902: Tiny Tasks, Big Results: Build Your Dream in 20 Minutes a Day

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2:10If you've ever typed a caption from the target parking lot or recorded a podcast intro while holding a baby monitor, well, this one's for you. You don't need a 40-hour work week to build a dreams, sometimes 20 minutes and a little fire is all it takes. I'm Jenna Kutcher, your host of the Gold Digger podcast. I escaped the corporate world at the age of 23 with nothing more than a $300 camera from Craigslist and a dream. Now I'm running a seven figure online business that feels even better than it looks all from my house in small town, Minnesota with my family. here we value time as our currency we mix the woo and the work and we are in the pursuit of building businesses that give us the freedom to live lives that we love i've always loved turning big goals into reality and i'm here to help you do the same this isn't just a peek behind the curtain come along with me and my guests as we tear the whole curtain down every week we tackle practical no-fluff marketing strategies and host honest discussions on what works and what doesn't Join me and my expert guests for actionable insights to help you grow your dream business with confidence.

3:19Pull up a seat and get ready to be challenged, inspired, and empowered. This is the Gold Digger Podcast. Let me guess, you've got about 20 minutes today. Maybe it's between back-to-back shifts. Maybe you're stealing a pocket of quiet before the evening chaos. Maybe it's after your last Zoom call or while someone else finally took over care duty. Or maybe it is during nap time or a drive across town. Either way, you're grabbing 20 precious minutes to yourself and you're wondering, what can I actually do in this tiny window of time that will move the needle forward in my business? Now I know you're wondering that.

3:53Not because I'm guessing, but because I asked you. I popped a question up on our Instagram, how much time do you really have to work on your business each day? And overwhelmingly, the answer wasn't all day or as long as I want. It was small pockets. I'm talking limited time, and yet you still have really big dreams. So here's the truth that no one's saying loud enough. 20 minutes isn't a limitation. It's a launchpad. It's a seed. And when you learn how to use those short pockets of time, well, they don't just count, they compound. Lately, I've been in so many conversations with women who feel stuck, not because they lack ideas or passion or even ambition, but because they lack hours.

4:34This episode, it's basically my love letter to you. It's a reminder that progress does not require perfection or a packed calendar or even a full day to yourself. I built my first inspo collage on a break at work and then jammed the corporate laminator trying to make that dream feel real. I'd write blog posts for my scrappy little WordPress site, bleary-eyed after a 10-hour shift and a two-hour commute. I booked client consults at the Starbucks across the street and did quick outfit changes out of my work uniform into, quote, real clothes inside of the bathroom, shifting from my day job to my dream one outfit at a time.

5:08Like I didn't have 40 hours a week. I had 17 minutes and a fire in my belly. So today I want to walk you through nine things you can do in just 20 minutes. These aren't fluff. These are the exact kinds of micro moves that I made when I was just starting. And honestly, they're still the ones I come back to now between momming meetings and trying to potty train our dog, Hank, who is currently chewing on a bone right next to me. Let's dive on in. I often think back to when I was just starting out. Let me paint the picture for you of what our lives looked like at that point. So I was 23 years old.

5:41I was planning a wedding. I was training for a full marathon. I was working a full-time 50-plus hour a week job. I commuted an hour to work each way. And I also was starting my business. Now, I look back at the time and I'm like, how the heck did I do anything? but I know exactly how. It was in tiny little bits and pockets of time. I would claim every 20 minute chunk that I could and I would turn it into something that would drive me closer to my dream. And the funny thing is, is that the things that I did then are still the things that I do now because life is still chaotic and busy. If you're waiting for your life to slow down for you to start your business, you'll be waiting for the rest of your life.

6:26I hate to say it. There are always going to be things that are calling for your attention. There are always going to be fires that you need to put out. There are always going to be events on your calendar. And so if you can steal these pockets of time and make them so focused and useful, I have no doubt in my mind that you can do something absolutely amazing. So I broke these nine ideas down into three phases. And as each phase grows, so does kind of the commitment level of where you're at in your business. And so let's start with phase one. So when I think about 20 minute pockets of time, the first thing I think of is phase one, which I would assign as like clarity tasks.

