55 ⎸ How to stay motivated with Hannah Robinson & Melissa Honan

In this interview episode, I’m chatting with the hosts of the I Love Bookkeeping Podcast, Melissa Honan & Hannah Robinson.

In this episode you’ll hear:

• How to stay motivated
• How to be intentional with your time
• How to aggressively guard your personal time

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• Podcast Editing: Ian Gilliam: iangilliam.com
• Descript (affiliate link)
• Buzzsprout (affiliate link)

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@bookkeepersdotcom & @honanconsulting

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Serena: In this interview episode, I'm chatting with the hosts of the, I love bookkeeping podcast, Hannah Robinson and Melissa Honan. In this episode, we're going to talk about how to stay motivated, how to be intentional with your time and how to aggressively guard your personal time. I'm so excited for you to join in this conversation I had with these lovely women. 

[00:00:24] But first let me introduce to you who they actually are. So Hannah Robinson is the social media manager for bookkeepers.com and recently became the co-host of the, I love bookkeeping podcast. Like I mentioned, She has been with bookkeepers.com for five years, starting as an intern and working her way up the ladder. Prior to co-hosting the, I love bookkeeping podcast, Hannah facilitated student interviews for marketing and at BKX, which prompted her to fall in love with the interviewing process. And before she started her career at bookkeepers.com. Hannah worked in the beauty industry as a stylist and makeup artist, as well as a social media manager in her spare time. She likes to cook, try new restaurants and play with her dog, Charlie. 

[00:01:07] And Melissa Honan is the CEO of bookkeeping for painters, a bookkeeping and tax firm that works exclusively with painting businesses. Her team focuses on building solid client relationships and staying current on industry specific knowledge that painting business owners need to succeed. Under her leadership Bookkeeping for Painters serves over 100 clients at $1.5 million in annual recurring revenue, hashtag goals. She attributes her professional success to the company culture. She's created the advocates work-life balance, mental health awareness and treating colleagues with respect and empathy. She is my woman. 

[00:01:47] In addition to her role at bookkeeping for painters, Melissa is a mindset and sales coach for bookkeeping business owners that want to scale their business to six or seven figures. As an introvert herself who can relate? I can! Melissa has 15 years of sales management experience with proven tools and techniques to teach anyone how to sell comfortably. This fall, she will be releasing her first. E-course in a series that will provide the complete blueprint to bookkeeping sales for introverts. 

[00:02:17] All right. I know those intros were a little long, but you know, we have two guests on today, so it's a little different. I hope that you are as excited for this conversation as I am so let's dive in!

[00:02:30] 

[00:02:59] Serena: Welcome. Welcome to the ambitious bookkeeper podcast. Hannah and Melissa. I'm so excited to have you here. Thank you so much for taking time to record this episode right before BK. 

[00:03:12] Hannah: Thank you so much for having us. I've been super excited to chat with you.. 

[00:03:16] Serena: Awesome. So I would love to first dive in with each of you. It's up to you who goes first, but I would love to know both of your backgrounds with bookkeeping and and then I'm sure I will have questions from there. I always do. 

[00:03:31] Hannah: Um, melissa, you want to go first? 

[00:03:33] Melissa: No, go ahead Hannah. 

[00:03:34] Hannah: Okay. So fun fact, I'm actually not a book keeper. I went to Ole Miss and then I used to do hair and makeup for like news channels. Like I worked for NBC. And I also worked at a pretty big salon here in Atlanta, and I started doing their social media marketing and event planning. I was like 23 years old. And that was my first kind of, that was my first time kind of dipping my toe in the water of marketing and social media marketing. 

[00:04:02] And down the road, I wanted to do it full-time and so I started off, it was, I believe, I think it was bookkeeper business launch when I started it off. And this was about five years ago. I started off as an intern and I've just worked my way up. And now I am the social media manager, community manager, and co-hosting co-producer of the, I Love Bookkeeping Podcast.

[00:04:25] And it's been so amazing watching bookkeepers.com grow to what it is, and to watch evolve and continue to grow and continue to kind of change with the, the climate of the industry, I guess. I've always really been involved in the marketing side of getting stories from our students. And I've been tracking their accomplishments for a long time. And it's great kind of being able to be the community manager and get to know people and build relationships with our students. But last summer at BKX. I got the opportunity to interview a lot of our students, and that was such a great experience. I think that's probably one of the reasons why I'm hosting the podcast now it's because I just, I really love to interview people and to build relationships and just to get to know people and their stories. So here we are. Melissa and I are actually recording onstage at BK X a live episode. That's kind of next up and I'm very, very excited for that.

