Free Time with Jenny Blake

“If you build an audience, you can figure out how to build a business.” That has been the guiding mantra behind Brian Clark’s pioneering business-building throughout his career. He is someone I’ve long admired, from his early days founding Copyblogger to his many new ventures. Today, we’re talking about building the audiences that make it all possible. More About Brian: Brian Clark is a writer, tr...

There's so much energy and attention that swirls around during a launch, and I cannot thank you enough for helping create the momentum that we did!  I've talked a lot about launching with ease and joy, generating magic and serendipity, not muscling through book marketing. I’ve also talked about sprinting through the finish, and the overwhelm that comes from wanting to give a big creative project e...

“Brain science teaches that even if a prospect knows, loves, and believes in a company’s offerings, after they become a customer, fear, doubt, and uncertainty will plague their thoughts.” That familiar feeling is buyer’s remorse—and if you’re not building systems to directly address it within customers’ first 100 days, you are far more likely to lose them.  Regardless of where your business operat...

Today we have a favorite time-saving strategy from listener Liron on keeping a Mess Page at your desk to free your mind during deep work sprints. Now that Liron has kicked off this series, I encourage you to submit your favorite time-saving tip so that we can all continue learning from each other and freeing time together! You can record a voice memo on your phone and send it to hi@itsfreetime.com...

Leadership and org design always involve tradeoffs. Which ones are you willing to make? Are you building traffic lights in your business or roundabouts? Do you want to maintain power and control, deriving identity from your role, or are you interested in exploring and creating a self-managing organization where there is no CEO? Today we’re talking about the new wave of Decentralized Autonomous Org...

Just a few days after launch, Free Time is already topping many Amazon charts . . . although "making the lists" is not something I lose sleep over, it does go a long way toward raising awareness and generating lasting launch momentum. Here are some early category stats—I couldn't do any of this without you! #1 New Release in Time Management #1 New Release in Small Business #1 New Release Organizat...

Thank you all so much for the incredible book launch support this week!! Because of you, Free Time is topping the Amazon charts! Here are some early stats: #1 New Release Organizational Change #1 New Release Business Structural Adjustment #1 Best Seller in Office Automation Business #1 Most Wished For in Office Automation Business #1 New Release in Office Automation Business #3 New Release in Syst...

I love mastermind groups, and how they create the space to support and learn from fellow business owners. They come in all shapes and sizes, paid and unpaid, and illuminate ideas and questions we might not always find simply from reading books and attending conferences. Today, I’m sharing some of the forms these groups can take, and how you can initiate powerful small-group connections with other...

Today kicks off another exciting chapter of life and business because the Free Time book is officially out! There’s no one I’d rather hand over hosting duties to than my long-time friend, fellow author, and podcast host, Antonio Neves, to take the lead on this celebration conversation. We’re talking about creating art, investing in yourself, and the incredible journey of going all-in on something...

Hi friends! Just a quick four-minute thank you message to celebrate the official launch day for my brand new book—the one that you've all been listening to! Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business. 📝 If you have a few extra minutes to spare, I would be super grateful if you could leave a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads today — these go such a long way toward informing future readers (a...

Without conscious reframing, launching can quickly tip toward stressful. Writing and launching a book is a privilege, so I hesitate to harp too much on how hard it can be. Whenever I feel stress climbing, I remind myself to find the joy and ease, to reconnect with gratitude for that exact stage of the process. That said, launches still have a way of snowballing stress! Today I’m breaking down seve...

Have you fallen out of love with something in your business? Something you want to be doing in theory, like sending newsletters, but you’re hitting a wall of resistance? In this episode, I'm coaching a long-time friend and founding BFF community member, Wade Brill, through the Free Time Framework. Wade is also featured as the kick-off story for the Align stage of the book. More About Wade: Wade Br...

