A few months ago I launched a free private podcast called Joe’s Audio Notes. The episodes are very short (7 minutes or less), where I share my thoughts on being a solopreneur, a podcaster, a parent, and other thoughts related to being a productive member of society.
I'm sharing 3 of the episodes here (which you can find in the chapter markers):
- Thinking About my Content Strategy
- How do you pick the right idea?
- Battling the work hangover
If you like it, I'd love for you to join!
You can sign up for free here.
- (00:00) - Intro
- (01:22) - Thinking About my Content Strategy
- (07:00) - How do you pick the right idea?
- (12:42) - Battling the work hangover
00:00:00 --> 00:00:03 Hey there, I wanted to take this opportunity
00:00:03 --> 00:00:07 to drop in and tell you about a free private
00:00:07 --> 00:00:11 podcast I have called Joe's Audio Notes. You
00:00:11 --> 00:00:14 can sign up for it over at Casabona .org slash
00:00:14 --> 00:00:19 notes, but it's basically a very short form.
00:00:19 --> 00:00:22 I would say seven minutes or less podcast where
00:00:22 --> 00:00:26 I just put out quick episodes about what I'm
00:00:26 --> 00:00:29 thinking about as it. relates to being a solopreneur,
00:00:30 --> 00:00:33 a podcaster, a parent. And I've been lately promoting
00:00:33 --> 00:00:36 it over the last few weeks and it's been really
00:00:36 --> 00:00:39 well received. So I thought what I would do here
00:00:39 --> 00:00:42 is drop three of those episodes in the feed back
00:00:42 --> 00:00:44 to back all in this track so you don't have to
00:00:44 --> 00:00:47 go hunting for the other ones. But it'll just
00:00:47 --> 00:00:49 be three episodes back to back so you can get
00:00:49 --> 00:00:52 an idea of what the show is about. And if you
00:00:52 --> 00:00:54 want to sign up. Like I said, you can head on
00:00:54 --> 00:00:58 over to Casabona .org slash notes. It's totally
00:00:58 --> 00:01:00 free. It is just a private podcast, so you'll
00:01:00 --> 00:01:04 have to opt in with your email address. And I'd
00:01:04 --> 00:01:09 love to hear your feedback on this. So if you
00:01:09 --> 00:01:12 want, you can also head over to streamlinedfeedback
00:01:12 --> 00:01:16 .com and let me know your thoughts. But without
00:01:16 --> 00:01:19 further ado, let's get to these three episodes
00:01:19 --> 00:01:26 of Joe's Audio Notes. So something I have been
00:01:26 --> 00:01:29 thinking about a lot over the last few days with
00:01:29 --> 00:01:33 the impending rebrand happening is my content
00:01:33 --> 00:01:38 strategy. What am I going to do with my various
00:01:38 --> 00:01:40 properties? Am I going to be writing more on
00:01:40 --> 00:01:44 Casabona .org? How does my podcast fit into all
00:01:44 --> 00:01:49 of this? So I decided to do some digging into
00:01:49 --> 00:01:53 Google Analytics to see what my most popular
00:01:53 --> 00:01:57 content is. Far and away, my most popular post
00:01:57 --> 00:02:01 is how I've configured my stream deck, my Sony
00:02:01 --> 00:02:05 a6400 post, how to automate things in Gmail,
00:02:06 --> 00:02:11 and I've kind of, not kind of, I narrowed down
00:02:11 --> 00:02:15 my most popular content across all of my sites
00:02:15 --> 00:02:20 into three buckets of sorts. Gear, automations,
00:02:22 --> 00:02:28 and productivity, process, not really sure on
00:02:28 --> 00:02:32 that end, but I think this is good, right? All
00:02:32 --> 00:02:35 of these things, well not gear, well gear maybe,
00:02:36 --> 00:02:39 but automations and productivity or process fits
00:02:39 --> 00:02:45 into the new rebrand of streamlining and creating
00:02:45 --> 00:02:49 space, right? The streamlined equals spacious.
