Hello, and welcome to my Freedom Tracker Workshop, where we’ll be talking about how to align your actions with your business goals.
If you were to ask 100 entrepreneurs what is the biggest challenge they face in their business, 90% would say it’s time. Time to get everything done. Time to focus on what really matters. Time to grow their business without feeling completely overwhelmed.
Does that sound familiar? I know there were too many years where I walked around like a robot constantly saying, “I don’t have time, I don’t have time.”
I think it’s safe to say that we’ve all felt like the to-do list is longer than the line at the DMV (or Secretary of State for my Michigan people)!
But here’s the thing—what if I told you there are actually only three (maybe four) key areas you really need to focus on in your business? Most of you are probably thinking, “There’s no way! I have a million things on my plate, clients to serve, emails to answer, marketing to do, and the list goes on.”
But what if it were true? What if there were only three or four key things you could dedicate your energy to, and everything else could fall into place or even be eliminated? How would that shift your business? How would that shift your life?
Think about the impact—less overwhelm, more clarity, and knowing that you’re focusing on the right things to actually move your business forward. Sounds pretty freeing, right?
Well, that’s exactly what we’re going to dive into today.
Here’s what we’ll cover:
- The 3 Non-Negotiables in Your Business – These are the essential areas you must focus on to see real progress.
- Allocating Your Time for Maximum Impact – I’ve got practical tips to help you make sure you’re prioritizing the tasks that matter most.
- The Top Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make When It Comes to Growing Their Business – and how you can avoid them.
- A Simple Yet Powerful Challenge – I’ve got a challenge lined up for you that will open your eyes to how (and where) you’re really spending your time. It’s straightforward but will give you the clarity you’ve been looking for.
- The Freedom Tracker – I’ll introduce you to this simple but powerful tool that helps you track and focus on the activities that will move the needle in your business.
By the end of this workshop, you’ll have a clear understanding of how to prioritize your time and align your daily actions with your business goals. You’ll also have a tool to help you stay focused and on track every single day.
Let’s start with the three non-negotiables in business.
No matter where you are in your entrepreneurial journey, these three things are absolutely essential. I like to call them the “non-negotiables” because without them, your business won’t grow, and you’ll find yourself spinning your wheels, staying busy – but not really moving the needle in your business.
1. Marketing
Marketing is how you get your name out there. It’s how people learn about who you are and what you offer. Without consistent marketing, no one knows about your business, which means fewer opportunities to sell and grow. Whether it’s social media, email marketing, ads, or networking, getting in front of your audience is critical.
But here’s the thing—marketing often takes a back burner in an entrepreneur’s schedule. Why? Because it doesn’t always deliver immediate results. It’s easy to push it aside when you’re busy with things that feel more urgent, like client work, administrative tasks, or putting out fires in your business. Many entrepreneurs focus on what brings in quick wins, but marketing is a long game—it’s about planting seeds, nurturing relationships, and building trust over time. And that’s why it gets deprioritized.
The problem is, when you neglect marketing, you’re neglecting your future growth. You’re not filling your pipeline, and before you know it, you’re scrambling to find clients when the work dries up. That’s why consistent marketing is non-negotiable—it’s not just about today, it’s about setting yourself up for long-term success.
2. Sales
Now, marketing alone won’t sustain your business—you need to convert prospects into paying clients or customers. This is where sales come in. It’s obvious that sales are the lifeblood of your business. You can have the best product or service in the world, but if you’re not closing deals or bringing in revenue, your business can’t survive. We need to put as much focus on sales as we do on marketing.
But here’s where many entrepreneurs struggle—they often avoid setting dedicated time aside for selling. They tend to be reactive when it comes to sales, waiting for inquiries or referrals to come their way, rather than actively pursuing new business. This is comfortable because selling can feel intimidating because it involves stepping out of your comfort zone.
The problem with reactive selling is that it’s unpredictable and inconsistent. When you’re not actively engaging in the sales process—whether that’s booking discovery calls, following up with leads, or asking for the sale—you’re leaving your growth to chance. You might get lucky with a few clients here and there, but over time, this will hurt your business.