[00:05:22] Serena: That is so cool. Are you nervous? 

[00:05:26] Hannah: Not really, we were actually just discussing what we were going to wear. So I think that's-- 

[00:05:30] Melissa: That is my biggest concern right now. 

[00:05:33] Hannah: So I think that's like the biggest, but I'm no, I'm very excited. 

[00:05:37] Serena: Cool. Awesome. What about you, Melissa? What's your background? 

[00:05:41] Melissa: Yeah, so in that 2016 actually. Beginning of 2016, my husband came home from his first deployment and we were trying to figure out what is he going to do? And I was working retail sales management, perfectly fine with that at the time. And he found Ben scores, bookkeeper law. And I told him it was a terrible idea. I was like, don't do that. All small businesses fail and you know who is this like random guy on the internet? Like, what does he know? And that he's like, no, no, no, no, it's a good idea. I promise. And he had said it and within a couple months we realized we're like, oh man, this is gold. And so I actually left my job. I had a six-figure job in retail sales management, and we just quit and jumped in head first. With my sales experience, I think our goal was to get like 10 clients by the next calendar year. Like we wanted, like by the end of 2017 to have 10 clients, and when we got to the end of 2016, it had only been about I think maybe four or five months since I had joined him and we had 12 clients and that was just like the beginning of just this just massive journey. 

[00:06:53] So you know, I ended up leaving the company Bookkeeping for Painters at one point in time. And then in 2019, I came back. When my husband was gearing up for another deployment and I ended up stepping in full-time as CEO. And now today, just a few short years later, we're at over a hundred clients at 1.5 million in annual recurring revenue. And I've got a team of 12 right now, and we're just loving this journey that we're on. That's what i always say, I love this journey. 

[00:07:25] And then last year at the, at the end of the year Daniel came to me, he said, Hey, Ben, Ben's looking for somebody you know, to take over his podcast. Do you like, who do you recommend? And I, like, I listed a bunch of people. I was like, oh yeah, well, that would be perfect for these people. And then he went back to bed and was like, oh yeah, it should be Melissa. And I was like, that's a terrible idea. Like, what are you talking about? And then somehow it ended up turning into me being on a podcast with Hannah. I don't know how it happened or why they trusted us with this podcast, but they did. And so far we're loving it. Best job I have ever had is just getting paid to talk to Hannah every day. 

[00:07:59] Serena: Yeah. Podcasting is really fun. It really enables you to: one connect with people you probably would not have otherwise had the guts to connect with. Right. For me, I'm like, I reach out to people all the time and I'm like, will you be on my podcast? And then it like begins a relationship. Whereas like I never would have been able to really have a reason to connect with that person, or I would have felt really weird about it. 

[00:08:24] Hannah: Yeah. So I think it's, yeah, it's one of the best parts about, cause we just started doing the podcast together in January. And we're still kind of navigating the way and I've been implementing processes for having guests on the show and establishing partnerships, but I just, I really, I think my favorite part of this is just getting to talk to people and just building relationships and making those connections. I love hearing, especially from our students, it's such a great group. And just having, like, being able to provide knowledge for them, especially when we get reviews. No, we'll see in our communities of these reviews of like, you know "today's episode. Like I really needed that today" or it, you know, it's, "this is something that has been weighing heavy on my mind. And you guys helped me so much." Like those are the things. Make me so excited to record this podcast and also talking to Melissa, we never run out of things to talk about. So it works out both ways.

[00:09:28] Serena: Yeah. Awesome. So one of the topics that I think we had kind of talked about talking about was owning a bookkeeping business and balancing having a life and, Melissa, it's incredible that you have a hundred clients and a team of 12, and you're able to balance this also. So I'd love to talk about like, what are the top things that you find you have to be intentional about, or making sure that you do have that balance that you need while you're running such like an amazing company.

