Dance Principals United · 2026-05-13 · 24 min
Key moments - from our scoring
Substance score
35 / 100
Five dimensions, 20 points each
Studio owners consistently report feeling overwhelmed and unable to prioritize growth activities, often distracted by shiny objects and operational tasks. Amanda Barr and Rebecca Lou Brennan tackle this head-on by introducing two foundational practices: time auditing and time blocking. A time audit involves tracking how long repetitive weekly tasks actually take - invoicing, social media, processing payments - by recording durations in notes, phone apps, or even ChatGPT for analysis. This reveals where time genuinely goes versus assumptions. Rebecca shares her rigorous approach: every hour is scheduled in Google Calendar with color-coding (green for self-care, orange for family, different colors per business), creating visibility into time allocation. The hosts emphasize that without knowing task duration, studio owners can't properly delegate; one example shows a studio owner planning to hire someone for 30 hours weekly without timing whether the assigned tasks actually took that long. They discuss using AI tools like ChatGPT to analyze calendar screenshots and calculate percentages: most studio owners spend 95% on current client service and only 5% on growth. The conversation covers hiring support (cleaners, childcare) as time investments that enable higher-value work, and Rebecca's team-wide time visibility ensures accountability while respecting boundaries (her Wednesday gym session is calendar-protected).
Track how long your weekly repetitive tasks actually take - such as social media posts, invoicing, or processing direct debits - by recording durations in phone notes, using a simple app, or even messaging ChatGPT hourly with what you accomplished. Then use AI to categorize and analyze the data into buckets like marketing, admin, and operations to see percentage breakdowns.
Most studio owners currently spend 95% of their time servicing current clients and only 5% on business growth, which is insufficient. By analyzing your time-blocked calendar with AI, you can identify where this split actually is and decide how to rebalance toward growth activities.
First time how long the task takes you weekly - for example, 2 hours 20 minutes. Then schedule the new employee for roughly 20-30% more time (e.g., 3 hours) to account for their learning curve and unfamiliarity, rather than guessing at hours like 30 per week.
Yes - if it's important to you, schedule it into your time blocks and color-code it (like green for self-care), then protect it as you would a client commitment. Visibility to your team means they know not to contact you during that time, and it ensures wellbeing activities actually happen instead of being crowded out.
If the hourly cost is less than the revenue you'd generate by spending that time on business growth, yes - you're buying back time to spend on higher-value activities. For example, paying a cleaner $20/hour is wise if you'd otherwise spend that time not growing your studio.
Our reviewer’s read on each dimension, with quotes from the episode.
The episode covers two practical frameworks (time auditing and time blocking) that are genuinely useful for busy studio owners, but the execution is repetitive and meandering. Core ideas are stated multiple times without much fresh elaboration. The tangent about work-life balance and motherhood, while relatable, dilutes focus from the promised productivity content and adds little new insight for the business operator.
So what we'd love to encourage you to do is to do an audit of your time, to sit and do the tasks that you have to do repetitively every week and actually record how long they take you.
Because how can you do your time blocking or fix the problem if you haven't actually, like, looked at it first and know where you're starting from?
Time auditing and time blocking are standard productivity frameworks taught everywhere (Cal Newport, David Allen, etc.). The hosts offer no contrarian angle or novel methodology - just straightforward application of well-known concepts. The AI integration suggestion is mildly interesting but underdeveloped. No first-principles thinking or counterintuitive claims emerge.
So if you haven't done a time audit before, a time audit is a great way to really get clear because we're big on time blocking.
And you know what? They're going to be in the bouncer or they're going to. I'm going to set them up with some craft and hopefully they get whatever that is right.
This is not a guest interview - it's two co-hosts (Amanda Barr and Rebecca Lou Brennan) having a casual conversation. While they position themselves as studio owners with experience, there is no credential detail provided, no evidence of operating at meaningful scale, and no external expertise brought in. The episode lacks credibility-building specificity about their own business achievements or the problems they've solved.
Hello, friends, I'm Amanda Barr. And I'm Rebecca Lou Brennan.
Together, we are passionate about helping studio owners with the business of running their studio.
