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Podcast Episode Summary: The Double Win - JORDAN HARPER: Making Time for What Matters
Episode Overview In this episode of *The Double Win Podcast*, hosts Michael Hyatt and Megan Hyatt Miller chat with Jordan Harper, founder and CEO of Barefaced. The discussion centers around Jordan’s journey from nurse practitioner to entrepreneur and her philosophy of "less but better." She shares insights on simplifying both her skincare line and her life as a busy entrepreneur and mother of four.
Key Themes
- Less But Better Philosophy: Jordan emphasizes minimalism in skincare and life, focusing on quality over quantity.
- Time Management: Jordan discusses her strategies for managing time effectively through systems and delegation.
- Work-Life Balance: The conversation highlights the challenges and approaches to balancing business and family life.
Memorable Quotes
- “It’s the little things you’re doing every single day that are yielding these big results over time.”
- “Especially as women, we can have this martyr mindset where everyone’s first. That might work for a week, a season, but you will get so depleted.”
- “You have to truly build systems for your life.”
- “One of my goals for 2024 was to stop saying, ‘I don’t have time.’ I say, ‘I don’t make time for that.’”
Key Takeaways
- Simplicity in Skincare: Jordan’s approach advocates for a streamlined skincare routine to achieve better results.
- Customer-Centric Growth: Barefaced grew to 250,000 customers by focusing on education and customer satisfaction rather than hard selling.
- Effective Time Management: Utilizing tools like the Full Focus Planner, Jordan stresses the importance of time blocking and prioritizing tasks.
- Outsourcing and Delegation: By delegating tasks at work and home, she maintains a balance between her personal and professional life.
- Family Focus: With young children, Jordan underscores the importance of creating systems to ensure quality time with family.
Resources Mentioned
- Jordan Harper on Instagram: [@jordanharpernp](https://www.instagram.com/jordanharpernp/)
- Barefaced Skincare: [barefaced.com](https://www.barefaced.com/)
- Full Focus Planner: [fullfocusplanner.com](https://www.fullfocusplanner.com/)
- Watch the Episode on YouTube: [YouTube Link](https://youtu.be/eiuLjusUa2A)
Discussion Points
Jordan's Journey
- Background: Jordan transformed her expertise in the medical field into a skincare line, addressing gaps in effective skincare routines.
- Market Insights: Identified confusion in the skincare industry, leading to her goal of simplifying the process.
Time Management Strategies
- Time Blocking: Jordan utilizes time blocking to manage her schedule effectively and prioritize her personal and professional obligations.
- Daily Routines: She shares her morning routine which includes exercise, meditation, and reflection, helping her start the day productively.
Family and Work Integration
- Support Systems: Emphasizes the importance of having help at home, such as a nanny and household manager, to maintain balance and support her career.
- Mental Load: Discusses how women often carry the burden of mental load, advocating for delegation and support to enhance life enjoyment.
Reflection and Improvement
- Accountability and Growth: Jordan highlights the need for regular reflection to track personal and professional progress, reinforcing the importance of acknowledging achievements.
Conclusion This episode provides valuable insights into achieving a balanced life while pursuing professional ambitions. Jordan Harper’s actionable strategies and philosophy of "less but better" serve as a guiding framework for listeners aiming to integrate their personal and professional lives successfully.
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*This summary captures the essence of the podcast episode featuring Jordan Harper, focusing on key discussions, memorable insights, and practical takeaways.*
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00We need to focus more on, especially as women, we are carrying so much right in here. And so if you can create systems for it and outsource some of those things, you're just going to enjoy your life a lot more. Hi, I'm Michael Hyatt. And I'm Megan Hyatt Miller. And you're listening to The Double Win Show. And we're excited to share with you our recent conversation with Jordan Harper. Jordan is the founder and CEO of my favorite skincare brand, Barefaced. She is all about simplifying routines and providing real results. In fact, her tagline is less but better, which feels very full focus to me.
0:35I love that. She is a board-certified nurse practitioner who spent years treating patients and noticed a gap in the market for minimal but effective skincare. Bareface has grown rapidly since its launch in 2019, emphasizing education, transparency, customer care. Jordan is also the mom of four under five, including a set of twins at the end. I mean, she is busy and she is passionate about using tools like the Full Focus Planner to balance her roles as a business owner and a mom. Her leadership style is built on authenticity, connecting with her community, and delivering products that truly meet customers' needs.
1:12I can attest to that because I am one of those customers. She's been featured in Forbes and she's recognized for her ability to scale a company in a saturated market and for empowering women in business. She lives in Knoxville, Tennessee with her husband and she balances family life and business with a focus on continual improvement. And here's our conversation with Jordan. Enjoy.
1:34Jordan, welcome to the show. We're so excited to have you. Thank you. Excited to be here. I have to tell you that when I was getting ready this morning, I had like a little bit of performance anxiety because I was cleaning my face, doing all my stuff. I use all your products. And I was like, is my skin going to be glowy enough for this podcast? Yes. Look amazing. Seriously, you know, you're an avid full focus planner user. I know you're a big fan. I'm a big fan of bare faced and love your products, especially love the idea of less but better. You know, I think that's really what we're about at full focus in a totally different context.
2:11And as a mom of five kids, and you know, like, I don't have a lot of time for this stuff. It was just cut through the noise. I'm like, just give me whatever you got. Just take my money, send it to me. It'll make my life easier. So thanks for the work that you do. And I feel like we just have so much great overlap. I tend to always like lean towards brands that have the same philosophy of less but better. So I feel like it's really just like a natural fit. That's awesome. Perfect. We'd love to hear your story, just how you got to the place where you founded the company and what's happened since then.
