3 tools to stay focused, finish projects and feel calm, with Claire Emerson

Rachel Smith: Hello and welcome to The Content Byte, a podcast for freelancers who use their words to make money. I’m Rachel Smith, a freelance journalist, copywriter, and content producer. I’m also the founder of Rachel’s List, a jobs board and community for Australian writers and other creatives. 

Lynne Testoni: I’m Lynne Testoni! I’m a journalist and content writer as well. Rachel and I are your weekly co-hosts, and every week we bring you all kinds of tips, tricks, and some fabulous guests to help you make the most of your freelance business.

Rachel: I don’t know about you, Lynne, but I feel like my life is becoming more high tech every day. Even my notebook, my Remarkable, is digital and I do wonder how much of this and the fast-paced business juggle that so many of us have these days, dilutes my focus. What do you think? 

Lynne: Well, it’s true, isn’t it? Although this year is the first year I haven’t used a paper diary. I’ve just used my electronic calendar, and that’s been a big changer for me, but we’ve got some great tips from our guest today, Claire Emerson, because she’s all about helping business owners not get lost in the mental clutter and deadline chaos, which I think we all have, don’t we? 

Rachel: Yes. I am stoked that we’ve got Claire on. Her fantastic newsletter Flourish crossed my radar many years ago and I think today she’s going to give us three specific tools that help freelancers stay focused and calm and actually finish projects. Yes, please to that.

Lynne: Exactly. The finishing is such an important thing. I know so many freelancers and writers who start lots of things and don’t finish it. Shall I introduce Claire, and we’ll get her into the hot seat? 

Rachel: Yes, please. 

Lynne: Claire Emerson helps thoughtful business owners build momentum and follow through using simple systems, analog tools and mindset shifts that make space for the work that matters most. She’s the creator of Implement, a free 10-day email course that helps you apply what you learn without letting procrastination poison your progress. Gotta love that. 

Rachel: I love that. 

Lynne: She also writes Flourish, which you mentioned before, which I’ve just subscribed to – it’s so good –  which is a weekly newsletter for creative minds who prefer notebooks over noise calm over chaos and clarity over constant hustle.

Welcome, Claire!

Rachel: Welcome! 

Claire Emerson: Thanks for having me.

Rachel: It’s so good to have you on the podcast. But for those of us who don’t know you and don’t know your newsletter, give us a bit of background about your career and what’s brought you to this point. 

Claire: I started freelancing back in 2016.  I began as a virtual assistant, so I’ve always had a knack for figuring things out and picked up the tech side of online business pretty quickly. But at the same time, I was also trying to build something of my own. I didn’t want to be a freelancer forever – I still don’t. I really wanted to become a creator. I was always taking courses, experimenting, learning the ropes of online business and two things instantly stood out to me, it was writing and email marketing. Eventually, after pushing through a lot of mindset hurdles, I started writing guest posts for Brian Clark, the founder of Copyblogger on his side project at the time, called Further. 

I mostly wrote about systems, habits and beating procrastination as they were some of my biggest struggles and that opened the door to a contract with the Copyblogger editorial team, which was a huge milestone for me at easy. I did project management, and I wrote for the blog as well. Then I had a baby in 2019, and about a month after giving birth, the founders sold Copyblogger. So, when I came back to work, I was essentially starting from scratch again, which is also when I created People Love Projects and started writing my newsletter Flourish, which I’ve now been writing for five years.

Around the same time, I started writing for clients, which I hadn’t expected to do, but I really enjoyed it. The only issue was that it wasn’t scalable. I’m a slow writer, so with my background in email marketing and tech, I pivoted into email marketing consulting, and that allowed me to take on some solid freelance contracts while continuing to grow the creative side of my business where I could do the writing side of things. Now I split my time between consulting and building People Love Projects where I create tools, courses, and systems to help other self-employed people manage their ideas, follow through, and build momentum. 

Rachel: Cool.

