Could I get all of my social media updates for a month done in a one-hour sitting if I took my laptop into a Catholic Mass?
Hear me out – I grew up Catholic… and I hated Mass so much. The 60-minute Sunday Mass always seemed to go on for hours and hours.
I get that Mass isn’t exactly a fun experience for kids, but the weird thing is that this distortion of time has stayed with me as an adult. Even now, if I have to experience a Catholic Mass for any reason, it seems interminable.
I’ve always wondered if there was some way I could harness this distortion of the space-time continuum for my own uses.
But even though I avoid Mass these days, I still respect people’s beliefs and I can’t bring myself to try out the experiment.
So I have to find other ways to bend time to my will.
Because when you’re developing your personal brand it’s important to create and disseminate content that conveys who you are and what you stand for.
And that takes time.
There’s just no way around that, and as solopreneurs (or duopreuners like us) we are doing everything ourselves, so where are we going to find the time?
Well, we’ve discovered there’s a mindset shift that has to happen first. Because, sure, there are things you can do to optimise your processes and reduce the time it takes, and tips you can learn to ensure that it’s time well spent. But none of those things will help you unless you do this first…
You HAVE to accept that building your personal brand is part of your work. Not something that is being added on top of your work. It’s not an optional extra, it’s not something to be squeezed in IF you have time.
If you ask a coach to break down the tasks that make up their work, a lot of the time you’ll get things like:
✅ Client calls
✅ Sending emails
✅ Following up on leads
✅ Scheduling
✅ Bookkeeping
✅ Personal development / keeping up to date
But where is content creation, social media, blogging, emailing your list, and all the other tasks that develop a strong personal brand?
They are squeezed in here and there, between other tasks.
💬 “I’ll try and do an update before my client call at 10am”
💬 “I have to send out some invoices, but I’ll write a post after that… if I have time.”
💬 “I’ll finish work a little early and write my next three emails to send out”
But then the “real work” gets in the way. And developing your personal brand gets pushed until “later”.
If you haven’t made the mindset shift to think of personal brand development as part of your work, that means that all the other things on your list make up 100% of your work tasks.
Which means when you squeeze in your personal brand work you’re trying to do MORE than 100%.
Which means… who’s that knocking at the door? Oh, it’s our old friend—overwhelm.
That’s why the first thing you have to do to find the time is to redraw your pie chart of what constitutes your “work”.
Make sure developing your personal brand is part of your pie chart. Part of your work.
And then schedule time for it into your calendar, just like you schedule time for your clients.
Hold space for developing your personal brand, just like you hold space for your clients.
That time has to be just as uninterruptible as a client call.
This deceptively simple mindset change is incredibly powerful. If you haven’t already made this shift, try it out.
Actually draw your pie chart. Pin it to the wall where you work to remind yourself. Start to block out time in your calendar for your personal brand work.
Take a photo of it and tag us on social media to let us know you’re taking control of time:
👉 Facebook: @frankandmarci
👉 Insta: @hifrankandmarci
👉 Linkedin: @frankprendergast and @marcicornett
We’d love to hear any thoughts you have on this on the post on Facebook, Insta, or Linkedin as well. We love chatting about these things!
And if you enjoyed this post we’d also love if you shared it (there should be some handy share buttons below).
