Leonie Dawson's Blog, page 29

diary: drama unfolding in 15 steps

Dearests,

Does what it says on the box.

Last week, I watched “He’s All That”. 0/10. So fucking bad. Soooooo bad.What makes it worse however, is I didn’t think of my posture on the couch while I watched it.When I woke up in the morning, I could barely walk.Went to Beloved Osteopath. Spine had descended into pelvic bowl and was now stuck there with muscle spasms. Fuckkkkkkk. This is the horrific pain of having hypermobility: the smallest, randomest shit makes your bones dislocate. Remember that time last year I dislocated my pelvic bowl & prolapsed lumbar disc and it took 5 months to heal? I did that from fucking WALKING.This time, the pain has been breathtakingly bad. I’ve woken up and not been able to roll over in bed. I’ve had to wake Chris up to get him to help me out of bed. I have fretted that I wouldn’t be able to get myself off the toilet. I have been so very afraid that this is my body at 38. How the fuck am I going to survive my Elder Years?Went away on a mini break to visit our in-laws. First time we’ve travelled in 3 years. I was determined to go. We had a good time. Will share more about this when I am functioning. But now, let me continue to kvetch.We intended to take an extra day to be there, but Chris didn’t want the kids to miss a day of school, so we came back early. That morning after we came back and took the kids to school? We had a car accident. Ran into a big kangaroo. We were ok. The kangaroo miraculously was ok. Our car? Not. Bits of car all over the road. Managed to limp the car back home with weeping children in shock, too upset for school anyway. Their first car accident. A milestone.Car will be in panel beaters for next two months.Called Wild Bushman Dad to cheer up the weeping children. Let him projectile shout in the phone to them “YOU’LL BE ALRIGHT DARLINS. GRANDAD’S HIT PLENTY OF FUCKING ROOS. MAINLY WALLABIES THOUGH. THEY GET STUCK UNDER THE CAR AND FUCK UP YOUR STEERING. IT’S BLOODY SCARY BUT AT LEAST YOU’RE OK. GRANDAD LOVES YOU.” It really did cheer them up, and me too.Tell me you’re Australian without telling me you’re Australian…Back to the osteopath yesterday, bent sideways in the most painful of ways, my whole torso tight in spasms. The receptionists flinch as they see me shuffle in all bent up, struggling to get in and out of chairs. I cry on the osteopath’s table for the first time, body shrieking in pain. All that travel and a car accident had made me go backwards.No walking, no stretching, no yoga, no pilates. Nothing but rest, heat packs and more osteo sessions until we can unbend the bent, unspasm the spasm.I have to cancel a bunch of interviews and friend dates. I feel like a shite friend. As much as I want to see mates & have a lark… it’s a fucking delicate balancing act between parenting kidliwinks, owning a company, the autismz & a body that dislocates when sneezing. Every time I’m in the clear, something new rears its head.Life continues to happen, apace.In conclusion, fuck “He’s All That.” Not worth the agony.

All my love,
Your wonky friend,
Leonie

FREE GOODIES:

[image error]  Daily-ish writings
[image error]  Weekly love letters
[image error]  Podcast: Leonie Dawson Refuses To Be Categorised
[image error]  A library of free treasures

COURSES:

🛍   NEW: Behind The Scenes: A Multi-Millionaires Finances in 2021 (only $7!!!)
[image error]   Sales Star
💥.  Marketing Without Social Media
[image error]   Money, Manifesting & Multiple Streams of Income
[image error]   40 Days To A Finished Book
[image error]   40 Days To Create & Sell Your E-Course

The post diary: drama unfolding in 15 steps appeared first on Leonie Dawson | Goals, Marketing + Creativity For Glorious Humans.

August 2021 Review

Dearests,

Yay! Our new tradition! A monthly review! You can read April & May’s here, June’s here and July’s here.

I’ll cover:

life blessings & challengeswhat I’ve createdhow much my business earnedwhat business experiments we tried over the last month (and what the results were!)my goals for next month.Want to listen to this as a podcast episode instead of reading?

Easyyyy babes! Just click play above, or subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, PocketCast (or wherever else you listen to podcasts!)

