important. That's why every morning when I sit down to do my work, I look at my calendar, I look at my asana and I kind of like put in order from importance what I need to get done first, what can get done later, maybe what I could start working on for tomorrow. I think that is the secret sauce. Also for a content creator, if you've got a lot of content you need to create, or if you're working on your digital product or something like that, maybe you've had this digital product idea in your head and it's time to get it done so you can start making money. Then go ahead and prioritize what you need to get done there. Whether that is picking the title of your digital product, doing the actual bulk of the content creation for it, whatever it is, prioritize, make a timeline for yourself and then stick to that. I promise that will keep you in line to get things done. Which kind of falls into the next tip. Set specific goals. If you are working on this course or this digital product, set some goals for yourself over the month. Like maybe week one you're going to push out two pages of your digital product and then week three, you're going to record the accompanying video for it, whatever that is, set your goals, put it in your Google Calendar or maybe I even have a printed out calendar that I use. I have a planner. So y', all, I have three, basically three list on Asana, Google Calendar and then also in my little planner that I have at home. So put it where you need it, set your goals and then try to get those goals done in a timely manner. The next tip is to set your boundaries. This one is probably the most challenging because we. I don't know, it's hard sometimes to set boundaries and stay with them. Especially when you're working for yourself and you're making your own money. Sometimes you're like, crap, I have to do this. I'm working for myself. Who knows if I'm going to get another lead tomorrow? I got to work on it now. But that's not always the case. Set some limits for yourself, set some working hours, stick to them, and maintain a healthy work life balance. It will help you to avoid getting burnout in the end. And then you just quit. Quit everything. And then the last tip I have right here for time management is to take breaks when you need them. I like to go on walks during my breaks or I just recently joined a gym. So I'll go to the gym, I'll sit in a sauna, I'll listen to music, anything to get away from your content creation for a little bit or whatever your workload is for that day. Go take some time off, regroup, and then come back refreshed. Then you can get your work done better. Okay? So the next challenge that a lot of creators and business owners deal with is decision fatigue. Which I had no idea this was a thing. But once I found out about it and read about it, I'm like, holy crap. That is why I am so drained. So, fun fact for you. Your brain makes thousands of decisions every single day. Studies actually say that you make between 10 to 40,000 decisions a day. So, so imagine you're making all these decisions. Of course, by the end of the day, your brain's going to hurt. So when I say to my husband, my brain hurts, it probably actually really does because I'm making all these decisions all day long. So decision fatigue. Obviously it's the inability to focus and the experience of decreased energy caused by making too many decisions. All of the mental energy used to make these thousands of large and small decisions, it can be draining, especially by the early afternoon. That's probably why we all grab a Celsius or red. But once you're drained, that lack of mental energy can really cause you to make poor decisions. That can lead to increased stress and decreased productivity. And we don't want that. But the good news here is that you can simplify your life. And if you follow a couple of these tips I'm going to give you, it should help with your decision fatigue. The first tip is to stick to a routine. I personally have the same routine every single morning. Once I get to the the office, I brew my coffee, I check my emails, I do my morning content creation, which is typically creating a reel, and then I get to working either on my agency or on the podcast. That's my day, and I stick to it every single time. I know some people who will wake up at home, do some yoga or meditation, they'll read a book, they'll take a shower, and then they're ready to do the work. So figure out what routine works for you, start doing that, and stick to it. I've seen some business owners too, and content creators assign specific days of the week for specific tasks. So there's a couple books that I've read too. What they say is like, make some days where you work on the business and then make some days where you work in the business. So, for example, like Mondays, you work on the business, you're out there marketing, you're checking emails, you're following up with leads, and then Tuesday, you're working in the business. You're creating content, you're selling products, you're reaching out to customers. Kind of see where I'm seeing there. So set your days and flow with that. I personally don't really do that because I have so much going on. I've got a ton of different projects, but I think that if I was only focused on one business, I would totally set specific days for myself. So, like, Monday, Wednesday, Friday would probably be working on the business, and then Tuesday, Thursday would be working in the business. Make a plan so you're not having to make stupid decisions all day long and getting stressed out and fatigued. Challenge number three is overcoming isolation. The one thing creators don't talk enough about is we write alone, we create content alone, we publish