Lindsay Connolly Consulting

James Clear, author of Atomic Habits talks a lot about how the process is secondary to the change of who you are becoming. You know that you want to become a successful entrepreneur who has the time and money for the freedom you desire in your life, but you haven’t been able to get there yet.

Whether you’ve been pulling your hair out being frustrated by your systems 🤬 or not being able to “clock out” at the end of the day and never leave your computer, 👩‍💻, you won’t be able to meet your goal of “freedom in my business and my life” without a good process and foundation to stand on.

Good processes start with the definition and delegation of your recurring tasks.

How and what can you get tasks off your plate to free up more time in your day to focus on achieving your big goals?

How do you feel about your foundational processes right now?

🏆I got that Sh*t on lock - I’m a delegation queen!
😅Some things are there but I’m more in the weeds than I want to be
🫣 What are you even talking about, Lindsay?!? I’m just trying to survive each day!

Let me know in the comments below ⬇️

You can also check out my free “Stress-Free Delegation” guide where I walk you through determining what tasks on your list are recurring and could be delegated here: https://www.lindsayconnollyconsulting.com/5steps

Getting started with writing SOPs is one of the hardest things to do.

I see you, I hear you and I’ve been you! Even though I’m telling you that SOPs that one of the most critical tools you can have in your business, that doesn’t mean getting started is any easier.

We all know that the “getting started” is always the hardest part, and getting started with SOPs can be difficult. It is much easier to say: “It’s faster for me to do it myself” or “I don’t even know where to begin, so nevermind”.

I know I know…but you have to trust me. If you don’t start somewhere, you will have a really hard time scaling and growing your business. You cannot continue to be the DOER of your operational tasks. You have to get out of those details and start trusting someone to help you.

In order for you to delegate (without causing yourself an additional headache), you need to have SOPs.

THE GOOD NEWS: Writing the whole SOP is not even where you need to go to get started. First you have to decide what process is actually ready for an SOP and to be delegated.

My Stress-Free Delegation Workbook includes 5 Steps to get you started with determining what is actually ready to be delegated and what is ready for an SOP.

Get your copy of it here: https://www.lindsayconnollyconsulting.com/5steps

Stop wasting your time working IN your business all the time. It’s time to become the CEO of your business and start working ON it. Yes, it’s hard, but the only way to grow your business is to get out of the weeds and starting focusing on HOW you grow to the next level.

Your first step is delegating those tasks that are keeping you IN your business.

If you want to find out more about why it’s so hard to delegate (and my 5 step process to a Stress-Free Delegation), check out this week’s blog post.

https://www.lindsayconnollyconsulting.com/blog/delegating

Delegating your operational tasks in your business frees up, not only your time but your brain to be focused on growing your business. The more time you spend working IN your business, the less time you have to work ON your business.

Here are some examples of operational tasks where you are working IN your business:

-Preparing contracts
-Sending and tracking invoices
-Gathering metrics
-Scheduling newsletters or social content
-Managing your calendar

Here are some examples of operational tasks where you are working ON your business:

-Creating Contract Templates that protect your business
-Setting the Package pricing and cadence of Payment schedule for your Client work
-Reviewing your metrics and getting into the details of why some conversions or metrics are not meeting your expectations
-Writing genuine content that helps your audience learn and grow
-Going to a Network event (even if it’s online) and connecting with people

Each of these things take time, no matter whether they are IN or ON, and we all know, there are only so many hours in the day. If you reflect on the 2 lists above, the ON list is the one that leads to business growth.

If you’re ready to stop distracting yourself in your business, and ready to start working ON your business, download my 5 Steps stress-free delegation guide.

https://www.lindsayconnollyconsulting.com/5steps

I got 99 problems and my calendar is one… I hear you! I’ve said it myself, there are never enough hours in a day.

I don’t think I need to tell you this though….that is never going to change. We need to find the best ways to fit our lives and our obligations into our calendars, while still having time to HAVE A LIFE and ENJOY OUR LIFE.

Time Blocking can be overwhelming sometimes, and you not feeling like you have any space to be flexible. Target Scheduling, however, is a bit different. Why?

1 - It says it in the name: It’s a TARGET! Life happens. We can’t stick to a non-stop plan all the time. Give yourself some grace to allow your Target for the day or week to flux a bit.

2 - We are working on Task Segmentations, not specific tasks themselves. In this way, you are not telling yourself you must do X task within this time period. You are telling yourself, here is a time of the day when I can be working on tasks that take less mental energy (in the morning for example) than a task that takes more mental energy that you might want to do in the afternoon.

Everyone’s different so every Target Schedule will be different. If you want to learn more about my methodology of Target Scheduling, check out my recent blog post.

https://www.lindsayconnollyconsulting.com/blog/targetschedule

The parts of a Target Schedule

Implementing the Target Schedule approach can sound a bit overwhelming at first, but break it down into small, digestible pieces. In order for it to work, it's essential to segment your tasks into groups or buckets.