Lynne: Wow. So, what inspired you to combine all these different things, the coaching, the writing, all into one career path. Is it just where you were meant to be, or did you have another thought? 

Claire: I wouldn’t say they’re fully combined. It’s more that I like to have my fingers in a few different pies. Consulting is what pays the bills right now. Writing is something I love and it’s ridiculously fulfilling, and I’m grateful I get to share my work with people who actually care about what I have to say. And the accountability coaching side of things really came from my love of virtual co-working. So, during COVID. I started hosting sessions to feel a bit less isolated. It was peak toddler time for me as well. I’m an introvert, so I like working alone, but not always. Those sessions became such a powerful tool for staying focused, especially when you’re running a business by yourself, and honestly, accountability just works. If you struggle with procrastination, having other people’s eyes on your work is one of the simplest and most effective ways to follow through and with my background in project management, I’m also just naturally good at helping people stay on task, create clear next steps and make progress. 

Rachel: Interesting.

Claire: I sort of leaned into that.

Rachel: Interesting. We have a Wednesday writing sprint at Rachel’s List and it’s fairly new – maybe a year old or something and it started off as one hour and is now two hours and people love that longer time. They were just actually telling me today they can actually get into the flow state. 

Claire: Exactly. You really want to try and engage that, because it’s a great feeling. It’s a wonderful peak experience to have during your day. And you don’t worry about the outcome because it’s so enjoyable to just involve yourself in that process.

Rachel: And also, that whole thing of people being on camera, I suppose, doing it in person is great. Being a member, there’s that body doubling effect. It’s quite interesting, isn’t it from a productivity perspective, how it works. I know you’re very old school when it comes to tools. Was that a shift for you that came after trying more complex tools or methods or have you always been a very old school fan? 

Claire: When I first dipped into self-employment, I found the day to day pretty overwhelming. You are not just managing work; you’re dealing with all the mental and emotional stuff too like perfectionism and that really loud inner critic. I kept thinking that the right tool would fix it. So, I cycled through to-do list apps every week, hoping something would stick. Nothing ever did. My tasks were scattered across apps, Google Docs, spreadsheets, notebooks and none of it helped me feel clearer or more in control, which is what I craved.

What I was really missing was a system, something to help me manage my attention, not just my tasks. Eventually I came across Personal Kanban, which is a completely analog tool, and it literally changed everything. I’ve been using it since 2016, so that’s nine years, and I’ve never looked back, ever. No more trialling to do apps. I can tell you that much. 

Lynne: That’s so interesting. What do you think we gain when we step back from all those digital apps and there are so many out there and work with things like pen and paper and visual tools? 

Claire: The biggest thing is that you are not digging into a device which is full of distractions just to figure out what to do each day, right? Analog tools like pen and paper are tech free, which means no learning curve, no subscriptions, and no temptation to check notifications. They also keep things simple, and that simplicity is what makes them usable, or at least from what I’ve found. It’s easier to build a habit around a system that’s very in your face, visual, tactile, and straightforward and that’s exactly what helps you stay organised and on track. 

Lynne: Interesting. 

Rachel: I know we’re going to get into the nitty gritty of the three systems that you want to talk to us about, and Kanban is one of them. But before that, can we just touch on the common things that you see over and over that really test our sanity as freelancers? 

Claire: A few things come up over and over. The first is that most freelancers come from some kind of structured job, so they’re used to having systems around them. When you go out on your own, suddenly you have to create all that structure yourself, and it can be really destabilising. The second is the inner stuff, fear of failure, self-doubt, procrastination.

Those things might have shown up earlier in your career, but when you’re working for yourself and pushing your limits, they get louder and having tools for emotional regulation and just building self-awareness becomes really important. And the third thing I think I see probably the most is a lot of mental clutter. There’s so much pressure to learn new things, stay visible, keep up. In all that noise, your own business building projects get pushed to the side. So, prioritising your own work is hard. But it’s also the thing that moves you forward. 