My goals for August that I set last month:Help my kids get through their online schooling – DONEKeep the energy up with our reading intensive program – DONEStay sane, gentle and happy with good self care. – DONEFinish promoting next live round of 40 Days To Create & Sell Your E-Course – DONEFinish new workbook editions – DONETake X course for self study – DONEStart Project 10% – DONERead “Atomic Habits” – HALFWAYStudy more Noom – DONEHere’s what happened in AugustLIFE:We spent the first week in lockdown doing online schooling. Our state managed to squash the Covid outbreak again, thank goodness. So back to school the kids went.I started doing private reformer pilates classes at Noosa Flow. I have done mat pilates before, and this is my first time doing reformer. I.fucking.love.it.so.much. I am THRILLED!I went back to my naturopath to get results of a bunch of tests I did.We had a handyman in to fix my leaking office.I did a bunch of bushwalks and bloody loved them.I studied Tara Brach’s “Freeing Ourselves with Mindfulness” courseMy husband got vaccinated! Hooray! And I got a vaccination appointment for next month! I am excited! (Australians nailed the suppression of Covid for the first year or so through lockdowns. What it did not nail was ensuring vaccination supplies, so we’re much later to that game than other countries. As my husband reckons: probably best that other countries got them first – they needed them more!)Operation De-Blah

I felt a bit uninspired this month, to be honest. I wrote about it here. It’s always a bit of a surprise for me when I’m unmotivated – I’m usually chockfulla the excitements and drive!

I did a few things to de-blah myself: I took myself off for an afternoon of art galleries & doing a photo walk. I finished a couple of work projects that felt like they were hanging over my head. I reduced my work hours and started a new 21 day challenge of no spending. And I created a new mini workshop about my money & finances because mama loooooves making new stuff.

I think I’ll probably still need to monitor my excitement levels over the next wee while. I need to prioritise NOVELTY: hanging out with mates, taking solo artist dates, doing more DIY projects & making room for play.

WHAT I READ THIS MONTH

My favourite books this month were:

Playing with FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early)Primary School Confidential – Mrs WoogFrom Marathon To Ultra: this was written by one of my Book e-course students, and I bought it to support him and also as a bit of a joke because HAHAHAHA YEAH AS IF I REALLY NEED TO LEARN HOW TO GO FROM BEING JUST A MARATHON RUNNER TO AN ACTUAL ULTRA MARATHON RUNNER. I am not in the target market for this book at all. Anyway, I read the introduction, got hooked and read it in one night. It was actually really interesting even for an exercise hating hottie like me.Annie Sullivan & The Trials of Helen Keller. My only beef with this book is I wish it had gone for much longer and covered her entire life!China Days visual journalSpring Rain – graphic memoir by Andy WarnerIf you’re looking for some hot Victorian era gay erotica, HOO BOI DO I HAVE YOU COVERED.BUSINESS

We had a busy month on a few fronts in the business.

We did a couple things this month – we launched a new live round of 40 Days To Create & Sell Your E-Course. We were planning on leaving it just at that, but I got bored so thus why I launched a new mini workshop about my money & finances. I don’t know if it was the smartest idea – to do a launch inside another launch period. But it was worth it to de-funk myself, and it was a great experiment. I’ll give more details about it in the money section below!

One of my part-time assistants L needed to take personal leave this month, so my other part-time assistant Z had to manage customer service emails. I decided it was a great opportunity to treat myself like an Inbox Consultant. I went into our customer service inbox a few times a week to see if I could find ways to reduce the amount of emails we were getting and how long it took to answer them. It ended up being a fun and successful wee project, and I documented the results here: How We Halved Our Inbox Time.

On an organisational front, I tried out the Getting Things Done inbox system, and fucking LOVED it. I wrote more about it here. I’ve been doing it religiously every week since, and feel SO much more organised! I didn’t continue live blogging my weekly reviews, but they now really only do take me an hour or so. I’ve gotten so many weird odd tasks done that I’ve been putting off for yearrrrs. Plus, as part of my weekly review, I set priorities for the next week for my assistant Z, and it’s been helpful for both of us.

I also got my assistant Z to start on a new idea I’ve been wanting to try – improving different areas of my business 10% at a time. It will become a series of mini projects, each with a specific mission & outcome. This month, her first Project 10% was to pitch me to 20 podcasts and schedule me as a guest. We’re just about to have our meeting this week now the project has been completed, and we’ll talk about what we learned, what methods worked and what didn’t. And then we’ll brainstorm for our next Project 10% for her to work on… at this stage, increasing the number of subscribers to our mailing lists.

