Welcome back to another episode of systemize her. I'm your host, Leah. And before we get into today's episode, I want to really quickly tell you about a free workshop that I'm hosting this Friday, December the 6th at 7 PM

Inside of the workshop. I'm giving you the four keys to a systemized business and life

we're talking about planning out your perfect vision for your life and business. Integrating them both intentionally navigating. And aligned customer journey and kickstarting real growth with systems that work, even when you don't. This isn't just a workshop. It's your opportunity to simplify the chaos. With strategies to streamline and scale your small business. You'll be able to make time for the things and the people you love the most. I'm really excited to host this workshop for you. I think it's going to be amazing and I can't wait to see you there. If you want to grab your free ticket to the workshop. Go ahead to workshop dot Leah janell.co, or click the link in show notes.

Welcome to Systemize Her, the podcast that's all about helping you create a business and a life that you love without losing your mind in the process. I'm Leah, your host and go to system strategist for side hustling moms. I get it. We've got a whole lot of hats to wear and being an entrepreneur is just one of them. But who says you can't have a business that brings you both freedom and flexibility? From streamlined home hacks to boss level business automation, We're diving into everything that helps you blend work and life seamlessly. Yeah sis, you can absolutely run a thriving business, make those weekend memories with the kids, hit up brunch with your bestie, plan a getaway with your girls, and even sneak in a little vacation. All while your systems have your back. You really can have it all and I'm here to help you make it happen. So grab a cup of coffee or maybe a glass of wine, get comfy and let's dive in. Are you ready sis? Let's do this.

Today's episode is really fun because it's something that I've never done before. We are actually doing a little bit of a blast from the past. So a few. Months ago now I think, um, I did an interview with my new friend Jalisa. Who is the host of the woman in between podcast? Julissa. And I met randomly on Instagram and we have just been. Two peas in a pod since then. So. I'm really excited to share this episode with you guys, because like I said, we just kind of hit it off as soon as we met. And I think our episode was so much fun and so good. It was very different from the things that she normally does on her show. It was a very different hat. Type of interview for me as well. So I just loved everything about it. And I was like, you know what? My audience needs to hear this. And I thought, what better time? Then the end of the year, right before we're about to break for the holidays and everything. So I hope that you guys enjoy listening to this episode. Just as much as I enjoyed recording it without further ado, let's get into the episode.

Hi, everyone. And welcome back to the woman in between podcast. This is a podcast where we talk about navigating life's transitions with grace and ease into the women that we want to become. I'm so excited to have a special guest. We're doing another guest episode. Very thrilled to have Leah here with us. I'm going to let her introduce herself. Hi, Leah. So her I'm just really excited about our conversation and everyone just learning more about you the way I have because she's just a great person all around. I'm gonna turn it over to you to introduce yourself. Yeah, so my name is Leah. I am a single mom of one four year old son, so I'm exiting toddlerhood, finally. It is ghetto, the worst hood. Very. Finally getting out of the depths of that. I am a nurse by day and I run my own business by night and I am a system strategist for side hustling women. I am happy to be here. Love that we connected and I can't wait to get into today's conversation. I know. I'm so happy we connected too. You know, I was trying to think. Think earlier, like how we initially met, obviously through social media. So shout out to social media for that. But I couldn't remember who connected with who first. I couldn't, I could not tell you. I don't even know. I couldn't tell you. I feel like I had just started the podcast or I had just posted it on Instagram and you were either one of the first people that I started following or the first. Person I messaged. I don't know, but I do remember it being at the inception and just like the kind words that you gave to me about the podcast. And then I think I started following you and your content and it just meant a lot to enter into this space, right? Of social media. Starting your own thing and having the support and not just support, right? Support from a black woman, support from a single mom that is also like on the journey to building something for herself. Um, so I'm just very grateful that we crossed paths. I didn't even realize that it was when you had first started your podcast either. I'm pretty sure. That was very much, I wouldn't say on a whim. It was, obviously the podcast has been a thought for some time. Um, we'll launch of it. I was like, we're going to do it on a Tuesday. And that feels great. Tuesday feels amazing. And that's, and that's what happened. But I just, I remember it was during the beginning stages and how much I appreciated it. You know, social media is a gauntlet. It is also Very ghetto sometimes, but we need it for connection. And so I'm just really happy that it connected the two of us. Uh, obviously we realized we had far more in common fellow Pisces over here. I was literally just thinking about that the other day. Cause I was wearing my espresso martini t shirt. We got to get together. We have to have an espresso martini, resposado in it. You have to, or Repo, I see the menu and I'm just like, I don't, I don't know how to even say this, but I need it. We do have to have an espresso martini time. Yes. Two Pisces women together, I think is a magical combination. It's, I know, it's the most amazing thing. Yeah, I'm just like, and I know, so for the audience, we obviously, like, we've communicated before this conversation, but one of the things that I really fangirled about, When we got off the phone is just hearing how much you love to use like systems and tools and feeling like, Oh, I found somebody that's like me and how great it was. But what I was saying was I was fangirling over the fact that you and I both connected over the systems of the tools and over the organizations. And you were probably one of the first people that I talked to that had that title. System strategist. Yes. You just, I feel like it's not something that you hear all the time. And as a recruiter and project manager, I'm on LinkedIn every day, all day. And so it was really great to put a name to, you know, the skills that you obviously have. And just really curious as far as like, how did you really. Well, one, let's back up. Tell me, tell us a little bit about your business first and what you do. I'm getting