7:08This is basically the work you do before the work, the kind that maybe doesn't look flashy on the outside, the kind that people might not clap for on Instagram, but the kind of work that literally unlocks everything else. Because here's the thing, what I've realized is that when you are stuck in idea mode, literally everything feels fuzzy and it's impossible to know what next step to take. I was literally just talking to one of my friends the other day and she has this awesome idea for her business. It's going to be like a full blown pivot. And I was telling her like, you need to sit down and like map this thing out because it feels so elusive.

7:41It feels so big that you're not even able to take any micro steps forward, right? You can't take any action because it's just this kind of idea that's like lingering in the ether. And I said, once you solidify and get clarity around that idea, taking tiny steps will feel so doable. It'll show you that progress is possible. And when it's stuck in idea mode, it's almost too big to move towards, right? So my first thing that I would do if I had 20 minutes of time is I would brain dump my business ideas. So set a timer. Like I love timers. My ADHD is a sucker for a good looking timer. I have bought all these cute timers and my kids steal them, which honestly I can't really argue because they use them for their quiet times.

8:25But I love a cute little timer. Set it on your phone, whatever you need to do, but put your phone in the other room and don't put pressure on yourself. Just start writing or typing, like get the ideas out of your brain. What is it that you want to create? Who is it that you want to help? How do you want it to feel when you wake up and do that work? The thing that I think is interesting is a lot of times we bring in unnecessary formality into our vision of what a business should be. And we're like, you know, I need a 10 page business plan. You don't need that. You need permission to hear yourself think.

8:59This is probably the hardest thing for me right now in this stage of life. My kids are home for the summer. We have a new puppy. Like life feels really chaotic. And I said to my team the other day, I was like, I just need a day to think like I just need time to think. Sometimes when I just drive around, I can think or even in the shower, I always have really good shower thoughts. I just need time to think. And so what I think when it starts with this first one is just brain dumping is like get your ideas, your thoughts, your concerns, your fears, get it all out of your head. And here's what I'll say with this.

9:32I honestly think that like 20 minutes can be an advantage because when you do a task like this, where you're like, just get it all out of my head, you don't have time to overthink. You don't have time to doom scroll. You don't have time to self edit your big ideas into dust. You just move. And I've heard of people that do this in the morning where they'll wake up. I think if they call it like morning pages where they'll wake up and they'll just write down like stream of consciousness while you're still kind of in that sleepy state, just write. And it's like you can pour out ideas. Now, I am not one of those people.

10:04I like roll out of bed and get moving. But if you have 20 minutes of time and you're not taking action, the first thing I would do is just brain dump. Something happens for me with my ADHD when I can release an idea or know that it is safe and it is stored, then I don't feel so paralyzed. Like I don't have that level of analysis paralysis. So number one is brain dump your dream business ideas. Get them out. Get them on paper or on a screen. Set a timer for 20 minutes. Don't judge your thoughts. Don't edit your thoughts. Just get them out. Okay, number two is write down three things you could talk about forever.

10:43One of my favorite questions to ask people is like, if you had to step up on a stage right now and speak without preparing for an entire hour, what would you talk about? like what would your keynote be on it could be anything random it could be anything but one thing I love about this prompt is if you could just sit down and write things that you are passionate about that you could literally talk about forever that you could never run out of things to say about this could be the start of your content anchors the topics that you light up about are a huge signal like picture like the light bulb moment that we see in cartoons over your head as a way that you can connect with other people.

11:27I'm talking about the ones that your best friend hears about on repeat because you cannot not talk about them, right? And when you can write these things down and really establish what are the things that I could talk about forever? What are the things that are lighting me up or I'm passionate about? These aren't just like post ideas. What I think they are is breadcrumbs to your future offers, to your brand messaging, to your niche. I think that these are signals that we should not ignore. Now, one thing that I love about this task, and this is something that I actually try to do often because what I'm passionate about changes often.

12:06If you know anything about me, I go down rabbit holes real fast and I fall hard and deep for new things to look into. But what I love about this task is if you are multi-passionate, this task will help you to see if there's a thread like is there something that is connecting these items or these ideas are they ways to connect with your dream audience are they ways to build your community not everything you love needs to be monetized but let me tell you the stuff that you cannot shut up about to me that is a clue so if you have 20 minutes write down three things you could talk about forever make little bullet points under them about some of the things you wish people knew or understood.