WHAT I BLOGGED THAT I HAVEN’T ALREADY LINKED ABOVE:Brisbane: City of BoysLockdown FeelingsScrapbook of things I’ve found around the internetThe one in which I look like a moleInterviewed on the Tits Up! podcastRIGHT… LET’S TALK MONEY!

Before we begin: I want to acknowledge that you may get your money buttons pressed when I share about my income. I share my income details because few women & non-binary do, and I want to give you an example of someone doing it. I think it’s really important for our financial literacy to talk about money – it’s how we learn! Straight white dudes talk about money all the time without shame, and I want the same to be true for us as well. Research shows that women and non-binary folks are much better money custodians – they spend their cash on their families, communities and to charities.

I also want to acknowledge the numerous unearned privileges I have and benefit from: I am white, I pass as cishet, my disabilities are not visible, and I live in a developed country.

If you’d like to know more about how I donate, I have more details about it here.

HOW MUCH DID I EARN IN AUGUST?E-courses: $61,000Passive income business: $17,000Ethical managed funds growth: $25,000Investment property: $2,000EMDG: $30,000 (this is for the last financial year – the Australian Government pays for 50% of international advertising costs for exporters)Affiliate commissions: $1,000

TOTAL: $136,000

Which e-courses made the most?Money Lessons Learned This Month

To be honest – I wasn’t happy with how I did with the launch of 40 Days To Create & Sell Your E-course this month. Last time I did a live round of it a year ago, I sold $77,000 in enrolments. So I anticipated about that – but pretty quickly realised I wasn’t going to hit that figure. This time we sold about $40k with a reduced launch (that includes payment plans coming in over the next 4 months). I think it was due to doing a Prices Doubling sale in April – so people who were interested in doing the e-course jumped on board then.

Once we didn’t hit our goals during the early bird period, I quickly decided to do a much quieter launch and start working on something new. I always earn more the first time I launch a course – most new course releases bring in over $100,000 because it’s completely fresh and new for all my peeps, and all my students end up taking more than one of my courses.

Anyways, between the e-course launch not being as robust as I wanted, and me being freaking borrrrrred, I decided to launch a mini-course at the same time. I made Behind The Scenes of a Multi-Millionaire’s Finances in 2021 and decided to:

give it away as a bonus to all my Money, Manifesting & Multiple Streams of Income studentssell for $5 as an early bird discountthen keep selling it for $7.

I haven’t tried selling a program for such a tiny price before, so it was all a glorious experiment.

I sent two sales emails about it, and sold 683 for a total of $4,787.30.

My intention with creating such a tiny priced course was to maybe entice people who hadn’t bought from me before to buy, get a huge amount of value and useful information, and maybe consider buying one of my larger programs.

After I’d made it, I realised there were two courses that would be useful for people finishing that workshop – the Money course and the E-course course. And I thought it would be fun to experiment with giving peeps $50 off vouchers if they wanted to sign up for either (or both) of those courses. Buy a course for $7! Get up to $100 off other courses!

Again: I haven’t really tried anything like this before so it’s all a big experiment!

So far, we’ve had 20 people use the coupon to buy another course for US$149. So all up that’s another $2980 in sales from the mini-course.  All up, about $8,000 in sales from a mini-course experiment. Next up, I’ll probably try using the mini-course as a tripwire product and test that out.

It’s not a huge amount in sales for a business my size, but worth testing it out. I’ll likely just continue to do courses around the $100/$200 price point – I have a bunch of topics I keep getting asked about and need a training for. I do like doing these kinds of experiments and trying new things however!

Goals for SeptemberRelease new workshopProject 10%: Email opt-insTest tripwire productWeekly blog postsEnjoy school holidays & our mini-trip awayStay creatively inspired!

All My Love,

FREE GOODIES:

[image error]  Daily-ish writings
[image error]  Weekly love letters
[image error]  Podcast: Leonie Dawson Refuses To Be Categorised
[image error]  A library of free treasures

COURSES:

❗️   Behind The Scenes of a Multi-Millionaire’s Finances in 2021 (only $7!)
[image error]   Sales Star
💥.  Marketing Without Social Media
[image error]   Money, Manifesting & Multiple Streams of Income
[image error]   40 Days To A Finished Book
[image error]   40 Days To Create & Sell Your E-Course

The post August 2021 Review appeared first on Leonie Dawson | Goals, Marketing + Creativity For Glorious Humans.

Great Success! Operation Reclaim Office Is In Full Swing!

