AMY PORTERFIELD: “I've been intentional about moving into this next season. I made it clear. I told Hobie, ‘I'm moving into a season of rest.’ I told Christine, ‘We, Christine, are moving into a season of rest,’ and I asked for more white space. Like I said, I asked for moving things into the summer. I told Hobie, ‘I want to put my health first right now.’ That got a little bit rocky during those times of the book. I stopped working out for a while. Not ideal. So it was a thing that I had to kind of consciously figure out.”
INTRO: I’m Amy Porterfield, ex-corporate girl turned CEO of a multi-seven-figure business. But it wasn't all that long ago that I lacked the confidence, the budget, and the time to focus on growing my small-but-mighty business. Fast forward past many failed attempts and lessons learned, and you'll see the business I have today, one that changes lives and gives me more freedom than I ever thought possible, one that used to only exist as a daydream. I created the Online Marketing Made Easy podcast to give you simple, actionable, step-by-step strategies to help you do the same. If you're an ambitious entrepreneur, or one in the making, who's looking to create a business that makes an impact and a life you love, you're in the right place, friend. Let's get started.
AMY: I want to tell you about a podcast I think you should check out. It's called Marketing Against the Grain. It's hosted by Kipp Bodnar and Kieran Flanagan, and it's brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. Because I know you market for your business, if you want to know what's trending, what's ahead, and how you can lead the way, this is the podcast for you. Hosts Kipp and Kieran share their marketing hot takes like nobody does. I love when they talk about things like how to turn problems into opportunities or dive deep into A.I. and marketing. It’s so good. So be sure to check it out. You can listen to Marketing Against the Grain wherever you get your podcasts.
Well, hey, there, friend. Welcome back to another episode of Online Marketing Made Easy.
I want to share with you that I have officially entered a season of calm, a season of rest. And I'll be honest with you, it feels fantastic. Now, does this mean that I am not working? Absolutely not. I'm working Monday through Thursday, every single day. It's more of a mindset shift than anything else, but, definitely, how I spend my day has changed as well. So I want to talk to you about this because I think this might be something that could spark a little inspiration of how you look at your business and how you move through different seasons.
So for the last five months, I have been launching my book nonstop. So essentially, I started in October, but it even started before that because, obviously, I had to write the book, put together the whole marketing plan, start working things out; and then from October till, really, mid-March, I was fully committed to that book launch. It was my goal to make that book a huge success, which meant I said yes to almost every opportunity that I felt would help me get the message out around my book and to get it into as many hands as possible. And now that I'm on the other side of that season, I'm able to kind of just ease into more calm and more rest.
Quite honestly, I have to. I definitely hit burnout after that book launch, and that's okay. It's not like a whole horrible thing, like, “Oh my god, I hit burnout. What did I do wrong? This is horrible. I'm not good at managing my time or my energy.” There was none of that. I actually expected the burnout to hit, and it absolutely did—I posted about it on Instagram not too long ago—but I just recognized it, and I thought, “Okay. So now I have to do some things to get me out of this burnout and just into this season of rest.”
And I'm not going to lie. Getting to this place where I feel okay with slowing down, that has been a journey for me as well. As business owners, it's like we're wired to keep going, to keep pushing harder, to never back down, to take on even more, even when we know we should scale back a little. Can I get an amen? Can you relate to this?
So that's why I'm diving into this today. I'm going to talk about what it's like to go from level one hundred, where you're doing all the things all the time, to taking an intentional pause and why it's important for you to do so from time to time.
So this book, I knew that it could make an impact for my audience, and so, of course, I was going to put it out in front of my audience multiple times over the five months of promoting it. But also, I wanted my book to reach people beyond my audience and people that have no clue who I am or what I'm about. In particular, I wanted to speak to people who were very unhappy in their current situation. Maybe they work a nine-to-five job. Maybe they don't know anything about this online world that we're in, of building businesses online. So it was my goal to give them an opportunity to explore something maybe they don't even know exist yet, and they definitely don't know it exists for them. And I wanted them to explore this so that they could create a life and a business by their own design. And I was, and still very much, passionate about that.