[00:10:07] Melissa: Thank you. I do have to be very intentional about definitely my time. And so for me, I'm really big into time blocking and it's so funny because this morning I actually, I time-blocked on my calendar to put the chicken in the crockpot. So I wouldn't forget again, because I forgot to do it yesterday. And then it was four 30 and I was like, I didn't cut the chicken. And so just as just making sure that I time block and write everything down and I'm just very in everyone. And I think this is kind of speaks to what Hannah said about like, I love getting feedback about the podcast that I've gotten this feedback a few times that people really, like when I say that I aggressively defend my personal time, but it's so true. And I do that through time-blocking. It's just like, if it's blocked off, I just even fight with myself to not put anything in that blocked off time. Like that was a commitment that I made to myself that that time would not be. And I just really stick to that. 

[00:11:03] So when I made this commitment to the podcast, we were very intentional, upfront about setting the boundaries of how much time it would take, and I wanted to make sure that I could commit. And so, you know, we really set like, okay, this is, this is what we're going to do. And Hannah and I started recording it. I think maybe like six to eight weeks before we launched the podcast to get you know, some content, because we were just worried, like if something were to happen, you know, maybe the business gets busy or something like that.

[00:11:27] So I would say, you know, Ty unblocking, you know, aggressively defending your time, and then just being proactive with your time to make sure that you're over-prepared, are things that I always do to make sure that I am essentially setting my future self up for success. 

[00:11:42] Serena: Yeah. Yeah. One of the things about like, I, I used to be like, oh, that's so much structure. I couldn't like, I couldn't do that. But the structure gives you freedom because then you don't like, you don't have to think about things and like what you're going to be doing when you finally sit down. So it's like, it's so worth it to sit down for 30 minutes to an hour every week to plan out. What all you need to do, because then you don't have to think about it the rest of the week.

[00:12:10] Melissa: That is so true. And it's so funny. Cause I was just talking to Daniel about this because I'm going to be speaking at BKX. And I was going to speak on my full program, like how to delegate, develop and grow, but I just narrowed it down to basically the power of delegation, because I was like, I have too much to talk about, I only have 45 minutes. So I narrowed it down, but a lot of people get bogged down by the idea that they have to always be motivated or always have that passion behind what they're doing. So they'll sit down and they'll be like, oh, I'm not passionate about doing this thing. You know, maybe this isn't the right thing for me.

[00:12:45] I think, you know, the key to success isn't, you're not always going to feel motivated. You're not always gonna feel inspired. You're not always going to feel creative, but you need to be consistent. And when you write that, just write down what you need to do and sit down and you might not feel there's those days none of us want to do anything, right. Honestly, that's me today. I've been sick. I'm like, man, I'm tired, 

[00:13:03] Serena: But you still showed up. 

[00:13:05] Melissa: I showed up. It's on my list of things to do today. And I love to do this, but you know, when I get off this call, I have a list of things and I'm just going to work down that list. And it doesn't matter how I'm feeling. That's the things that I've set out to do, and I'm going to do them and that's that consistency behind it. I'm going to get back to a day where I feel inspired and creative and motivated to build this a business. But on the days when I don't feel like it, I still show up. And I think that's, what's really important is showing up and just being consistent with what your goals are.

[00:13:35] Serena: Yeah, absolutely. And consistency and commitment, right? Like you said, you made that commitment to yourself and sometimes we make commitments to other people and like you just have to maintain that consistency and commitment. One of the things that I've been, I've been dealing with this lately too, like, and it's funny, cause my students will be like, how do you always like, stay so motivated? I'm like, I'm not always motivated the past, like week I have had zero motivation and have just been doing kind of the bare minimum. But one of the things that is really easy or for me it's easier to do when I'm not so motivated is all the quote, unquote little things that kind of have been piling up because they're not something that will necessarily move the business forward, but they're like administrative things because when I'm like, they give you a quick hit of like endorphins when you complete them. But they're like five minute tasks that you've just been like putting off. Right. Like one of the things was like, I need to look through my operating expense account to see, like, because I recently split apart my two businesses, my bookkeeping business versus Ambitious Bookkeeper. And there's still some things that are like recurring charges that are going through Ambitious Bookkeeper on that card that I needed to like switch over. So I was like, I'm just going to do this right now. It took me like five minutes. I've been putting it off for like ages, but it I've been just like ticking off the tiny little piddly tasks that like no one else really could do. And they're not really moving the business forward, but like, that's what I needed in this season I guess. 