The episode offers minimal concrete data or named examples. One anecdote about a junior accountant being time-tracked in 5-minute increments is mentioned but lacks specifics (no company name, timeframe is vague as 'maybe 10 years ago'). Rebecca mentions 'Lisa' sending numbers and 'Justin' as a studio manager, but no actual metrics, growth numbers, or revenue data are shared. The 95/5 split claim is stated but not sourced.
She had her time tracked by the five minutes. This was a while ago.
Every Monday, the numbers get sent to me and it's in, you know, Lisa's time blocking is the Person who's in charge of sending the numbers.
The hosts do engage with each other's ideas and build on points, but the dynamic is more gossip-like than rigorous. Questions are often rhetorical or designed to prompt agreement rather than push back. There is no intellectual tension, no challenging of weak claims, and no outside perspectives to question. The tangent into motherhood and work-life balance, while natural, goes unchallenged and derails the stated topic without productive resolution.
And I think that's really important. So today we wanted to jump on the podcast, kind of give you some tips if you are feeling overwhelmed, because I get it.
Do you feel like that? Please tell me. And it's so hard.
Computed from the transcript - who did the talking, and the words that came up most.
Ever finish the day wondering… what the heck did I actually achieve today? In this episode, Amanda and Bec are diving into one of the biggest struggles studio owners face: feeling constantly busy but never quite getting to the important stuff. From shiny object syndrome and endless scrolling to juggling kids, clients, staff, admin and trying to grow a business at the same time - this is a very real, very honest conversation about productivity, structure and why "doing it all" simply isn't sustainable. The girls chat about: why creatives struggle with distractions how elite dancers actually teach us about discipline the power of time auditing practical ways to time block your week how AI can help studio owners save serious time the emotional load of motherhood + business ownership why buying back your time isn't selfish There are also some BIG mindset shifts in this episode around mum guilt, productivity and being intentional with your time - especially if you've been feeling overwhelmed lately.
Transcribed and scored by The B2B Podcast Index.
Meeting created at: 13th May, 2026 - 11:04 AM1
Speaker 1: Hello, friends, I'm Amanda Barr.
Speaker 2: And I'm Rebecca Lou Brennan.
Speaker 2: And welcome to Dance Principles United, the podcast.
Speaker 1: Together, we are passionate about helping studio owners with the business of running their studio.
Speaker 2: Join us as we talk everything from marketing systems, studio culture, motherhood, life and everything in between.
Speaker 1: This is the Dance Principals United Podcast.
Speaker 1: Hey, friends, and welcome to the Dance Principles United PODCast.
Speaker 1: How are you, Bec?
Speaker 2: I am super awesome.
Speaker 2: Always love being in the podcast studio with you, Amanda.
Speaker 1: Always good.
Speaker 1: Hey, one of the things that gets talked about all the time is like, holy shit, I just didn't have time for this.
Speaker 1: I am so busy.
Speaker 1: I'm overwhelmed.
Speaker 1: I am that we hear it all the time.
Speaker 1: I feel it all the time.
Speaker 1: Hey, one thing I want to say just whilst we're talking about time and talking about that is shiny objects are real for dance studio owners.
Speaker 1: I think we all have a little bit of ADHD in us.
Speaker 1: We're all creatives, we're all a bit like, oh, what's the next thing?
Speaker 1: Oh, what's the next thing?
Speaker 1: Are you like that?
Speaker 2: Oh, And I'm also like, I'm just going to allow.
Speaker 2: Now that I've done something, I'm going to allow myself to scroll on Instagram or like.
Speaker 2: Or I'll go on Facebook messenger to message somebody and forget what the fuck you do.
Speaker 2: Well, I just start scrolling and then like, five minutes later, I'm like, hang on, why are you on Facebook again?
Speaker 2: Oh, you're on Facebook because you actually.
Speaker 1: Have to message like, oh, it's never ending.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 1: And I think everyone's like it.
Speaker 2: Yep.
Speaker 1: I don't think it's just studio owners.
Speaker 1: I think the whole Getting worse and worse, isn't it?
Speaker 1: I think I keep trying to eat my microphone today.