Proactive selling, on the other hand, is about making sales a priority and a consistent part of your schedule. It’s about dedicating time each week to engage with potential clients and getting them to move forward and become a client. Just like marketing, sales requires intentional effort—and when you invest in it, the results can transform your business.
3. Delivering Your Programs, Products, or Services
Once you’ve attracted and sold to your customers, the next non-negotiable is delivering on what you’ve promised. Whether it’s a course, consulting, or a product, this is where you build your reputation and trust. This part is key because it leads to repeat business, referrals, and long-term client relationships.
Now, this is where most entrepreneurs shine. They have no problem delivering their services because it’s often what they love to do. But here’s the challenge: many spend most of their time focused on delivering because they’re avoiding marketing and sales. It feels more comfortable to stay in the delivery zone—working with clients and refining your product—while putting off the less enjoyable tasks of getting out there and closing deals.
But by doing this, they fall into a dangerous trap. Without consistently feeding your business with new clients through marketing and sales, you end up in a feast-or-famine cycle. You might be busy now, but eventually, the work will dry up if you’re not consistently attracting and converting new leads. Delivering on your promises is crucial, but if you want to grow your business and keep the pipeline full, you have to balance your time between delivery, marketing, and sales.
Additional Non-Negotiable (for Startups)
Now, for those of you in the startup phase or launching something new, you’ll have a fourth non-negotiable: program or product development.
In the beginning, you will need some time to outline and create your offers, so you’ll need to set aside time to do that. But once you’ve nailed that down, your focus should shift to the core three: marketing, sales, and delivery.
This is the perfect transition to one of the biggest mistakes I see entrepreneurs make—I call it “the curse of the entrepreneur’s mind.”
As entrepreneurs, we’re naturally creative people. We see opportunities where others see problems, and that’s a huge blessing. But here’s where it becomes a curse: we love living in creative mode. We love brainstorming, developing new ideas, and working on the next big thing—more often than not, it’s a new program, product, or service.
The problem with that?
When we spend all of our time in creative mode, we often neglect the other critical areas of our business, like marketing, sales, and actually delivering what we’ve already created. It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of launching something new, but if we’re constantly chasing the next idea without following through on what’s already in place, we end up stuck in a cycle of incomplete projects and missed opportunities.
So, what should we do instead?
If you’re in the initial stages of starting your business—meaning you don’t have anything to sell yet—your first priority should be creating something to offer. But here’s where a lot of people go wrong: instead of focusing on building an MVP, they go into full-blown creation mode and wait until they’re finished before they even think about marketing.
First of all, what’s an MVP? It stands for Minimum Viable Product, which is essentially the simplest version of your product or service that can still deliver value. It doesn’t need to be perfect; it just needs to be good enough to solve your customer’s problem. The idea is to get something out there quickly so you can start getting feedback and making improvements over time.
But here’s the kicker: you still need to balance product development with marketing.
This is a HUGE mistake many entrepreneurs make. They spend all their time creating and wait to start marketing until everything is perfect. But marketing takes time. You want to start as soon as you have a concept locked in. And by marketing, I’m talking about building awareness and capturing leads. I’ll talk more about time allocation in a few minutes, but the key takeaway here is to start growing your lead list ASAP. That way, when you’re ready to launch, you actually have people to sell to.
Now, for those of you who already have an established business, here’s another common mistake:
Keep your business as simple as possible—preferably offering only one solution—until you’re making at least a million dollars a year. This was my biggest mistake in business. I expanded my offers too fast. The problem with that? It spreads your time, money, and resources thin. Instead of focusing on marketing, sales, and delivery for one great offer, you’re trying to juggle multiple things at once. This waters down your efforts and makes it really hard to grow (if not impossible).
So, what should we do instead?
Instead of spending all your time creating, prioritize your efforts on what really drives your business forward: marketing, sales, and delivering value to your clients. Creativity is important, but it needs to be balanced with execution. So, the next time you feel the urge to dive into something new, ask yourself: “Have I fully maximized what I’ve already created?” Focus on refining and improving what’s already working before jumping into the next big idea.