[00:15:13] Melissa: I've been doing the same thing this week. So I'm glad I'm not alone there, but you know, I think. For me personally, I just think it's better to just show up and be at 40% than to not show up at all. And so I just remind myself that every day, like I might not be having a great day, but trying my best, even if it's not going to be the best me is better than not showing up. And the more that I show up at 40% that I'll get to 50 to 60 and I'll get back to a hundred eventually. 

[00:15:46] Hannah: I definitely, I, you know, Melissa, what you were just saying about showing up at 40% is better than not at all. Like I know that when I'm not feeling motivated or I'm tired or I'm overwhelmed, That I love to do for some reason, this like gives me the endorphin boost that I need. If I just take like a 30 minute break and clean something, I'm like, okay, energy restored. I'm now motivated to actually do my job. I find that if I take a break to accomplish something, it gives me kind of the boost that it kind of gives me the kick that I need to like dive back into my work.

[00:16:25] Cause I think for me, like one of the hardest when you're not feeling motivated or when you're tired or you don't feel well, I think it's really easy to just kind of avoid and Serena what you were just saying about, you know, those little five minute tasks they really do, they make such a difference and they give you kind of like the endorphin rush that you need to motivate you to complete what you need to complete. Cause I know it gives me a much better sense of accomplishment at the end of the day. If I know that I got a bunch of stuff done versus like, if I avoid it, if I was tired and I avoided something, it just kind of throws off my whole week. I'm such a to-do list person. That's my, like, I love like striking across the to-do list done. That's kind of how I stay motivated, especially when it's in times like these and we're super overwhelmed and busy before something like BK X. 

[00:17:17] Serena: Yeah. So you said, Melissa, that you like aggressively guard your personal time, what does that look like? Do you have like a certain amount of time that you try to guard every day, every week. And what are you doing with your personal time and Hannah? Same thing. So same question. 

[00:17:39] Melissa: So I look at my week and this is something that I I'm working on in a course that I'm creating to teach introverts how to be comfortable in sales for bookkeeping businesses, because this is taken me here, is to develop this schedule that works for me, and I like to help people with that. And so looking at my week I used to not work on Mondays. I've always hated Mondays. I never felt like I got anything done on a Monday. I always look forward to. I've grown out of that, but I still keep that to the minimum. And so looking at a Monday through Friday week on Mondays and Fridays, I don't take meetings period. Those are administrative days and then four different types of administrative tasks. So I have my Mondays and my Fridays divided by different types of administrative tasks, when I'll work on those administrative tasks, but there are no meetings, internal or external. 

[00:18:26] Tuesday and Wednesday, the start of my week are available for external tasks for a set amount of hours. I think I have it from like 10:00 to 3:00. I'll start. My work day is at 8:00. So it gives me a few hours in the morning to work through things, but I am done by 4:00 PM. It's really important for me to have my hours set between 8:00 and 4:00, because I dropped my son off at the bus stop every morning and I pick him up from the bus stop every evening. So that's kind of my, like my boundaries. There is I have to be there to drop him off and pick him up. I've seen a huge difference in him when he gets that solo 15 minutes with me every single morning and every single day, like every single night. We walked to the bus stop. We talk about things that are just between me and him, you know? And then on the way home from school, he gets solo mom time and gets to tell me about his day. And that's just so important to me. 

[00:19:14] And so on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, I have external meetings, sales meetings. That's where like, For the week because I'm an introvert you know, human interaction drains me. And so I only have five hours on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, but I have those external sales calls and I do them back to back to back. They're required to be back-to-back-to-back. I do not want any spaces in between those meetings. And so I will even reach out to sales calls and get them moved up or have an assistant get those calls moved up so that they are back to back because I can just ride the high of those calls. But if I have like a downtime in between them, it's hard for me to jump back in. 

[00:19:51] Serena: Interesting.

[00:19:52] Melissa: Then on Thursdays I have internal and external meetings. So I'll start the day with about an hour or two where I do have external meetings. And then I'm finishing out my Thursday with team meetings, because my team's not obviously as strenuous to me as it would be like talking with strangers. I love them. I know them. And it's a really good way for me to finish out the week of meeting. So there's, there's a little bit more in there, like as far as structure for what is, and isn't allowed and you know, times of meetings, you know, how I stack the meetings you know, if there's any padding in between them and things like that, but overall that's kind of the, I won't get, I won't bore you guys with like all of the inner details, but it's, it's very well thought out.