ahead of myself because I'm excited. Yeah Tell us a little bit about that. So I call myself the system strategist for side hustlers because like you said there are really not a lot of Women out there period that are in, I kind of call myself in the tech space. Um, so like kind of women in tech, but there's not a lot of women, especially a lot of black women out there. Um, but I call myself the system strategist for side hustlers. Cause I haven't found anyone that does the exact same thing that I do. I think that. When I first started, I was focusing on the business side of it. And so I was like, we got to get these business systems together. I don't know how many times I've been to like a black owned restaurant or whatever, and I'm like trying to support, and I'm like, this is so janky. Like they need somebody to come in here, let's get it together. And so I was like, what if I just like go in and help people get their business together and then there it is. And so that's kind of how I started. started thinking about it. And then I was like, well, side hustles and systems, like the whole premise of it is that this is something that you're doing on the side. It's not something, it's not your entirety. It's not your career. You still have a career. You still have a family. You still have that. This business that you're trying to grow. And I was thinking like, well, the reason that so many, that there's so much disjointedness in building these side hustles and you go into a business and it's a little crazy, or it's an online business and it's taking forever for somebody to follow up with you or whatever the case might be is most likely because they're trying to keep the two separate. They're trying to only work on their business systems. There's no systems in place for their family life. There's no systems in place for, um, Your career and your job and everything is separate. And so what I try to do is incorporate your whole, your whole self. So we're systemizing all parts of it. Yes, there is an emphasis on the business system side of it because that's what we're building here. But in order for that to work as a side hustler, you have to have the personal systems in place. You have to have your family on board. You have to have all of those things checked off. You can't neglect your own self care. We have a full time job, so you've got to maintain that as well. So I teach about systemat systemizing your life as a whole. And then we pull in that side hustle, that business side of it as well. Um, stop me if I'm going to take it. Well, I want you to keep going, but you hit such a good point. You have to have the systems within your personal life. For it to really make sense within your business and I for me That's when I'm when I had it in my personal life and I started to see how having systems and I hate like processes and routines in my personal life and seeing how that was Benefiting me benefiting my kids That's when I was like, well, how do I actually apply this at work? And thinking about, right, the two are connected. Because for me, when I get to work, I obviously want to make impact, but I have to be home with my children. So how I do that, I have to be very strategic and mindful of my time, which means I optimize technology to help me be as efficient as possible. And a lot of those tools can really cause. You know, to both personal and professional. That's why I love that you said it because if you don't know how to set that up and even like navigate roadblocks, you know, resistance, it's going to be really hard to manage that in a business. And I think it's like for you, what was, what was like the trigger? Like, was it that you, like, you already had it going on in your personal life and it just You know, kind of turned into a business for you. How did that happen? So for me, it kind of stemmed from a place of trauma. And I know that we've kind of discussed this a little bit, but I completely am an open book. I don't mind sharing it. So in 2017, my mom was. Diagnosed with stage four colon cancer. And so we went, we were going through treatments and things. And so I was forced to be a little bit more, um, structured with my time, just because at the time I was just like, I graduated from college on a Saturday and she was diagnosed that Monday. Like they had tested on Friday. They knew on Friday, but they knew I was graduating. So they, the doctors were like, we'll bring you back in on Monday. and let you know and everything. And so they diagnosed on Monday. The next week she was having like major surgery to try to get rid of as much as possible. So very quickly, I graduated from nursing school and then I was a caregiver at the same time I was learning how to be a nurse. And it was just very quickly like, okay, I guess I have to make this adjustment here. At the time I had no kids. I Wasn't married or anything. And so I was like, well, I guess now I just have to help my mom. And luckily at that time she recovered from her surgery very well. She was doing her treatment. She was doing very well with her treatment. So there was really, I mean, it was just two times a month. I have to go with her and take her to the doctor all day. And it really wasn't a lot of balancing I had to do, um, with nursing at shift work. So I was working three days a week. I'm like, well, I just won't schedule myself on a Wednesday or whatever day it was. And so that was working for a while, but in 2019, I unexpectedly got pregnant. And so I was like, well, I say unexpected. I'm sorry. But if you, um, if you don't do anything to prevent it, that's what happens. So I got pregnant. I'm like, okay, well, I guess things are changing a little bit now. At the time, like my mom was doing okay. Like there were some hiccups along the way, but it was like, yeah, okay. So I go through my entire pregnancy. He's Probably like a month before he was born, the doctors wanted to, sorry, um, the doctors wanted to change up her treatment a little bit, and so we were gonna do a two week stint of she had to go every single day. And so I'm like, perfect, like, we could, this is the perfect time to do it, he's not due for another month, like, this is great. Well, like, four days into this new treatment, And so I'm like, well, you can go. And she's like, I'm not missing my first grandchild be born. So she's like, I'm going to skip today. It'll be fine. So she skipped a day. She ended up going to treatment the next day, but that was the first time that I kind of recognized that, like, There can be conflict now with what I have going on versus what she needs and then now I have this little person that I'm Responsible for too. So it's like he's not even here yet, or he's just entering the world and I'm like, okay There's some navigation that needs to happen. Luckily for me, we have great family support And so we have lots of family members that are always able to help so that whole year, that first year was just a lot of navigating all of these different moving pieces. And so long story short, to answer your question, it is all came to a head