2:41My background is actually a nurse practitioner and I started in the medical field over 10 years ago and I was seeing patients in office. I was working in cosmetic dermatology, classic surgery. So I was seeing a variety of patients and I really started to have a specialty in injectables, skincare, and also laser treatment. So I was kind of treating the skin holistically, like in office and then providing guidance for at home to maintain those results. And what I found was so many women, our patient base was probably 99 % women, were willing to invest in these office treatments, but they didn't have a like consistent at home routine that they were following.
3:19And so I always use this analogy where 80 % of your results come from your at home routine and 20 % come from an office treatment. And so it would be like going to the dentist once every six months, but not brushing your teeth in between. It's like, how, how good do you think your teeth are going to be? Same thing goes with your skin. And so, especially if you're investing in these office treatments that are going to provide results, but you're not really getting like your biggest bang for your buck. If you're not putting in the day-to-day work. And I think we can both agree. It's like, it's the little things that you're doing every single day that are yielding these big results over time.
3:53They're underestimated because they're not that exciting, you know, and they do take the consistency to see the results. And so I think people, if they use skincare, they're using a product for a couple of weeks. And if they're not seeing results, they're like, all right, done, move into the next thing. So I just started to see one, there's so much confusion in the industry. There's so many skincare products. And so my goal at that time, I didn't have a product line. I was just working in offices and I ended up starting my own practice and seeing patients, but still did not have my own skincare line.
4:20And I just started to see that, okay, I'm having to create a pretty, in my opinion, felt like an extensive routine to get these patients to see results. And the more you have to do, the less consistent you are going to be at it. So I was like, okay, I need to create something around the philosophy less, but better. And that's what I have really always leaned into. When I look back at, even before I started a business, I've always been like quality over quantity. And so I started talking to other chemists, medical grade skincare lines, and I started kind of just quizzing them on why certain things existed.
4:52And something that I found that was really interesting when you, a lot of these brands, they are required to, especially if they're wholesale or they're in like, you know, these bigger chain stores, they have to have a certain amount of products that they produce yearly. And so that's what adds a ton of volume to the industry because they're having to meet these like, that's just for interest, I guess, you know, marketing, consumerism. And so there's a lot of products that like exist that maybe one, they're just not necessary. They're fluff. I don't have time for fluff. I want just the things that work.
5:21I want to do them. And like you were saying earlier, I want an expert to kind of guide me along. I can only be an expert with like one thing. You know, my hairstylist tells me this, what I need to do. That's what I do. My dentist tells me this, you know, I want to find an expert that I trust and then kind of follow their guidance. All this to say, I started talking a chemist, I started developing these products. And the cool thing about BareFace is having the background as a nurse practitioner, I was developing these products, not based on what I thought would be cool, or what I thought was a good idea.
5:47It was based on thousands of patients. And I, at this point, I already had an Instagram where I was just sharing skin tips, thousands of people messaged me on Instagram. And so you give me some problems, I'll solve them for you. And so that's kind of what I feel like BareFace is a solution to simplifying your skincare routine. And it's really catered towards the people that kind of want the experts to handhold you along, but also less but better, something that you can just easily manage and easily add to your day-to-day life so you can go on living life. Skincare is not the focus of most people's lives like it is mine.
6:17And so BareFace really grew organically on social. We didn't even start doing any like marketing, paid advertising, anything like that until the last year. What that kind of showed me, one, I didn't really even know how to do any of that. So I was just sharing how I like to learn and I like to learn through education. All of our business for the first three years was really just referral-based and just the power of people, just regular people. And we serve over 250 ,000 customers. You know, it's like the power of one person telling someone else and telling someone else. And I feel like that's where we are today, right?
6:51That's great. Well, that's exactly how I found out about BareFace. My sister, Marissa, who hosts our other podcast, Focus on This, she was like, have you ever followed Jordan Harper? I really think you'd like her philosophy. I think it would be great given your season of life and all the rest. And I was like, no, I haven't heard about it. Anyway, and then I ended up ordering one or two things. And before I knew it, I was using everything. And I think what you just said about finding a trusted expert and trusting their expertise is a real double win hack. Because you're right. Whatever area of your life you are an expert in, there is no way, no how you can be an expert in everything.
7:28And I think sometimes we drive ourselves absolutely crazy with all the research and, you know, trying to optimize everything. And if you can outsource that to somebody that you trust, it's like you get the same outcome. You just didn't have to do all the work. And I've kind of gotten to the place with my own skincare where I'm like, I'm just not even looking at anything else. Like I can check that off my list. I don't have to think about it anymore. And I think whether that's, you know, nutrition or exercise or parenting or whatever, if you just have somebody as a go-to expert, that's a real way that you can create margin in your life.
8:01So thanks for that. I think that applies well beyond skincare. You know, skincare is not an uncrowded market. I mean, if you've been in a Sephora or an Ulta or, you know, anywhere like that, we're talking like aisles and aisles, not to mention Target and your grocery store and everything else. There's so much out there. I feel like I need a translator. So Sephora and Ulta are like, um, you know, personal care product place, like makeup, skincare, perfume, whatever. One, what made you think you could get into this industry and stand out? And how have you stood out in such a crowded market? That's why being naive is like so amazing.
8:39And that's why entrepreneurs are young, you know, because you don't know what you don't know. And when I look back, I'm like, I don't want to start another business. But like at the time, you know, you just don't know what you don't know. And you just like take, what is it? You slowly take a bite of that elephant. And so I didn't know what I didn't know. And so I think now that I know what I know, I probably would be like, oh, wow, the skincare industry is much too fast. But you know what? That's a limiting belief. And so I had so much clarity that, and I definitely had the doubters and even people that I really respect that would say, are you sure this is a good idea?
