In this week’s episode:
Leif’s epic 2022 recap Twitter thread.
Cathy on “Doing Less, then Obsess”
Jo keeps weekly tasks focused and sees great results.
Farez on partnerships.
And a neat Discovery.
Enjoy!
From Leif
It’s already the 3rd week of 2023!
A slow, but nice start to the new year.
I decided to write a mega-thread “2022 RECAP” on Twitter as an experiment.
It was a joy. It was different from what I usually do every year.
So, my theme for 2023 will be “1+1 FOCUS”.
ONE main project for the whole year.
ONE seasonal project at a time.
More on this in the next one.
From Cathy
My main theme for 2023 is to DO LESS (then Obsess).
This has been my goal for a little while now as I’ve slowly learnt that I can’t do all the things, but I read a book called Great At Work during the holiday break that served as a big reminder. The book was based on research on people on organisations and they found the highest performers focused on only a few things but then gave those things a lot of attention.
I created a planner in Notion for the year (plus quarter, month and week planner template so I can breakdown the big goals). I’m giving it away to my newsletter subscribers if you want to check it out: 2023 Notion Year Planner
In the spirit of Doing Less, then Obsessing, I’m going to focus on two big things this year.
For the first 3-4 months this year, I’m creating Expert Methodology - my goal is to make this DIY and my Salary Product. I’m really excited about how this can help coaches and consultants get more confident about themselves as experts and get paid as experts. If you’re interested, it’s still at its super early bird price for a few more days.
Once I’ve shipped that, I’m going to shifting my focus to BrillUp for the rest of the year and creating stuff to help more indie course creators get discovered.
That’s the plan anyway! 😎
From Jo
This year I've taken a different approach to my task management. Instead of having a long list of tasks to complete each week, I now focus on three top-priority tasks. The results have been good so far. I'm managing to get more done each week, and it feels good to see an empty task list come Friday. It also stops me from getting distracted by the smaller and maybe more fun tasks. I only tackle these once the top three are complete.
So, as a result, I've managed to finish the freelance bundle and I'm halfway through completing my Notion Prince 2 Project Management template.
Yesterday I spent all afternoon writing a formula to calculate the number of working days between two dates, including half days. I'll write a blog explaining the formula (once I complete this week's top three tasks). The link will be in Side Quest's next edition!
From Farez
We finally finished the Notion Freelancer Bundle! It’s a Notion template for freelancers plus a Notion integration bundle with discount codes for popular apps that work with Notion.
It was a joint effort with Jo Lodge. She built the template and I worked on the bundle partners. It was our first time creating a bundle and it’s been a great learning experience.
The partnerships side was a lesson in relationship and trust building. I wouldn’t have been able to get the first few partners on board if they weren’t already people I know and have been in communication with. Or at least it would have been harder work.
And having the first few on board helped me approach those that I didn’t know personally. They could see that I already had partners on board and that made them more willing to talk. It was easier for them to trust me.
It’s a lesson that can be applied to future business partnerships for the products that we’re building.
If you’re a freelancer and would like to get your hands on our Notion Freelancer Bundle, get it here: https://farez.gumroad.com/l/freelancer-notion-template. We’re increasing the price from $25 to $95 in a few days, so hurry!
Discoveries
Here’s a simple website to help focus on building and marketing on alternate weeks:
https://codingweekmarketingweek.com/
All it does is remind you what you should be working on this week. Created by Jon Yongfook, maker of Bannerbear.
And here’s how you can embed it into your Notion planner.