when he was born. I was trying to figure out how to keep my three days a week working night shift. She was starting to need more treatments. And so it was like, okay, we're doing this thing every day. Then once a week, we're kind of going back and forth, seeing all of the, all of these different specialists. My son was I mean, he was fine, but he did have a lot of allergies, a lot of skin issues. So we were back and forth to the doctor, lots of ear infections. So it was just constantly like, if I'm not at work, I'm taking someone to a doctor's office. Um, and so it was like, Sometimes I was getting phone calls like, hi, Ms. Tyler, are you coming today? And I'm like, coming where? Where am I supposed to be? Because I was not, I mean, I've always been into like planners and stuff, but planning a school schedule versus planning three different lives, very different. Very different. A school calendar genuinely is my nemesis because it's like five cal calendars in one. No offense to my teachers. I love my teachers. I do. Shout out to y'all because that's not a job I would or could do, but it is like five calendars in one. Yes, and so different. And like, they have to wear, me and my girlfriends joke about this, like the clothing calendar piece really pisses me off. We have something personal against it. Um, but it's just, it is a lot to manage. And then, like you said, you are learning to be a nurse, a caregiver, while you're also acting as a caregiver. Um, you're supporting your mom, but at the same time, you are a human being yourself. You still have your goals. You still have your passions. And I'm sure the question has to come up of like, How do I still pursue the things that fuel me? With the circumstance that I'm in and you said you said like really key words Like when you said a lot of this sparked from like conflict from trauma And I think that's a lot of us, right? Sometimes you have to just be shaken up To realize like I have to find a better way to manage this for, you know, you, it was your mom being diagnosed with cancer and being a caretaker during that time. And for me, it was my divorce and I think, okay, the picture and the role that I saw myself playing in a dual home or married no longer exists. And how the heck am I supposed to do this? And completely starting from scratch in a lot of ways. And so I definitely understand what you're saying, especially when you're like you have to learn how to navigate, right. And that's the entirety of this podcast. How do you navigate through conflict, through trauma, through adversity. And I do think sometimes you have to be a little bit more tactical in your approach, right? There's a lot of talk about, You know, I'm sure you see it. There's a lot of talk about self care and, you know, the soft life. And I was like, let's get into the practicality of what that looks like. How do you ensure that if you know that you want to get a massage every week, how are you going to ensure that that happens? Do you have a budgeting system set up? You know, I feel like there's this duality of the goal, the act, and the system. Yes. A hundred percent. Yeah. A hundred percent. And that's something that, um, a lot of people struggle with, I find out, I find, especially with what I'm doing, is people, so the first thing that I always start out with, because the first thing that I teach is, like, that you have to have your calendar together in order for all of these things to work. Like I just said, I would get phone calls and I'm like, I don't even know where I'm supposed to be. So I very quickly started using a calendar. Um, I am a big proponent of a digital calendar again, from my own mistakes. Um, I was like, well, I'll just go get these nice, cute planners from Michael's and I love decorating them. I got all the pins, did all the things. The calendar's great if you open it, but when you're busy and you don't look at it, it doesn't work. It doesn't. And I'm sorry, like it hit me one time when I was probably buying, I don't know, my 10th planner and asking myself, First of all, Jaleesa, where are you carrying this planer to? I don't know. I don't see people carrying planers around. And if you do, where, where is it compartmentalized? Where are you typically bringing that at? Your job! Exactly. So I could see You're already there. You are where you need to be! You are! Not helpful! I would genuinely get frustrated, you know, similar to you, because I'd like sit down and I'd write everything down and then I would realize I forgot where I put it. Lose it, but it would be in my little work bag and it would go back and forth with me for all three shifts And then I open it at the end of the week and I'm like, I didn't miss the dentist appointment I miss so and so's birthday. I was supposed to have dinner with a friend last week. Like, just That can't be it. Never thought. That can't be it. And funny because and it's I do have a paper calendar for my kids Because they are very much visual still, right, and they're not in necessarily the digital world. Um, it's even more helpful, like, cause I do co parent or parallel parent with, with someone. So they need to know, like, okay, I'm going to be here. I'm going to be there. And now we have all the extracurriculars involved. So, I will use it for them. I cannot wait till we transition over. Um, personally, I just want to get that big, like, echo comb. Have you seen the one that you can put on the wall? Yup. I knew you would know. Yup. I'm trying to, like, in my mind, give myself a reason to get one, but I'm like, girl, you have three Alexas, you got some Google Homes that you don't use. Like, you don't need anything else. I mean, if you get it, I'm going to get it. So look, don't let them have a black Friday sale and let it be, don't let it be on sale. I hope that it is. I'm upset, but, but for the audience, I'm going to have to, sorry, I'm going to have to put this in the show notes. Cause I think it's what echo like an echo dot. I don't know what the title is, but I don't even remember. I couldn't echo show the big one, the big one. You guys have to look it up, tick tock it, whatever you do. It's literally. Our dream. But, you know, I think you're right. Like, I think it is also a point to you have to pick a system that works best for you. Right. And maybe a paper calendar works well for some people. It doesn't work for us, but I do something about like, right. You're in your phone. All day, every day. Why not have your calendar there? Exactly. And I have, so I do have multiple calendars for multiple things, but they all are under my Google calendars and so they all integrate together. So like my son has one, I have my own personal calendar. I have my work calendar. I have my routines calendar, have my business calendar. I have. What am I missing? Oh, my menu. So, I have calendars for everything. Oh my gosh, I'm upset. And it just makes my little heart happy. I know it can be overwhelming for some people, but I just, I love it. It works. Yes. And it, Is something again, like it's something that I teach because you have to