The Paul Minors Podcast: Productivity, Business & Self-Improvement

When I meet new people and tell them that I run a one-man consulting business, I often get asked how I'm going to "scale" my business. I usually respond by saying that I don’t want to scale. I explain that I’m making good money that supports my wife, son and I and that hiring employees would add a lot of stress and responsibility to the business. Keeping things smaller is a lot simpler and easier....

Happy new year! It’s that time of year again. A time to set goals and make change. You’re probably thinking: “This is MY year! This is the year I’m finally going to … (fill in the blank)”. You’ve probably already read a load of blog posts about how to plan your goals and “succeed” in 2020. Show notes » paulminors.com/159 Download my productivity blueprint and learn the processes and tools I use to...

One of the reasons I love to track my time is because of the power you get from having an awareness of where your time goes. As 2019 comes to a close, I wanted to know how I’ve spent my time this year so I can make better choices going into 2020. And I thought it would be fun to share some of the insights with you. Enjoy this detailed summary of how I spent my time in 2019. Show notes » paulminors...

Recommended Tools » paulminors.com/157 Download my productivity blueprint and learn the processes and tools I use to be more organised and achieve more in my business and home life. You'll also get my FREE 3-part video training series where I'll explain 1) 4 simple steps to supercharge your productivity 2) common mistakes to avoid 3) the 10 productivity tools I couldn't live without. Download here...

This month marks 3 years since I left my full-time job to work exclusively on my own business. I can’t believe how fast the time has flown by and how much has changed in the last few years. I feel so privileged to be able to do what I do and I want to start by thanking you, dear reader (or listener), for allowing me to do what I do. My goal has always been to run my own “lifestyle business” that g...

A few months ago, I published a blog post titled: 10 Things I need to remind myself every day. I received a great response to this post and loads of people emailed me to say how useful the list was. Here’s a quick summary of the list (you can go back and read the post to learn more about each): Slow down You don't have to do everything right now Remember how far you've come One day you'll be dead....

In this episode of the Paul Minors Podcast, I interviewed a client of mine, Josh Krueger, all about his approach to automation and systemising your business. Josh is the founder and CEO of Dotcom Design, a web development and digital marketing agency. I've been working with Josh and his team since July, helping them to systemise their business using Pipedrive, Asana and Zapier. They've been great...

If you’ve done any kind of reading or research into productivity, you’ve probably heard many times about the importance of saying no. Show notes » paulminors.com/153 Download my productivity blueprint and learn the processes and tools I use to be more organised and achieve more in my business and home life. You'll also get my FREE 3-part video training series where I'll explain 1) 4 simple steps t...

One of the reasons I think I’m able to be productive is because I’ve cultivated a “task-centric mindset”. As more and more stuff clogs up our mental inbox, it's easy to get overwhelmed with “too much to do”. This makes it harder to prioritise your time, good ideas can be forgotten about and you always feel like you’re trying to catch up on life. Having a “task-centric mindset” helps you to stay on...

Today, I’d like to explain a little more about why I believe Bitcoin is the future and why I’m buying small amounts of Bitcoin each and every week. I’m writing this post for absolute beginners and people who have heard of Bitcoin who don’t understand it and want to learn more. My goal with this post is to pique your interest so you can go and do more research of your own. There really is so much m...

When we prioritise our time, we generally think of things in terms of importance or urgency. Having a list of non-negotiables is like having a set of rules that allows you to override anything important or urgent. This episode is sponsored by TextExpander . Show notes » paulminors.com/150 Download my productivity blueprint and learn the processes and tools I use to be more organised and achieve mo...

I was recently asked by some of the members of my Slack group about my experiencing hiring and working with a virtual assistant (VA). Working with a VA is something I’m still fairly new to so I’m by no means an expert on the subject but here are my thoughts and tips on the experience so far. Show notes » https://paulminors.com/149 Download my productivity blueprint and learn the processes and tool...

Asking yourself thought-provoking questions can be a great way of dealing with internal conflict and finding happiness. In this episode, I share three questions I try and ask myself on a semi-regular basis that I find help me to unload any stress I’m feeling and focus on the things that make me happy. Sometimes I simply think about these questions during a ring moment of quiet. For example when I’...