Another mistake entrepreneurs make is thinking they have a million things to do.
The problem with this mindset is that it leads to overwhelm and scattered focus. When you believe everything is equally important, you end up doing a little bit of everything, but nothing moves the needle in your business. You start feeling like you’re constantly busy but not actually making progress.
I have a challenge for you…
Grab five pieces of paper, and at the top of each one, write the following categories: Marketing, Sales, Delivery, Development, and Other. Now, take a moment to list all the activities you’re responsible for under each of these categories. Everything you do on a daily, weekly, and even monthly basis.
Let me give you a few examples to help you out:
- Marketing:
- Posting on social media
- Writing email newsletters
- Creating content (like blogs, videos, podcast episodes etc.)
- Running ads
- Networking or attending events to build awareness
- Sales:
- Following up with leads
- Conducting sales calls
- Sending proposals or contracts
- Managing payment processes
- Nurturing client relationships to close deals
- Delivery:
- Providing your services or delivering your product
- Running client meetings or consultations
- Handling customer service
- Managing orders or project timelines
- Development (for startups or ongoing refinement):
- Creating new products or programs
- Improving existing offers
- Conducting research to stay competitive
- Building or refining systems and processes
- Other:
- Administrative tasks (email management, bookkeeping)
- Professional development or training
- Personal tasks
By listing everything out, you’ll get a clearer view of where your time is really going—and start seeing which activities are truly moving your business forward and which are just distractions.
Now that you’ve listed out all your responsibilities, you might be feeling a little overwhelmed or anxious. Don’t worry; we’re going to break these down into manageable pieces so you can allocate your time effectively.
Let’s dive into how you should be spending your time across the key areas of your business.
Marketing: 10 Hours Per Week
Marketing is the engine that drives your business forward, and it deserves a dedicated portion of your time. Here’s how to break it down:
- Planning: 1 hour per week
Dedicate one hour each week to planning your content calendar. This includes deciding on topics for your live calls, blog posts, social media posts, and emails. Having a clear plan saves time and keeps your marketing efforts consistent. - Post 5 Value-Driven Comments a Day in Groups: 30 minutes per day x 5 days = 2.5 hours
Spend 30 minutes daily posting insightful and valuable comments in industry-related groups or forums. Engage authentically and position yourself as an expert. This is a subtle but effective way to market your expertise and generate leads. - 30-Minute Facebook Live Call: 1 hour total (30 minutes of prep + 30 minutes live)
Allocate 30 minutes to prep and 30 minutes to deliver a Facebook Live session. These live interactions are great for connecting with your audience and providing valuable content. - 1 Blog Post a Week: 1 hour
Write and publish one blog post weekly. Focus on topics that resonate with your audience and highlight your expertise. This helps with SEO and positions you as a thought leader in your industry. - 3 Emails a Week: 1.5 hours (30 minutes per email)
Craft and send three emails weekly to deliver value, keep your audience engaged and promote your services. - 5 Social Media Posts a Week: 2.5 hours (30 minutes per post)
Create and schedule engaging social media posts, focusing on a mix of promotional, educational, and interactive content. - $10 a Day Facebook Lead Ads: 30 minutes per week to monitor
Invest in Facebook Lead Ads and spend 30 minutes a week monitoring and optimizing the ads’ performance to make sure they’re generating quality leads.
Sales: 10 Hours Per Week
- Schedule and Complete 10 Discovery Calls: 10 hours per week
Spend 10 hours scheduling and conducting discovery calls. These are essential for converting leads into clients, so make sure to allocate enough time to focus on building these relationships. - Expect 5-7 Show-Ups (50-70% Show-Up Rate)
Not every call will show up, but that’s okay. Use the no-show time to follow up with leads and keep your pipeline moving. - Close 1-2 New Clients per Week (20-30% Conversion Rate)
Your goal should be to close at least 1-2 new clients from your discovery calls each week. Focus on deeply understanding their needs and presenting tailored solutions that solve their problems.