Rachel: I think we’re going to touch on that later on. It’s really a big one.

Lynne: So, your philosophy is that you have three systems that you think can be a game changer for freelancers. Tell us about what they are and why they’re so useful.  

Claire: The first one is, Personal Kanban.  It’s a visual analog task management system that lives on your wall. It helps you see everything you’re working on, stay focused and most importantly, finish things. I’ve been using it since 2016 and honestly credit it with curing a lot of my procrastination and perfectionism tendencies. It’s simple, powerful, and totally tech free. Again, huge plus and I love tech. I work in tech, there’s uses for it, but I think in this situation, it’s just a very beneficial to be outside of that system. The second is working in six-week project rounds. So instead of setting vague long-term goals, I break my work into short term projects with clear outcomes and deadlines. It helps me avoid shiny object syndrome and actually finish the ideas I care about whether they’re personal or client related. And then the third is structured journaling, especially weekly retrospective. Taking 10 minutes at the start of the week to reflect, reset and plan helps cut through the noise and gives you a clear, calm way to move forward. It’s one of the most underused tools for self-employed people and one of the most powerful.

Those three systems, they work beautifully together, and they’re all designed to be simple, repeatable, and help me follow through on the work that matters most. 

Rachel: Okay. So, we are going to delve into these a little bit more. Let’s start with the Personal Kanban. Is that kind of like, if you were going to think about it from a digital tool perspective, is it like a Trello board or how does it work in practice?

Claire: It is what Trello is designed behind. Again, I would not suggest going digital for it. So even if you’re a fan of to-do list, I love a good to-do list as well, but the problem is they’re often linear and never ending. You just keep adding to them and they don’t really help you see what you’re actually working on or what’s taking up space in your week.

Personal Kanban flips that on its head, it’s visual. Again, it’s analog. So, you’re using a whiteboard or a wall. It’s there in front of you and you’re breaking up your work into columns, like options ready today and done. The real magic is in the today column, because you are limiting how many tasks live there at once. So that one habit alone cuts down, multitasking, reduces procrastination, helps you finish what you start. Way less flip-flopping between things, context, switching all of that. And the done column deserves a special mention too. So, you’re moving tickets or post it’s into a done column every single week or every day because as you do a task and acknowledging your achievements and seeing just how much you accomplished each week is gratifying and a great reminder of where your time, energy and attention actually got spent. Kanban, as I mentioned, it’s also tactical, so you’re physically moving tasks from one column to the next, and that small action makes you feel part of the process, not just someone watching a list pile up plus no screens means no distractions. 

Lynne: Wow. It’s quite proactive really, isn’t it? You feel like you’re really achieving something, just moving it. 

Rachel: So what columns, you’ve got the just today column and the done column. What are the other columns that you might consider? 

Claire: I’ll just glance on over at my board here, because that’s the other beauty, I would say. The biggest column is called options and that’s your sketch board, that’s where you’re dropping any new idea or task or something that comes your way and you just stick it up there. Where it starts to get more structured and you’re making real decisions about what you’re going to do each week is your ready column. That’s the main column that you’re going to work from for that week. I set it up during my weekly retrospective. I actually start my week on a Tuesday weirdly, so Tuesdays is when I do that, I’ll reset my board, line up my tickets in my ready column and you’re really going to limit yourself to about six tickets.

Again, I do have a free Kanban challenge where I walk through the whole process, but as a brief overview, it’s that ready column is your setup for the week, and then the next step is to actually move something, one ticket into your today column one at a time and that’s where your focus is. You’re looking at that and you don’t do anything else until you move that ticket over into done. In some cases, there’s another little column underneath today called, the Pen or Work in Progress. In some cases, you will pull something down there. Again, I work through when you might do that during, in the Kanban challenge, but it’s really that simple. You’ve got all of your options; you’ve lined up your week and your ready column. You’ve got exactly what you’re doing today, or at least the first thing you’re doing today, put it into that little space. Once you’ve done it, stick it in your done column and all those beautiful done tickets, they stay there during the week until you reset your board. So, at the end of the week you go, okay, I did that. I did that. I did that. Wow, I actually did way more than I thought I did.