9:12I think my parents, my dad for sure is always like, are you sure? Like, why don't you just keep working for like, you know, business, like other doctor's offices, like this feels safe, you know, from a safe perspective. You always want your kids to be safe. And so I think he might be a little bit more risk averse than I am. But I just think I was like, well, I just know this is a need. And I felt like I had such a connection with the community that I had, that are the patients that I had. And truly, I actually thought, I didn't think bare face would be what it is today. I thought I would just offer this to my patients in office and maybe just a couple people online.
9:41I had no clue, you know, but I think I see opportunities. And so that's how I ended up like, you know, adding this to be a direct to consumer, like e-commerce offering. but I definitely thought, oh, I'll just offer this in office. I never thought that skincare would be where my career would go more so than like office procedures. And I think what's made bare face stand out is one, the referral base for sure has like, that's grown a ton of momentum. And I think having just a very clear set of like products, instructions, our messaging is like, stays the same. And I think that's helped a lot. We're pretty like consistent with the way we sell.
10:19And I even tell our customer service team, our whole team knows this, like, we're not trying to sell you product. We're trying to help you out. And a lot of people message us about other products, prescription products. We're going to give you advice if we have, or recommendations, you know, we're not giving like medical advice, obviously on online, but we want to be that trusted resource. And so we don't sell to sell. So we have a really high recurring customer rate. We have a 90 % recurring customer rate for the past four years. That's amazing. Skincare in general, I think it's 25%. And I think it's because we're showing up and we're not trying to, if something, well, you don't think someone's going to work for a certain customer, then don't buy it.
10:53Or if you like trying a bunch of skincare, if you like doing a bunch of different things, then like, we're not the brand for you. I think we're just really clear, like who we're for, who we're not for and what we offer. And it's just like, we want to be in your core. I love that. What was the hardest part about starting a business like this? time, time management and the mental, the mental load of entrepreneurship that it never ends. We never stop thinking about it. So true. Yeah. So that's something that you don't turn it off. And where I was used to working with medical practices where like you go to work and you leave and sure there's like a little thing, you know, little things that maybe you're touching base with a patient after all, after hours, but like entrepreneurship is like, I could never sleep and it's still not all getting done.
11:35And so I remember drowning and that's when I really got really into time blocking and all of that. When I kind of pivoted from being in office where my schedule was controlled and I kind of knew, okay, this is when I work. This is when I do this X, Y, Z. And then when I wasn't, I was trying to be a mom, trying to be a wife, trying to be a business owner, chaos. And so that has probably been the hardest because I feel like I can figure anything out, but it's just figuring out when to figure everything out. When, what are my priorities, when to do that. So that's probably the hardest challenge, but I love to be underestimated.
12:07So that was never like people think, oh, she's not going to be able to do this very well. That feels very freeing to me. That's awesome. I love that. I'd love for you to just talk about beyond the full focus planner. We'll come back to that in a little bit, but what are some of the productivity strategies that you use or when you think about managing your life, because you are married, you do have four children. How old is your oldest? Five. So you have four under five and a set of twins at the end. Right. So you're not just like laying by the pool. I mean, you are busy, busy. You've got a thousand things going on and your husband was in medical school and then in residency.
12:43I mean, it's just a lot. And so I would love for you to share some of the things that you do that make your life work. The first thing that's made a big difference in feeling like I'm fulfilled by the end of the day and not depleted by the end of the day was I like to do these like moments of resetting. And so I used to only do this, you know, in January when you're like the new year, but now I do this much more frequently. And now I have such a routine of it that it doesn't seem so overwhelming. So the very first thing I did just when I started this whole process of like getting a little bit more control over my day-to-day life was just writing out what are my priorities.
13:17And so for me, the priorities in order, and this is going to sound funny and I'll explain it in a second, but my number one priority is myself. My second is my family. My third is my business. My fourth is my friends. I don't have any other priorities outside of that. Like that's all I can handle. And so everything filters through this lens of, Hey, like I need to make sure if I'm not taking care of myself, then my family is not going to be really well taken care of and making sure I'm walking the time to like invest in who I am, whether that's reading, exercise, nutrition, all of those things, because that's going to serve all of my relationships, especially as women, we can have this like martyr mindset where it's like, everyone's first, everyone's first.
13:55Well, it's like, sure, that might work for a week, a season, but you will get so depleted. And then what do you have? What does that look like for all of your other relationships? You start to like then drain those relationships because you, your cup isn't full. And so I started by listing out, okay, what are my priorities? Everything kind of goes through that lens. And so as I'm blocking out my schedule and I'm like curating the life that I want, and I love time blocking so much because it's like, you can actually do the things that you want. You do have time, but you just have to know what's your priority and what do you actually want?
14:26Because think about all the stuff we do every day that was like, I don't even want to do this. After writing out like priorities, then I kind of figure out what does my day-to-day look like? I get very like granular in this because all these, I love atomic habits. I love essentialism. There's like a handful of books that are just my go-tos that I kind of read yearly just to kind of like get myself back on track. But knowing like these little habits that actually take 20 minutes of your time. I noticed when I was getting to work, I would sit on my phone for 20 minutes. And like that adds up. So just knowing that you have the habit and sometimes that's okay, but like we're so unaware of a lot of the things that we do.
14:59So I wrote down everything I could do. What could be removed from my schedule? Think about all the things we say yes to. What could be delegated? What could be outsourced? And that's kind of like how I got control of my life. And there's so much I say no to and I love it. I actually feel like I feel very fulfilled and I feel like I have good friendships. I have good relationships, but it's like by not spreading myself too thin. What does your team look like and how do they help you? So we have 12 people. We have a customer service team. We have a fulfillment center team, e-commerce, marketing, brand management, a lot of people in social curation.