have that infrastructure because when you start trying to schedule consultations, time with clients, podcast interviews, things like that, like you can't block off your schedule appropriately if you don't have it in a digital format so that when you go and try to bring in these extra tech tools and things that all of my clients want to do, it works. Yeah. Because it's great that you have a Calendly or it's great that you're using Moxie or Dubsado or whatever to schedule things, but it's going to want to talk to a calendar. And if your calendar has nothing on it, you're going to be double booking and all over the place. Oh my goodness. Yes. I mean, I, I feel like a part of me has learned that, you know, through having kids through this podcast, especially, and more so coming from the standpoint of, I want everyone to know that I respect their time, that I respect their effort, um, and obviously like, right. You extend grace. But it got to the point for me where I was like, I don't like missing stuff. Feeling in this disarray, and right, if You're in a place of trauma. If you're in a place of conflict, that's almost like the last thing that you need, you know, you need the structure. And then when you bring it over to the entrepreneur side, where it's like, you have to be able to navigate both worlds. And I think as much as we would love to be able to lean on our own minds and remembering things. That's just not possible. So, I mean, yeah, I, yeah. And so I know you touched on what you've been seeing a lot with entrepreneurs, but like, what are some themes that you see where like you're having, you're having to make the most impact in the work that you do? So I think that the scheduling and just the wrapping your mind around you can be more than one thing. Is probably the biggest barrier. One of my favorite, and I can't take credit for this. I believe she has it copyrighted, but there's this podcast that I, I listen to, and it's called called to both. And it's a woman, she's a photographer and she talks about business. But when I was first exposed to her, she was doing an interview on another podcast that I listened to, and she was talking about how you can be called to both and you are called to both. You can be called to this entrepreneurship role and still have the role of being a mother to one or multiple children. So that is something that I kind of think about often. It's just like, I can be called to both. I can be called to more than one thing. God did not give me all of these passions for me to only be tunnel vision and only worry about this one thing. I can be a nurse and do a great job at being a nurse while I'm there. Um, I can, he blessed me with this child and I can be a great mom when I'm with him. I can be a great, impactful business owner as well, but I also have to be present and accountable and a whole person. By myself. And so people, I think that's the biggest thing that I deal with with my clients is that especially because I, I primarily serve women. And when I ask someone to tell me about themselves or tell me what you do, they say, well, I'm a mom, I'm a nurse. I am a business owner. I'm a consultant, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But they never say that I am me. Let's pause. Cause you're, I want to make sure we get, we get this. And I think you're cutting out. Okay. Is it better? Okay. Yes, it is. And I'm checking here. Okay, you're good. Yeah. And I was checking your quality's good too. I just wanted to make sure it was like, wait, no, I don't want you to, I don't want you to cut out on this. Uh, so you were saying you can, you can be a mom, you can be an entrepreneur. You can be a business person. Yes, you can be all of these things, but what happens is we get so caught up in the roles is Mmm Being this entrepreneur of being this whatever a full time job is as women We always identify as the role that we were playing at the time. You still there? Is it me freezing? Well, this time I think it was me. It gave me a little exclamation point, but it says it's fine now. Okay. Let me stop. Hey, so you can be more than one thing and that's where I see a lot of business entrepreneurs get stuck. Yes, where they either, it's not that they don't think that they can be more than one thing, but as women, we identify with the roles that we play and not necessarily being a person and letting that be another pillar. So I always begin with like, your family is most important. Begin with your family. But you were you before you were anything else. And so you have to take priority. In everything that you do and you have to take up space. So we schedule out all of these other things. And then it's like, okay, where can I fit myself in? And sometimes that has to be the case, but I do try to make it a point to prioritize me and I do try to make it a point to bring that to light when I'm dealing with clients or with members inside of my community and things. It's like, okay, this sounds great that you're going to do this, this, this, and this, but. What about your capacity? Do you have the capacity to do these things? And I just recently had a conversation with a client about that. She was just talking to me about what it is that she wants to do, and I want to do this, and I want to do this, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, okay, it sounds like you're doing all of these things because other people are asking you to do them for you. But like, do you have the capacity to do that? How does that feel? She's like, well, I didn't think about that. I'm like, you should. Yes. You know, we forget. And I think, because I mean, that's something that I, I feel like I still recover from, you know, I think we all do when you're playing all of these roles, you're identifying to them and it's really hard to fill a space up with yourself. You know, and learning how to do that. I don't know. I always call it, you know, this unlearning almost of how to make myself a priority and you are right. You have to squeeze yourself in. I think we lose sight of. The mental effort it takes to genuinely give to other people, even things that feel so small, like I've noticed it where I'm like, oh, okay, I can, you know, send this email for you or, oh, I can set this up for you. And it's like, no, they can do that for themselves. Like, what is going to bring back value to you and breaking down the thought process of. That's not a selfish thing to think. That's not a selfish thought. And so you almost have to kind of be therapist too. Yep a little bit. I am blessed where my clients are awesome and they kind of, like, I think I'm one of my gifts is that I can ask people questions in a way where I'm not, I'm not being condescending, but I want to know, like, I want to understand what's going on? Like, are you doing these things because you want to? If it's, if it's self driven and you're just in this space where you're like, I'm just gonna grind, grind, grind, or I don't sleep, I can sleep when I'm dead, like, that's fine. If that's, if that's your mantra, you go for it. But a lot of