Speaker 1: I don't know what's going on.
Speaker 1: I've been told to come closer to the microphone, so I'm trying, but.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I see.
Speaker 1: But, you know, one of the big things we hear from so many studio owners is that they just don't have enough time in the day.
Speaker 1: And I get it between, you know, helping your staff, helping your clients, helping yourself, prepping your own, you know, classes, marketing, admin, all the things.
Speaker 1: There's so much to do.
Speaker 2: So much.
Speaker 2: I get so annoyed when Tim, my partner, tells me that he hasn't had time to do something in the day and I'm just like.
Speaker 2: But it's just because he's not prioritizing.
Speaker 2: Brenda now produces in hysterics.
Speaker 2: It's true that I get so pissed off because I'm like, do you know how busy my day is?
Speaker 2: And I still manage to fit everything into it, but I think that's the difference because I'm structured with the fitting.
Speaker 1: Oh, okay.
Speaker 1: So that's interesting because, you know, Tim has a lot on in his day.
Speaker 1: He has a lot of children to care for.
Speaker 1: On top of that, the house and all the things like that.
Speaker 2: We all do.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 1: But it's about, you know, you especially are running multiple very large companies.
Speaker 1: You are being a mom, you're helping your children, you're doing all those things.
Speaker 1: And.
Speaker 1: And sometimes it's really about that structure and that discipline, the same things that make good dancers.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: Do you like my circle there?
Speaker 2: That was clever.
Speaker 1: Because let's talk about a good ballet dancer.
Speaker 2: Yep.
Speaker 1: You know, someone who's elite.
Speaker 1: They have discipline and they have structure in their days to really train them to be really elite.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I love that.
Speaker 2: And they have to repeat the same things every single day.
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
Speaker 1: You gotta do those playas at the bar every single day of your life every day.
Speaker 1: You don't get to skip a day.
Speaker 1: You don't get to just go, oh, I just feel like scrolling today or laying on the couch or, oh, I got distracted by looking at this.
Speaker 1: Because you lose that power.
Speaker 1: And I think that's really important.
Speaker 1: So today we wanted to jump on the podcast, kind of give you some tips if you are feeling overwhelmed, because I get it.
Speaker 1: We've all been there.
Speaker 1: And let's be honest, for both of us as well, Becky.
Speaker 1: We have good days and bad days.
Speaker 1: Some days I'm fantastic at my time management and I achieve so much and I'm killing life.
Speaker 1: And other days I'm like, what the fuck did I even do today?
Speaker 1: Do you feel like that?
Speaker 1: Please tell me.
Speaker 1: And it's so hard.
Speaker 1: So we wanted to kind of jump on and give you some tips if you're feeling overwhelmed.
Speaker 1: Like, you get distracted by the shiny object every three seconds, and you feel like you don't have enough time to get everything done in your studio, and.
Speaker 2: Especially the important things.
Speaker 2: You know, I said in the last podcast, you can feel so busy.
Speaker 2: It's easy to feel busy.
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
Speaker 2: Tim, I'm sure, feels very busy all day with all the things that he's doing, but it's not prioritizing the right kinds of things.
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
Speaker 1: I think that's so important.
Speaker 1: Okay, so step one, if you are feeling like this, if you're feeling overwhelmed, if you feel like you're not getting the things done that matters, especially the things done that matter to grow your business is time auditing.
Speaker 1: Now, it sounds scary, right?
Speaker 1: But it's not as scary as it sounds, Right?
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So if you haven't done this before, a time audit is a great way to kind of really get clear.
Speaker 1: Because I think sometimes we think things take in our heads, we're like, oh, yeah, that'll just take me 20 minutes.
Speaker 1: And it actually takes longer.
Speaker 1: Or vice versa.
Speaker 1: It takes way too long because shiny objects.
Speaker 1: You started scrolling.
Speaker 2: That's the problem.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that is the problem.
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
Speaker 1: So if you haven't done a time audit before, a time audit is a great way to really get clear because we're big on time blocking.
Speaker 1: Beck, you're really big on time blocking and making sure that you have that discipline and structure in your week.