12:46Write down some of the things that you've been learning or researching. Write down the misconceived notions you had about these things, but just go ham on it. Okay, number three and the final one for a clarity task if you're not taking any action at all with the limited time you have is this. Voice memo a mini rant about something that you wish more people understood. Like I'm serious. Open up your voice message app and talk like you are texting your ride or die, or even just that you're talking to yourself. What absolutely infuriates you? What frustrates you? What do people keep getting wrong?

13:23Light that fire in yourself. Like, because here's what I'll tell you. When you can just have a stream of consciousness and you can just go ham on your memo app, that fire in your voice, that to me is gold. That is like keynote energy. That is thought leadership. And what I love about doing this is oftentimes I am a verbal processor. Like I need to talk my way out of ideas and thoughts. My team probably rolls their eyes, but a lot of times they'll send me a Slack message and I'll respond with a voice message. Like speaking helps me clarify my thoughts. And so just let it come out of you and then you can polish it later.

14:04like what I want you to do is capture those thoughts that mini rant before your brain tries to make it sound professional or buttoned up it's funny I just got done talking to a new friend and she has a book coming out and she was talking to me about marketing her book and I was like you know what I recorded this voice message to myself after I launched my book and it is like a 10 minute long voice message it is literally a stream of consciousness of just talking about what I loved what I would do differently, what was beneficial, what I didn't like. Can I send that to you? And she was like, oh my gosh, please do.

14:37I think that speaking gives something a totally different energy. And I think that voice memos are totally underutilized. Like I am a voice message queen. So apologies to anyone who's on the recipient end of my voice messages, but that's. So to summarize, if you are looking for clarity, if you just need to kind of hone in on the idea to take action, The three things that I would do with just little pockets of time is first brain dump your dream business ideas, write down three things you could talk about forever and voice memo, a mini rant about something you wish more people understood. One final thing on this voice message trend.

15:19So I highly recommend all entrepreneurs just start recording voice messages. And I was just quarterfield. You probably know her. And she was talking to me about something and she was like literally lighting up. Like I could hear it in her voice. And it was about an offer that she was working on and she was so excited about. And I told her, I said, Amy, go record yourself a voice message while you're in this energy, because I can hear it in you. Like you're lit up about this. And then there was something that she didn't like. And I was like, Amy, go record yourself a voice message while you're in this energy, promising you will never do this again.

15:59Usually we complain when we book really early morning flights and we're like, I will never do this again. And then we keep doing it. So it's like, remind yourself of why you hate this and that you won't do it again. And so I just think that voice messages are a really incredible way to unlock things for yourself, to capture energy, to really just help you document your journey and remember the things that you swear you'll never forget, but you somehow absolutely do. And so if you're not utilizing voice messages in your business, do it. The final thing I'll say is if you have children, voice memo, record their little tiny voices.

16:37Oh my gosh. It's like my prized possessions. I have voice recorded my little baby's squeaks. I recorded the way they sang You Are My Sunshine. Just having their little voices documented is something you think you'll never forget. Oh my gosh. So anyways, I'll end my voice memo rant right here. Now before we dive into the next set of tiny but mighty moves, I want for you to pause for a second And here's what I want you to do take a deep breath And ask yourself this What is the idea that has been sitting in my chest like the one? I have been holding on to the one i've been waiting for the perfect time to say it out loud or to put it in motion Here's the truth.

17:17Like maybe that idea doesn't just need more time. Maybe it needs 20 intentional minutes Now, while you let this simmer, here is a quick word from the sponsors who help keep this show running. We'll be back in just a bit. This podcast is brought to you by Mercury, banking that helps entrepreneurs do more with their money. Okay, I remember in the early days of my entrepreneurship journey, clients would literally mail me checks and then I would have to drive all the way to the bank to deposit them. It took me literal years to make things go digital. and I am ashamed to admit I still have a filing cabinet with paper contracts because I'm way too afraid to throw them away.

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19:57When I booked a new client, they got a status. I'm so excited for Eric and Jean's wedding in Lake Geneva next July. I posted about everything. I mean, my Facebook memories are pretty comical, but here's the thing. I love that about me. When I saw that somebody got engaged, I was sliding into DMs so fast talking about my love of wedding photography and my availability as a wedding photographer. So when we think about what can you do with these tiny moments in time, when I look back at the very beginning of my business, I was out there and I was sharing and something that's interesting that I think is different between now and then is I feel like somewhere along the way we got it real twisted we started believing this lie that in order to show up it has to be perfect it has to be shiny I'm not going to show up until everything is ready and when I look back at my scrappy start I see a girl who was willing to be her own publicist, right?