If the thought of success sometimes feels more stressful than exhilarating, you’re not alone. Many business owners are interested in scale only if they’re not scaling stress and headaches at the same time. In fact, some even subconsciously hold back from earning more, fearing that any more income might bring with it increased headaches. The early days of every business are scrappy. You’re building...

What if this is the moment that changes everything? That question can be exhilarating or terrifying—or both. And there are going to be moments like that in your business: crossroads where you have to make a choice. Today’s guest, Pat Flynn recently made one of the biggest decisions of all, to step aside as CEO of his company, while still playing an active role, so he could devote more time to the...

Going from “zero to one” on a big creative project can be intimidating. If you want to write a book or create a course, where should you begin? Hint: grab a pen and paper and a stack of index cards, not your laptop. Key Takeaways: Start big projects by asking: what is the key transformation I am hoping to inspire? There is magic to the number 3: it fits in with how we understand the world. When sh...

Did you know that we can predict a leader’s charisma based solely on five seconds of exposure? That nonverbal signals account for 65 to 90 percent of our total communication? Today we’re talking about cues, specifically the formula for charisma (hint: a combination of cues that project warmth and competence). As a self-described “recovering awkward person,” Vanessa’s secret sauce is combining the...

Do you fret about why your own work never seems to be as good as what you read, watch, or listen to? Today’s episode is an important reminder for all of us: Don’t compare your first draft to someone else’s finished product.  Rarely is a finished product created by a single genius working alone. Far more often, great work comes from collective effort, and our rough drafts are just the first tiny ch...

“If you don’t have a system…you are the system.” That’s just one of Allan’s brilliant gems from this conversation on creating a “marketing oil well” for your business. Income comes from assets, and there’s one area right under your feet that’s ripe for reinvention: your email newsletters and welcome autoresponder series. Listen in for the 5-minute tip that changed my business life, and tons of oth...

Every interaction with your customers offers an opportunity to be warm and welcoming. It's also easy to make them feel alienated or put off. Where in your business are you being unintentionally grumpy? Key Takeaways: Some rules come across as cold, particularly if they are reflections of the worst customer experiences you’ve had, rather than the excellent ones you are cultivating. What tone do you...

For founders who value freedom, one question looms large: How do you keep overhead low while still generating abundant revenue? That’s what Elaine Pofeldt, self-professed “data nerd” is sharing with us today based on her new book, Tiny Business, Big Money: Strategies for Creating a High-Revenue Microbusiness.  More About Elaine: Elaine Pofeldt Is an independent journalist specializing in Entrepren...

Are you working in tasks or on templates? For anything you repeat, take a little time up-front to design a process that will save you time for future sessions. Books Mentioned:  Eat That Frog! The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It Resources Mentioned: Free Time Dashboard Beta Free Author Toolkit Related Episodes:  Episode 34 Organizing Research and Idea...

How do you decide what to delegate, and what to keep doing yourself? What are the best ways to build flexibility into our businesses for ensuring we have plenty of free time for family and creativity? This week's guest is Evan La Ruffa, a father and artist-turned entrepreneur who is passionate about shaping a better world through new solutions to big problems. He is the founder of IPaintMyMind.org...

When is good enough good enough? When is it important to stick to a creative vision, down to every last meticulous detail? Hitting publish means welcoming praise and criticism, and today I’m sharing the nerve-wracking feeling leading up to both, as well as an audio adventure to the book’s unboxing at the Rochester Warehouse! 📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivo...

The mic tables are turned this week, with Azul Terronez, cofounder of Authors Who Lead interviewing me for his fantastic podcast. With so many mutual friends in common, it was such a joy to finally connect directly! I hope you enjoy this conversation on burnout, spacious work boundaries, delegating, and doubling down on business intuition. 📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love You...

Mark Twain once said, “Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.” Brian Tracy adapted this for his productivity book, Eat That Frog! to say, "If you have to eat two frogs, eat the ugliest one first," and "If you have to eat any frog at all, it doesn't pay to sit and look at it for very long." What if you turned this into a content batching...