Or it’s like, oh my gosh, look what’s still sitting in my ready column. What did I ignore? What am I procrastinating on? Where am I falling short with my own intentions and my own follow through? So, it gives you a lot of awareness about your procrastination tendencies and where you’re not following through, and also just sometimes it’s just tickets that you don’t want to do, and so you’re seeing where those draining tasks are as well. So that’s really helpful. 

Rachel: How amazing I would be putting more in my today column. But you’re saying just put one thing in and then do it no one thing at a time and it’s small. 

Claire: When you see the Kanban set up, it’s smaller than all the other ones. So, options is kind of half of your board, and then the next half is split between the other three columns. So today the ready column, today and then the done column, which is actually quite big too. So, it’s a small space for a reason, because one thing at a time. 

Lynne: Okay. That’s so interesting. I do something similar because I do use Trello, and I have similar boards. But I have a whole week’s task and it’s similar and I get the same satisfaction moving an electronic ticket from one column to another. 

Claire: I’ve used digital versions and often with client work, I’ll still organise projects for them digitally. I still have to go digital in some cases, but for my personal tasks, the ones that I’m responsible for, they all get moved to my physical board where they get a ticket, I post it and I’m plodding along through the day. 

Rachel: I’ve just found this massive, little mini board.

Claire: Well, there you go. The other thing is you get to go stationary shopping.

Lynne: You love stationary shopping!

Rachel: Stationary shopping, it’s my favourite thing!  Exciting. Oh, I’m going to give that a crack. Okay. Does that have to be a really big board, or can it be small? 

Claire: Listen, I’ve worked with both because when I was post baby, I used to have to make it portable to my bed, and I used a manila folder. I mean, obviously you’re going to be minimising what you’re putting on it, but I have a regular size whiteboard, like sixty by forty. I have no idea what the measurements are, but it’s a decent size because it’s nice and visual. I intentionally designed my space around it, basically, it’s a very focal point in my office. I like that.

Rachel: Wow. Okay. 

Lynne: Well, let’s chat about journaling. I know that’s a big thing. A lot of people really love it and something many writers would love to commit to. I must admit, I’ve tried it, a couple of times and it’s never stuck with me. Why can this become such a powerful habit? 

Claire: So, the biggest gift of journaling is that it engages your rational mind. It helps you get out of unhelpful mental loops and actually accept and work through what you’re thinking and feeling. For me, it’s how I prime my mental and emotional state before the day begins and I’ve dealt with my fair share of anxiety over the years, and honestly, just writing things down has been one of the most powerful tools for changing the story in my head. It gives me clarity and that clarity helps me approach the day with more calm, more focus, and a bit of sense of what matters.

Lynne: Interesting. 

Rachel: So, are you writing down things to do with your life or business or all of it in just a big brain dump? 

Claire: So, I’ve got, honestly, a few different journals. I have a morning pages style journal and again, I switch through them depending on how I’m feeling. There’s a physical morning pages that’s like stream of consciousness. I write what I’m thinking, feeling, everything – could be anything, right? You can Google what morning pages is, and there’s a little bit of structure around it, but not a lot.  I used to use the Five-Minute Journal, and I wasn’t using it the same way it’s crafted, so, I made my own journal, and I call it before anything else. And again, it’s just a little one pager, really structured prompts. What are you grateful for? What matters most today?  I’ve incorporated a few other systems and tools that I use, so that’s a very easy and light one. I do that definitely every day. The morning pages comes and goes. The same thing with the morning pages, that’s a physical journal. If I’m feeling digital, sometimes it’s just, there’s too much, or you just want to use something digital? I use 750words.com. 

Rachel: Oh, we know that.