15:34I built a business. We have no investors at all. So I'm full owner. And so I had to always be very intentional with like every dollar being spent. And it's interesting. I have no business background, but I do feel like a lot of that is a testament to my parents. Never spent more than we could. never hired more than we could afford. And so we've always remained profitable. We've always been able to like invest in good quality people. And so the business has really grown one by one. At first it was me, you know, like at first it was like all the things. And so now we're really getting more in line with like, not everyone is having to wear so many hats.
16:09Yeah, that's good. That's the thing I think I like, I love about a team is it allows specialization so that particularly as a business owner, you can increasingly focus on what you do best and offload the rest. Because when that happens, you're not depleted. And I think it's those things that we're not really well-equipped for that deplete us. They have to get done by somebody, but when you can get a team, very helpful. Because some people thrive on that, on the very things that de-energize us. That's been transformative because there's certain things where it's, yeah, it has to get done. And who's ultimately gonna probably do it?
16:42Maybe me. But now that there's a team to delegate to or who can own within their strengths, it's a game changer.
16:55So one of the things I am curious about with you is what kind of support you have on the personal side, you know, like with your family and your home and all that. Because I think one of the things I hear a lot from other women like us who are leading at a high level and they're showing up in a big way is like, it can seem like magic. Like she just knows something. She has some magic where she can get four jobs done in one day's worth of time. And I think that's usually not true. Like I know for us, we have a part-time nanny and home manager. We have somebody who comes and cleans our home once a week.
17:33And there are just things that there's no way I could do. Like I just cannot do it all. And so I'm curious if you're comfortable just kind of sharing like, what does that support system look like for you on the personal side? Yeah. So it's interesting. I don't, I like that you said if you're comfortable because, and I'm happy to share, But I always like to preface this because I think sometimes when you share your support, people are like, oh, I can't afford that. Well, it's like, well, yeah. I mean, I only add the support. And I truly believe, and I remember someone telling me this with my very first pregnancy, hire as much support as you can afford.
18:02Because women carry the mental, I mean, we just carry the family. And so as much as you can afford, and you also have to be comfortable delegating. Yes. And there's a handful of things that you have to like kind of learn how to do. and I'm constantly learning how to do this, but I'm always hesitant because I never want it to seem like, oh yeah, because I don't do this, I don't do that. And it's like, well, that's not realistic. Well, at the level now that I'm at with like running a business, like a large business in a household, like you cannot do it all. And so you have to choose. And to think that you can like not have this support and do all the things that you're doing, you're not going to be doing what you're doing well.
18:41So to refuse support is like such a miss, but you have to be really intentional and thoughtful about who you put in those areas because your family is like, you know, that's your most important thing. So we want to make sure. So I have an executive assistant. So she helps me with personal and business. And she's kind of like my right hand. My executive assistant is with me, lives in Knoxville. She's my only employee that lives in Knoxville. We also have a virtual assistant. And then we also have a nanny. I hate to even call her nanny, you know, because she's like a household manager. They become so much part of your life.
19:11Right. Like a nanny doesn't explain her well enough, but she really helps us run our house essentially. So she's like a nanny household manager. And so when I talked earlier about delegating tasks, there's certain tasks that I only want to do. And that's really like the time when I spend with my kids, there's certain things where it's like, if I can have her help me with laundry or help me pick up around the house, certain things like that, that doesn't really matter who does that. You know, as far as like the quality of your life, the quality of your relationships, that doesn't, I want to make sure that the things that I'm choosing to do and the time that I have for the various things that I have to do is most valuable.
19:48And for me, when I get home, I'm done with work and I'm ready to be on with my kids and be with my husband. And so we use a meal service for that. Cooking is not something. I have checked that off my list. It doesn't bring me joy. You know, I always say, I'm like, I want to cook when I'm like maybe 60 and I'm just, you know, I've watched the today show to get some ideas, you know, like right now. So the mental like thought of having to prep a meal. So now when I come home, it's all, you know, stacked in the refrigerator, what do we want to eat tonight? And we pull it out. And that way, like we can just enjoy time with our kids.
20:22And yes, and we definitely have a cleaning service too. And they come, they come once a week, but it's really the, the two, I would say my executive assistant and our nanny are like, we're like a little trio. Yeah. With those roles that are so personal, that's really good. I've really had to like work on being a really effective communicator. And we have a home playbook that's very detailed about all the things that need to be done. I mean, look down to like how often the air filters need to be changed. I mean, there's like, you know, making sure that one, that eliminates a lot of her mental load too.
20:54You know, kids are a lot to take in and they're in school a couple of days a week too. But so that way she can kind of support me at home with the day-to-day kind of tasks. I think that's really helpful to hear. And I do think that distinction of, on the one hand, you and I both grew into where we are now in the support systems we have. We didn't start out, you know, when we began our careers, for example, or when we had our first child, you know, we didn't begin at that level. And so I think like when I think back to what it looked like for me is I had somebody five or 10 hours a week helping me out.
21:25You know, that was how it started. It was so helpful just to get like laundry off my plate because like you, I was thinking, okay, my time is limited. I want to invest in the things that my kids are going to remember that they're going to, they're really going to make them feel loved and feel like they belong and, you know, are known. And for me, that was sitting at the dinner table. Like that's a non-negotiable for me, you know, as my kids are much older now and teenagers and sports and all that, it's a little more hit or miss, but still we really prioritize sitting at the table. Last night I had frozen pizza that I pulled out and we sat at the table and we had our frozen pizza.
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21:57You know, that was great. But I think, you know, you can work your way into that when you know what your non-negotiables are and where you really get the biggest return on investment. I mean, it's really very much like we think about our professional lives. If I'm going to make an investment, I want a great return. And there are things that I know my kids are not, not that it's unimportant, like laundry, for example, but they're not going to grow up and say, I just remember my mom folded the neatest laundry, you know, and my drawers were just perfect. I mean, they're not going to say that they're, you know, they they'll appreciate that when they're adults and they're doing it for themselves.