content alone. The key to avoiding isolation here and loneliness is to be proactive in combating it. Many solopreneurs, many creators, we often work so hard, we skip sleep, we eat poorly, we forget about our hobbies. And I understand, you know, business does take some sacrificing and hard work. But taking care of yourself and your mental health doesn't have to be complicated. Small changes can have a really big impact on your mood, your motivation, your energy level. So if you've worked from home, you've probably heard the typical advice. Go for a walk before starting your day. Work in a public cafe for human interaction. Journal. Join a group that relates to your hobby. Listen to music. I love all of those tips. I think it's so Important to take a break from your bubble. Before I had an office space and I was working from home, it got to the point where I was like going crazy. I would. I would be at home all day long working, and then my husband would get home and I'd want to go somewhere and, you know, he'd want the complete opposite because he had been at the office all day. So we started talking and he's like, you got to get out of this house sometimes. So I started visiting a coffee shop twice a week and working out of my. My normal space, out of my normal routine. It helped me. It helped me to get some human interaction. I probably talked the baristas ear off a little too much because I wasn't used to having somebody to talk to. But it was an easy way for me to reconnect with humans and even form some friendships. Now I can say with our office space, it's really nice. I have my social media managers come in twice a week so we can at least get some team building together. You know, talk out loud, have some human interaction. But I don't require them to come in every single day because also, as a content creator, we need to sometimes be in our own space because again, we have these weird brain stops where we're working and then we have to, like, bounce a ball before we get back into content creation. So whatever works for you, but try to collaborate with others. Now another idea, when you're collaborating with others, it's an easy way to connect with other people in your space. So what you can do. This is going to be your homework for today's episode. Research some people around your industry. Find someone who aligns with you, your own beliefs, who looks fun, and reach out to them in the DMs. Some people will turn down a collaboration, but most people would be super happy to collaborate with you. And you guys could do a collaborative reel. You could do an Instagram Live together just to get to talking with them. I was actually on an Instagram Live the other day with three of my favorite creators, Juan, Shannon and Lucas, and it just felt so good to talk to other humans that struggle and do the same thing that I do. So if you can find these communities and get into them, there's also like Facebook groups, which I think I'll talk about in a minute. I'll get into support systems, but for this specific tip, collaboration, ask them to collaborate with you on some content just to kind of get out of your funk and to work with somebody else. The next challenge that people in our space really don't do well with is maintaining work life balance. Now, I have personally made this a commitment to myself to work on my work life balance because as a wife and as a mother, it's really crucial that I stay in check with it because obviously family over everything, I don't want to lose them because I was working so hard on my business and forgot about, about the people that I love. So I've found a few steps that a few things that have helped me maintain that work life balance and I want to share those with you. Time is so precious, guys. So please listen to these four little tips that I have for you. First and foremost, if you're a creator that offers services, you have to make sure you nail down your scope of work and stick to that scope. Because anytime a client tries to creep out of that scope, you, you charge for it. Because if you don't, you're basically wasting your time on this person. Time is money these days. So if they're getting out of the scope and taking advantage of your time, it takes away from you, it takes away from your work life balance. So as a creator, as a business owner, create that scope of work. Don't go out of it unless you're getting paid for it. The next piece of advice here is to set a schedule. Again, my hours are typically 8 to 2, but my office hours, if, if a client were to ask me, it's three, nine to five. I mean, I'm there to answer and help, but my most productive time is 8 to 2. I try not. Well, I don't. I do not check emails after 5. I do not check Slack, though I did check Slack last night cuz lo needed something last minute for the podcast. Thank God I did check it, but I try really hard to turn that off after five. I've also started setting downtime on my iPhone because I'm on Instagram or TikTok or Facebook all the time. On I've set some limits on my phone to where after 8 o', clock, my phone kind of locks up and it says, oh, it's your downtime. You can't get on that app. And I love it because it keeps me off my phone. I'm then able to focus on my family or read a book or watch a Netflix show. And it's not all work, work, work, work, work. With a schedule. With a schedule. You can also, you know, set your boundaries. Don't answer your phone after hours. Do not answer your phone after hours. It can wait till tomorrow. It can wait for the Working time, focus on your home life. I was really bad at answering clients after hours. I had one client that was taking really bad advantage of me. He was texting me at 9pm and I was answering him