Speaker 1: But how do you know how long to allow for certain tasks in your week if you don't first time them to see how long they take?
Speaker 1: I love that.
Speaker 1: So what we'd love to encourage you to do is to do an audit of your time, to sit and do the tasks that you have to do repetitively every week and actually record how long they take you.
Speaker 1: You know, this is great if you're competitive as well.
Speaker 2: The other thing I like about it is I think you probably wouldn't get distracted by the shiny object because you know that you're timing yourself.
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
Speaker 2: Because that's that.
Speaker 1: It's that competitiveness.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 1: Like you're like, oh, well, I'm being checked, so I better do it properly and I better do it quickly and Right.
Speaker 1: Because it's that internal competition with yourself.
Speaker 1: I love it.
Speaker 1: So, you know, if there are things that you do every single week, what are the types of things that you do every single week in the business?
Speaker 1: You know, is it, you know, social media posts, is it invoicing, is it, you know, processing the direct debits, you know, whatever those things that you have to do every week.
Speaker 1: What I want you to do is step one is record how long they take you.
Speaker 1: You know, there's so many great, like, apps that you can do.
Speaker 1: We actually have a great download.
Speaker 1: We're going to link it in the show.
Speaker 1: Notes that you can try with.
Speaker 1: You can just do it on your notes, on your phone, right?
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: You don't have to make it complicated.
Speaker 2: But knowing that is power.
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
Speaker 2: And I reckon as well, knowing what the distractions are like, I think the week that you do that it will make you so aware of the distractions.
Speaker 2: And like, sometimes the distraction is a toddler or A child.
Speaker 2: And I totally get that as well.
Speaker 2: But then being aware of that and going, okay, this is what happens.
Speaker 2: Wake at this time.
Speaker 2: And this is not the best time for me to do my social media because so I'm actually gonna instead give them an hour here.
Speaker 2: And then when they're asleep, I'm gonna.
Speaker 2: You know, it's knowing that stuff as well, because I get it.
Speaker 2: When you've got kids, it is hard.
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
Speaker 1: I was talking to Kira, one of our studio growth club members from Hobart, and she has three little people, two at home.
Speaker 2: Yep.
Speaker 1: And she was talking exactly about that she needs to better with, you know, when they're awake and, you know, they are very little and, you know, things don't always go to schedule.
Speaker 1: Children do not go to schedule.
Speaker 1: They don't.
Speaker 1: But, you know, really making sure she's present with them at some times and then making the most out of her time when they're asleep or when they've got care or whatever that is.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 1: And so I think that's so important.
Speaker 1: So, you know, you can sit there and you can record how long everything takes you.
Speaker 1: Alternatively, you could set an alarm in your phone and like every hour, you know, and go, okay, so in the last hour, I have this, this, and this, and kind of just get a bit of an idea.
Speaker 1: But AI is great to help you with this as well.
Speaker 2: Tell me about AI.
Speaker 1: Well, depending on what, how you do it.
Speaker 1: Like, I would be putting this into AI and going, okay, give me a bit of a time audit.
Speaker 1: Let me know exactly where I'm spending my time.
Speaker 1: So, you know, putting that into ChatGPT, into Claude, whatever that is, and kind of going, hey, here's all my notes from this week.
Speaker 1: Can you make sense of them?
Speaker 1: Can you put things into, like, buckets of time, for example, or categories like, oh, that's social media, that's marketing, you know, the newsletter, that's, you know, business operations, the.
Speaker 1: Whatever that is, and kind of get really clear with, like, where your percentages are going.
Speaker 2: Guys, Amanda is so good at AI it, like, it's crazy.
Speaker 2: She's doing this whole AI stuff with our studio growth club members in two weeks time.
Speaker 2: And I am so excited about it, like, to learn for myself.
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1: I'm so pumped for it.
Speaker 1: And, you know, we might start chatting about a few more AI things on the podcast as well, because I feel like there's so much to learn.
Speaker 1: But, you know, jump in and give it a try.
Speaker 1: Like, you know, I did a time audit on Myself recently just talking to chat GPT.