times when I start asking questions and I'm like, well, do you have the capacity for that? Do you like that? Does that feel good? Then people kind of, they self reflect and they're like, well, actually. Now that you mention it, it doesn't feel great. Mm hmm. When you pause, I think, I think I might have posted something about this a few weeks back, where it's like when you are just driven by being busy and doing, you know, and it's like, well, I have a full calendar, right? And you're just adding on and you're adding on. You don't really have time to pause and think. Is this really something that's benefiting me? Do I have the capacity for this? Right? Cause I've noticed that I, I used to do that where it's like, okay, and I want to do X and I want to do Y and I'm going to do this for that person, this for, and then at the end of the day, just be completely burned out, you know, but I'm busy and my calendar is full where, you know, I've been busy, booked and busy. And it's just like, what type of book are you really? Cause when I started breaking down my time, like I remember. I ended, I mean, I guess she was like a therapist, but we were more so talking about how to like really look at my time because I felt like I didn't have enough time in the day to, you know, study for my PMP, also like launching the podcast and stuff with kids and other things. And she's like, I want you to break down, like, just the pie diagram of where you feel like you put your time. And she's like, it could be a rough estimate. Obviously, the overachiever in me had to take it many steps further. Like, I utilized the Google Analytics in my color coding system. Not Google Analytics! I thought you were gonna say, like, I use Toggle to track my time, or blah blah blah. Google Analytics! So, okay, go ahead, Jalisa. What did you do? A thousand percent, a thousand percent. And then, so I took those hours and obviously converted them into percentage and then color coded the graph because I'm crazy or I'm smart. So I did that and you know what it told me? It told me, Jalisa, you have the time. You're just pouring into the wrong things. Mm hmm. You are pouring into your giving your all and you're hitting max capacity and then you sit there and you wonder why am I not gaining the results and then here we are. So, I don't know, maybe that's a piece of advice for anybody that wants to do a little time diagram. You don't have to use analytics. Yeah, but you did say something and I think it's important. So, I have a few hot takes, but one of them is you were saying that you feel like you don't have enough time. And I feel like, A lot of people say that, especially moms, who say, well, we, I don't have enough time. And somebody's rebuttal is always like, you have the same, well, not all the time, but I, I've heard all the time. Yes. Um, you have the same 24 hours as Beyonce. Fine. But, All of that to say, like, you have 24 hours in a day. And sometimes the excuse, I don't have enough time, is a valid excuse. Yeah. Sometimes you don't have enough time. And that's okay. But, the point is that you need to map it out. Whether you use Google Analytics, or you just get a piece of paper. And write it down. Do you. Hey. You don't know if you do or don't have enough time until you're able to digest it. And then you can say like you did, you're like, okay, I do have all of this time that I'm pouring into this thing or actually don't have enough time. Yes. But you got to map it out. Yes. And I love that you said hot take. So I, I, and I don't know if you can, well, I'm going to ask this. Because I selfishly want to know, what tools or systems do you have in place right now that you feel like benefit you both personally and professionally as a mom? So I will get off of the soapbox of calendars, but Google Calendar, it's my life. Hey, tell people, if it's not on my calendar, I have no idea. I won't be there, I can tell you that much. And you're gonna be mad at me. I will not be there if it's not on my calendar. So, Google Calendar, and I will let her lie, and put her to rest. Um, but, I feel like that's one, and then Notion. Notion is my brain. Everything in my life is inside of Notion. Yes. I feel like that is another big one. And then my Anylist HEB combo, we've talked about this, but Girl, look. It hits every time. I'm picking up my order tomorrow morning. Yup, so, I feel like those three things, if I didn't have them, yeah, cause everything else kind of falls into line, um, with those, like, when I say I schedule everything in my calendar, like, I even schedule, order your groceries, like, Same, 5. 30 to 6 on Fridays. Yup, I pick them up at 12 on Saturdays. I put in my order usually Thursday night. So, my order was put in last night. I have all day Friday to add things if I need to. And then Pick that bad boy up on Saturday, and I'm great. I try to tell people, like, if, please hear, if you have the ability to, one, either pick up your groceries, have them delivered, please do it. I'm coming as someone like, I don't like being in the store like that. Unless it's Whole Foods, and I grab a glass of wine before. It's a different story. And see, I don't mind being in the store, but I will be there wandering the aisles and like, snap out of it, and I'm like, how long have I been here? What's in my basket? Like, so I need to not be in the store. Yes, so you need it for self control purposes. Yes. Yes, please, please save yourself, um, and get one of those apps. Yes to that combo. You'd be so proud of me. I'm back on my Notion game. Mainly because I need to streamline some things, I'm like, stop fighting what you know is right. Yes, I love Me Some Notion, and it's, I just love that it can be as simple or as complex as you want it to be, but it is just, it's so easily accessible, you could get on on the computer, it goes with you on your phone, like, the combo is unmatched. I just, I love her. Exactly. It is. And like being able to embed, I realized that you could embed like an entire Google drive and I'm very excited to practice that. Yes. Yeah. And all of my, like, templates and everything, so inside of my community, which I'm sure we'll get to later, but inside of there, I do, um, different templates and I do everything inside of Notion. I was like, if y'all don't, like, I'm not gonna force you to use something that you don't wanna use, cause even though I'm a systems girl, like, I want you to use a system that works for you. So if you get inside of Notion and, like, you start tearing up and shaking and, like, don't use it then. It'll be okay. Use a Google Doc. I have heard people say they're like notion is like you have to be a coder or an engineer. I'm like, yeah, I don't know LinkedIn does have a course for anyone. I mean, you can also YouTube it follow their YouTube page I do they send videos like every day They are good. I love them. They have lots of tutorials, but I do do my templates inside of Notion. And at first I was doing inside of Notion and then I was also doing Google Drive. But everybody was like, well your templates make it like so