22:30And so those things, you know, I want to outsource those things as I can, because it frees me up to invest in their hearts and their development and things that otherwise, you know, I'd be harried running around. So I think one, if you're listening to this, don't rule it out because you can't do everything we're talking about right now. But But on the other hand, be excited for what you could grow into potentially in the future, because there really is like a whole support system that you can take advantage of and build just like you would in the context of a business. And anyway, thank you for sharing that.
23:02I think for a long time as women, like it kind of wasn't okay to talk about this stuff. You know, you just sort of had to pretend like, yeah, I'm doing it all. It's amazing, right? You know, it's like, no, I'm not doing it all. I'm very careful about what I'm handing off. You have to truly like build systems in your life. And I think you focus so much on systems from a business perspective, but you're like your personal life. You need to, that needs to be a system. Your relationship with your spouse needs to be a system. Like you don't want the time to spend time with them. Like, where is that relationship going to go?
23:30There's a book called the Almanac of Naval Ravikar. I haven't read that, but I've seen it. Very good. He says something and it kind of like reshifted how I thought about outsourcing certain things. Figure out what is your hourly rate and outsourcing in general. It is a sacrifice. You're having to let go of money to pay other people. And it's like, you have to figure out what is that worth to you? We need to focus more on, and especially as women, like we are carrying so much right in here. And so if you can create systems for it and outsource some of those things, you're just going to enjoy your life a lot more.
24:03Yeah. Dan Martell has a book called Buy Back Your Time. And this is the same idea, but I love knowing your hourly rate. And we teach that to our clients as well, because it makes delegation simple. Sometimes really even smart entrepreneurs are really stupid with our own time because it's costing them more to do it themselves than they can outsource it. And they don't have enough time already to do the things that only they can do. And I think that's a huge hack for business and life to be successful is focus on what you do best. And to the extent that you can afford it, outsource the rest. What you're doing too, is then you're making yourself more productive, then you're probably going to end up making more money.
24:42That's right. It's like, it kind of is, we get kind of stuck sometimes, but really it's the win-win. Yeah. Well, I think the other part of it that we don't think about, and I like my wife, Gail, I had a hard time talking her into hiring a housekeeper because she felt like we're of a generation where she said, I should be able to do all that. And I said, I get it, honey, but here's the thing. And this is where I finally got her. I said, you're depriving somebody else out of a livelihood, somebody else that could do it better and faster and actually enjoy it and free you up to do the things that you're magical at, but don't have time to do right now.
25:15Well, that's suddenly, she got excited about helping other people. And I think that's something that sometimes isn't said. It's just thinking about it. Yeah. Planning it. Yeah. I want to go back to something about work-life balance because you said something that's very true of entrepreneurialism and that is the never ending to-do list. I feel like sometimes it's like playing whack-a-mole. You know, you get one thing crossed off and five other things magically appear and you can never get ahead of it. But has that been a challenge for you as an entrepreneur to maintain some sense of, I prefer the term integration, but work-life integration?
25:47Or is that something that's always come easy to you? I don't think it's come easy. I don't know if you guys do the Enneagram, but I'm an Enneagram three. Me too. I'm a four, four with a three wing. So yeah. Yes. My brand director is four with the three wing and we are just like perfect. Yeah. Yeah. Having that little wing is helpful. Yeah. So I love working and it It brings me a lot of joy. I would say, especially in the social media space that never sleeps, that is a challenge to like turn that off. But once I actually like realized like the time that I was spending and the distractions that I was having like at home, I would say it's easy for me to have work come into home for sure what I have to do.
26:28And I'll have to, you know, I'll constantly think I need to be posting on social media. That's like a problem that I've had in the past. And I'm like, hey, you know what? But today is a day you're taking off. So I don't even wake up and think about it. Cause I'm like, you know what you said? Like this, I do that a lot on the weekends. I don't post because I just want to just chill. And so it's really been helpful to like almost set that on the front end instead of like, Hey, do you need to post a little something? What should you do that? And so I would say it's definitely something I'm constantly aware of.
26:55It does not come natural. I lean into like working more. And what I find is social media is kind of a full-time job. And then running a business is a full-time job. So I do the business during the day and I'll catch up at night. So I kind of rob a little bit of my nights after I put my kids down. And that doesn't make me feel good if I do that multiple nights in a row. And so that's just something I constantly have to reset because I'm like, oh, I could do that at night because that kind of never sleeps. But this has to be done by 5 p.m. So it's always something you're aware of. But like, I think it's cool that we live in a time that work and life can interchange so nicely.
27:29There's a lot of advantages to that for sure. The other part of it, though, is it's so easy for work to bleed into the rest of life because of that very same thing. You know, so honestly, as an Enneagram 3 myself and as a recovering workaholic, I have an ongoing struggle with this. I have to continue to reset. And, you know, I think a lot of people write out of their weakness, and that's definitely true for me. Like even the double win is something I struggle to get. And I have to keep reminding myself that, wait a second, you got to put the computer down. it's time for other things because they're like you said there's always something else you can do and i convince myself if i just get this one thing done you know i'm almost done honey just give me another 20 minutes and then there's something else that pops up what i'm like what this is for work this is not i'm not just like surfing on the internet i'm not just like you know like this is this is adding value and like so yeah you can tell yourself a lot of stories and justify like what you're doing no this is a constant reset for me too yeah and that's why I started to do these weekly resets instead of, oh, I'll just do a reset in January when I'm, you know, kicking off the new year.