Let’s play a fun game of “spot where the sink and aircon used to be”

Pooky bears,

Remember I wrote to you about six weeks ago all pissy about the state of my leaking office?

Writing to you with an important update… my office is somewhat fixed (probably!)

Over the weekend we had a handyman in to:

repair the corner of the outside wall that had come away in floodwaterremove the old sink out of the room (that I don’t use – but it backs up in heavy rain)remove the old airconditioning unit from the wall (the wood was rotting around it).

So far, everything looks great. But we need to wait for a proper deluge before we know for sure that it’s floodproof. Usually we get massive rain storms in September, so hopefully we won’t have much longer to wait. We’ll wait to get new flooring installed once we’ve had enough rain to know it doesn’t leak anymore.

While the handyman was here he fixed a few cosmetic things as well that have been annoying me:

patched the holes in the ceiling from 2019 when we replaced fluro lighting with downlightsremoved some rotten decorative wood from outsiderendered the empty patches so it blended with the rest of the outside wallreplaced some rotten verandah planks.

We used Pol’s Handyman – he was recommended by a friend & he did a great job.

There’s still some painting and patching to do over the new boards where the aircon and sink were, but it’s looking pretty rad compared to what it was! It’s PROGRESS!

We decided not to install new flooring yet – we need to wait until we’ve tested whether it really is leakproof in the big storms! I’ll probably just end up with cheap lino in there – I’m a messy painter, and don’t want to feel like I have to be clean.

I need a new rug in my office to replace the old ones that were destroyed in the floods. And at the same time, our living room rug is starting to look pretty used & stained after 8 years. So, being the brilliant cheapskate I am, I’m going to demote the living room rug into my office, and have already ordered a new one for the living room. I don’t really care much about the stains for my studio… I’ll only end up with more paint on it anyway!

My favourite rugs hands down are a very specific type of rug from a specific brand that is actually relatively cheap. They are (write this down!) from Rug Culture, but specifically the ones that are made of Japanese acrylic with a dense 2cm pile. Not all their rugs are, so you need to check on that one. Well, that is, if you’re like me, and looooove a comfy thick rug that is NOT shaggy.

Here’s what I bought for our living room… it’s got ALL THE COLOURS! Because, clearly, I am a maximalist and my home is full of rainbows. Our living room lounge is BRIGHT RED, the armchair is lime green and the ottoman is blue velvet. Our old rug has similar rainbow stripes, and it makes all of us so happy.

Rug Culture doesn’t currently sell directly to customers, so you need to hunt around and buy through other rug retailers online. My only recommendation is do NOT BUY FROM KOGAN. Or Dick Smith. Or Matt Blatt. Or any of the zillion other stores that Kogan now owns. I had an absolutely shocking experience buying from Kogan, and I’ll never, ever, ever buy from them again, and I’ll shout my displeasure about them from the rooftops.

Clearly I’m not the only one.

Anyways, my pissy Scorpio rant over.

I’m THRILLED to have a (probably) leakproof office!

Once I’ve finished painting and patching, I’ll move in my old childhood wooden desk & set up a sewing space for my kids. And finish repainting that old bookcase a bright fuschia pink and move the kids excess books out to it.

I guess I should say incase you’re wondering: you don’t need a perfect office to be able to create.

You actually don’t even really need an office at all. I’ve brought in 7 figures while working on a desk in the corner of my bedroom for years. I’ve worked in parks, in offices, at libraries and up trees. Most of all, I like to create on my couch and bed.

It sure is nice to have a place that doesn’t actively destroy your shit however! So I’m thrilled to be on the path to a leakproof joint!

Big love,

FREE GOODIES:

[image error]  Daily-ish writings
[image error]  Weekly love letters
[image error]  Podcast: Leonie Dawson Refuses To Be Categorised
[image error]  A library of free treasures

COURSES:

   NEW: Behind The Scenes: A Multi-Millionaires Finances in 2021 (only $7!!!)
[image error]   Sales Star
.  Marketing Without Social Media
[image error]   Money, Manifesting & Multiple Streams of Income
[image error]   40 Days To A Finished Book
[image error]   40 Days To Create & Sell Your E-Course

The post Great Success! Operation Reclaim Office Is In Full Swing! appeared first on Leonie Dawson | Goals, Marketing + Creativity For Glorious Humans.

New 21 Day Challenge: No Spend!