Delivery: 20 Hours Per Week
The remaining 20 hours should be used to deliver your services. This includes everything from client work to product fulfillment. However, if you’re light on clients, don’t waste that extra time—invest it back into marketing and sales efforts until you’re fully booked.
If you’re in the startup phase, you have 30 hours to be used for development (the 10 hours from sales and 20 hours from delivery that won’t be allocated to those activities)—where you’ll be creating or refining your product or service until you’re ready to start delivering.
What About the Things on the “Other” Sheet?
Now let’s talk about those “other” tasks that often pull us off track:
- Administrative tasks (email management, scheduling, etc.)
Check your email just two times a day—once at noon and again 30 minutes before you leave for the day. Most things aren’t as urgent as they seem. Emails should be allocated to marketing, sales, or delivery. The more you compartmentalize these tasks, the less they will distract you. - Bookkeeping:
Hire someone to do this. It’s an essential task, but it’s not a good use of your time and it’s a small investment to outsource it. - Professional development or training:
This should be done during your personal time. Personal growth is important, but it doesn’t belong in your core business hours. Make time for it in the evenings or weekends. - Personal tasks:
Personal tasks should be done on personal time. If you need to schedule a couple of hours during the workday for personal errands or appointments, that’s fine—but make up that time later in the evening or on the weekend. Treat your business with the same commitment you’d give a 40-hour job. Many entrepreneurs fall into the trap of treating their business like they have unlimited PTO (paid time off), but to be successful, you have to be disciplined and stay focused.
Remember: Prioritizing your time and activities is key to staying on track. Treat your business like the job you always wanted—one that gives you freedom, flexibility, and control—but it only happens if you create structure and discipline.
Now that we’ve broken down how to allocate your time effectively, I want to introduce you to a tool that will help you stay on track and make sure you’re focusing on the right activities: the Freedom Tracker.
The Freedom Tracker is a simple yet powerful spreadsheet designed to help you track your daily activities across the key areas of your business. Everything we just talked about, from scheduling your discovery calls to planning your content and posting on social media, is included in the tracker.
By using this tracker, you’ll be able to see exactly where your time is going, how productive you are in each area, and what you may need to adjust to keep moving the needle in your business. It’s all about accountability and focus, making sure your actions are aligned with your business goals.
I’ll go ahead and drop the link to the Freedom Tracker in the chat. Feel free to download it and start using it to track your activities right away.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-bN0OYFjxUh45R9bGbNhOPC21KEXmSY4Af3qKIqNv5s/copy
And with that, I want to leave you with one final thought: the key to success is aligning your daily actions with your long-term goals. It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day hustle, juggling countless tasks and putting out fires, but if you aren’t intentional about where you’re spending your time, you’ll end up off course.
By focusing on the activities that truly move the needle in your business—which again are marketing, sales, or delivering your services—you’ll be building a foundation that supports the future you’re working toward. Success doesn’t come from doing more; it comes from doing what matters most, consistently and with purpose.
Thank you so much for joining me today for the Freedom Tracker Workshop! I hope you’re feeling more empowered and focused on how to align your actions with your business goals.
Before we wrap up, I want to extend a special invitation to those of you who aren’t yet part of our Extraordinary Entrepreneur community. If you’re ready to take your business to the next level and want to grow with the support of an incredible group of like-minded entrepreneurs, this is your chance.
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⏳ Reclaim Your Time: Streamline your operations with smart automation and free up your time for the things that matter most.
💼 Boost Your Productivity: Reduce stress, prioritize your workload, and accomplish more with our productivity power-ups.
And that’s not all. You’ll also get weekly live coaching and training calls, plus tech support sessions to help you tackle any challenges and keep you moving forward.
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I’ll drop the link in the chat so you can check it out and join us today. I’d love to see you inside the community, where we’ll continue helping you grow your business and reclaim your time.
Thanks again for being here, and I look forward to seeing what you accomplish!