00:02:49 --> 00:02:56 the is the the idea behind my brand and Holly
00:02:56 --> 00:03:01 provided the brand guidelines today with mission
00:03:01 --> 00:03:04 and what's driving me and and all sorts of other
00:03:04 --> 00:03:07 great stuff that I'm gonna just like have in
00:03:07 --> 00:03:10 my office as a reminder of you know what's on
00:03:10 --> 00:03:17 brand but I think with all of that I going to
00:03:17 --> 00:03:20 certainly continue to talk about automations
00:03:20 --> 00:03:26 as it as it relates to podcasting or just solopreneurship
00:03:26 --> 00:03:30 in general right the brand is a personal brand
00:03:30 --> 00:03:35 and it doesn't make a lot of mention about podcasting
00:03:35 --> 00:03:40 specifically which I think is a good idea podcasting
00:03:40 --> 00:03:48 is one vertical think maybe it's horizontal I
00:03:48 --> 00:03:53 think pot well either way podcasting is one area
00:03:53 --> 00:03:56 where I can help people streamline and it's certainly
00:03:56 --> 00:03:59 my most popular one right now where I've established
00:03:59 --> 00:04:05 the most authority but the personal brand kind
00:04:05 --> 00:04:10 of gives me room to discuss other things more
00:04:10 --> 00:04:14 things I've wanted to write about But I feared
00:04:14 --> 00:04:18 It wasn't quote -unquote on brand. So like gear
00:04:18 --> 00:04:20 is something I do like talking a lot about and
00:04:20 --> 00:04:24 I'll be reviewing this the sure MV 7 plus not
00:04:24 --> 00:04:26 really reviewing just kind of comparing it. I
00:04:26 --> 00:04:29 don't really do reviews. I just I like doing
00:04:29 --> 00:04:33 side -by -sides Sort of things and like general
00:04:33 --> 00:04:37 impressions But then also, you know, I get questions
00:04:37 --> 00:04:39 about the iPhone and apps and things like that
00:04:39 --> 00:04:42 And I definitely want to talk more about that
00:04:42 --> 00:04:47 but again i never felt like it was related enough
00:04:47 --> 00:04:54 to podcasting as i settle my brand and my niche
00:04:54 --> 00:05:02 more i can talk to solopreneurs about creating
00:05:02 --> 00:05:04 space in their lives and one of the benefits
00:05:04 --> 00:05:06 of creating space is being able to focus on the
00:05:06 --> 00:05:09 podcast and one of the ways you can create space
00:05:09 --> 00:05:13 is optimizing your phone or doing more with shortcuts
00:05:13 --> 00:05:16 or picking the right apps so I'm really excited
00:05:16 --> 00:05:19 I know I keep saying this I'm really excited
00:05:19 --> 00:05:24 about the rebrand and I think that this is really
00:05:24 --> 00:05:29 gonna give me space to explore more topics that
00:05:29 --> 00:05:33 are of interest to me so that I'm not constantly
00:05:33 --> 00:05:35 talking about like why you need to use Calendly
00:05:35 --> 00:05:39 to book guests or whatever right it Allows me
00:05:39 --> 00:05:43 to expand out more which will better serve podcasters
00:05:43 --> 00:05:46 and Will better serve solopreneurs who want to
00:05:46 --> 00:05:49 have a podcast but are losing time in other areas
00:05:49 --> 00:05:54 of their lives So that's what I'm thinking today
00:05:54 --> 00:05:59 My son's jumping outside on the trampoline That's
00:05:59 --> 00:06:02 what I'm thinking today, and I'm excited to start
00:06:02 --> 00:06:05 Really digging into this I guess the last thing
00:06:05 --> 00:06:08 I'll say is I've kind of had a similar thought
00:06:08 --> 00:06:13 with Streamline Solopreneur. Downloads are down,
00:06:14 --> 00:06:17 right? My latest newsletter talks about potholes.
00:06:18 --> 00:06:22 And I feel like there have been a lot of potholes
00:06:22 --> 00:06:26 since the rebrand of Streamline Solopreneur.
00:06:27 --> 00:06:29 And it's because I didn't really understand or
00:06:29 --> 00:06:33 I wasn't talking to the right people. And I'm
00:06:33 --> 00:06:35 doing some new and interesting things there too,
00:06:35 --> 00:06:42 so. Yeah, I'm excited about this direction. I
00:06:42 --> 00:06:46 think it'll make for a better newsletter. I think
00:06:46 --> 00:06:49 it'll make for better content in general. And
00:06:49 --> 00:06:51 I think it'll help me serve my target audience
00:06:51 --> 00:06:55 more. So yeah, super excited about that. Alright,
00:06:55 --> 00:07:02 thanks for listening and until next time. Today
00:07:02 --> 00:07:06 I want to talk about pursuing ideas as a solopreneur.