Claire: I love that sometimes honestly, it’s more of a what vibe am I feeling today?  Because I do want my journaling outside in a little spot I have on my porch. So that’s very analog. But if I do want to explore more, usually I’d say I’m going to go digital if I’m exploring more of the business strategy side of things. I think it’s a different feeling. So, I like to keep it. Plus, it’s easy to copy and paste things over into actual next step documents and that sort of thing. I’ve got a lot of journals; I’m going to keep going. I’ve also got a weekly review scrapbook kind of one, which is more fun and personal, and I print out photos from my phone and recap what the week was. I’m probably not as, that’s a little more of a new one, so I’m not as consistent with that one. The other ones I am, I do every day. It’s lighter and it’s much more, as I mentioned, like scrapbooky. I try and be one of those cool scrapbook people, but I’m just not, so it’s very basic. It’s just I print out the pictures and I write in some fun markers and that’s it. And I also, I talked about, I’ll go over it a little bit and I think, soon, but for my projects, I actually do the initial mapping of the project in an analog form. And I consider that a form of journaling as well. It is, again, it’s probably more structured because I have very specific questions, I ask to map the project, but again, I try and do it analog first and then transfer back to my digital spaces for when I need it. 

Lynne: Oh wow.

Rachel: That’s interesting. Can we delve into that a little bit more? In mapping a project in an analog way, what are some of the questions that you ask yourself or how does that structure work?

Claire: It’s very much based around a problem that I want to solve, and I think that’s really the first thing. I think it takes a lot of traditional project management, jargony stuff and I’ve created a template for myself where I’m asking what’s the problem that I want to solve? What is frustrating me the most right now? And it’s centred around my business, obviously, or my creativity. Then I ask myself, well, what’s the solution I want to try? And I write that out and then I’m like, okay, well what’s the specific outcome that I would like to achieve and, in the time, I’m going to give for this project. Then I also write out what does done look like. I know very, very, very, very clearly what the finished product would look like. And that’s the first page. Then I take it into the realm of, okay, well what am I definitely not going to work on? What might help me push this project further? What resources do I need? What do I need to actually make this happen? Where might I get stuck? I uncover those rabbit holes upfront, even if it’s just, I don’t like writing, sales pages, so I’m going to have to make sure that I maybe do that first so that gets the ball rolling and then the next phase is just big brain dumper tasks, and then I group those into bigger pictures. And that’s really the extent of the process. Gosh, it sets me up for success every time. 

Lynne: Wow. 

Claire: I’ve never really connected with traditional goal setting. I’m very much projects, you use projects, not goals because goal setting, it always felt too abstract or long term, or I just get really hung up in the process of setting the goal. Literally just even just writing out one of those stupid smart goals. Like I couldn’t do it, that’s where I would freeze and I think for a lot of freelancers, goals can actually trigger perfectionism or make you feel like you’re falling behind before you’ve even started. So instead, I work in the short-term projects, usually six weeks long with a clear outcome and a defined problem to solve.

So, in practice it looks like, instead of saying, I want to grow my newsletter, I’ll shape a project that’s create and promote a new opt-in by the end of next month. So suddenly that vague goal becomes actionable, and it forces you to focus on what you can do right now with the time and energy you’ve got and that shift alone makes progress feel way more durable and you don’t get stuck in the planning phase forever. You just get to actually start. Actually, that’s one of the other prompts when I do the project mapping is, what is my kick-off tasks? What can I do in one hour that will move us, move me forward really quickly.

Lynne: Oh, that’s a great idea. 

Claire: Now having that, that little start, like that prompt to start, even if the rest of the plan, like the, the project expands or shrinks or whatever, that first task that’s going to set you up. So, I love that. 

Rachel: That’s a bit like your thing, Lynne, where you don’t leave your desk without having started a story for the next day.

Lynne: Exactly. I don’t like having a blank page to start with. I always as I’m finishing one, I start scoping out the next one, even if it’s not very good. It’s just something so I’m not coming in the next morning or after lunch or whatever with a blank page. It’s important. It works for me. 