and there was just really no reason for that. I truly don't think there's really too many emergencies in social media so it can wait for the next day for working hours. And then lastly, when it comes to your work life, balance systems are a really great tip for you as well. You use automations to your advantage. Again, I have my dubsado set up to where when I get a lead they're going to get taken care of with a couple emails that I already set up in a workflow. Stan also lets you do this if you buy a product or a coaching call, you have the option to then set up the neck the email that flows out to them as soon as they purchase. So you know, maybe you write something like, hey, thanks so much for ordering my product. My working hours are 9 to 5. I'll be checking on you in a couple days to make sure everything's going smoothly. Then you kind of set it out there for them like, hey, you got my product. Don't be trying to call me as soon as you get it. It might be 9 o', clock, so set those boundaries, set those working systems and times. Spend your time wisely guys. Spend it with the ones you love. Don't just focus too much on work. The next challenge I have for you guys is having a support system. And this is what I was talking about when I mentioned the collaboration. Because our work can be so lonely, you need to have a support system around you. I am so thankful for my husband and my children. They are truly my biggest fans and they support me and encourage me daily to keep on my grind. But they also remind me that, hey mama, you worked all day. Can I have some of your time? I love you no matter what but hey, give me some of your time. You need that encouragement though, guys. You need someone to tell you, hey, you're doing a really good job but don't forget about your real life too. So pick someone to be your support system. Tell them your they're your support system. And then when you have those moments where you're like, oh crap, do I need to work on this work or should I take my time off right now? You can then text that person, call that person and just say, hey, need you to pull me off the cliff for a minute now what I did not write here in my notes, but I know, I wanted to talk about with you guys when it comes to having a support system, if you don't have anybody at home, there are really a lot of good Facebook groups out there. So I've joined a couple different social media manager Facebook groups. I've joined some influencer groups, creator groups. And so when I think I'm struggling with something that's only happening to me, I'll go to that Facebook group and I'll go search up whatever I'm struggling with. And it's so funny to me to see how many other solopreneurs are struggling with what I'm struggling with. So join those groups if you've got any community groups that are local to you. You know, go to those little mixers, go network with people, even if you only do it once a month. Get yourself out there, get yourself out of your bubble like I mentioned earlier, and go talk and have interaction with other people. It's also, you know, very underrated how good it feels when you realize someone is struggling with the same thing that you're struggling with. It feels it will help to calm your heart if you talk with them about it and realize that you're not the only person struggling with that specific struggle. So I hope you guys realize as a solopreneur, as a solo creator, it's super easy to feel isolated. I get it. But you have to remember that you're not alone in this journey. If you take these proactive steps to combat your loneliness, you can thrive both personally and professionally. Start by reaching out to fellow solopreneurs and creators. Join online communities where you can connect with these like minded individuals. Schedule regular coffee chats. Go to networking events. You don't even have to go to a real in life coffee chat. I have Jimmy Brockett. He is a past client of mine. Sometimes we'll have virtual coffee chats just to bounce ideas off of each other and get out of the normal daily grind. And then don't forget to prioritize self care. Take breaks. Enjoy activities that make you happy. Seek support when you need it. I know that I have these mental health breaks where I'll go get a massage or I'll get my lashes done or I'll go get a facial. Take care of yourself too. While you're doing all of this and helping everyone else with their business, take care of you too. Remember that your well being is essential for the success of your business. And finally, embrace the power of collaboration. Partner with others. Seek mentorship. You know, mentors can actually provide really good, valuable insights for you and help you overcome challenges more effectively. I'm a coach myself, but I have hired other coaches in the past just to bounce off struggles that I'm struggling with or ideas and it's nice to have someone else that understands what I'm going through and talk it out with them. So don't be afraid to book a coaching call. I actually offer coaching calls for other social media managers and content creators. If you ever want to chat with me on that, send me a DM and we can get that set up. But nurture your connections, practice self care and seek support. I know you are going to thrive and you've got this. If you like this episode today, please please download my podcast. That is how they are measuring the success of this podcast and it would mean the world to me to see your support so I can keep going. I'd love for you to leave me a review as well because I actually read all of my reviews and I will feature you on my podcast if you leave me one. But thank you guys so much for listening to today's episode. Social Marketing Queen I'm out.