Here are some examples of some Segments that you may have in your business:

Sending Contracts and Invoicing
Podcast/YouTube Video scripts & recording
Creating Social Media Content
Checking your Inbox
Engaging your audience
Capturing your Metrics

Use a High, Medium, or Low grading scale to bucket the tasks into these categories:

Level of complexity
Amount of concentration needed
Amount of effort required
How mentally demanding are they

Identify which of the tasks you can perform effortlessly or with minimal mental effort and schedule them during your non-peak hours (typically in the afternoon or when you feel like you don’t have a lot of energy).

By doing so, you can free up valuable time and mental space for the tasks that demand your focused attention. For the Tasks that were grouped into the “High” bucket, make sure you plan to work on those when you are feeling your most energetic, perhaps in the morning.

Check out my recent blog post for more details.
https://www.lindsayconnollyconsulting.com/blog/targetschedule

"Email is a powerful tool that has revolutionized the way we communicate and conduct business in the digital age." This is a quote from Richard Branson, but what’s missing here is …. unless the Email has all of the power and we can’t conduct our other business activities because we are so busy writing and sending emails.

Don’t let your email have all of the power! Setting up Email Templates is one of the easiest and quickest ways to optimize your email game and save yourself valuable time.

Do you have email templates already? Let me know below with a YES! In the comments.

If not, check out my recent blog post about how to set up email templates in your business.

https://www.lindsayconnollyconsulting.com/blog/creategmailtemplates

Trust me, you’ll thank me later!

You don’t always need fancy technology and software to build efficiencies in your business! We all know that writing emails is an essential part of running our businesses. We need to be able to communicate with our clients and sometimes, we don’t have time to get a ton of automation set up in a bunch of different systems.

Here are 3 Steps you can use in your current GMail platform to optimize sending your Client Emails:

1 - Configuring Email Templates in GMail
2 - Create Email Templates
3 - Add an Email Template to a New Email and Customize parts of it for your Client

It can be as simple as that!

It takes an average of 5-15 minutes to write and send a business email. That may not seem like a lot, but wouldn’t it feel better if you it only took you 3-5 minutes?

Check out my recent blog post using the link in the bio for step-by-step instructions on how to set them up.

https://www.lindsayconnollyconsulting.com/blog/creategmailtemplates

Did you know that the average business email takes 5-15 minutes to write? If you multiply that by the number of emails you send, and it adds up! Think about the amount time of you are spending writing and rewriting the same email multiple times. Every business has about 10 standard emails they use when they are working with a Client. That’s about 1.5 hours of email writing each time.

If you aren’t already using Email Templates, today is the day to reclaim those hours lost and give that time back to focus on business growth.

Check out my recent blog post using the link in the bio for step-by-step instructions on how to set them up!

https://www.lindsayconnollyconsulting.com/blog/creategmailtemplates

Here’s to AT LEAST an hour back to your day!

At a recent networking event, I found that the term: Getting out of the weeds", although common in America, not so common globally!
As I started talking about how I help people “get out of the weeds”, the group asked: Do you mean you are going to help me get high?! I was almost crying I was laughing so hard, but he was serious! He had no idea what I was talking about so I was inspired to explore more and tell you a bit about “the weeds”.

W**d 1: Spending or wasting your time on non-business driving activities. You literally cannot change the number of hours in a day, however, you can change how you spend those hours. If you consider what you have been doing today, did you spend your hours on activities that were driving your business forward?

W**d 2: Not spending all of your time in the detailed operational tasks within your business. This is similar to W**d #1, but I will challenge you to make the difference that, in this W**d, you are actually just numbing your mind by clicking around on your computer to “do that thing that needs to be done”. It is very likely that the activities you spent doing are repeatable and easily actionable by another person.

W**d 3: Burning out your brain on tasks that are not your Superpower - Listen, we are all really good at certain things, but we are not all really good at everything! I agree that it’s important to spend time learning new skills or working on personal development to grow your mind and body, but spending your time on an activity that is not your Superpower is wasting you time (and money quite frankly).

So, depending on where you are from, where you live now, where learned English (Because also the Brit at the table told me that I speak “American”!) the weeds are basically the low level tasks that are part of your business operations. They are fundamental to running your business and you cannot live without them, but you don’t need to live IN THEM!

If you’re ready to get yourself out of the weeds of your task list, I would love for you to take a look at my free workbook on Stress-Free Delegation: The 5 steps to getting you out of the weeds of your task list! Get the link in the Bio

It’s been a minute so I want to take a second to re-introduce myself.
I’m Lindsay, an operations strategist and business manager. Essentially I help growth minded CEOs get out of the weeds are their task list through organization, optimization and delegation of their operational processes.
I’ve been working on some really cool stuff while I’ve been on a social media hiatus. One of the things is a special gift for you to start the process of getting yourself out of the weeds of your Task List.