Every day we get bombarded by emails, ideas and incoming work requests. Some of these things may be worth your time but most of it probably isn’t. The trouble is that we’re social animals and love to please people. This is why we so often say ‘Yes’ to things we really shouldn’t be doing. Removing the word ‘maybe’ from your vocabulary and making quick decisions reduces decision fatigue and more imp...

Over the last few years of writing this blog and recording my podcast, I’ve repeated myself more than a few times. In this episode, I’d like to consolidate all the most common advice I seem to keep repeating into one place. I’ve included lots of links in the show notes in case you’d like to learn more about any of these ideas. Show notes » https://paulminors.com/146 Download my productivity bluepr...

In this episode, I’d like to talk about some of my favourite products and the gear I use on a daily basis. Before I get into the list, I’ll start by saying that I try to be a very responsible consumer. In other words, I think carefully before I make a purchase and ask myself, “Do I really need this?”. I also like to purchase things that have a long life-span that I’ll get a lot of use out of. Show...

On the podcast this week I talk to Megan Yelaney who is a business coach and host of the Pretty Awkward Entrepreneur Podcast. I really enjoyed this interview and took away so many actionable tips of things I need to do or improve. In this episode, we talk about: An introduction to Megan and her background (2:50) Why the barriers to starting an online business are so low (10:34) Common patterns aro...

This week I made one of the biggest changes I've ever made to my business. I switched email providers from Mailchimp to ConvertKit. While this may not seem like a big deal to some, I've been a Mailchimp user for the last 5 and a half years, it's become the #1 I interact with and grow my audience and by my estimate and I've sent around 15 million emails using Mailchimp. It's a huge behind the scene...

For years I was very stubborn when it came to working with other people. I was like: “Well, I don't want to grow so I’ll do everything myself”. And sure, in the beginning, it’s probably a good idea to do everything yourself so you can save money and learn more about different parts of the business. However, as I’ve grown I’ve learned that I can’t and shouldn’t do everything myself. I’m now at the...

You’ve probably heard loads of advice about how to be more productive. Perhaps you’ve been told (probably by me) to block your tasks onto your calendar. Maybe you’ve tried the Pomodoro technique or the Getting Things Done (GTD) method. Some people will tell you to write down “three absolutes” for the day or week. These techniques are what I refer to as “productivity methods” which define HOW you d...

I hear from people all the time who are confused about which tools to use and how they all fit together. In this day and age, most of us rely on a collection of tools and services to organise our tasks, plan our time and to actually do our work. However, things get tricky when you consider that some tools are quite similar and it's not always clear when you should use what. To help clarify some of...

A few months ago I listened to this great episode of the Focussed podcast where hosts Mike and David discuss “moving the needle”. In summary, they highlight the importance of “effectiveness” and why we shouldn’t obsess over “efficiency”. In this episode, I’m going to add my own thoughts on this topic. Show notes » PaulMinors.com/139 Download my productivity blueprint and learn the processes and to...

The average CEO reads about 60 books a year or 4-5 books per month. Reading is often positioned as being a prerequisite for success. For example, Warren Buffet reads for 5-6 hours a day and Bill Gates reads Reading has been put on a pedestal as being a habit you have to have in order to be successful. CEO’s are used as examples of people who are successful because of how much they read. But should...

I recently had the pleasure of chatting with Joe and Matt from Evergreen Profits. Self-proclaimed "generalists", Matt and Joe are hosts of The Hustle and Flowchart podcast where they discuss a range of topics on their podcast, from online business and productivity to podcasting and self-improvement. As you can expect, these guys are my kind of people and I really enjoyed picking their brains. Show...

Last week I came across this pretty scary article on Twitter. The author, Matthew Miller, tells the story of how he got “SIM swapped” and lost access to his Twitter and Gmail accounts, had his personal files and documents from Google Drive deleted and $25,000 stolen from his bank account. Most people I talk to are far too casual when it comes to protecting themselves and their data online. Either...