[00:20:31] Serena: Yeah. It's really important for people. To hear this and think about it because I've structured my week similar, except I do all my team stuff on Tuesdays and that's the beginning of my work week because I don't work Mondays either. I will occasionally, like if I'm feeling creative or something, I will do stuff on Mondays, but there's nothing like required of me on Mondays. Like no meetings and same with Fridays. Like I don't take meetings on Fridays. And then Wednesdays is the day that I generally block off for deep work. Like whether it's reviewing client stuff or creating content or whatever. And then Thursdays are my external meeting days. So it's very similar to yours. And when I put that, like in place, it, it helps you realize how much time you actually have available for meetings because. Other people. Well, this is how I used to operate in corporate too. Like I would work my work around all the meetings instead of opposite. So then I would never have any time to do anything.

[00:21:35] Melissa: Exactly. Yeah. And I found that it just wasn't as efficient and I'm, I'm really big on trying to create efficiency where I can. And for me again, as an introvert, it was draining having meetings, just pop up whenever. And I didn't know when it was going to be or how long the meeting was going to be, or like meetings that pop up with like a subject-- 

[00:21:55] Serena: An agenda. 

[00:21:58] Melissa: Like no, don't like throw that at me. I have anxiety. I can't, I can't handle that. So putting, in my calendar, nobody can schedule a meeting with me within 24 hours. Like y'all got to give me at least a day to come to terms that we're going to have a meeting, but then also all of the other parameters. So I get a lot of time to prepare now. And that just makes it a lot easier for me. Yeah. And I think the second part of your question is what do I do in my personal time? But I am, extremely boring and I, that's what I really like. And that's why that's what I'm aggressively defending is the ability to be very boring. I do currently live in Nicaragua with my family. And so you know, we spend a lot of time outdoors at the beach. And so for me, I don't have my work on my phone anymore. And so that's a big thing is even when I did turn off notifications, I found that I always went to Slack or I always went to my email just instinctively. And so I have completely removed it from my phone so that when I am not plugged in at my laptop, I am completely unplugged from work. 

[00:22:59] Serena: Wow. Yeah, I am not there yet, but maybe a lot of it has to do with, like I said, I only work Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, so like, I feel like my team might still need something and I want to be like available to them to support them. But yeah, that's totally like a mindset thing for sure. 

[00:23:19] Melissa: It took a while and I have to fight it still. I was like, well, I could just download it. Right. I could just download the app real quick, but I am still available to them Monday through Friday. So I feel like honestly, Friday there's I always say there's no such thing as a bookkeeping emergency. If it's five o'clock on Friday, there's not a damn thing I can do for you. Okay. And on a Saturday and Sunday, There's there's next to nothing I could do for you. Everything's closed. You know, I honestly, like at this point in the company, I don't have the knowledge to really solve most of the problems that there would be anyway. Like there's somebody, that's going to be much more tied into that. But even then they're, they're not here. They could wait till Monday and it'll be fine. I've had a few, issues with, clients and things like that, where that's going to be something that I have to deal with. And that even then that can happen between business hours. This just like culture of immediacy is just like, so not something that I'm subscribing to, and I'm really trying to advocate to everybody. Let's just go back to when we worked during regular business hours, it's such an American thing for us to just be available 24/7. And I think we all need to just fight that urge. It's just not necessary. It's not sustainable. And it's just not the way I want to live personally. 

[00:24:32] Serena: Yeah. Yeah. And what about you, Hannah? How do you try to set up your week or be intentional? And what do you do with your free time? 

[00:24:41] Hannah: Mine's a lot different, so I am a lister, I love lists. So at the beginning of the week, either early Monday morning or Sunday night, I make a list of what has to be accomplished this week, what, what do I have coming up. And I tried to check everything and and see what meetings I have, what events are coming up. If we're running a promo, what kind of stuff I need to have on the social channels. And then I kind of break it down day by day. And when I wake up in the morning and it's time to open my laptop. My thing is my morning coffee is like my Zen time. Like I love my every morning I have my coffee and croissant. And so after that, it's like, okay, I opened my notes up and I see what needs to get done this week. And I incorporate it into my day and then I incorporate my little tasks. And I just find that that's the best way for me to operate is to check things off. Kind of like I said earlier, if I'm losing steam, I know that my most productive time is like morning and then kind of towards the end of the afternoon is when I am like at peak production. I've learned about myself that around lunchtime is when I start to fade. 

