White Space Isn’t Just For Web Pages
I had a conversation with my friend Maritza this weekend and she said something kind of ‘off the cuff’ as we were talking and I realized that it’s applicable in all areas of my life.
We were testing her live streaming software (early Saturday morning, where I looked like I had just rolled out of bed… because I had) for a live stream she’s hosting for me later this week to talk about the Content Creators Planner.
After she knew the software was working I lovingly asked if we could move to the phone so I didn’t have to stare at my sleepy self on the screen.
We got to talking about her recent launch, and our Kickstarter. We discussed what worked, what didn’t, and what we’d do differently next time. I was saying that I realized I never give myself enough ‘runway’ for marketing.
In other words, I get the work done for ‘the thing’, but don’t give the marketing the time and attention it deserves.
I honestly have zero judgment about this, I’m simply thrilled that I’ve realized it.
Now I’m blocking out time to get the marketing done and extending how much runway I think I need.
Back to Martiza’s ‘off the cuff’ comment that struck a nerve with me (in a good way).
As she was talking about her recent offer, she said she had added in something that she hadn’t really wanted to do, but a mentor had suggested it (a mentor she likes and respects).
Because she added this piece to her offer she kind of lost enthusiasm at the tail end of her launch.
Then she said, “I’ve realized I need more ‘white space’ in my life.”
BOOM.
Man, that struck a nerve with me.
Mainly because I tend to say things like “I need more time to myself” or “I’m peopled out”…
Neither of which are super positive (they’re not horribly negative either, but they feel heavier than needing more ‘white space’).
I’m pretty good about creating white space in my environment. I’m not one for clutter and I don’t have a lot of knick-knacks around my house (anyone else start watching ‘The Art of Tidying Up’ with Marie Kondo on Netflix? She’s my kinda gal).
But when I started thinking about where else I could create white space in my life I got excited.
One of the things Marie Kondo says is that you shouldn’t have anything in your life that doesn’t bring you joy (she’s referring to stuff: clothes, decor, furniture, keepsakes, etc.). While I can definitely do more removing of things that don’t bring me joy around my house, it made me realize I can do the same thing with ‘things’ in my business.
Example: I just canceled my monthly Adobe Creative Cloud subscription.
I love Adobe products, but now that I don’t do client work, I was really only opening Photoshop a couple of times a month (it’s kind of a resource hog), so I jumped on the discounted offer for Affinity photo and just saved myself $600 a year.
Then I started thinking about other software I have that I ‘think I need’, but don’t really use.
[click_to_tweet tweet=”Instead of simply looking at the additional expense, I started asking myself ‘does this software bring me joy?'” quote=”Instead of simply looking at the additional expense, I started asking myself ‘does this software bring me joy?'” theme=”style6″]Instead of simply looking at the additional expense, I started asking myself “does this software bring me joy?”
Two things happened with this:
– First, it feels more like a choice I’m making for me (as opposed to something I’m ‘cutting out’)
– Second, I have fewer distractions.
Most conscious choices are empowering.
It’s also why I spend a lot of time with pen & paper.
I don’t have the added distractions of additional tabs staring at me or random niggly things pulling at me.
Pen & paper create a focus for me.
Which is why we created the Content Creators Planner.
We’ve pivoted the pre-sale of the planner to our website (from Kickstarter… there’s a whole podcast coming this week on that) and are offering the Kickstarter rewards for a limited time (first print run is happening very soon!).
We’ve also decided we will be selling the PDF moving forward, but not as cheap as it is now!