00:07:07 --> 00:07:08 It's something I've been thinking about a lot
00:07:08 --> 00:07:12 because I'm in a a mastermind group called pod
00:07:12 --> 00:07:16 match elite and every month we do an accountability
00:07:16 --> 00:07:19 check -in where we Talk about what we're working
00:07:19 --> 00:07:23 on for the month and how we want to stay accountable
00:07:23 --> 00:07:27 This month I decided because for the last few
00:07:27 --> 00:07:30 months I was working on different ideas every
00:07:30 --> 00:07:36 month that I would basically pick a lane and
00:07:36 --> 00:07:40 stay in it for the rest of the year. And I'm
00:07:40 --> 00:07:45 all for experimenting. I'm less for making grand
00:07:45 --> 00:07:47 announcements for every experiment you're trying.
00:07:48 --> 00:07:51 I had a great conversation with a soon -to -be
00:07:51 --> 00:07:54 guest on Streamline Solopreneur. Her name is
00:07:54 --> 00:08:00 Emily Aborn. And we talk about this, right? There's
00:08:00 --> 00:08:03 a problem in branding and especially personal
00:08:03 --> 00:08:06 brand where you jump around and you focus on
00:08:06 --> 00:08:10 too many things. And that's different from experimenting.
00:08:10 --> 00:08:12 So, anyway, my accountability for this month
00:08:12 --> 00:08:17 in PodMatch Elite is to look at all the projects
00:08:17 --> 00:08:21 I'm doing and then just pick one to really focus
00:08:21 --> 00:08:26 in on for the rest of the year. Part of the problem
00:08:26 --> 00:08:30 is that I keep coming up with ideas I want to
00:08:30 --> 00:08:32 pursue. As a solopreneur, as a business owner,
00:08:33 --> 00:08:37 You probably have this same problem. I come from
00:08:37 --> 00:08:41 the development space and so It was very easy
00:08:41 --> 00:08:43 for me to like come up with an idea and put together
00:08:43 --> 00:08:47 something over the weekend and I have to Really
00:08:47 --> 00:08:49 fight. I mean, I don't have weekends anymore
00:08:49 --> 00:08:52 weekends are for my family I don't have weekends
00:08:52 --> 00:08:57 to work. I should say Weekends are for my family.
00:08:57 --> 00:09:01 So But like even this morning I came up with
00:09:01 --> 00:09:06 a potential idea that could be good But is it
00:09:06 --> 00:09:10 worth pursuing and I know I think I talked about
00:09:10 --> 00:09:15 this in a previous episode, but I Basically have
00:09:15 --> 00:09:18 two brands I'm working with podcast workflows
00:09:18 --> 00:09:22 and streamline solopreneur and those have some
00:09:22 --> 00:09:26 overlap But I'm I'm talking to slightly different
00:09:26 --> 00:09:29 audiences right where one is busy solo -preneur
00:09:29 --> 00:09:32 parents the qualifier is different one is busy
00:09:32 --> 00:09:36 solo -preneur parents and One is busy solo -preneur
00:09:36 --> 00:09:40 podcasters or maybe just busy podcasters which
00:09:40 --> 00:09:43 is maybe too vague for to be a good niche, but
00:09:43 --> 00:09:51 This idea could serve both But I don't know if
00:09:51 --> 00:09:54 it's worth pursuing and how I would marry the
00:09:54 --> 00:10:02 two so Mean that my initial thought was Create
00:10:02 --> 00:10:04 like a I don't know, you know, I don't even want
00:10:04 --> 00:10:06 to say it. Yeah, cuz I don't know if it's a this
00:10:06 --> 00:10:10 is like first Like my very first thought on it
00:10:10 --> 00:10:16 is I own streamlines FM Is is like putting everything
00:10:16 --> 00:10:19 under the streamlined brand a good idea I guess
00:10:19 --> 00:10:22 I should talk to Holly about this when she gets
00:10:22 --> 00:10:28 back from her vacation And like maybe run this
00:10:28 --> 00:10:32 by her Since she is ultimately working on my