And because I don't do anything half way, I said, “All right. I'm going to go in.” I remember looking at Hobie and saying, “All right, babe. It's starting now.” In October. “It's go time. And I will be less available. I will be more stressed. I am going to get more tired than normal. This is it. And I do believe it is worth it.” And although he didn't like that—like, Hobie doesn't like to see me all in, because he knows it's hard for me—he did fully support it, and I had that conversation with him. So there were no surprises. He knew what was coming. And because we have such a close marriage, I think that's really important that he was on board with me, and he was.
So that meant I was doing over a hundred interviews. And, really, the bulk of those interviews didn't start till January, which made it really hard because all of January, all of February, I did probably a hundred interviews just in those two months. It meant getting on stages I wasn't comfortable getting on. It meant working on new initiatives inside my business that were foreign to me. It meant saying yes to everything that I thought could help get this book out into the world, even if it made me really uncomfortable. It meant getting on news shows, where they gave me five minutes to talk about something that I felt like I needed thirty minutes to talk about. I have to say, I don't like those five-minute news shows. They're just nerve wracking, and they're live, and I'm just like, “Ooh, I could do without these.”
But I did them all. I've never been on a plane as much as I was on a plane in January and February. I can't even believe that travel schedule. And I did this all to myself. I chose this. I'm well aware. And I'm so lucky that the opportunities came, right? I'm very grateful for them. But I was very tired.
And you've probably heard me talk about the power of your why. And let me tell you, my why was showing up in full force during this book launch. Because when I was uncomfortable or when I was frustrated with something or when I, quite honestly, had a good cry about something, I had to remember why I was doing it in the first place, and again, not be like, “Poor me. I'm so busy. I'm so tired.” I chose it.
You have to remember, as an entrepreneur, we are the bosses, right? You look in the mirror, and if you're too overwhelmed, if you're too maxed, if your schedule is too wild, look in the mirror and talk to your boss, my friend, because he or she, that person is you. You're making the calls. As much as that's hard to hear, it's true.
So as you've maybe heard me share in previous episodes, it was really hard at times. And like I mentioned earlier, definitely tears. And it was so worth it. I was determined to have a book that was successful, and it was. It hit the New York Times for two weeks in a row, which is a really big deal. And it hit the Wall Street Journal in spot number two for multiple weeks. Like, it was pretty exciting. And then beyond that, one of the most rewarding parts of this whole experience has been getting to talk to people who are actually reading the book and doing something with it. Every single day, I get a DM, “I chose my exit date. This is when I'm leaving.” Do you know how good that feels, to see someone learn something from you and actually take action? So without a doubt, my season of yes was totally worth it.
But where I am struggling now, and I knew this would happen, and what I wanted to talk about today is, how do you move out of a season of yes?
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It's like I've been doing all the things for so long, they are just normal to me now. No matter how hard they were, it feels like my norm. Like, for instance, my calendar over the last two weeks, like, coming off this, packed to the brim. I let it get way out of control. And my executive assistant and I, Christine, we were just so used to packing it all in. So once the book came out—and even once, we were a few weeks after the book came out—my calendar was still really crazy.
And so, like, there was one day, after the book came out, that I had so many back-to-back things that happened that I literally did not have a chance to go pee. And I had to send a message to Christine, like, “So, we're going to need to reevaluate because I haven’t peed for five hours today.” Like, there was no time.
And so, like, I had to talk to her about—this is interesting. Like, an interesting way to look at it—I had to give my executive assistant permission to start saying no to things, meaning she's not going to, like, get an opportunity to say, “No. Amy's not going to do it,” but stop saying yes to “It's going to be put on the calendar right away” is what I mean. Like, I had to say, “Christine, you're allowed to push this out a whole month if you need to. That interview, if it needs to happen in the summer, let's move it to the summer.” I, like, had to give her permission to do so.
I knew I needed to slow down, I knew I needed to shift gears, but I didn't remember how to do it. My mind, quite honestly, is not wired that way. But I needed to get there.
So this is what I've done. I've been intentional about moving into this next season. I made it clear. I told Hobie, “I'm moving into a season of rest.” I told Christine, “We, Christine, are moving into a season of rest,” and I asked for more white space. Like I said, I asked for moving things into the summer. I told Hobie, “I want to put my health first right now.” That got a little bit rocky during those times of the book. I stopped working out for a while. Not ideal.