Speaker 1: Like, instead of writing it down in my notes, I just, you know, every hour went, hey, in the last hour, record the time in the last hour.
Speaker 1: I have done four emails.
Speaker 1: I made a phone call, I got distracted and made a cup of tea, you know, like, whatever that is.
Speaker 1: And then just like, you know, did that throughout the week and kept going back to the same thread.
Speaker 1: And then it just gave me a breakdown, like.
Speaker 1: So I think there's so many great ways you can do that, because how can you do your time blocking or fix the problem if you haven't actually, like, looked at it first and know where you're starting from?
Speaker 1: Love it.
Speaker 2: All right, so we're doing our time audit and then we want to go into our time blocking.
Speaker 2: Absolutely very passionate about this because I was that person that always was very busy but didn't ever really get anything done.
Speaker 2: Exactly what you said.
Speaker 2: You know, you can go through days like that.
Speaker 2: Definitely.
Speaker 2: My life now is so insanely scheduled.
Speaker 2: It is crazy.
Speaker 2: And I, you know, if people say, can you come for lunch?
Speaker 2: I'm like, no, I genuinely can't.
Speaker 2: Because every single hour, like, people have to book me two weeks in advance.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2: but there's things that happen every week that are on there.
Speaker 2: Yes.
Speaker 2: You know, there's time for myself, so I even schedule my walk, my gym with friends.
Speaker 2: You know, like, I like to go.
Speaker 1: I see that pop up in your calendar.
Speaker 1: We have shared calendars.
Speaker 1: I say gym with friends because it's important and it's important to me.
Speaker 1: And it's important for you to be your best self.
Speaker 1: And that's so fun.
Speaker 1: So you need to schedule it in.
Speaker 1: Otherwise it's something that goes by the wayside.
Speaker 2: And I like that you have access to that.
Speaker 2: And so does my team.
Speaker 2: So my team knows on a Wednesday from 5:30 to.
Speaker 2: To 6:20, don't contact me.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So don't call me.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I don't care what's happening.
Speaker 2: I am going to the gym and at the gym.
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
Speaker 2: So you should schedule that stuff in.
Speaker 2: Obviously, my schedule looks a bit different because, you know, I've got a studio manager and all the things, but I know that for a studio owner, social media is so important.
Speaker 2: Guys, I cannot begin to tell you there should be at least two hours of your week where you're doing your social media.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 2: Like Amanda said, accounts, you know, checking your numbers.
Speaker 2: Every Monday, the numbers get sent to me and it's in, you know, Lisa's time blocking is the Person who's in charge of sending the numbers.
Speaker 2: And every Monday at the exact same time, we get the numbers and we have a little chat about it.
Speaker 2: You know, call studio manager is in mine because I need to call Justin pretty much every day to check in.
Speaker 2: So all of that stuff is in there.
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
Speaker 1: And it's so important, because you need to give structure to your day.
Speaker 1: Otherwise what happens is you have 4,000tabs and you get distracted.
Speaker 1: Like, who hasn't been that person?
Speaker 1: That, like, an email pops up and you're in the middle of doing something.
Speaker 1: You're in the middle of doing something that's quite important, and then you jump over and start answering that email.
Speaker 1: Or even worse, you're like, no, I'm doing something.
Speaker 1: But you can, like, it was a pro.
Speaker 1: It was a complaint email.
Speaker 1: And it starts ticking around in your brain and you, like, start working at half speed or 20% speed, because all you can think about is that email from my parents.
Speaker 2: There's an age sale on, and I'm happy.
Speaker 1: I'll just quickly.
Speaker 2: Just quickly get the straight something here that I'm gonna need to present in.
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
Speaker 1: Like, it's true, though, right?
Speaker 1: It's so true.
Speaker 1: So you need to, like, put those limits on.
Speaker 1: On yourself.
Speaker 1: You know, I had a staff member that worked for me who was a junior accountant or, like, you know, straight out of uni, like, first job, an internship, whatever that's called.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 1: In an accountancy firm.
Speaker 1: In a big accountancy firm.
Speaker 2: Yep.
Speaker 1: She had her time tracked by the five minutes.