00:10:32 --> 00:10:36 branding like is is streamlined in general good
00:10:36 --> 00:10:41 branding to lean into so That's what I'm thinking
00:10:41 --> 00:10:44 about this morning like figuring out it's always
00:10:44 --> 00:10:50 hard to figure out what ideas to pursue and You
00:10:50 --> 00:10:52 know, you're making a bunch of small bets, but
00:10:52 --> 00:10:54 I want to make a it's the end of the year I've
00:10:54 --> 00:10:57 had a good year. I've had a clarifying year and
00:10:57 --> 00:11:01 now I'm ready to make a big bet and so September
00:11:01 --> 00:11:07 is really Doing some research to figure out the
00:11:07 --> 00:11:11 safest big bet I should make So that's that's
00:11:11 --> 00:11:15 what I'm thinking about If you are also thinking
00:11:15 --> 00:11:18 about that Let me know you can respond right
00:11:18 --> 00:11:22 to the email that you got with this episode in
00:11:22 --> 00:11:27 it. I'd love to hear your thoughts. So yeah,
00:11:27 --> 00:11:30 I'm struggling a little bit, but that's what
00:11:30 --> 00:11:32 you know, the kids are back at school. I have
00:11:32 --> 00:11:34 five full days to work now. My father -in -law
00:11:34 --> 00:11:39 is picking the kids up after school. So I'm getting
00:11:39 --> 00:11:42 like an honest to goodness, like eight to five
00:11:42 --> 00:11:46 workday most days, which is really nice. And
00:11:46 --> 00:11:50 and I want to take advantage of that time and
00:11:50 --> 00:11:51 the other thing is like at the end of the month
00:11:51 --> 00:11:55 I'm going on this it's you know, it's it's called
00:11:55 --> 00:12:00 Cabo press. It's in Cabo It's called a conference.
00:12:00 --> 00:12:04 I really view it as more of like a retreat And
00:12:04 --> 00:12:09 I want to have something very solid to bring
00:12:09 --> 00:12:13 to that conference and talk to other much smarter
00:12:13 --> 00:12:18 business owners so then me about I I feel like
00:12:18 --> 00:12:22 the last few years at Cabo press I've been Grappling
00:12:22 --> 00:12:24 with stuff and getting clarity and it's always
00:12:24 --> 00:12:27 been great. Which is why I keep going but this
00:12:27 --> 00:12:32 year I want to be clear and I want to refine
00:12:32 --> 00:12:36 whatever it is I'm talking about so That's that's
00:12:36 --> 00:12:38 what I'm thinking. Let me know respond to the
00:12:38 --> 00:12:42 email. I'd love your thoughts. Thanks so much
00:12:42 --> 00:12:48 Hey everybody happy November I can't believe
00:12:48 --> 00:12:52 we are in November October flew by really fast
00:12:52 --> 00:12:55 I addressed that a couple of times on this show
00:12:55 --> 00:13:02 but I am jumping in today recording this to talk
00:13:02 --> 00:13:08 about the work hangover I just shipped my next
00:13:08 --> 00:13:12 LinkedIn learning course it's an update to one
00:13:12 --> 00:13:15 of my current courses, PHP for WordPress, where
00:13:15 --> 00:13:18 I wanted to update it for PHP 8 and the block
00:13:18 --> 00:13:21 editor stuff and what the block editor means
00:13:21 --> 00:13:25 for PHP, which is honestly not as much as I thought
00:13:25 --> 00:13:32 it meant. But I am, for a number of reasons,
00:13:32 --> 00:13:36 struggling this morning to really get in the
00:13:36 --> 00:13:42 right headspace. Part of it is... you know, current
00:13:42 --> 00:13:47 events are looming large for me. I'm more anxious
00:13:47 --> 00:13:53 about current events than I have been in a long
00:13:53 --> 00:14:01 time. My poor, poor Yankees forgot how to play
00:14:01 --> 00:14:05 baseball when it mattered most and lost the World
00:14:05 --> 00:14:09 Series, which is an incredible bummer for me.