I get asked all of the time about delegation and how to do it, so I’ve put together my five step process to getting yourself out of the weeds of your Task List!

We all know that delegation can be difficult for a variety of reasons. Most of us will primarily say: “No one can do it as well as I can” or “it only takes a minute”. Trust me when I tell you, you’re leaving a lot of money on the table in your business with these thoughts. By not delegating some of your operational tasks, you are not spending as much time being the Brains behind your business. And honestly, losing money on potential revenue and growth!

Whether you already have a team, or have been thinking about starting one, these steps are a great way to optimize your current process and make sure everyone is aligned in how the process needs to be executed.

You can get your free copy of my five step process and other ways to work with me using the link in my bio. Keep me posted on how it goes. I always love to hear what you chose to delegate first!

What do you do in your business regularly to keep the operations running?
Are you able to honestly answer this question straight away without having to think about it?

If the answer is NO 🙅‍♀️, it means it's time to get ORGANIZED!

You are clouding your brain continuously trying to remember repeatable operational tasks needed to run your business.

Get it out of your head! Put it in a place where you will be REMINDED when to do it, as opposed to REMEMBERING.

Here's how to start:
📋 Create a separate page in your notebook or on a Google Sheet
✍️ At the end of each day write the list of activities
📝 Next to it, write whether that activity happens Daily, Weekly, Monthly, or As Needed -
📆 Schedule out a recurring time in your calendar to do it

Need some help getting started?
Let's jump on a free 30-minute call to get you started!
The link to my calendar is in my profile.

You’ve seen a million ads, IG posts, and heard from your fellow business besties about having a Project Management tool. In the end, you keep telling yourself: I don’t really need it!

I want to share with you all of the benefits you (+ your Team, + your Business) will receive from using one:

🤝Accountability: When set up properly, each day, it will tell you what you or your team need to be working on.

🔢 Prioritization: By assigning recurring schedules and dates to your tasks, you get them out of your brain and a reminder of when it’s time to think about them again

♾ Consistency: For recurring operational tasks, such as: planning your marketing content, balancing your books, or checking your business metrics, that aren’t planned to automatically recur regularly, you will not consistently do them.

👏Delegation: Without a list and SOP for recurring tasks, you will not be 100 happy with anyone that is working on your team. They will have no way to plan their own time and task management, and it will cause strain in your relationship.

😌 Sanity: You’ve got a lot of sh*t swirling around in your brain every day: new ideas, how to grow your audience, how to bring in more revenue, how to work less…..These are amazing, but until there is an actionable plan against them, they are distractions!

The simplest way to be organized and optimized in your business is to have a Project Management tool to help you!

I personally use ClickUp because I have the ability to recurrences and automation that fit my schedule, and customized fields that allow me to categorize and report the status of my business in a way that makes sense to me!

It’s time to focus on getting yourself organized and setting up the technology and process to keep it that way!
Let’s kick off your path toward organization and optimization with a free 30-minute discovery call.
The link to my calendar is in my profile.
See you there!

You know the comparison of your business foundations to building a house. The question is: What is your house built out of?

🌾 Straw?
🪵 Sticks?
🧱 Bricks?

Do you feel like one strong wind, one unexpected week, one distraction thrown on top of your already packed schedule, could bring the whole house down? 💨

This thought and fear lingers in the back of your mind and is causing unnecessary distractions, as well as undesired risk in your business!

It is always easier to look at the next shiny thing that is presented to you, that will make your “house” look fabulous. But, no amount of fabulous will allow for massive growth if it’s built on straw. That fabulous looking house will eventually leave you broken and resentful for having built it!

When we work together, our FIRST FOCUS is on the foundation. We will look at the backend operations of your business and build the repeatable processes for maximum efficiency. Combined with detailed documentation and proper management, you will have the opportunity to expand your team, get out of the weeds and focus on continuing to build your fabulous house!

Isn’t it time to feel safe and stable and ready to take on anything that comes at you?

It’s time to solidify your foundation. Book your first call with me using the link in the bio.

You’ve known for a while that you need to hire someone into your team, but you have been putting it off! If you’re really honest, you are TERRIFIED of hiring someone onto your team.

😰 What if they can’t do it as well as I do?
😰 What if they mess up my business?
😰 What if I don’t like them?

These are all valid questions to allow yourself to think about. Take a minute to write down all of your fears around hiring and then ask yourself these questions:

⏰ Do I have enough hours in the day to continue to do everything?
📈 Am I able to grow my business with all of the tasks I’m currently doing?
👩‍🏫 Am I the only person in the world that can do these tasks?