Treasures,

Earlier this year I started doing a bunch of 21 day challenges to try out new habits.

I’ve done:

21 days of no social media (which quickly became… forever)21 days of a deep digital declutter (no internet browsing or shopping!)21 days of meditation (I also did 21 days of blogging at same time!)21 days of a reading intensive with my kids

I’m hankering to do another challenge… I’m feeling a wee bit uninspired of late, and need a new zest for liiiife! And there’s nothing like novelty & change to excite my brain.

Want to listen to this article as a podcast?

Easyyyy babes! Just click play above, or subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, PocketCast (or wherever else you listen to podcasts!)

I’m going to do a 21 day no spend challenge.

It’s probably NOT great timing to do it to be honest – we’re just about to head off on our first mini-holiday in yeaaaars AND then after that, we’ve got another two weeks of school holidays.

But this is the one that feels like I am most called to do right now – and I already find myself intuitively starting to do it. So that says to me it’s TIME!

I still want to allow plenty of freedom and flexibility within this challenge. I want to take the kids out if we feel like it. If we need to buy something, we’ll buy it. One of my favourite things each week is going to my favourite bookstore cafe. I like supporting local stores! I love getting a smoothie when we go for a walk. All of this is totally fine.

We are pretty good at saving, and don’t really buy luxury products. But I do want to stop my habit of overbuying and unconscious consumption. I want to stick to a stricter budget. (I also just went through a big detailed chunk of our finances in this new $7 money mini-workshop incase you missed it!)

And I want to guide some of that excess cash into ethical managed funds instead.

Here’s my own wee guidelines/thoughtsIf I do need to buy something – don’t add anything to the order. Just buy the one thing, not six other random things!I’m going to likely keep a public log of what I am buying to bring extra clarity around it.I’m going to not buy online for the next 21 days. I just get into this habit of buying even more stuff so I qualify for free shipping.Definitely no buying from Amazon!I have a stack of books (both printed & Kindle) to read.My kids are flooded with books, so don’t need me to buy anymore. We can get back into the habit of using the library instead.I’d like to experience more nature instead of shops. Consider the beach or a bushwalk instead?Consider cooking more at home instead of getting takeaway.Hot zone shops where I always end up buying stuff: Chemist. Big W. Target. Pillowtalk.I only recently did an Expenses Challenge to cut extra costs out of my business and personal spending (just like the one we do in the Money course!) – I don’t know if there’ll be much to cut out this time. But I’ll have a looksee at it and see if I can!No idea if I’ll daily blog it as I go…

As always, I’ll trust what feels good!

HOORAY! A NEW CHALLENGE! HOW FUN!

Sending you all so much love!

Big hugs,

P.S. Just remembered… I actually did a no spend challenge a couple of years ago! I even did a spending log! This is kind of like the prototype to my 21 day challenges I think, except I left that one open-ended. It was hugely helpful then as a reset, so I’m excited to do it again! HOORAY!

FREE GOODIES:

[image error]  Daily-ish writings
[image error]  Weekly love letters
[image error]  Podcast: Leonie Dawson Refuses To Be Categorised
[image error]  A library of free treasures

COURSES:

   NEW: Behind The Scenes: A Multi-Millionaires Finances in 2021 (only $7!!!)
[image error]   Sales Star
.  Marketing Without Social Media
[image error]   Money, Manifesting & Multiple Streams of Income
[image error]   40 Days To A Finished Book
[image error]   40 Days To Create & Sell Your E-Course

 

The post New 21 Day Challenge: No Spend! appeared first on Leonie Dawson | Goals, Marketing + Creativity For Glorious Humans.

Tits Up with Pinky McKay Podcast

Blossoms!

I sat down with the amazing Pinky McKay to talk all things motherhood and money!




Pinky has just a *chefs kiss* podcast name: Tits Up. 



 
Fucking phenomenal.
 
It’s not just the name that’s good though, the content’s pretty bloody brilliant too!

On this episode we discuss:

Mums and money – why women having money matters.
Simple tips even if you don’t have lots of money – I started with nothing too.
How I was recently diagnosed with Autism and ADHD and the impacts.
My lifestyle and her mantra ‘Go Slow, Do Less’
You might be dying of envy at the lifestyle I have created for my family, but I sure as shit have ‘tits up’ moments just like everyone else. Listen and laugh!

To listen, head HERE!