[00:25:50] So I definitely, I try to take that time to walk outside, walk the dog. I'll walk to go get lunch, which is really nice. But I'm a lister at the end of the day. Like I love lists and I love checking things off and that's what kind of keeps me motivated too. Get my, keep all my tasks in order and keep them in check. And honestly, I like Mondays. I function very well on Mondays. It's like, it's a fresh start. I'm completely, I guess the weekend usually rejuvenates me and I'm alive and well, and I'm ready to work on a Monday. That might be unpopular, but I usually, I, I feel like I'm peak productive monday's and then like, by the time Friday rolls around, it's like I leave Friday. I purposely leave Friday for the smaller tasks that are that are something that I do like reoccurring weekly. I put together a newsletter for our students and I do that every Friday and that's kind of my big Friday thing, but I schedule my week purposely to Knowing knowing when I'm productive, knowing what time of day I'm productive. And I'm a Monday gal. I don't know what to tell you. It's it might not be the most popular answer. 

[00:27:01] But another thing that's really important to me is spending time with my friends, spending time with my loved ones. And I am super duper into cooking. And so when I'm done with work you know, if I'm cooking with my boyfriend or something like that, I'm done with work, I don't want to think about it. I don't want my laptop to be near me. I. I'm done. I don't want to, I don't want to get into, I put my phone on, do not disturb. And I'm not, I'm not a Melissa's level yet where it's all off of my phone, but I do put my phone on, do not disturb so that I can be fully present and kind of enjoy winding down. And that's what I, that's usually how I operate my weeks and I've found it took me. It took me a while to learn how I operate best. But I have really found kind of my flow and it works for me and I feel like I'm able to get a lot more done and I'm able to have a great work-life balance at the end of the day, and that's something that I'm really proud of. 

[00:28:00] Serena: Yeah. I think it's really awesome to hear. Different perspectives and different ways of operating. And then hopefully this is giving permission to some of our listeners to adjust the way they're doing things based on what works best for them. Like the way that I came about my schedule was like, my coach was like, because I told her I was like, I'm really struggling with the work versus personal boundaries, like, yeah. I feel like I'm constantly checking on stuff, being connected and I know it's not necessary. And so she was like, I want you to sit down and like map out your ideal week. And so I did, I'm like a huge passion planner fan, the weekly spread.

[00:28:43] And so I just like printed out a blank. Yeah. Because that's how I operate. Like I always have my planner out open for the current week on my desk. So I have a visual of what is happening this week. And then I have my little to-do list on there too, of like the big things that I need to focus on. And then there's like a little space for notes where like, even I'm using it right now, like, this is how I keep track of everything. Like I'm jotting down bullet points of what I'm going to put in the show notes of like the topics we're talking about, because I came on here with zero-- with zero intention of topics really. 

[00:29:20] And so yeah, so she was like, map out what your ideal week would be. And then like you I'm Melissa. Like, I am an introvert as well. And so it was like really draining me to be on meetings every day and I felt like I never had time to recuperate and do the creative work. And so none of that other stuff was getting done, because if I have a meeting in the middle of the day, it kind of screws up my whole entire day. You know what I mean? Like, because I'm stressed out before the meeting trying to prepare for it. And then after the meeting, I'm exhausted. So I'm not going to get anything else done.

[00:29:53] Melissa: I feel that sure. I'm like that kind of person where like, if I have an appointment at three o'clock, like my whole day is like revolving around that. Like if I need to be somewhere, I'm like, okay, if it's at three, I got to leave by. You know, 2:00 but really I should leave by 1:30 in case there's traffic, and then it's going to take me like, you know, 30 minutes to get ready. And I'm like oh well, I just might as well just start my anxiety at 9:00 AM. 

[00:30:15] Serena: Yeah. Yeah. So like, I'm sure there's other people listening that have that too. So it's like if that's you, like, it's really important to batch your stuff together. Like batch all the meetings on one day. And so that's what I did. Like I did my ideal week and I was like, there's no reason why I can't do this. So I was like, I only went to work 20 hours a week. So one day is for meetings, one day is for actual work, and one day is for like pouring into the team. 