28:34Cause I was like, I can get off track quick. Yeah. If you're not careful. Yeah. And the more successful you become, the easier it is. Cause you're getting, it's a real reward loop. I want to ask you about the full focus planner. Me too. Is that where you're going? Yeah. Okay. Go ahead. Go ahead. Okay. So, um, I think the way that we actually got introduced to you, um, in the first place beyond just skincare was you're posting about the full focus planner and we were like, Oh my gosh, how fun, you know? So tell me how the full focus planner has helped you win at work and succeed at life. I like love this planner.
29:06I love it. So there's a couple of things, the reflections. I don't, I'm not reflecting, not doing it. And being a three, I have to take a moment. And that's why I love my brand director for, she like forces me to like appreciate and celebrate these small moments. I don't do that. I'm like, all right. Yep. Yep. Yep. She's like, are you ever like proud of what we're doing? I'm like, yeah, I'm proud, but let's keep going. And so it's one of those things where the reflections really helped me like, Oh, I am making progress. Yeah. And so, and there is something to look back and be like, wow, like I'm really proud of myself and that's building confidence for me.
29:42And then also looking back and like, how can I improve? What did I not do? Because you know, I want to be a person that reads every night, but am I really reading every single night? So the street tracker. I love doing that. It's like, oh shoot, I only did three out of, it's like, we can tell ourselves any story we want. And I like to tell myself I'm doing really good. And then I look back and I'm like, huh, you know, like I actually didn't do all the things that I had planned on doing. So I think it helped me be accountable and I love competition. And so it's like a competition with myself. Yeah.
30:11That's why I like it. And so one of the ways I help myself get up in the morning as I'll be like, what would a successful person do? It's not about, I'm like, cause I want to sleep in, but what would a successful person do? So for the full focus, I love the daily three because my to-do list is so long. And so pulling out my top three, what do I need to get done? And that's very achievable. There's nothing worse than getting done with the day and just feeling like, what the heck did I even do? And then that feeling of my, one of my goals for 2024 was to stop saying, I don't have time. Oh yeah. I say, I don't make time for that because I really believe yeah we have the time to do the things that we want to do and we can't do everything but that's why you need to know what you want to do yeah that's why you know the person that you want to be and so I stopped saying that and I by blocking out these you know periods of time and doing a morning ritual like what do I want to get done in the morning and I you know I have it written out so I know certain things take me 12 minutes certain things take me so I know exactly my morning routine takes me like 57 minutes and so I'm not going to be able to get done what I need to get done.
31:13It's like a joke in my, it's like, Oh, I'll wake up 30 minutes before. And it's like, no, I'm not going to get that done. So now I know how long these moments take. And then my ramp up, I was just like jumping into work. And then when you do that, if I'm on Slack or emails, I'm all over the place. Whereas if I have a little ramp up and I'm getting my day kind of structured and organized, I'm a lot more productive. Yeah. So what is your morning routine look like? Oh, funny that you ask. Let me turn to page three. Honestly, I should pull this up because I have been sharing a lot about time blocking recently on social.
31:42And it's so interesting how, I mean, so many people are curious about it because I think we all are in the same struggle. No one, everyone wants to do a lot. And what do we have time for? And I have recently, this season is the first season in five years where I've been able to work out before my kids wake up. That has been transformative. So I get around 5.15, 5.30, go work out. And that's something that I pay for that class. So I'm accountable to it. I don't want to miss that class. So that's been like so amazing for my productivity. I just feel like so accomplished by 630 in the morning. So when I don't work out, I still try to keep that same.
32:19I really like have to follow a routine because if I am off one day, it just really throws me off. So if I'm not working out that morning, I'm still trying to wake up at the same time. Otherwise I'll be like derailed. So I wake up, I still want to start slow. If I'm not jumping out of bed to work out, I'm going to start slow. So I'll do my red light mask while I do a meditation. So that takes me about 12 minutes. And then I do different stretching things takes me five minutes. I'll do obviously my skincare routine. I do like to read for 20 minutes and that too, especially getting that done in the morning.
32:50So that way, if I end up not reading at night, which is always my goal, I'm like, okay, well, at least I read 20 minutes a day because I want to be a reader. So it's like, if I can, you know, eat the elephant in the morning and get those things done. I'm like, Oh yeah. And then I find when I read in the morning, I'm more motivated to read at night. So it's like these little wins that I'm like, Oh, it's like doing these little wins in the morning. So I try to make my morning ritual where I feel really accomplished, whether it's like doing a definitely my skincare routine, definitely my little stretching.
33:18I'll just review my day for five minutes, but I try to multitask it too. I'd have my like hot water. I try to start off really like slow, but there's like consistent things that I'm doing. So then by the time my kids wake up and I wake them up, I'm like awake and kind of like ready to get the day going. Yep. I think it's helpful to do that before the kids wake up or at least some part of it. I kind of break mine into two pieces based on when my kids are waking up. But I think if you feel stressed, like if you feel like you're supposed to be doing something else when you're doing your morning ritual, that's going to be a setup to fail.
33:50I think that's one of the things that we've all experienced is if you feel like you're supposed to be working or taking care of your kids, you can't really be present for it, you know, and it probably means you need to make it shorter or easier or something so that it's more doable. And it's different, different seasons of your life. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah.
34:12We have three questions that we always ask our guests and you've kind of hinted around the edges of some of this, but what is your biggest obstacle in this season of your life in business for getting the double win. My biggest obstacle. Interesting. I mean, isn't time always the biggest obstacle? It's not, that's not really like that, but I think probably time. And what I've worked on this definitely these past three months is what you were saying earlier about making sure I'm doing the things that are the most valuable for the business. And that's been really helpful as we build out our team.
