Hey Reader,
Woah! You actually opened it. That's awesome!
First off, THANK YOU. I don't not take it lightly that you open these emails. It means a lot.
Secondly, before I jump into what I wanted to share here, I wanted to let you know...I started a separate newsletter on Substack. I know, why, right? I actually explain why in my first post over there. Some of the content will overlap with this newsletter, but a lot of it is going to be a little more raw and unpolished over there...and will likely explore a lot more of my life and experiences inside of, outside of, and all around being an entrepreneur.
Anyway, if you're interested, you can subscribe to that here.
OK, let's get into it:
A few years ago, I made a pretty radical change in my schedule. I took a Wednesday off.
Yea, I know...what a rebel, right?
I took it like, fully off, though. No email, no checking in on projects, no "just this one quick thing." No guilt.
It was hard. I struggled with it, but wow was it (for a lack of a less cliche word) freeing.
It wasn't that I then started taking all my Wednesdays off, or even taking any random day off. That wasn't the point or the goal.
What it did was make it OK for me to take a day off.
At this point, business was doing alright. We were still growing and hitting our numbers, had a strong team, etc.
I had plenty to do, and plenty of things that were causing me stress and making me feel like I had to be working 24/7.
Then I was in a random community networking event. I can't even remember what community it was for, but someone in there shared that they had recently taken a random Tuesday off.
I made a joke about how crazy that would be, and she called me out on it - challenged me to do it.
I'm not going to lie, it was quite a while after that that I finally got the nerve to pull the trigger and take a random weekday (work day) off.
Here's what happened:
- I got a workout in.
- I played some video games.
- I read.
- I went to the driving range.
Here's what DIDN'T happen:
- My business didn't fall a part or implode.
- We didn’t stop closing deals.
- We didn’t stop generating leads.
- Our team didn’t fall apart without me.
Everything was…well…fine.
This was one of my first steps toward finding harmony in my business and life.
It's when I started to realize that the goal shouldn't just be to get more leads, close more deals, make more money, and keep growing.
The goal should be to build something that brings joy to your life...not something that causes chaos, drama, and guilt.
Did my mindset shift happen over night? No. It has taken years to break myself of the toxic mindsets I had.
Do I always remember to keep my focus on this, not get stressed, not work too long, etc? No. Absolutely not. In fact, as I write this I am in the midst of a pretty stressful week where I have definitely overworked myself. (Maybe thats why this came to me today)
It's not easy. There is no one fix. There is no magical moment where you suddenly get it all figured out.
BUT - With a purposeful mindset shift, some adjustments to your systems and routines, and supports in place, you can get to a place where you business - regardless of its size, stage, or current level of success - can bring mor ethan just stress and chaos to your life.
It can bring joy to your life.
It SHOULD bring you joy.
If it doesn't...what are we doing here?
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I hope this helps
~ Jeff
*Keep scrolling for I’m listening to, links to check out, and a content creation idea!
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I appreciate you.
Jeff Gargas
COO / Co-Founder, Teach Better Team
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P.S. When you're ready, here's how I can help:
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🎧 What I'm listening to:
⚡️Things to Check Out
✅ Lead Magnets 101: 11 Great Ideas + Examples to Inspire Your own
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A lead magnet is any free incentive you give your audience in exchange for joining your email list.
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Typically, lead magnets are something your audience can access instantly, like an ebook or a printable.
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Lead magnets are used to attract your target audience to grow your email list.
- 👉 Read the article here.
🤷🏻♂️ Duolingo's Questionable Response to the "AI First" Backlash.
- Duolingo's "AI-first" announcement backfires, so the social team goes rogue
- Google's AI Overviews turn 1, and not everyone is celebrating.
- Jaguar reportedly looks for a new agency after the worst rebrand of the 2020s
- HBO maxes out its allowable rebrands
- The Onion's new creative agency is a haven for human writers; and Oscar Mayer gets the Wienermobiles back together for Wiener 500 race.
- 👉 Watch it all in this video.
👀 Ex-Meta Head: Training consent could devastate AI
- As artists continue to challenge the use of copyrighted work to train AI, former Meta executive Nick Clegg claimed that requiring companies to obtain permission before training could severely damage the AI industry.
- Speaking at an event promoting his book, Clegg said it is “implausible” to go around preemptively seeking everyone’s permission before training AI.
- He said these systems train on vast amounts of data, which means seeking consent would “collide with the physics of the technology itself.”
- Clegg noted that even if companies manage to seek consent in the UK, but others do not follow, it would “basically kill” the country's AI industry.
- 👉 Read the article here.
💡CONTENT CREATION IDEA
Share A Mistake
Here’s one of my favorite low-effort, high-impact prompts:
A mistake I made and what it taight me.
That’s it. Just be real. Share a mistake you made, big or small, and give away the lesson learned.
People love seeing the messy failures, not just the polished wins.
Happy creating!
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