[00:30:40] Melissa: And do you know what's so funny? The first time I read about this was actually in an article that interviewed Bethany Frankel. If anyone like remembers her from like the Real Love Tribe and she did skinny she had like skinny, cocktails? Where I think she. She had sold it. She had like, like skinny cocktails in a bottle or something like that anyway, but she basically had a set like, you know, a few days a month, you know, where she would have set aside for like interviews or magazine articles or whatever zoom meetings where she made sure that they were all on these days of the week and there had to be so many back-to-back because she doesn't like to do her hair or do a full face of makeup. And so it was like, if I'm going to do my makeup or if I'm going to do my hair, it better be worth it. And she would say, if I didn't have you know that maximum amount of meetings on that day, they would all get rescheduled to another day, like it had to be worth her time to go through the trouble of getting ready. And I was like, that is such a boss move. And I was like, I'm gonna redo my schedule right now. And that is literally like the idea that I got. I was like, man, if she could do it, then I can. 

[00:31:51] Serena: Yeah, it is such a boss move and yeah, I have the, I feel the same. I'm like, if I'm going to get ready, I better be worth it.

[00:31:57] Hannah: I know that like, it's funny that you say that Melissa, about having an appointment in the middle of the day and not being able to function. That is something that I have lost so much productivity on is stressing about that. And so if I know I have an appointment, I either. A lot of time in the morning for my big tasks or after the appointment. Because I used to be so bad about that and I feel like I would lose productivity by just worrying about something that I have to do. And like, what time do I have to leave? What, what time am I going to be done? What if it runs too late? I am definitely, I wouldn't say I'm full on extrovert, but I'm kind of an extrovert.

[00:32:37] For anybody listening, who is also this way, I have found that I gain momentum if I like take a few minutes in the middle of my day to go walk to Whole Foods or to go pick up lunch somewhere at a market near me or something, it just having human interaction for me, it kind of gives me the energy that I need. Like when I get my mid day slump, because I know. That's definitely. I always say my days are in the shape of a B, like I started up here and then I got a dip and then I come back up. So, you know, for, for your extroverted listeners, take your time in the middle of the day to go talk to somebody and it'll give you some more energy. Cause that's definitely what I have to do. 

[00:33:19] Serena: I feel like that could help an op like the opposite way for introverts too, is like, if you do have. Maybe not Melissa, cause you back to back all your meetings. But like if you have a bunch of meetings, like make sure you take a break in the middle of them, like to do something that will energize you. And if that's like a walk in nature with nobody around, that might work. 

[00:33:41] Melissa: That's so funny, I had that happen yesterday and I literally just laid on the bed like face down for like 30 minutes because I've been sick. I was like, I guess I could be productive, but I'm going to take this to just be a slug for a minute, and it had the opposite effect and I was just like, oh God, now I have to do meetings again. I want to just stay in bed. But I can see that. 

[00:34:01] Serena: There's that risk. 

[00:34:02] Melissa: I probably should, I probably should have gotten done something and kept going. But that's why that's I have to just do it back to back because if you give me downtime, I'm like, I just start shutting down now.

[00:34:12] Serena: Yeah. Yeah. I'm kind of like that too. Like Hannah, you were talking about like your mid day slump, mine, like, I'm very motivated and creative earlier on in the morning, like not super early, like I'm not a super duper early morning person, but like I have more energy in the morning. So like that's when I like to get like the deep work done. And then by the afternoon, probably like 1:00 or 2:00 PM is where it's, when I just get really tired. And like, my day is done. Like, that's just it. 

[00:34:43] Hannah: Yeah. It's at that point where I have to like call somebody, I have to go out and usually I like to go, I live in Atlanta and kind of a metropolitan area and so I know not everybody's the same way, but if I just go pick up some lunch, or if I just like pop into the store for a minute, I feel a lot better about myself because it's so easy to get caught in like a cycle of being tired and getting into a slump and not getting up. And then I feel like I lost productivity when I did that. If I, if I told myself, okay, I'm in my mid day slump, I'm going to give myself a few minutes to relax. That absolutely just killed my motivation and productivity. So I've found that my quote unquote, relaxing midday, I guess, time to decompress is going to talk to somebody, or going to grab lunch or, you know, doing something where I have to step out of my comfort zone, which is my house. And see the world around me, because if I don't, found that me, I will just lose all motivation altogether. 