much easier to get started. And it makes it like so much, because I just do whatever you tell me to do. Yeah. I'm like okay, well I mean it works. Most of them have migrated over to notion. So I'm like, well, I'm not going to do Google doc. If y'all aren't using them, because I don't use Google docs for organization. And I have, I'm so sorry. I think I came to this realization today because my company. Their organization tool is Google Drive and I not stand the way it organizes its files. I just don't feel like visually it's beneficial for me. So that's what I'm saying. It's like, I'm just going to make a whole notions page and just embed all of this in there. And I can have a one stop shop. They're my weekend plans. Now I do use Google Drive to like store documents and stuff and files. Yes. Note taken and like. All of the other stuff I use on Notion and then I'll just link to whatever files I need if I have to. That's exactly what I want to do. I need all of my files in one place and then I need to even them in like folders. I want my calendar completely integrated so I'm not clicking through all of these tabs because it's just a hot mess. And so that, I feel like that's kind of where I find myself in any role that I'm in. I'll come in and I'm just like, these are not working for me. And it's probably not going to work for our team. So let's transition everything over and then it'll be, it'll be pretty the way I like it. So hopefully that's what will happen. Hey, so I do want to play a little fun game with you. I didn't tell you about this, but my social media manager, Kim, said that this would be a really great idea. And I actually think that this will be fun. So we're going to do this or that. Okay. Ooh, I'm excited. So, you, be excited. I mean, I use ChatTBT. Well, I'm also excited because I have like a whole series that I have for like social media in the, in the clip back there. And it's like a this or that series. Oh, please feel free to use this content, please. I'm not going to hold that against you. Okay, so we'll see how this goes. There's not a lot of questions. Okay. Okay. So the first one is friends or the office? Really, my chat GPT hasn't done a good profile on me. I don't think I told it. I was a black woman. So I will be honest. I've never seen the office. Same. But Friends is cool. I'm gonna throw in a third one that also kind of fits in there, but one of my favorites, The Big Bang Theory. Have you ever watched it? That is a good one. Yes. That is. I love that show. It's very like, every time I bring it up, people are like, you watch that? I'm like, yes. And I laugh so hard. I wasn't expecting that. I was not expecting that. I know. I think we're also going to see generationally how old. He thinks I am. So we've worked through these questions because this is getting good. Hey, oh, this is a good one. TikTok or Instagram? Instagram. Mm hmm. That's an easy choice. I just have not gotten into the TikTok. I probably, the TikTok. The TikTok. I do search, like if I'm going on a trip and I'm planning stuff, like I'll look and see like where do the people go, but Other than that, I don't really, I need to get on my TikTok game. I'm telling you, I used to have like a really horrible obsession where I would spend like hours on it. Unfortunately, I've dialed back. Um, but I do love it for the entertainment. I really do. Um, okay. So texting or phone calls? That's a hard one. And we do voice texts. Voice texts. Yes. They're not talk to text, but like. The voice memos. Yes. I love a voice memo bad. Yeah. Bad. Yeah. Real bad. That's terrible. But the thing is, and this is selfish, sometimes, I want to send you a voice memo, but I want you to text me so I can read it and be able to true. That is true. You need like the like, Okay, I'll say something or you say something and then I text and then you say something. I hate when like, they go back and they start texting like, No, this isn't a texting conversation! Yeah, but I, I love me a good voice memo. Oh, I was, and I talk the text like an old lady. Oh. Haven't gotten there yet. I just do voice memos. 'cause I, and I have to tell my, my girlfriends, I'm like, I literally never have two hands to do this. That doesn't, yeah, that doesn't happen for me. Hey. I'm like, I wonder how old this really, it's like the options. Okay. Nineties hip hop. Ooh. I mean. I'm a 2000s girl. I just played my 2000s R& B Pandora station this morning. So, there's a clear winner here. The 2000s. There's a clear winner here. The 2000s. Um, for sure. I can't, I can't stop playing it. That's probably the problem. Okay, and then the last one. So, podcasts or audiobooks? I've been having this conversation. Podcasts. Yeah, well, I mean, obviously, I'm biased and you're probably biased because you have your own podcast, which we're going to get to in a second, but like, I love the conversational element of podcasts, like, I feel like I'm sitting in on a conversation versus someone talking at me. Yeah, so I like both and I use them for different purposes. So I will listen to a podcast like day to day because of the conversational piece. I typically listen to something that's going to give me some sort of educational component to it. So I listened to a lot of business and entrepreneurship podcasts, obviously, and then personal finance and stuff. Like I'm big into those too. So I listened to that as far as podcasts and Some of the ones I listen to loop those things in, but have an edge, like a entertaining entertainment component to it. So it's like great, but I do make it a point to listen to or to try to listen to one audiobook a month. Oh nice. Yes, and that's just because I'm trying to think of how to be politically correct. You may have to edit this out. But, I'm very curious now. You know the old saying when they're like, you want to hide information, Mendica put it in a book. And so, I just always think about that. I'm like, I can't say that I don't want to read because, Like our ancestors could not read and they didn't get access to that and like I'm not always like super Woo woo when it comes to that but in that aspect I'm like no I need to make sure that I am staying on top of reading and like What's in a book like what are these things that are out there, especially when it comes to like business and stuff I'm just like There's so much information that's out there that could be used, um, that's still, what is the word, relevant today, like, so, I do try to make it a point to sharpen my mind, but I recently read a non fiction book, which I normally don't, but I, I mean a fiction book, which I normally don't, I normally stick to like, biographies, business, all that stuff. But I did very much enjoy that. So I'm like, maybe I should start being more like leaving the books for entertainment slash getting some knowledge. Yeah. And then get lots of knowledge from podcasts. See, that's kind of how I am. I get my knowledge from podcasts. And then my audio books or even physical books, like that's where I just get to dream and play and like have so much fun. I had heard