20:57I was willing to clap for myself when nobody was clapping for me. And I think we've lost that. I think that in the way that social media has moved, people are waiting. They're just waiting. And I don't know what they're waiting for because it's like you think that, oh my gosh, once the audience is there, then I'll start talking about the things that I care about. No, the audience doesn't come until you start talking now. Start speaking, start clapping for yourself, start celebrating your successes. Because here's what I'll tell you. Visibility doesn't usually start with a big moment. It starts small, right?

21:31It starts quiet. It starts with this decision to show up, even when you feel crazy awkward or super uncertain. These tasks that I'm about to call out are for when you are ready to be seen, but you're still figuring out how to do it in a way that doesn't burn you out, that feels aligned, that doesn't feel embarrassing. So this phase is kind of what I'm talking about when I'm talking about building consistency and confidence through super simple, repeatable actions that actually move your business forward. Okay. So here's what I would do if I had 20 minutes of time. So one thing I would do is go on to our favorite Instagram and post what I'm going to call a one line truth or a story on Instagram.

22:16I'm talking about like skip the Canva graphics, skip the multi-slide carousels start with just an honest sentence. Not only is it going to be way faster to create because we only have a limited amount of time, but it is going to help just strip it down and get it out there. You don't need to have this perfect hook. You don't have to have a trending audio. You don't have to do all this quote research that we're doing where we're really just scrolling. You just need something real. Like I'm talking about a thought. I'm talking about a realization. I'm talking about a moment of truth or clarity. So here are some examples of what I'm talking about.

22:50You could do a post where it says, here's what I wish more people understood about. And then guess what? Use one of the topics you outlined above, right? Or the biggest mistake I made when I started was, or what I tell my clients all the time, or here's this crazy idea I have. Wouldn't it be crazy if? Now here's what I want for you to understand is this requires you to not just be a consumer. It requires you to be a creator. This is about practicing visibility. It is about like borrowing bravery. A one line post gets you in motion without the pressure to write a novel or produce content all day long.

23:31Right. And without this lie that we tell ourselves of like, I'm scrolling for research. I just want to see what's working. Oh, I'm just going to look and see what everyone else is doing. I will say that when you just start creating, it can also set the foundation for future content. When you write a strong sentence today, that could become a podcast title in the future. It could become an email subject line. It could become a blog post, a pin caption tomorrow. When you start just testing out your ideas and putting them out there, you not only see yourself as someone capable of taking action, but you start to get real insight into what is resonating.

24:07So here's something funny. I recently downloaded this app. It is called Clear Space and it is absolutely amazing. I have been telling literally everyone about it. I was talking to my mom about it. I was sending it to my friends. I post it for my team. It is called Clear Space. I have literally zero skin in the game with this. And it is an app that will help you limit your social media time. And here's what I'm about to say. This is like a hard truth. If you are telling me you only have 20 minutes of time a day to devote to your business, I might ask you to hand me your phone and let me look at your screen time.

24:41And I'm not just calling you out. This is something I clearly have struggled with. And so what I love about this app is I put it on my phone and you can set parameters. So you could say, I only want to log into Instagram three times a day or five times a day, whatever it is. And when you go to click on Instagram, it's grayed out. When you go to click into it, it'll say, this is your first use out of five, or this is your fifth use out of five. And then it makes you breathe in and breathe out. And after you do that, then it asks, do you still want to go into this app? So it'll do like a deep breath in, deep breath out.

25:16It'll post some really cool quotes. I'll read you the quote that just popped up on my screen. So it says, good habits make time your ally, bad habits make time your enemy, James Clear. Boom, do I really wanna go in? So you can either hit use app or nevermind. You basically budget your uses. If you click use app, it'll ask you, how much time do you want to spend on this app? You can do one minute, two minutes, five minutes, 10 minutes. This has helped me consciously choose, okay, I have a two minute window of time right now, or I have 10 minutes that I can scroll. You know what's crazy? I didn't even log into Instagram once yesterday.