There are so many reasons why we have hit a pause button for our podcasts. Sometimes it’s the right thing to do. In this episode, I share with you all the reasons why we had to do this and when to expect us back!

What you learn in this episode:

• How I’m making my transition
• Time management
• Content repurposing for our podcast
• The release date for the next new episodes
• What’s coming up in August

Want to skip ahead?  Here are some key takeaways.

[01:40] Advice for proper time management.
[05:50] Why we’re taking a break.
[08:31] Release date for the next new episodes.
[08:58] Some amazing things are coming.
[10:02] My challenge to you this summer.

Resources:

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Full Transcript

[INTRO] Hey everybody, Sami here, your host of the digital marketing therapy podcast. And this episode is going to be a little bit different. Um, we're taking a break. And I kind of want to share with you what that looks like, why, and just some aha I've had in this kind of new transition we've been in as we've been moving cross country. I'm so excited for it. I'm so here for it. 

So we sold our house in April. And in January was when we decided that we were going to move from the west coast to the Midwest. And then we sold our house in April. And now we've been on this road trip for the last few months. And it's been incredible. It's been a lot of work, but it's kind of retaught me a lot of the lessons and the things that I, you know, kind of share with you all, when it comes to organization and time management,  and content creation and all other things. 

So, you know, I decided I'd already said I was going to run a summit. So even you know, in March, I'm sorry, in May. And so even though we were moving and going through all this transition, and I wasn't going to have a home office, I still ran it anyway, we still ran the summit in May. Because I have a really hard time saying no, or once I've pushed things out, I just, you know, no matter what happens, we're just gonna do it. I'm definitely not an advocate for canceling things all the time. But there's a time and a place for all things. So anyway, I ran the summit, it was great. It was wonderful, amazing content, a lot of incredible humans.

But, you know, it was just kind of that reminder of uh be in the space that you're in and take on what you can take on and do brilliantly. And I think that's the message that I've had to kind of remind myself, as we've been going through this period of transition. Instead of taking on everything, what can I do really, really well, and just have faith and trust that the things are going to keep moving. And something beautiful has happened out of that, which I'll get into a little bit more. 

But yeah, so after the summit, I kind of just took a pause and was like, Okay, well, you know, we have a few, you know, a few more weeks left in our travels. But we know we're not going to be settled in our house until August 1. Like fully settled, and the kids don't go back to school until September 8. But can I just say, we today's (that as I'm recording), this is technically officially the kids’ last day of school. And they have been doing online learning all year. And holy cow, are we so excited for them to go back to in-person school in the fall and get back to kind of a regular routine. I mean, it was hard work and teachers out there, y'all are amazing. I don't know if you have kids, how you did this, this past year. But we are so excited that they're going to be going back to school. 

So anyway, I'll have a home office in August, I'll be in a solid place, you know, we'll be exploring our new neighborhood and the kids won't be back in school, but I'll be able to get back to my routine. So throughout the rest of this time, it's kind of just figuring out, really, what do I need to do, like what's the most important things that need to happen in order to keep my business going to keep my clients cared for and all of that good stuff. And you know, what kind of can be pushed aside. And so we've done a lot of thinking about that. And that's why, if you listen to the last episode, I talked about how we just hired a VA, um, and, you know, to help out with the things that I know, take some of my time that I could do, but you know, I don't they're not my best stats. And or they're also things that I can delegate. So they're taking over social media, they're taking over show notes. And I'm super excited about that. But one of the things that hiring the VA forced me to do is really think about my processes and my flow.

Because I've definitely gotten lazy during COVID of not sticking up with my, you know, regular routine, things were kind of all over the place. And it just kind of almost lessens the creativity. Lessens your ability to really think about your business strategically, at least for me, because it's just full of clutter. It's just full of noise. It's just things that are happening as opposed to thoughtful practices. 

So for example, this podcast, there are definitely some episodes that just kind of got thrown together. There are some incredible podcast episodes for sure. But I wasn't really being strategic about thinking about how these conversations are going to lead into the bigger picture and how I can support you as a nonprofit better. How can we really create strategies for you guys to keep you moving forward, so you're not just listening to a podcast but you're taking action. So hiring a VA is great and she is wonderful.

And one of the first things she said is I need all of your content for the following month by the 10th of the previous month. So I was looking at her like, holy crap, okay, so I have to record six episodes in the next week, in order to get you to get my VA all of the information that she needs to be able to do her job well. And I totally am behind that, I totally get that. I totally respect that. But again, like I said, we're traveling, you know, I'm still working, but we're definitely not in a regular routine. 

So I sat back with it for a minute and learned the lesson from my summit that I was trying to do too many things. While you know, the point of what we're doing now is to spend as much time with family as possible. And I just thought, you know, let's hit pause on the podcast, or short term pause, let's just do, let's take, you know, six weeks off, and I'll record some amazing content, you know, really go after some of the speakers and guests that we've been wanting to target and just really thoughtfully create content, instead of trying to make my life difficult. And really push, push, push, push, push, to get all of this content to our VA and her team.

It just didn’t feel good to me. So then this incredible thing happened. So we decided to hit pause, I sent her content that I wanted her to go ahead and promote for the month of July. You know, she's working on all this stuff for us. And it just kind of hit me, you know, we relaunched we didn't relaunch, we switched the podcast over a little over a year ago, to talk specifically to nonprofits, because we decided that was really who we wanted to serve, we wanted to serve people that are building their communities, people that are struggling in the online space to get donations from their website, people that are doing amazing things in this world, but just don't know where to turn to get support in the online space. 