The answer to all of these questions is: No.

When we work together, we will start by identifying the “low hanging fruit”, one thing that you could save you 5 minutes a day. We will ensure there is a consistent process, document it and train someone else to do it!

The key to ensuring you are able to bring someone into your team successfully is to make sure you are ready for them! This will ensure they know how you want tasks achieved and give you the peace of mind that they execute to your vision!

Delegation can be hard, but I’m here with you to build the framework of your delegation strategy and a team that you trust and love!
Book your free first call using the link in my bio.

You have heard: the way to be efficient is to AUTOMATE EVERYTHING!
Figuring out HOW to automate everything makes you overwhelmed.
You bought a course, watched a video, stalked someone on social and still ended up without automations.

🐢. SLOW DOWN! 🐢

The key to being efficient is not 💯 Automation. It is 💯 ORGANIZATION!

When you have the organization of your process, the right documentation and the right team, you will FEEL automated.

Working together, I will:

OBSERVE what you are doing today
⤵ then
ORGANIZE when you each step happens
⤵ then
OPTIMIZE how it happens
⤵ then
AUTOMATE the parts that make sense!

Don't drive yourself crazy trying to be automated. Starting focusing on how to get ORGANIZED and CONSISTENT!
I will help you get there. Book a free call with me using the link in the bio.

I'm so excited to share that my client, Sebastien Aguilar will be launching his podcast this Thursday! It has been such a fun adventure to support him and the team in the set up and preparations for the official launch.

If you're in Belgium, or if you have an interest in Financial Independence, check out his live Premiere on YouTube this Thursday, July 7 at 8:30pm CET. We can't wait to hear your thoughts!

See you Thursday!

It's not about retiring early. Nobody wants to stop and do nothing - LinkedIn It's not about retiring early. Nobody wants to stop and do nothing. (Well, almost nobody) Financial independence is about taking back control of your ...

Hi, I'm Lindsay! An ex-corporate ladder climber turned entrepreneur after my family moved from the US to Belgium in 2020. I have an Operations Strategy and Consulting business, where I help businesses get organized, optimized and automated!

From a business perspective, I love:
🤝 Finding ways for businesses to work more simply and efficiently
⏰ Helping teams find more time so they can spend it in their REAL LIFE, while still running a successful business.

From a personal side, I love:
🌍 Traveling and exploring a new place in the world
🦜 Laying in my hammock listening to the birds
❤️ Truly connecting and being present with my friends and family (something that I never did when I was too busy hustling!)

Thank you for being here with me!
Leave a comment or send me a DM - I would love to know more about you 😁
Have a great day!

You’ve just spent the day looking through all of the files on your desktop, trying to find the one you need….You know its here somewhere, but….. Oh well, you just recreate it….it will be faster that way, right?

Consider:

How much time you spent looking for it?
How much time it took to create it?
How much time to recreate it?
How much is your time worth?

If you are the CEO of your business, how much revenue or sales have you lost by losing that time?

🛑 Stop hunting and pecking for files.
🛑 Stop wasting your time recreating.
🛑 Stop losing revenue

IT IS TIME TO GET ORGANIZED!

When we work together, this is the first thing we look at and implement.
Put those hours of searching back into growing your revenue!

We kick-off with a free 30 minute Discovery Call to get to know each other. The link to book is in the bio.
See you there.

You've considered automating parts of your process, but you have no idea where or how to start. The first question is: Are you READY to automate?

Ask yourself:
❓ Do you have a consistent process?
❓ Have you executed that process in exactly the same way more than once?
❓ Can you confidently "set it and forget it"?

If you answered no to any of the questions above, you ARE NOT ready to automate, you are ready to ORGANIZE!
Trying to automate your process before it's ready will cost you time, money, and potentially credibility with your clients.

When you work with me, we will get organized first, with the end goal of automating.
We will:
👷‍♀️ Build a consistent process
📝 Document HOW and WHY it works
♻️ Execute it consistently
🦾 Implement the Automation

Save yourself the headache, sign up for your free 30 minute discovery call and we will get you set up for automation!
The link to book is in my profile.

You have a project to launch. You have signed up for the course that tells you HOW to do it. You have all of the resources to launch it, but you aren't actually getting it completed.

❓ Why Not ❓

It's not about the HOW, it's about the Desire. You don't have the desire to do every task needed by yourself.
You need someone to organize the tasks needed and drive the timeline so you can focus on the tasks that only you can do!

When you work with me, I set up:
♟ The Strategy to complete the project
✅ Actionable and achievable tasks
🗓 Communication and direction on what to work on and when
👩‍💻 Implementation of some Tech so you can visualize while we are building

It's time to stop procrastinating on the HOW.
It's time to get you back into your desire.
It's time to finally get this project launched!

The link to book our first call is in the bio.