With abundance and love,



 

FREE GOODIES:

[image error]  Daily-ish writings
[image error]  Weekly love letters
[image error]  Podcast: Leonie Dawson Refuses To Be Categorised
[image error]  A library of free treasures

COURSES:

[image error]   Sales Star
[image error].  Marketing Without Social Media
[image error]   Money, Manifesting & Multiple Streams of Income
[image error]   40 Days To A Finished Book
[image error]   40 Days To Create & Sell Your E-Course (starts September 1!!!)

 

The post Tits Up with Pinky McKay Podcast appeared first on Leonie Dawson | Goals, Marketing + Creativity For Glorious Humans.

How We Halved Our Time Spent On Emails!

Possums,

I had an idea a wee while ago for my own business that we’ve started working on.

It’s called Project 10%.

What it means: we’re going to work on different areas of our business and improve them by 10% or more.

First up, we’re doing Project 10%: Inbox.

We decided to reduce the time spent doing customer service emails by:

automating as much as we canpre-answering questionsfixing problems before they cause confusionfixing annoying email issues from the source.

We’re going to document here what we do as we do it to give you ideas of how to do the same.

I won’t go into the tech details of how to do each part because that would shit me… plus it’s only helpful for some email users. If you want to know how to do the same thing, Google is your friend! It’s how I worked out how to do all of this!

Want to list to this as a podcast instead?

Easyyyy babes! Just click play above, or subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, PocketCast (or wherever else you listen to podcasts!)

1. Configure Gmail settings to create a streamlined, non-distracting experience

Before:

We had loooots going on in the left hand column.

We cleaned it up by:

deleting old labelsrefining what Gmail shows in the left hand column so we only see Inbox, Sent, Drafts & our most important labelsremoving access to chats and meetings (we don’t use them anyway).

Behold: a much cleaner interface:

2. Fix our contact form

Emails that come through our form on our Contact page have two issues:

Gmail groups them all into one conversation which is a shit to sort through and answerWe get soooo much fucking spam through it.

Here’s what we did to fix it:

Stopped using WordPress and Divi’s built in contact form as it can’t be configured as much & has shite spam preventionStarted using a GravityForm instead & configured settings so all emails come through separately. HOORAY! This will make it much easier to filter & respond to contact form emails.Tried using their “honeypot” feature to reduce spam, but it didn’t make a big difference.We added reCAPTCHA to the form. It was a bit unwieldy to install, so we ended up outsourcing and getting a tech contractor to install it for us. But it’s made a huge difference. Very few spam emails are getting through from this form now!3. Automate regular emails using filters

We had a look at emails that came through the inbox regularly and noticed there were a few regular recurring emails.

For example: all our receipts get sent to this inbox, where they usually sit there until they are saved into our Tax Receipts folder on Google Drive.

Instead of incurring the recurring time cost of reviewing each receipt email, and then it cluttering up the inbox, we set up an automatic filter so all receipts skip the inbox and get filed in our “RECEIPTS TO FILE” label.

Then my assistant has a recurring task once a month in her Asana to go through that folder and file them all into our Tax Receipts folder.

Batching a task like this can save so much time and brain space!

We also did the same with other regular emails that can be batched to once a month.

4. Unsubscribe, unsubscribe, unsubscribe

There’s definitely a few newsletters I love to read, but these don’t belong in the customer service inbox. So I unsubscribed our customer service email account, and resubscribed using my inbox.

And then of course, there’s some that I don’t need to subscribe to at all, so they went the way of the dodo.

We’ve also added to our inbox procedures that every newsletter that comes in now is unsubscribed. And if we never signed up for marketing emails from that company, we “Report as Spam” to train the Google algorithm so they don’t end up in our inbox again.

5. Reduced number of emails from software we are subscribed to

We took the time to unsubscribe from system updates & information we really don’t need.

For example, we get weekly email summaries from one of our WordPress plugins. We don’t need the summary, we don’t read it, and just delete it instead. Might as well save that eternal time waste by just turning it off at the source.

6. We set up Templates for regularly responded to emails

We used to have “Canned Responses” – templates for regularly responded to emails sitting in either a Google Doc or in drafts.

To make the process even faster, we used Gmail’s Templates feature to make answering emails even faster.