Speaker 2: Whoa.
Speaker 1: And we're talking.
Speaker 1: This was a while ago.
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
Speaker 1: Tracked by in five minute increments.
Speaker 2: Crazy.
Speaker 1: So much so that she had to pause it to go to the bathroom in the middle of the day if she was too long in the bathroom.
Speaker 1: No, they didn't say anything, but it was noted.
Speaker 1: So she could see it at the end of her day report, like, you know, the pauses.
Speaker 1: And I think obviously for, I don't know, whatever HR reasons.
Speaker 1: And look, this was probably maybe 10 years ago.
Speaker 1: Maybe.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Or so.
Speaker 1: And maybe for HR reasons.
Speaker 1: And I'm sure if you've worked in a big corporation, there's similar versions of this.
Speaker 2: Yep.
Speaker 1: But it's about billable time.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: And, you know, she'd get, like, reports, and there was the pauses in there, which were obviously like a bathroom or, you know, grabbing something to eat, kind of like breaks.
Speaker 1: And it was apparent.
Speaker 2: I like this, though, because, yeah, there's a lot of times that I think my staff are taking the Piss.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: And just what are they doing?
Speaker 2: You know, and how are you even saying that took you three hours?
Speaker 2: So I kind of don't mind it.
Speaker 1: Like, I actually think there's a version of it and I think it's really important, you know, to me, you know, if you are hiring someone new, if you.
Speaker 1: Or not, just like working on the management of your staff.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Like, how can you tell your staff what to do if you don't actually know how long it takes to do it?
Speaker 1: So to me, you know, I, you know, talking to somebody the other day who was moving their direct debit to one of their team, and so they were no longer running the direct debit each week.
Speaker 1: And I'm like, cool.
Speaker 1: They're like, oh, so employing someone to do that, like, okay, how many hours you employing them a week?
Speaker 1: Oh, maybe about.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 1: And I'm like, well, like, if you don't know how long it takes you, how can you then decide how many hours you're going to put a staff member on for?
Speaker 1: They were not just doing that, but they were like, oh, they're going to do this and this.
Speaker 1: And they like rattled off like four tasks.
Speaker 1: I'm like.
Speaker 1: And I think they were talking about being like 30 hours a week.
Speaker 1: I'm like, do those four tasks take 30 hours a week?
Speaker 2: Exactly.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm like, okay, so here's what you should be doing.
Speaker 1: Doing the accounts, you know, the direct debits and running them.
Speaker 2: Time it.
Speaker 1: See how long it takes you, because that's actually how long you should employ someone.
Speaker 1: And I said, look, you know, you can like do.
Speaker 1: Add 20% for someone else for sure.
Speaker 1: No one's going to be as effective.
Speaker 1: And as you know, they're new to it.
Speaker 1: It's going to take a little bit more time.
Speaker 1: You have to give them a bit of allowances.
Speaker 1: You don't want to clock the toilet times.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 1: But, you know, at least have a starting point to go.
Speaker 1: Hey, I know that takes me about two minutes, two hours and 20.
Speaker 1: Not two minutes.
Speaker 1: Two hours and 20 minutes a week.
Speaker 2: Yep.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 1: So therefore I'm going to allow the other staff member three hours a week to do it.
Speaker 1: So therefore that makes sense.
Speaker 1: However, if they're telling me that they are too busy and they can't do this task, like, then alarm bells need to be ringing.
Speaker 1: So I think it's really important that you know how long it should take and then, you know, schedule it into your time or somebody else's time.
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
Speaker 2: Now, you don't need.
Speaker 2: You can get apps and stuff for this and we'll talk about the one that we love most.
Speaker 2: But you can just genuinely do this in Google Calendar.
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
Speaker 2: I actually like making different things different colors.
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
Speaker 2: Just because I like pretty things, but also because it tells me for me, like, you know, my color for the stuff I do is green.
Speaker 2: So then when I'm going to the gym or a walk or whatever it might be, that's me time.
Speaker 2: So I can see how much green time there is.
Speaker 2: And then I can see, you know, orange is family time in mine, so I can see how much family time there is.