someone say that they will read like their educational books or educational podcasts in the morning and then read, you know, An entertaining nonfiction book or fiction book night. And that's how they break out their day. The options are endless. Well, that is this or that. Thank you. I think that was fun. It was fun. Good idea, Kim. Very good idea. Well, I know that, you know, I want to talk about your community and let people know, you know, how to find you, what you're doing right now. So tell us a little bit about that. Yeah, so the main places that I live on the internet, um, is in my Systemize Her podcast and community. So that's kind of my, where I just kind of do everything, everything's under basically that hat. Um, I have an Instagram. Education component. I do have a service component, but like I said, I kind of hang out more on the education side. So my podcast is called systemize her. It recently went through a name change. I don't actually know if we talked about that. Yeah. So kind of in line with what I was talking about earlier is like, I was trying to stick to like the business systems piece and try to just keep like, everybody says we should do is keep business and life separate. And so my original podcast name was systemize your side hustle, which loved it. I still love the name, but it just felt like it was not in line with my views on you need to systemize everything. And so I just recently did a rename and I just called it Systemize Her. I love that. I love that. Yes, so we can talk about all things systems. So I renamed the podcast and then I decided to adjust the name to our community to match because I do think that even though the community is a paid option, it is still, why am I losing the word? Extension. Jesus. Yeah. Or the community is still an extension of the podcast. And so we just get the opportunity to. In the podcast, we talk about all things systems kind of at an overarching higher level. And we just, I mean, we get into the, as much nitty gritty as you can in a podcast episode, but in the community we get an opportunity to dive deeper and. We do a monthly masterclass. Usually my podcast episodes are stemmed around the same theme as whatever my masterclass is. And so I try again to give as much as I can in the podcast, but in the masterclass we're able to really like get in there and really talk about those things. Um, they're able to ask questions. We do monthly Q& As. We do weekly co working sessions. We do monthly planning sessions. So there's lots of like hands on Sessions, live things that we get to do. And of course, as we're building the community, we are building community amongst each other. And so we're able to kind of, okay, what are you guys doing for this? I'm having this issue. What are y'all making for dinner tonight? Like we just get to, I love that. I need to join. Yes. Yes. Send me the link. Send me the link. I feel like those are my people. Yes, so we all, and a lot of us met. It's so funny how things work. I don't really know what people did before internet. Like I know you got to get out there and touch grass. I get it. But the internet connects you with so many people. Like we're in the same general vicinity and we would have probably never met had it not been for the internet. So a lot of us met in an online community for business owners. And so we were in there to get business mentorship and then we just happened, you know, you just gravitate towards your people and we just found each other and then started. Just supporting one another. And so I've started this community and it was like, no questions asked. They're like, absolutely. Like, I've heard you speak. And so they're like, whatever you're doing, like, let's do it. And so I started this community actually in May and I told them, I'm like, Hey, this is a brand new thing. I'm going to try it out, see how it works. They're like, try it on me. We got in there. We've done it. built this amazing thing where we are business besties, but we are also all growing our businesses. And I keep saying we, because I do want to make that, I like to make that clear is that I am still doing this as like, we're all growing together. Yes. I may be a few steps ahead as it pertains to being on top of these systems and like knowing different things. But at the end of the day, like I'm building my business just like everybody else. And so when I'm speaking about things, it's from a place of, I've been there, I've done that, I've seen that. Um, and if I haven't seen it, I guarantee you there's a woman in the community that has. And so that is kind of the main place that we do stuff. We're doing challenges inside of there. So we actually have a challenge coming up next month. And so I'm really excited about that. I've been connecting with some other women in the, in different industries. And so we're going to start having some expert speakers come in. So I'm just really excited about where we have come and then where we are going inside of there. Um, and so that's probably the main way I always direct people there, but. Like I said, I do have a services side of the business. And so I do set up systems for people as well. So depending on the needs, we will set up something that will work for you, both in your business and personal life that you can kind of use to track everything. But I always tell people, I would love to teach you how to do it because as small business owners, we are limited on time. And a lot of times we're limited on funds. Like I can charge you to do this thing, but I can also just teach you. Yeah. And so, but some people are like, I don't care to learn. And I have that energy about some things. I don't, sometimes it's just better to pay for the service. Exactly. That's why I feel about like deep cleaning my house. Like I could, I could, I know where the bleach is. I know where the mop, I could do it. However, seriously, it's so funny. Um, me and my family, we were on a. And my brother was asking me and he was joking. He's like, so do you think you could do, um, Jasmine's hair? His wife, both of my parents instantly said, they're like, Jalisa doesn't know how to do any hair. She can find somebody and pay somebody to do it. I hate the fact that that's true. Yep. I have no shame about paying somebody to do something. So I never shamed people. I'm like, look, I, I always lead with. The community. And I'm like, but if you really don't want to learn, I'm happy to just do it for you. Yes. Um, a lot of my, what I find is that a lot of my clients that want the service, they just want me to initiate it and to like set up the infrastructure and they're fine with maintaining it. And a lot of them actually stay in the community because they get an opportunity to use the thing that I just built. And then they just kind of add on from there. So I do have both sides because there is a, there's a reason and a rhyme and a reason for both of them. Yeah. And so that's just kind of, that's where I spend most of my time in my business. Wow. Well, I think you should join. I'll be joining. I'm serious, like, DM