There’s a toxic culture rearing its head in the small business world– monitoring productivity. What’s the buzzword? Productivity Paranoia! That’s the fixation that leaders have with their employee’s work, which leaves them thinking way too much about how their staff is spending their time, and what the resulting output is.

Today, we’re here to share how we monitor our teams without micromanaging them. We’ll talk about the effective systems we use to keep our team connected and all moving toward the same direction without any creepy stalking.

Today on the show we are sharing all the things that we are digging right now. Things that we love, things that bring us happiness, things that make our lives easier, things that are guilty pleasures and everything in between. From handmade clogs from Sweden, to crime thrillers, to kombucha and shipping hacks – this is just a fun little break between all the hardcore business bootcamping and emotional trail runs that we have just about almost every other episode!

Today we are diving into the most marvelously random list: some are products, some are services, some are just things that we like to do – minus the sponsors or affiliates! These are things we are recommending because we genuinely enjoy them. We are sharing ten things each, so a total of twenty, epic random things we are just digging! We hope you’ll find them interesting or inspiring, entertaining or insightful. We hope that you try some of them and hopefully dig them too. Take a listen and let us know if you do!

Today on the show, we welcome Val Geisler. Val is an Email Marketing Strategist with a passion for digital entrepreneurship. With over a decade of experience working with everything from non-profits to multi-six-figure businesses, Val knows email like the back of her hand and is going to help us tackle the dreaded inbox today. We all communicate by email, especially in business. If email is one of our most fundamental communication tools, shouldn’t we be using it to the best of our ability? We all know what it’s like to have an overflowing inbox, scattered folders and hundreds of unread newsletters and emails we keep saying we’ll get back to. Managing your inbox can be stressful, time-consuming and downright overwhelming – but it doesn’t have to be, not if it’s done right.

Today on the show we discuss the strategies, tips and tricks that you can start implementing today into your business. Tips to help you efficiently sift through the clutter, get things done and ultimately improve your business communication. We’ll be taking a look at different approaches to email; such as hiring out your inbox, Val’s OHIO method, the Pomodoro Technique, email marketing and why you should treat the inbox of others the way you want your inbox to be treated.

We are here for our very first evening recording of the podcast. Tonight on the show we are breaking down our second free challenge that we recently hosted. Inside this episode we are giving you all the data and all the numbers of the results we got from the challenge. Plus, we want you to know that the biggest takeaway from all of this is that challenges are awesome sauce and we don’t know why you haven't run one!

Challenges are still kind of new and hot, so we are walking you through our 4 Days To Sexy Systems challenge and giving you the lowdown, including all the things you need to know about running a challenge and the results that we saw because of it. Keep listening to hear more babes!

Today we are talking all things systems. Our main concept is all about working backwards to achieve a goal. This may not be a new concept, but it is one of the topics we get the most questions about. So we are going to answer a bunch of the questions we have received about achieving your goals and tackling them head on! Often, identifying an end goal can be confusing, overwhelming and lead to a lot of self-doubt. Especially if your business is new. We are here to tell you why you need to have an end goal in mind, no matter where you are in your business.

If the thought of reaching that goal makes you want to freeze, we want to show you how you can break it down into mini-tasks and work your way backwards to achieve it – without getting too dizzy. What if you’re close to a deadline and not even close to reaching your mini-goals? What do you do and how do you tackle it? This is what we’re going to be talking about today. This entrepreneur life is all about baby steps and we want you to know that you can reach your end goal. So let us help you and take a listen!

Ever wondered, “How do they work together?” Well, this is a question we get asked a lot on the show and the answer may not be as simple as you think! How do we divide tasks? How do our personalities work well together and where do we struggle? How do we deal with stress? Today, we are embarking on a journey of self-discovery – digging into personality types, astrology and just a bit of “woo-woo-ness.”

Knowing how your brain, body and personality work can be an empowering tool to strengthen yourself, your team and your business. So we hope that by the end of this episode you might have learned something about your own self; your characteristics and how they affect the way you make decisions and interact with others in your business. If you are looking to improve your relationship with yourself and with others, then this episode is for you! Take a listen.

We think a lot of people get surprised when they find out exactly how much stuff gets done over here at Think Creative Collective. We think you might be shocked by some of the hacks and the tricks that we implement in our everyday to stay on top of our goals, to make sure that our list gets done and of course so as not to get distracted. In this episode of The Strategy Hour Podcast, we’ll jump into the exact structure we use every morning that holds us accountable to getting stuff done. Plus, how we’re able to set up realistic expectations, not only for ourselves but for each other.