Speaker 2: And then, you know, different businesses are different colors, so it just allows you to see how much time you're spending on different things.
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
Speaker 2: Fun.
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
Speaker 1: And, you know, we're just chatting about, like, the fun of AI.
Speaker 1: What I'd be doing is screenshotting that.
Speaker 1: That you've already done.
Speaker 1: Beck, Chuck into Chat GBT and go, okay, give me the percentage breakdown.
Speaker 1: You know, how much of my time is me time?
Speaker 1: How much is family time?
Speaker 1: Because one big thing that we see studio owners doing is spending 95 of their time servicing current clients and only 5% growing their business.
Speaker 1: If that.
Speaker 1: So ask Chat GPT that go, okay, how much of this work is current client work versus how much is marketing or growth business growth work.
Speaker 1: And, you know, ask it for the percentage.
Speaker 1: Check it out.
Speaker 1: If you don't know, just screenshot it.
Speaker 1: Like, it doesn't have to be hard, you know, just screenshot whatever you've got at the moment and really put it in to kind of see, like, what you're doing and go, okay, so how can I change this?
Speaker 2: Wouldn't that be powerful to know as well?
Speaker 2: If you do have young kids and it's like, okay, I, I started this task for half an hour, but then I had to go and see to this, which took another half an hour.
Speaker 2: And knowing how much time is spent on that as well.
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
Speaker 2: And then you could make educated.
Speaker 2: Sorry I'm harping on.
Speaker 2: But then I think you could make educated decisions on, okay, if I actually grew my business, I could probably make more money.
Speaker 2: So do I therefore get someone in to look after my children from 12 to 3 or whatever it might be?
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2: So that then, you know, I'm paying them $20 an hour, but I'm actually going to end up making X amount more.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2: Like, I think that stuff is so important to know, you know, like, you and I both have cleaners and I'm.
Speaker 2: I Know that people.
Speaker 2: Not everyone can afford it, but I do look at it as.
Speaker 2: I'm buying time.
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
Speaker 2: You know, and.
Speaker 2: And that time is, for me, spent much better than me cleaning my house.
Speaker 2: And I'm.
Speaker 2: I'm pretty anal about cleanliness and everything being in its place.
Speaker 2: It's better for me to spend that growing my business than it is to spend it scrubbing my floors.
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
Speaker 1: And to me, it's buying back time.
Speaker 2: Exactly.
Speaker 1: And I think, you know, that's so important.
Speaker 1: And for us, I'd rather be working than cleaning.
Speaker 1: Look, and that's not the same for, you know, always.
Speaker 1: For your children.
Speaker 1: No.
Speaker 1: Like, you know, you might, like, not.
Speaker 1: You might.
Speaker 1: You should be, like, enjoying spending time.
Speaker 1: It depends what the version is.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 1: And it might be putting them in daycare two days, but still having a special day with them or whatever.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: Suggesting that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1: So it's working out what works for you.
Speaker 1: But absolutely.
Speaker 1: Like, usually the time, if you could actually focus your time and hyper focus, whether that three hours is, you know, getting a babysitter.
Speaker 1: And that's what I used to do.
Speaker 1: I was telling someone else about that I used to, you know, just go get a.
Speaker 1: When before I, like, when my children were little and they weren't in care and I didn't have a heap of help just getting a babysitter to come for an hour and put them in the brand and go for a walk, like, because I was like, if I could just do an hour's worth of solid work at this time, that is such a game changer for me, not having the whole day, not having them in daycare 12 hours, just an hour or two hours or whatever that is for you and can make a huge difference.
Speaker 2: It's crazy, though, because if you think of people in a normal job.
Speaker 1: Yep.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 2: And we are very lucky in that we can go to the school assembly or go to the things.
Speaker 2: But anyone in a normal job would have to put their child in daycare because they have to.
Speaker 2: They can't take their child to them when they're a nurse, for example.
Speaker 2: They can't take their child to the hospital with them.
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
Speaker 2: So, like, why do we then go, well, I should still have my child at home with me when I'm trying to get all of this work done.
Speaker 2: Because it's interesting.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: I.