7. Batch that bitch

If you don’t already, make sure you don’t spend all day with your inbox open, answering emails bit by bit, or even worse – reading it on your phone and not replying to it later. Stop double handling things! Go in ONCE a day, read an email ONCE and respond to it immediately. If it doesn’t need responding to immediately, either archive it, or mark it as an item on your to do list and place it in a HOLD folder. Once everything is complete, get out and get on with your life!

This is probably the most important practice of all if you’re not doing it already!

We are now two weeks into our Project 10% inbox, and already the results are outstanding!

Customer service time of emails was taking between 4-8 hours a week.

We are now at only 3 hours a week – and this could become even less as we continue to follow these above principles!

A huge cost & time saving… plus a sanity saver too!

And WAY more than our original goal of reducing by 10%!

It really DOES make a difference to take the time to streamline and automate.

Highly recommend this project to anyone struggling with email overload!

Sending you much love & blessings as always,

FREE GOODIES:

[image error]  Daily-ish writings
[image error]  Weekly love letters
[image error]  Podcast: Leonie Dawson Refuses To Be Categorised
[image error]  A library of free treasures

COURSES:

[image error]   Sales Star
.  Marketing Without Social Media
[image error]   Money, Manifesting & Multiple Streams of Income
[image error]   40 Days To A Finished Book
[image error]   40 Days To Create & Sell Your E-Course (starts September 1!!!)

 

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Diary: Rutty Rut Rut Rut

Possums,

I am quiet at the moment. Have you noticed?

I don’t have much to say. I’m just quietly rearranging my innards.

Here’s some dot points of brain fartage:Read Primary School Confessional by Mrs Woog. Made me feel less alone in all the weird parenting freakouts I have in my brain like JAYSUS WOT THE FUCK HEADLICE and DID I JUST TALK TO ANOTHER SCHOOL MUM OR WAS I JUST GUEST STARRING IN AN EPISODE OF REAL HOUSEWIVES.I’ve been learning from a bunch of e-courses and books currently. The doodle above is what I created while listening to a 40 minute lecture today. It’s the same symbol I have on my arm.I’m on my third or fourth re-read of Tessa Dare‘s Spindle Cove romance novels. To me, they are perfection. They have become my comfort read.I honestly feel like I’m in a bit of a rut. I might need a new creative project or 21 day challenge to perk me up. I’ve been thinking about doing a no spend challenge. That’d be fun, right?Everything here is totally fine and I adore my family AND I also want to run away into the night. You know what I mean? Sometimes the lack of spontaneity and play time is just crushing. Usually when I’m in this kind of mood, I can shake it by going out with my mates and laughing until our sides ache. But we’re kind of lockdown adjacent at the moment, and I don’t feel comfortable going out. In a few weeks we’re off on a long weekend to visit an old country town and see my in-laws (as long as Covid behaves itself, of course!) I’m hoping a bit of a change to our routine and seeing new things we haven’t seen before will be the balm that is needed.The Great Pottery Throwdown is still the highlight of my family’s day. The 2021 season is especially cracker. I fucking love the giant hulk of a judge, Keith, who cries when he sees beauty. And the new co-judge is that gentle hunkaspunk Rich who got promoted from a non-speaking gig in other seasons. The new host is (from Derry Girls) who is hysterical and I’d like to adopt as my BFF stat. And they have a trans woman on the cast now! All in all: fucking wholesome. I was actually squealing on the episode when they did naked raku firing. Apparently, I now talk in ceramics.

THAT IS ALL.

Big hugs,

FREE GOODIES:

[image error]  Daily-ish writings
[image error]  Weekly love letters
[image error]  Podcast: Leonie Dawson Refuses To Be Categorised
[image error]  A library of free treasures

COURSES:

[image error]   Sales Star
.  Marketing Without Social Media
[image error]   Money, Manifesting & Multiple Streams of Income
[image error]   40 Days To A Finished Book
[image error]   40 Days To Create & Sell Your E-Course

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An Adventure Walk To Discard The Blahs

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Diary: The One In Which I Look Like A Mole

Dearests,

A couple of days ago, my 7 year old chirpily announced “Mum looks like a mole!”

I stifled my inner screams of laughter and said “Oh really? Why’s that darling?”

And she showed me the book she was reading about a mole. She says we have the same hairstyle and glasses and fashion sense.

I couldn’t agree more.

BEHOLD. I AM A MOLE.