Claire: It sounds fantastic. 

Lynne: Let’s get a bit specific, because I think it’s really interesting, it gives people a real practical thing to hang onto. So maybe, have you got some examples either from your business or maybe someone you’ve worked with who had some real transformation in their business using these tools and systems. 

Claire: I think I’m going to bring it back to writing. One of the first big lessons I learned as a freelancer was that a task, like write a blog post, it’s basically a trap. It looks simple, but it’s actually just way too big and vague to act on. It’s not a project, but it’s definitely not one task either and that’s where most people get stuck staring at a giant undefined to do and thinking, this is too hard, or, I don’t have time for this today. What changed everything for me was again, using Personal Kanban, because it helped me train this way. But learning to break things down into what I call atomic tasks – thank you James Clear. Each task on my Kanban board has to be something I can do in fifty minutes or less. That’s my rule. So, for writing, I now split the process into seven clear steps. So, what might have been? One ticket is now seven – headline, outline, draft, edit, edit again, exfoliate, polish, and each one becomes a separate ticket on my board and for me each one is done on a different day, or at least in a different work session. Again, slow writer over here, but that’s what works. That system, that breaking things down and making things feel accomplishable, and I still have to use that.

I’ve been writing for a while now and I still need that so that way I can see the progress. I can stay focused on one part at a time, actually finish the thing and that shift from writing vague tasks to writing doable ones with really concrete end products. So, I ask what does done look like for every single task and that’s what gets written down on the ticket. It completely changed the way I work, and it made my task list feel possible again. 

Lynne: So interesting. 

Rachel: And also, because you’re a slow writer, splitting it into different days, it’s giving that piece of writing time to breathe, and I’m a huge believer in that.

Claire: Absolutely.

Rachel: It’s important. Just makes it better.

Lynne: I find that does help with the overwhelm. I do something similar, I call it, this is my own personal label, salami tactics – a slice at a time. 

Claire: Oh, that’s great. 

Lynne: So, I just do a slice of something, and it might be an interview, it might be a template. It might be the heading and I do it bit by bit, so it’s not one big task.

Rachel: I can split projects into tasks in my project management system, which is for freelancers. So, it really works like my brain. And then you just click a box when you’ve done the task. But I love the idea of visual stuff as well, so I’m wondering if this might help my procrastination, but we are going to, we’re going to talk about it.

Claire: It helped mine. I can tell you that much!

Rachel: We’re going to talk about procrastination. When you’re working on your own stuff as opposed to your client stuff, where it’s really easy because you’re getting paid at the end and all that. But I wanted to first talk to you about, how these systems help freelancers not be drained because we are drained by endless client demands or clients who want things at the last minute and as you mentioned earlier, digital distractions and things like that. Let’s focus on the client side of things. How do they help with that? 

Claire: I mean, simply put my system, tell people, prioritise their own work which is something that often gets lost when you’re juggling client demands, right? Even spending just fifty minutes first thing in the day on your own projects, whether it’s marketing, implementing something you’ve learned or moving a personal idea forward can be energising instead of draining. And that, I think, is the real shift. Instead of waiting until everything else is done, you make space for the work that matters to you. And once that becomes a habit, even in small blocks, it builds momentum. It starts to feel fulfilling and hey, sometimes it’s even fun.

Lynne: Wow. Fun. 

Claire: Right? 

Rachel: That’s really great because I do prioritise client stuff over all my stuff and then days go by, and I still haven’t got to my stuff. It’s interesting that you say that. Do it first or even just do a block of your stuff first. 

Lynne: I do meet a lot of freelancers who feel like they’re constantly behind, a bit overwhelmed and they’re spinning wheels without going anywhere. So, what’s the first step you can do to break out of that and what’s, to say, okay, how can I move forward? 