Speaker 1: Look, this is definitely not.
Speaker 1: This is definitely not where we saw the podcast going, but I absolutely agree and I don't think it's fair.
Speaker 2: No, it's not.
Speaker 2: It's not fair.
Speaker 2: To yourself.
Speaker 2: But I, I did that too.
Speaker 2: And now that I'm self reflecting on that, I'm like, why did I do that?
Speaker 2: Why did I feel like I could be a mum looking after my children at home.
Speaker 1: Yep.
Speaker 2: But also then expected myself to run a business which is, well, a full time job.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well and truly.
Speaker 2: Well, exactly.
Speaker 2: And make financial money off that.
Speaker 1: Yes.
Speaker 1: And also be a good mom.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 1: On top of that.
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
Speaker 1: And look, that's a big thing that, you know, I feel awful for some studio owners that feel like they have to be doing it all because we actually can't be doing it all and it's impossible.
Speaker 1: Like, you know, we're both mums, we love spending time with our children and all of that.
Speaker 1: But you can't do like, you know, I think there's some times where it's like, hey, sometimes you've got to make a choice.
Speaker 1: Are you a mom at the moment or are you a business owner at this point in time, in this two hour block, this three hour block, this day, like, we need to be able to, you know, do that and effectively spend our time.
Speaker 1: Because if you're being hard on yourself, that's what kills me is I've seen a couple of studios recently being so hard on themselves, going, you know, I've only grown my business this much.
Speaker 1: I'm like, wait, do you have much help with the kids?
Speaker 1: They're like, no, I do it all.
Speaker 1: How are you doing all of this?
Speaker 1: Don't be so hard on yourself.
Speaker 1: If you're being a full time mum, taking the child to the studio with you as well as trying to grow your business, run the marketing, run at your concert, like, don't be so hard on yourself.
Speaker 2: And you know what else?
Speaker 2: I just think that it is.
Speaker 2: So that is, you're not going to be a good mum in that situation because you're going to be working and you're not going to be a good business owner because you're going to be trying to look after a kid.
Speaker 2: It's like, you cannot.
Speaker 2: There's no possible way you can do both of those.
Speaker 1: Yeah, always at the same time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2: But the time blocking thing could help.
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
Speaker 2: You know, and if you go, thanks.
Speaker 1: For bringing us back, I'm gonna, I.
Speaker 2: Am gonna do an hour of playtime with my child and not look at my business stuff at all.
Speaker 2: I'm going to give them a solid hour and then I'm going to do an hour of work.
Speaker 1: Yes.
Speaker 1: And you know what?
Speaker 1: They're going to be in the bouncer or they're going to.
Speaker 1: I'm going to set them up with some craft and hopefully they get whatever that is right.
Speaker 2: Whatever it is.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I 100 agree.
Speaker 1: Like, yeah.
Speaker 1: And being like, rather than go, oh, today I've got to do all these things and look after my child, be like, hey, no, this is child's hour.
Speaker 1: Or child's two hours.
Speaker 1: This is my business.
Speaker 1: Two hours.
Speaker 1: I think that's so important.
Speaker 2: So important.
Speaker 1: Yeah, look, we've gotten off topic, but shocking, shocking.
Speaker 1: But I think it's so important to be deliberate with your time.
Speaker 1: And I think that's where we're coming to, like, you know, whatever you choose, but it's being deliberate with your time.
Speaker 1: And you can't be structured and deliberate with your time if you don't first know how much time everything takes, love.
Speaker 1: So start by doing a time audit, then work on your time blocking.
Speaker 1: We have heaps of resources.
Speaker 1: Check the show notes out that can help you with this.
Speaker 2: Yep, absolutely.
Speaker 2: Thanks, guys.
Speaker 2: We hope you got a lot out of that and we will see you next week.
Speaker 1: We hope you enjoyed this episode of the Dance Principles United podcast.
Speaker 1: If you'd love to learn more from us, we have a special offer just for our podcast listeners.
Speaker 1: Go to the link in the show notes right now to get two weeks free in Dance Principals United States Tribe.
Speaker 1: We would love to see you there.
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