Because I do think that what COVID has taught a lot of nonprofit organizations is that the time to be in the online space, you know, even if your events are still happening in person now, and things are opening up, like the online space is where it's at. And people are definitely engaging and participating in them. So we wanted to show up and serve you and it's been this nagging thing in the back of my brain, this whole time of what we need to relaunch the podcast, and change our introduction, and change some of our copy and content to serve nonprofits as well.

And so I wasn't even thinking about this when I wrote my VA and I said, Hey, um, I think we're just going to repurpose old content that we've got for the month of July. And then we're going to come out fresh in August. So that was already done. And then I was like, Okay, great. And then this all just started rolling in. Well, we should relaunch the podcast, this will also give me time to re-record the introduction, this will give me time to think about the interviews that we want to do. And it just really opened up that creativity in me and allowed me to kind of dream and really spend time, you know, thinking about my podcast, as opposed to just like the daily grind of it all. 

So we are pausing. So we are taking a little bit of a break. So I'll be recording all summer long. I'm super excited. But there won't be new episodes from the digital marketing therapy podcast until August 24. Now, why August 24, because my birthday is on August 22. And I wanted to celebrate my birthday by coming back to you with a big splash. And, as I said, so amazing. So many amazing things have happened now that we have decided this and, and my creative juices are just flowing. which I know sounds kind of cheesy, but we have some fun nuggets, new opportunities to engage with us that we will be releasing around that time, we're going to be doing some fun giveaways.

We have some fun programs that we're going to be introducing to you all around the podcast. And we're stepping it up a bit. And we're gonna be giving you guys more resources and more tools to take action on the episodes for the month. And here's the great thing about batching content. Because we have to have them done so early in order to get the whole team put together and getting these pieces out. It's going to allow us to create additional tools and worksheets and guides for you that you can have to reference. So if you listen to an episode that you're just like, Yes, I want to implement that. Maybe I'm ready to do it right now. Maybe I'm not. You'll have a guide that you can keep, you know, in your, your little file that you keep with all of the things you want to do. And bring it out and when you're ready so you have that easy reminder. 

So I'm super super super excited. And my challenge to you this summer is this: create some space, in your day, in your week, in your tasks, whatever it might be, really think about what are the key big projects that have to happen. And then let the rest of it kind of float away. Don't get bogged down in the to dos that don't get you to where you're going. Okay? It's amazing when we can release some of that noise in our brains, how it actually opens us up to problem solve and create strategies, create the tools, create the solutions that we need for our business.

I had just had a call a week ago with my business mentor, saying, you know, I'm trying to create some space for myself, but I don't know what to put in that space. And I want to be thoughtful about the next steps that I take in my business. So whether that's getting back to foundations and data, which I've talked about in this podcast, we want to do which we are also doing in the summer. You know, what does that look like? To really focus on what my next step is. I have all these programs and offerings, but it just kind of feels like they're kind of all over the place. Right? 

So how do we focus, streamline, bring it together, and then this podcast thing happened, and it all fits. It all just kind of made sense. And so it's a scary thing to do because a lot of times you're going into the unknown. But I just want to challenge you to almost like if you could have the image of looking at your desk right now, like, I want you to take a look at your desk right now, my desk currently is the TV tray in my brother's room, because we're visiting him in San Antonio currently. So I'm not going to do this because my desk isn't that big. But I'm envisioning my desk in my home office, which usually had piles and piles of papers, and sticky notes everywhere and notebooks and my two monitors, and you know, all the things, right tons of office supplies, it had all the things. And it sometimes felt overwhelming. And that's how I feel like it is in my brain. 

So I want you to picture your desk or look at your desk, whatever. And think about how you work best. And imagine that you're in your brain taking your hand and just swiping everything off your desk. So you have a completely blank slate, right? I'm thinking about things from a fresh perspective, like, what if I didn't do any of the stuff that I've been doing right now? What things would have to get done? And then what might I want to keep myself open to in order to keep the mission of my organization moving forward? 

Instead of getting stuck, and then this is how it's always been done. Instead of getting stuck and well, this is just what I have to do because I already committed to it. Like I already committed to this summit, so I have to do it. No. Is it serving your mission? Is it serving your organization? Is it serving you? Those are the things that I want you to do this summer, think about all of the things that you're doing, think about the plans that you've made for the year, you might be going into a new fiscal year, you might be halfway through your fiscal year just depending on how you run your organization.

But let's just hit a refresh button and just think about what we're doing. And I know it's easier said than done. But I think it's a good time to just remind yourself to take a pause and ask yourself and move forward with thoughtful thoughtfulness and care.

Okay, so that's this episode. I thank you all so much for being listeners of the digital marketing therapy podcast, I wouldn't be here without you. And you know, if you have any specific things that come up, please let me know I can direct you to podcast episodes that we’ve already done, we'll still be sharing things. So I hope you'll follow us on Facebook and Instagram at the first click marketing. We've been a little bit quiet lately. But that's the beauty of this summer is getting back in action with you all and sharing some resources throughout the summer. Even though we're not releasing new podcast episodes. We will be back with a new episode on August 24. 

And we're going to have so many fun goodies. So make sure you're on our email list. You can sign up at thefirstclick.net you can reach out to us on Facebook and we can get you to our email list. We're going to be doing some amazing giveaways with some friends and partners of ours as well as our own stuff. We're going to relaunch. We're going to have a birthday party for me and watch the podcast so it's going to be so fun and I'm having so much fun putting it together. And I am just so grateful for all of you. So thank you so much for listening and I will see you in the next one.