Claire: The very first step I recommend, especially if you’re feeling overwhelmed or behind, is something called the 50-minute Focus Finder. The idea is simple – set a timer for 50 minutes, grab a pen and paper, and do a full brain dump of everything that’s on your mind. So work, life, admin, half done ideas, all of it. Keep writing the entire time. And yes, I know it just sounds like a brain dump, but the reason this works is because you stay with it long enough to get past the surface level noise. So, around the 35-minute mark, you’ll often hit this second wave of clarity where deeper tasks and worries finally come to the surface. And the really good thing to do is if you’ve got your list and you’re like, oh, that’s it, go back to the top of it, dissect, dissect, dissect, dissect, look at it and go, okay, well what does that actually involve? What is all of the, the little subtasks for that task, for that main task?  By the end, what you’ve done is you’ve offloaded your mind, and you now have something tangible to work with. So, not just random thoughts, but a clear picture of actually what’s on your plate. It’s simple, but I’ve seen it completely shift people out of that paralysis mode and into action, myself included many times. 

Rachel: Right. And that’s called the 50-minute?

Claire: 50-minute Focus Finder. I don’t think that’s an official name, but it’s my official name.

Rachel: It’s very catchy.

Lynne: Works quite well.

Rachel: Okay. So, we have to get onto this whole, working on your business thing, something freelancers all have to do. I find it very hard, and I find that is when I procrastinate the most compared to when I’m working on a client project. So, does this come down to mindset or does it come down to something else in, in terms of fixing it?

Claire: I don’t actually think it’s a mindset thing. I think it’s a making space for it thing. So, for a long time I used the 50 minutes first thing rule where I’d work on my own projects before touching any client work. That was the only way I could consistently make progress. Now that my son’s in school – he started kindergarten this year – I’ve created a bit of a better rhythm. I dedicate one full day a week on Monday’s to working on my own business. So, no client work allowed. That’s when I focus on marketing product ideas or anything. That helps me.  

Lynne: That’s why you said you start on Tuesday.

Claire: Exactly. It’s really good. Even if I dropped the ball or something like in the past week working on my own stuff, I’ve got Monday to get all those tickets on my Kanban board into the done column and it really, it’s helps me build something like sustainable. It’s been really refreshing to have that full day. At the same time, I know that working on your own business often stirs up a lot of mental blocks, so resistance, self-doubt, imposter syndrome. So yes, mindset matters, but what really helps is creating the space to face that discomfort and following through anyway. 

Rachel: It’s interesting. And why did you choose Monday? Just because of the way that you wanted to have that day before you reset.

Claire: I think so because I had Tuesday was always the first day of daycare. I didn’t have Mondays for daycare, so Tuesday was a natural, first day of the week. Plus, I worked with a lot of US based clients. So, Tuesday is their Monday, right? So, I managed it that way and I liked coming out of the weekend knowing that Monday, because I often worked Saturday mornings as well. That’s just how I’ve always been. I like it, it’s not like it’s a chore or anything, but we have a great family day on Sundays, and it’s very much, focused on me and my little family and what we do on Sundays. But Monday I didn’t have to dive straight into other people’s stuff. It was, I got to have this day that I looked forward to where I’m creating my own things, where I’m maybe doing some writing or creating some products or just pushing my projects forward, whatever I’m working on in that round that I’m in currently. I really think it’s been great for me. 

Rachel: I love this idea. My VA does this, but her day is on a Wednesday. 

Claire: Any day works. Any day.

Rachel: So, her day’s today, so every Wednesday I’m like, Oh, she’s not around, she’s not around. I have to do all this stuff and then I get really jealous because I’m like, I need to have a day to do my own stuff. I’m getting closer to making that happen. 

Claire: Good. 

Lynne: I’d love to talk to you about your newsletter because as I said, I’m a recent subscriber. Tell us a little bit about how it started and the lessons you’ve learned in creating it. 