00:14:11 --> 00:14:13 And you know as I record this yesterday was Halloween
00:14:13 --> 00:14:17 and so I was I've been staying up later and Have
00:14:17 --> 00:14:19 not been eating very well because there's candy
00:14:19 --> 00:14:23 literally in every inch of my house Not literally
00:14:23 --> 00:14:29 it's everywhere though And so today I really
00:14:29 --> 00:14:33 need to buckle down and do a few things But I've
00:14:33 --> 00:14:37 got the work hangover. I Expounded expounded
00:14:37 --> 00:14:42 I spent a bunch of energy Over the last week
00:14:42 --> 00:14:44 working on the LinkedIn learning course like
00:14:44 --> 00:14:49 really working on it script writing And then
00:14:49 --> 00:14:52 recording and creating slides and writing code
00:14:52 --> 00:14:55 and all that fun stuff if you don't know I've
00:14:55 --> 00:15:00 I've done this for members, but if I really focus
00:15:00 --> 00:15:02 I can do a LinkedIn learning course in about
00:15:02 --> 00:15:07 two weeks They're a hellish two weeks and I prefer
00:15:07 --> 00:15:11 not to do them that way but Somehow it always
00:15:11 --> 00:15:15 shakes out that way Now my next course is like
00:15:15 --> 00:15:18 a full rewrite of a near five hour course, so
00:15:18 --> 00:15:21 it's gonna take more than Two weeks, and I'm
00:15:21 --> 00:15:23 gonna have to manage my time better, but for
00:15:23 --> 00:15:25 this one. It was a simple update And so I wrote
00:15:25 --> 00:15:28 the scripts over a couple of days, and then I
00:15:28 --> 00:15:31 recorded them all yesterday, but anyway the point
00:15:31 --> 00:15:36 is I am struggling this morning because All of
00:15:36 --> 00:15:39 my mental energy basically was going towards
00:15:39 --> 00:15:45 this one project and now it's over and I struggle
00:15:45 --> 00:15:49 most at the start of projects, like building
00:15:49 --> 00:15:52 the momentum. So I'm thinking about that today
00:15:52 --> 00:15:56 and what I'll probably do is do a few small tasks
00:15:56 --> 00:16:00 and then it's the weekend. I fear I'm going to
00:16:00 --> 00:16:04 be more distracted than normal next week. Which
00:16:04 --> 00:16:07 is upsetting because it hasn't been a very productive
00:16:07 --> 00:16:11 several weeks for me But I'm just gonna what
00:16:11 --> 00:16:16 I want to try to do today is Check a few things
00:16:16 --> 00:16:20 off of my list a couple of easy wins Aaron's
00:16:20 --> 00:16:24 working this weekend. So and I'm I don't generally
00:16:24 --> 00:16:28 work the weekends anyway So it's not really about
00:16:28 --> 00:16:34 building momentum. It's it's more about resetting
00:16:34 --> 00:16:40 the clock or like resetting my headspace a little
00:16:40 --> 00:16:44 bit and then you know doing the startup routine
00:16:44 --> 00:16:49 on Sunday so I can really have a clear vision
00:16:49 --> 00:16:51 for the coming week so that's what I'm thinking
00:16:51 --> 00:16:53 about this morning the work hangover I'll probably
00:16:53 --> 00:16:56 do a newsletter about this I've also been thinking
00:16:56 --> 00:17:01 a lot about how I'm gonna manage this with the
00:17:01 --> 00:17:04 Podcast Workflows podcast and Streamline Solo
00:17:04 --> 00:17:09 Pernewer with the rebrand. I don't wanna have
00:17:09 --> 00:17:12 a podcast named after myself. I think that is
00:17:12 --> 00:17:16 both self aggrandizing and doesn't matter for
00:17:16 --> 00:17:18 me. Like most people don't know who I am and
00:17:18 --> 00:17:20 so a podcast with my own name doesn't matter.
00:17:22 --> 00:17:26 But, you know, with the personal brand shift.
00:17:26 --> 00:17:31 I am thinking more about how to consolidate,
00:17:31 --> 00:17:36 streamline my content strategies to really focus
00:17:36 --> 00:17:38 on the things that will make the most impact
00:17:38 --> 00:17:41 in my business. So there you go, early November
00:17:41 --> 00:17:45 thoughts and I guess going into the holiday thoughts
00:17:45 --> 00:17:47 and going into the weekend thoughts, all rolled
00:17:47 --> 00:17:50 into one. If you have any feedback or your own
00:17:50 --> 00:17:52 thoughts, let me know. You can respond directly
00:17:52 --> 00:17:56 to this email. or at streamlinedfeedback .com.