Here’s other exciting things of note:

No blogging over the last few days. That’s allright. I’ve been learning instead & having a bonza time with it. I trust the ebb and flow of my creativity and energy.I’m looking for a book where healthy people share what they usually eat each day. Is there a book like this? Please email me if you know of one! I get so inspired reading about other people’s lives, and I thought it would be an interesting topic to cover.My new GTD organisational system is ROCKING my damn world. Today I… picked up photos I’d had printed. And put them in the new magnetic photo frames I’d ordered. And then I… put them IN the frames. And onto the fridge! Without them getting lost for months! This is MIRACULOUS! Is this what it is like to be neurotypical? HA!I’m out of lockdown. I’d class myself as lockdown adjacent, because who knows – we might need to go back in again sometime soon. The next state over has the Delta variant and it’s not currently contained. #boohissI’m finally eligible to get the Pfizer vaccination! Fuck yaaaaa!Just started reading Atomic Habits. So far so brilliant.We’ve been watching as a family the new season of The Great Pottery Throw Down. Gosh I love that show. It’s like The Great British Bake Off… but with clay! And a giant bear of a judge (Keith Brymer Jones) who cries when he’s overcome with the beauty of pottery… it’s such a beautiful antidote to toxic masculinity!Just read a few beautiful graphic memoirs: Spring Rain, Annie Sullivan & The Trials Of Helen Keller and Parenthesis.

I feel like I’ve got some new things coming out soon… I don’t necessarily know what they are and when it will happen, I can just feel the energy building.

Sending you all so much love!

Big love,

Days left to enrol:

CLICK NOW TO ENROL

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Weekly Review: Second Time Lucky

Blossoms,

Second time lucky!

Another weekly review! I’m currently really enjoying this ritual, and finding I am feeling much more organised with these systems in place.

Again: I’m doing this with (likely) lots of interruptions with my kids, husband, dog & life happening all around me.

Start time: 9:40am

First up: clear my physical IN tray & review my HOLD tray

When I look at my weekly review today, I look at that physical inbox (see photo above) and I think… THANK FUCKKKKKK. This is going to be SO MUCH EASIER than having to do all the (years of) backlog that I did last week. This sized inbox? That I can do!

Live notes… I’m going through inbox now and I am noticing the same feeling I had as last week: part excitement, part adrenaline, part anxiety. I notice my competitive overperformer streak is taking over – I want to be the fastest speedy that has ever sped through Weekly Review! I want to contain it to only 1 hour!

Need to remind myself: go slower. This is not worth having an adrenaline load which will convert to anxiety later. Take your sweet time!

Physical inbox clear! Once again, I definitely did more tasks than just the two minute ones… I just thought I’d get them off my plate while I was in the zone.

It’s now 11:33am. Do I know where the time goes? No, I do not. I have stopped for chats, and a call with my Dad, and to check if our lockdown is ending (it is! HOORAY!)

Next up… clear my email inbox.

I only have 11 in my inbox after clearing it last weekly review!

12:26 (an hour-ish later). Inbox cleared, between more calls & chats & fixing one kid’s face after a watermelon mishap.

Again, I did *not* keep to the 2 minute time limit when deciding whether to do a task or not now. I don’t know if it’s an ADHD thing or not – I know it will be SO much more difficult for me to start a task later, so if I have an inkling of an idea to do it now, I shall.

Next Day:

Truth be told, at a certain point I just went to bed and read a book for the rest of the day, feeling wildly productively fulfilled. Ha! Behold! Leonie Does The Get Things Done System Their Own Damn Way!

I don’t know if I really “finished” this week’s review “properly”, but I definitely feel organised for the next week. I’m just building the rhythm of this new habit as I do it.

I’ve also started crafting my own “Weekly Review checklist” that personalises the standard GTD checklist.

What I am loving about the Getting Things Done system so far:Having the physical IN box and HOLD box. I can’t believe how simple & helpful it is for me.The weekly habit of clearing all my (physical, email, instant messenger & text) inboxes, and doing all the tasks that are two minutes or less right then.Having a clearer view of priorities for the week ahead.

Hope this is useful!

Big love,

FREE GOODIES:

[image error]  Daily-ish writings
[image error]  Weekly love letters
[image error]  Podcast: Leonie Dawson Refuses To Be Categorised
[image error]  A library of free treasures

COURSES:

[image error]   Sales Star
.  Marketing Without Social Media
[image error]   Money, Manifesting & Multiple Streams of Income
[image error]   40 Days To A Finished Book
[image error]   40 Days To Create & Sell Your E-Course

 

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