[00:35:53] And you know, it's interesting because when I started working for bookkeepers.com five years ago, I really struggled with working from home because I went from doing these big, long, 13 hour days, either in a salon or onset. And I went from that to working from home and I didn't feel productive enough. I didn't know what to do. I don't know how to do it. I was so young. And it was tough. Like it was really tough. To get out and socialize and to kind of nail down a schedule. And it's something that I think everybody should invest in is either like a business coach or taking the time to really discover what works for you.

[00:36:34] Serena: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Just happened to. When you feel most energized when you feel most creative, like take note of your patterns. Like if you do get that like afternoon slump, like figure that out and then figure out what helps you through it. Sometimes it's like a walk or like going to get coffee or something. But yeah, I've recently started taking naps if I can. I'm in that like afternoon slump. So like I'm, I get just really tired now. So I'm just like, I'm just going to take a nap and like an old person. And I used to hate naps though. Like if I took a nap, it would like completely derail the rest of my day. I would get like super groggy, but now, like I can just do like a little 20 minute nap and feel pretty refreshed. Like I usually have to do something active after that to like, get my momentum back up. So I would say, I would say just like play around with different things and see what works, but hopefully our listeners have like some permission now to change the way they're doing things.

[00:37:34] Hannah: Yeah. And explore your explore different options for your daily schedule. 

[00:37:39] Serena: Absolutely. Well, okay. So we're getting near time. This has been awesome. I would love to hear what both of you guys have going on besides BKX that's happening soon. Yeah. So where can people connect with you and what do you have going on that people can opt into or get more information on? 

[00:37:57] Hannah: So I'm trying to think, because right now all my, all my brain cells are just thinking about BK X. So we are going to be on stage, like I said, and we're super duper excited about that. If you need, buddy wants to check us out on Instagram, it's bookkeepers.com and dot it DOT. So, book keepers DOTCOM and we do lots of fun kind of interactive posts on there. I love getting feedback from people. And we have some exciting things coming up with new social channels for the podcast, actually. So if you follow us on there, you can see kind of some of the new things that we're going to be coming out with for the podcast. But we're trying to cram in as much content as we can in the month of June because I think we're going to take some time off in July. I know I'm traveling. I think Melissa is going to be traveling after BKX. So we can just kind of have some time to decompress and enjoy summer, to be honest. That's the, kind of the beauty of this. 

[00:38:52] Melissa: Yeah. I'm going to beat the epitome of like a remote worker and my husband and I are going to be working some Antigua for three weeks. So I'll definitely be sharing a lot of content from how to run a bookkeeping business from the beach. I'm really excited about that. But for anybody that's interested in any of the projects that I'll be coming out with, I would say Instagram is going to be the best way to reach me right now. @honanconsulting is my tagline. I'm going to be rebranding. At some point in time, I, you know, we all know how that goes, but I will be coming out with an eCourse on all of the ins and outs of how to sell related to a bookkeeping business down to how to overcome objections, how to communicate your value, what to say when to say it, and also how to minimize harm to yourself as an introvert so that you don't burn yourself out. So I'm really looking forward to that, and I'm hoping to have that out earlier, but I would say this Fall. And you can find out more about that over on Instagram. 

[00:39:49] Serena: Awesome. I'm really looking forward to that. Is that a program that like, do you, are you the only person that does sales for your company or have you trained other people within your company to take that on?

[00:40:01] So I have 

[00:40:02] Melissa: in the past trained other people to do it. Right now I am the only person doing it. You know kind of revamping our sales a little bit for different marketing funnels. I have 15 years in sales management experience, so I have trained dozens of salespeople, sales managers, a lot of experience in sales in general. Right now I am the only one in my company doing it. 

[00:40:25] Serena: Okay. Yeah. Awesome. Well, thank you ladies for coming on the podcast today. If you're listening, make sure you snap a picture and tag all of us. I will link everyone's handles in the show notes. And once again, thank you so much. It was so fantastic having you.

[00:40:42] Hannah: Thank you for having us. I've so enjoyed talking to you. 

[00:40:45] Serena: Awesome. 

[00:40:46] Melissa: Thank you so much. I absolutely love listening to your podcast by the way. So I really appreciate that. We're on it. 

[00:40:51] Serena: Yeah. Awesome. We'll talk to you soon. 

[00:40:54] Hannah: Thank you, Serena.

[00:40:55]