34:45So I've been trying to focus on being more of like founder role, doing things like this, doing things like filming more content. So I would say like, you know, making sure I'm doing the things that are most valuable for the business, but for a double win, I would say time. Time has to be it. Yeah. Yeah. Constant choices. That's for sure. Yeah. Second question is how do you personally know when you're getting the double win, when you're in that place of, you know, balance? I know that when I feel present. yes when I feel like I am present so and that's the biggest thing that I've noticed with like taking more ownership of my schedule and my day-to-day is that because I used to not feel always like present with my kids I'm like playing with them I'm I'm there physically but I got a lot of stuff going on in my mind right now whereas when I can be present with them and know that's like I may not have everything done but I have time blocked out for it later in the day like being present has to I mean it has to be it yeah that's a very good one yeah I think that's that's so true.
35:44Um, okay. Lastly, what is one ritual or routine that you rely on to do what you do? And this was the thing you hinted at when you talked about your morning ritual. I rely on like every day. Yeah. Tell me yours. Uh, wait, whose show is this? No, I'm just kidding. Yeah. For me, it is my morning ritual. You know, it's, I've got to get outside and move. I've got to have some quiet still time for being silent and spiritually. Um, and I've got to make my smoothie, you know, like I feel like my smoothie, if I get my smoothie, I have like killed it on the protein, the fiber, the good fats. Like I'm just so ahead on the nutritional side.
36:26And that's been a struggle for me, especially in the morning. So that's good. Yeah. Michael, what's yours? I would say similarly, it's that morning routine. I'm an introvert. so I've got to have my introvert time if I get up for example after my wife and she's already had her coffee she's very talkative and I don't want to talk I need an hour just of quiet where I can do some reading do some exercise we do that together so that's awesome but like Megan shared you know my smoothie is a big thing because that's where I get a jump start on everything including protein which I find difficult to get enough of so I do something every day and so I I try to work out four to five days a week, but something I do every single day is what I have, like two different drink concoctions.
37:10And it's like, that's kind of like sets the day where I'm like, yes, I'm like, nutritionally, I'm like doing what I need to do. And so they're not my protein drinks. I try to drink salt water, electrolytes, lemon. And then if I'm working out, I'll add like creatine to it, colostrum, vitamin C. And then I have a separate hot water that this is all before I eat anything. So this is about maybe 12 ounces where it's shilajit and then a little bit of salt and that kind of like kicks off my day. I pretty much do that everywhere, no matter if I'm traveling. You know, it's like, that's kind of always what I do.
37:41I have an hour at least before I have caffeine. That's what I do every morning before I eat any food. That's fantastic. Okay, what was the thing that you put in the hot water? It's called shilajee. What is that? It's like this resin. It sounds kind of weird, but it's from the Himalayan mountains. Okay. This is an amazing sales pitch, by the way. Keep going, keep going. my husband says it tastes like horse sweat but i
38:07it's so good uh so i i'm so used to i love the way it tastes my twins actually will drink it with me and they really like it the girls i think they think it tastes like horse sweat too but um you guys should try it uh definitely going to it's spelled like s-h-i-l-i-g-a-t shilajee um so i add that to my hot drink and then i love my like i have a lot of different drink concoctions i drink throughout the day that like kind of reset my routine too. Wow. I think you need to make that a lead gen for bare face. People would probably opt in like crazy to know what your drink concoctions are. I shared that post and I think it had like over like 10 ,000 shifts.
38:44I bet. I bet it did. That's wild. I love it. And something like this is way too much. But like with anything, like all these things, like they seem like a lot until you just do them. Yeah. And you make them in your routine. It's like, this is not a lot. Yeah. It's very manageable. Yeah. One last question. And to me, this is the most important one. Okay. Do you have skincare products for men? So it's a common misconception that you need different skin types for different genders or ethnicities. It's really more about like the product. So yes, we have skincare that you can absolutely use. I would say like my brothers use our skincare, my dad, my husband.
39:16So are they packaged? Do they look manly? That's up to you to decide. It depends what you want to have on your counter. But will they work on your skin? I'll send you guys some. But you, if you're consistent with them, which I think you can be, you'll love them. But no, they're not like packaged. They're not like in black packaging. No, I just had a moment where I thought I've been totally duped. Like it's really branding, isn't it? I mean, it's like, how could it be different? Skin, skin. You know, I'm sure there's hormonal differences and all that. Yeah. But I just feel like I've had a moment of enlightenment.
39:51Thank you. The thing that you're going to love is even for sensitive skin, you'll be able to tolerate it if you go slowly. I have really sensitive skin and I was kind of skeptical and it's been great. Like I can use everything. In fact, I'm about to go up to the more, to the stronger toning pads, which you don't even know what that means yet, but you don't even know, but you're going to find out. It's going to be great. He'll probably actually be able to tolerate the glow peel pads, probably like four to five men can tolerate, like they can tolerate higher percentage of things. Whereas women can tolerate them on maybe a couple of times a week.
40:19So I'll send you some stuff. You'll like it. Awesome. Well, Jordan, thanks so much. Thank you so much. This has been so fun. And thanks for being on with us. Yes. Thank you guys so much.
40:37Okay. So that was a conversation I got more out of than I thought I might, given the fact that it was skincare and it's not something that's really a hobby or a focus for me. Well, and it probably should be. Including you learned that there's no such thing as men's skincare. Well, that was a light bulb moment. All skincare is for everybody. That was kind of silly. I mean, I thought, oh my gosh, I've been totally marketed to and bought into it. It's like yogurt. Have you ever noticed how there's like that yogurt, Greek yogurt that has the black container and it has like, it looks almost like a, you know, Marvel comic.