So it was a thing that I had to kind of consciously figure out. And shifting into this new space, it's going to take some time. And I kind of had to retrain myself and, again, lots of talks with my executive assistant, all of that.
So I'm bringing this up to say that it's 100 percent okay to be in a season of yes. I celebrate it. I think it's needed as an entrepreneur. But remember, it's a season. And I know if you want something bad enough, you'll sacrifice. You'll do what it takes. We're all wired like that, right? We're entrepreneurs. But on the flip side, you also have to remember that it's not always going to be a season of yes. And nobody, nobody with a thriving, sustainable business lives in a season of yes. Like, a season of yes is not, like, one year. You have to be able to step back. So tell yourself, if I'm going to go for a season of yes, when does that end, and when does your season of rest begin?
Now, here's the truth. Good or bad, I don't know. It's just what's happening for me. My season of rest is, like, a month; my season of yes was five months, so I don't need them to be equal. And I am not wired that way. You give me a good month where we're saying no more often than we're saying yes, I'm all about it.
I have a friend. His name is Anthony Trucks. He's been on the podcast. I'm in a mastermind with him. And when we were at the mastermind, we all went around and kind of just shared where we're at in business and life. And I remember so vividly what he said. He said, “I'm in a season of dad right now. My business is not a priority. I'm working on my business, I'm doing my podcast, I'm making my money, but if there's an opportunity to be a dad, I'm there.” And the reason for that, and I think he had mentioned, like, his son just went to college, and his son, I think, runs track, so he's, like, really deep into that, and he wanted to be available to his son, to watch all the meets but also give the guidance that he needs as his son transitioned into something new. So he's not always going to be in a season of dad, but right now he is.
And I want to point that out. Let's say he moved out of a season of dad. That doesn't mean he's not a dad anymore, right? Doesn’t mean he doesn't show up for his kids. It doesn't mean that he's not there for them. It just means that maybe if a work situation were to come up that he might have to miss something. It might happen. He didn't say this; I'm just saying this. And my point being is that even if you're not in a season of yes for your business, doesn't mean the whole thing goes to pot, right? It just means you're navigating and making decisions differently.
So to hear that from someone that I really admire—I love Anthony Trucks—and just to hear what he had to say and knowing that he knew where his priorities were, I really thought that was cool to see. So again, he's getting things done. He's making his money. He's still on stage, but he's not saying yes to a stage presence over being able to be at one of his kid’s matches. I think that's what it's called when you're a runner, right? Oh, gosh, I'm so not athletic, but you get the point.
All right. So there you have it, my sweet friend. I think being in a season of yes, being in a season of rest, and being able to choose when that is is one of the best parts of being an entrepreneur. Being able to choose when you turn the dial up and when you turn it down, that's a really beautiful thing, and I'm very grateful for it. And listen, just because you're in one season right now doesn't mean you need to stay there forever.
Like I said, I'm in a season of rest for about a month, but then we go into Digital Course Academy season, and by August, we are off and running. So I'll have to start getting ready for that, and I'm excited for it. And imagine how much better I will be when August rolls around and we start pre launching Digital Course Academy. If you've thought about joining Digital Course Academy, it is coming. Digital Course Academy is coming in September, and it's coming back better than ever. So if you go to amyporterfield.com/DCA, you can get on the waitlist, get on that waitlist to be the first to know. But imagine how on fire I will be during my DCA season, when I've taken care of myself for the next month or so before I start to ramp up again.
So I want you to ask yourself, what season are you in right now? How long is that season going to last? And do you need to be in a different season right now? Have you chosen a season that's not supporting you, or is this working? And then, after this season, what does the next season look like for you? So if you're a journaling kind of girl or guy, maybe this is a great journaling prompt. But I want you to define your season, and I want you to define some dates around that season, just to make sure you're taking care of yourself.
Thank you so very much for hanging out with me here. I hope you enjoyed this episode. And remember, I'll be back on Thursday for more entrepreneurial goodness, same time, same place. Can't wait. Talk to you soon.