Claire: Writing Flourish has taught me a lot about building a writing habit, staying connected to my audience, and using writing as a way to process and explore ideas in real time. But honestly, the biggest lesson is, write a newsletter you’d actually want to read. I sign up to my own list just to check how things are running and honestly, I still love seeing it land in my inbox. That’s been a major goal for me for that is to create something useful, honest, and enjoyable.

One of my favourite parts of it is that I share book highlights of books I’ve read, and I share about ten quotes from the book. It’s one book every month. So, there’s four issues where we’re focused on one book and I honestly, I love like, because most of the time you forget what you’ve read and then I’m rereading it. I’m like, oh my God, that was so amazing, and it spurs something else. I also include a system upgrade for people. So, it’s just something easy that they could try, like an experiment or something that they could try and weave into their work week or their daily life that might improve it.

I end on a self-coaching question, again, it’s like a journal prompt. It incorporates all of the things that I really love on what I’ve learned about in terms of self-management and just being able to operate better. And I think it’s been really, I love to write it, which I think is also really important. So, love to write it, love to read it. I think those two things are some major pieces of a good newsletter. 

Rachel: We’ll put a link to that in the show notes. 

Lynne: Definitely. 

Rachel: We do ask all our guests about the tools they love, and you’ve already covered lots of yours. Are there any you haven’t mentioned that you’d be lost without, or any digital tools that you would be lost without?

Claire: I mean one tool I’d be totally lost with without is my email marketing platform. So, I use Kit, formerly known as ConvertKit. It’s truly the backbone of my business and honestly a lot of other creative’s businesses too. Obviously, all my clients use it as someone who struggles with selling email marketing has been like a game changer. It lets me sell in a way I’m most comfortable with, which is through writing, and that’s how I build trust, share ideas, and make offers that actually help people. So, I think it’s literally, there’s rarely a day where I’m not inside it. So, I think that would be one of the things I’m always reaching for.

Rachel: Amazing.

Lynne: So interesting. Thank you, Claire. It’s been so lovely chatting to you. So interesting. I think we’re all thinking about how we work and systems we could use and how we could be better. I think it’s really good and it doesn’t sound intimidating either, which is really important.

Claire: That’s good. 

Rachel: I want to immediately go to Officeworks and get myself a what, or 

Lynne: You always want to go to Officeworks and now you’ve got an excuse. 

Rachel: I do. I do. Yes. Thank you, Claire, for being, I guess this week. Let us know where everyone can find you and find your 10-day course and also the newsletter. Let’s start with that. 

Claire: You can grab some of my most practical tools, like the free personal Kanban challenge or my 10-day Implement course over @peopleloveprojects.com. And if you want something bite-sized in your inbox each week, the Flourish newsletter is a great place to start, and that’s right there on the homepage.

Lynne: Fantastic. 

Rachel: Fabulous. 

Lynne: Wow. Thanks, Claire. We really enjoyed our chat. It’s lovely and that brings us to the end of the show. So, thanks to everyone who’s listening, and I’ll put a link to all those things in the show notes so you can connect with Claire and follow her. 

Rachel: Yes, and we will see you next week.

Lynne: Fantastic. Yes, for sure. 

Rachel: Okay, thank you. Bye 

Lynne: Bye. 

---

Credits:

Connect with Claire through the following ways: 

Flourish Newsletter: https://peopleloveprojects.com/ 

Free Course – Implement: https://peopleloveprojects.com/free-course/ 

Free Kanban Challenge: https://peopleloveprojects.com/free-kanban/

Find Lynne www.lynnetestoni.com 

Find Rachel www.rachelsmith.com.au 

Rachel’s List www.rachelslist.com.au 

If you have questions you’d like us to answer in our next Q&A episode, just send them here.

Thanks (as always) to our sponsors Rounded (www.rounded.com.au), an easy invoicing and accounting solution that helps freelancers run their businesses with confidence. Looking to take advantage of the discount for Rachel’s List Gold Members? Email us at: hello@rachelslist.com.au for the details.

Episode edited by Marker Creative Co www.markercreative.co