me the link, um, I left this on your website, I can find it, but if you can DM me the link. Yeah, if you go to, um, my Instagram, it's, everything is in the link. Okay. I try to link everything there. Awesome. Well, okay, so my last question. What hot take would you give A single mom that is getting, that is wanting to start her side hustle in the depths of starting her side hustle, what key piece of advice would you give? Oh, this is perfect. So my shirt says balance. So my hot take is that there's no such thing as balance. There is give and take. And I actually did a podcast episode about this. So everybody thinks that like, okay, when I'm prioritizing like my pillars, which is like work, side hustle, myself and my family, everything has to be 25%, like 25. And all of that equals a hundred percent. And that is never the case. So you can't be everything all at one time. You can have all of those, those, those things simultaneously, but you may be where I need to spend 80 percent of my time right now with my family because I have something going on and everything else that 20 percent is split amongst those other roles, it may be. Very close to 25 percent sometimes, but something is always going to need your priority or your attention over some of the other things. And so I think that somebody that is, whether you're a new mom or you've been a mom, um, your kids are older and you're trying to build this side hustle is just to get out of your mind that you're going to be able to balance everything. You're not, you're going to have to figure out. Where you can spend the most time without letting everything else just like fall to sh to crap. Um, so if you're gonna say, hey on, on Saturdays, I have dedicated time to spend on my business, then let that be the case and figure out how to schedule in the other stuff. Let that be okay, but plan for it. And so something that I started doing is I started feeling, of course, what's talked about often, and I guess this is another hot take, but I won't get into it, is the feeling of mom guilt. And so it's like, well, I'm spending all this time building this thing that I want to build, but I'm also not spending time with my kid. And I got, I had these feelings too. And I'm thinking about this too. And I'm like, okay, what would make me feel better? If I knew that I was going to spend a certain amount of time with my child dedicated every single day, then I would feel better about the time that I spend away from him. So what did I do? I went to my calendar and I block out time with my son. And so every day for 30 minutes, 20 to 30 minutes a day, we sit on the floor, because that's what 4 year olds like to do, and we do something that he wants to do. So we play cards, we play blocks, we color, whatever it is that he wants to do. I know that every day I'm giving him a 30 minute chunk of time where I'm not doing anything else. I'm not on my phone, I'm not recording a podcast episode, I'm not doing anything but being with him. And then on Saturdays, he gets a chunk of time. So right now we're doing baseball. And so, every Saturday morning. My chunk of time, everything before that is him. I do block off, so I, I say everything is him, but I do have a chunk of, a little chunk of time that I spend taking, um, like early Saturday morning calls before he gets, he wakes up. But after that, like, my Saturdays are usually dedicated to him, and so it's blocked off in my calendar. Like, no one can book a call during his block of time because it is blocked off. But then that way, I know that I'm spending this dedicated time with him, and so I can say I have Created that space for him block off. Okay, I'm going to get my monthly massage. I'm gonna get my nails done I'm gonna do this and I block that off on my calendar, too So that's done and then everything else you can kind of schedule around there So if you're having trouble If you are having trouble with like, okay, how do I balance start plugging in the things that have to happen? Yeah, you have to work lock that in you have to sleep Block that out. I'm not a proponent of like stay up and you can sleep when you're dead. Sleep. You need sleep. Yeah. Um, block off time with your kids. Block off all that stuff that has to happen and then figure out what capacity you have for your business. And then build what you're trying to do around that capacity. Did you know that you only have like four hours a week to dedicate to your business? You can still build a business with that four hours a week, but you probably don't need to be doing one on one work. Yeah. Because you can only serve one person at a time, unless you're in a very, um, I ticket expensive space. Then, Sure, um, but for the most of us, when we're just starting out, our goal is to create a little bit of extra income, um, and we're not going to be able to come out of the gate charging 10, 000 for one client. Yeah. So be realistic with your time. Be realistic with what your expectations are of yourself. Don't try to achieve balance because you're not going, you're going to drive yourself crazy trying to give everything equal and ample time all the time. Um, and just keep going, keep going. It's hard, but keep going and you'll get to where you want to be. Eventually, whether you get out of the depths of toddlerhood, crawl out alive, and then you have more time to do other stuff, or I'm telling you, I always said it's like, I am literally fighting for my life. Like, we are all trying to make sure we can get it done. Hey boo! All trying to get it done, and trying to prioritize our kids, our families, our jobs. businesses. So that is Leah's hot take everybody. I hope you caught some gems from this conversation. I know I did. And as always, it's always a pleasure to connect with you. I love our conversation. Please make sure to follow her on Instagram. Um, I know she dropped her, dropped her, um, hashtags. See, I don't even know social media. Give us the hashtags. I'm on Instagram at I am Leah Janelle. You can also find me on my website, leahjanelle. co, and then my podcast is Systemize Her. And so anywhere you listen to podcasts, you can find me. Awesome. Okay. Well, thank you so much, everyone. This has been a great conversation and I will see you on the next episode. Thank you so much. I had so much fun. Thank you. Bye. That's a wrap for today's episode, but the conversation doesn't have to end here. Join our amazing community of side hustling moms over at the Systemize Her community where you'll get all the tools, tips, and support you need to simplify your life and scale your hustle. Remember, you're just one system away from living your dream and I'm here to help you make it happen because you can have it all. If you loved today's episode, be sure to subscribe. Leave a review and share it with a fellow mom who's on her entrepreneurship journey as well. Thanks for tuning in and I'll see you next time. Same time, same place. Thank you for listening to my mommy's podcast. Remember this is for entertainment. Purposes only. In other words, to your mom, not mine. Thank you.