41:11People designed it. Men's yogurt? Yeah. It's like designed for men. Whereas like other ones, it's like flowers and like vanilla beans and, you know, clearly for women. I knew we had a lot in common when she said she was an Enneagram 3. I know. And a wing four and all these other things. And I thought, okay, I can relate. I know you. Yeah, exactly. I know you. You or me in the mirror. Well, one of the things that I have loved about following her on social, and you can follow her Jordan Harper NP on Instagram, and then obviously Bareface, but on her personal account, she's just really real about her life, you know, and her house is kind of always chaotic with her kids and she's doing a lot, but she has been so intentional about building systems down to like how she thinks about how her kids playroom is organized so that it doesn't get out of control.
42:01And I, I think that it's a good example of how it doesn't have to be overwhelming to be somebody who's a high achiever while doing other important things in your life, including raising a family, you know, it really doesn't have to be either or, but she's a great example of being intentional because it does not happen by accident in her life. I also loved your question about what support she has in her personal life. Yeah. Because I do think that's tricky to talk about because obviously, you know, many of us are in a position of privilege where we can afford that kind of stuff. And some people aren't and would love to have it.
42:33But I think the common denominator is, you know, you do what you can, right? It's like, I really believe in coaching and tell people they need to hire a coach. But if you can't afford to hire a coach, get a book, listen to a podcast, do what you can. You know, the point is to be learning and exposing yourself to things that force you to change. Right. Well, even like, this is a little silly example, but maybe you can't afford that kind of support, but you want to eat healthy and you can't afford a meal service like she was talking about, which is, you know, it's a great idea. I was talking with my sisters about doing kind of a meal swap because we have some particular nutritional goals and, you know, some of the things we want to make would just take too long.
43:09It's like, you know, I don't have time to make like five things from scratch every week. It's not going to happen, but I can make one thing, a whole bunch of one thing and we could trade. And I think you just have to get creative. But I think the point is when you value your time, like she was talking about, when you know what your hourly rate is, then you really have a clearer idea of what the trade-offs are for trying to do everything yourself or for wasting time or not being intentional about how you design things. By the way, when you're trying to figure hourly rate, let's just say, for example, you know, we have one of our daughters who's a stay-at-home mom.
43:41she doesn't have an hourly rate. Right. Or does she? And the way that I would look at that is if she had to be replaced, what would it cost you? Right. And it would be expensive. Right. Right. Because you're doing like easily two full-time jobs. Yeah, exactly. So anyway, I liked her transparency too. You know, the fact that she said she needs the reflection questions. You know, I struggle with that as an Enneagram 3 too, because it's easy for me to just do, do, do, do, and go from one thing to the next, you know, so I can check it off instead of stopping and reflecting. And that's what I do love about the weekly preview and the quarterly preview in the Full Focus Planner.
44:19It gives people a chance to do that. Yeah, absolutely. Well, it was a really fun conversation. And I think I got newly inspired to look at different areas, particularly of my personal life. Like, what can I systematize? What do I continue doing the same work over and over thinking through. Like, for example, I have chore lists for the weekend for my kids, actually for myself and Joel too, that we just like routine things that we do. And every weekend I print those out. Well, why do I need to do that? This week I got them laminated. And so I don't have to print them out anymore. Well, that's a little bitty thing, but you add a bunch of those things up and it starts to create friction in real time.
44:56And I feel like she's a master at doing those sorts of things. Yeah. Well, I hope you guys enjoyed the episode and I hope you'll join us next week for another episode. In the meantime, do us a favor, go out and rate the podcast. And if you can't write us a review, this again, helps us get the podcast out to newer listeners. And we're on this mission to spread the double win so that people truly can win at work and succeed at life. And you're our partners in that. We'd like to think so. So help us there. Thanks so much.
45:33The Walking Dead
From the publisher
In this episode, Michael and Megan Hyatt Miller are joined by Jordan Harper, founder and CEO of Barefaced, to discuss how she turned her expertise as a nurse practitioner into a successful skincare brand. With a philosophy of "less but better," Jordan shares how she simplifies not just her skincare routine but her life as a busy entrepreneur and mother of four young children. She dives deep into her approach to time management, delegating tasks, and the importance of systems—both at work and at home.
Jordan also talks about how using the Full Focus Planner has helped her stay organized and balanced, revealing the key productivity strategies that allow her to thrive in business while maintaining her personal life.
Memorable Quotes
- “It’s the little things you’re doing every single day that are yielding these big results over time. They’re underestimated because they do take consistency to see results.”
- “Especially as women, we can have this martyr mindset where everyone’s first. That might work for a week, a season, but you will get so depleted. And then what do you have?”
- “As I’m blocking out my schedule, I’m curating the life I actually want.”
- “There’s so much I say no to, and I love it.”
- “You have to truly build systems for your life. I think we focus so much on systems from a business perspective, but I mean for your personal life.”
- “One of my goals for 2024 was to stop saying, ‘I don’t have time.’ I say, ‘I don’t make time for that’ because I really believe we have time to do the things that we want to do. We can’t do everything, but that’s why you need to know what you want to do.”
Key Takeaways
- Less But Better Philosophy: Jordan’s approach to skincare and life is rooted in minimalism—prioritizing quality over quantity in everything she does.
- Serving the Need: How did Bareface scale to 250,000 customers in a crowded market? By centering helping over selling.
- Importance of Time Blocking: Using the Full Focus Planner and time blocking helps her manage her business, family, and personal life effectively.
- Outsourcing and Systems: Delegating tasks at work and home, including hiring help for household management, enables her to focus on what matters most.
- Family and Work Balance: With four kids under five, Jordan stresses the importance of systems, outsourcing, and creating margin in her life to be present with her family.
Resources
- Jordan Harper on Instagram: @jordanharpernp
- Barefaced Skincare: barefaced.com
- Full Focus Planner: fullfocusplanner.com
Watch on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/eiuLjusUa2A
This episode was produced by Sarah Vorhees Wendel of VW Sound
