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My weekly routine for productivity as a full time business owner

by Michaela fong

Featured

My weekly routine for productivity as a full time business owner

FIVE WAYS TO USE INSTAGRAM CAROUSELS FOR YOUR BUSINESS
MY WEEKLY ROUTINE FOR PRODUCTIVITY AS A FULL TIME BUSINESS OWNER
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I'm MICHAELA!

I am a small European town gal with big dreams who immigrated to Canada and built a multi-six-figure business from my living room floor and kitchen counter! I accidentally grew it into a small business community and became a small business educator along the way.

Now am here to empower, teach & inspire you to grow your business and create the life of your dreams with strategy, confidence & without burnout.

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My weekly routine for productivity as a full time business owner - Small Biz Babes Community Podcast

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As a business owner, you probably know that making the most out of your week can be a real challenge, right? And if you’re anything like me, constantly trying to improve your time management and productivity, then I’ve got just the thing for you.

Today, I’m diving into my weekly productivity system, and I’m not holding anything back. I’ll get into all the nitty-gritty of how I schedule my week, how I block my week, what methods work for me, and how I create space for deep work while managing day-to-day business operations. I’ll also share how I prioritize where I spend time in my business, introduce you to my daily work themes, and how I plan for the week ahead. 

There’s a lot to unpack here, and hopefully, you can steal a thing or two for weekly scheduling when it comes to your business! 

I’ll tell you about my daily themes in a minute, but first, I want to mention that within each day, I work in intentionally planned work blocks. They’re structured based on how much mental energy and brainpower I need for specific tasks. In fact, I wrote a whole blog about it a few weeks ago where I dive deeper into my daily productivity routine. Once you finish this blog, make sure to go read that one afterwards. Alright, let’s get into it. 

Monday + Tuesday

I intentionally plan to work on the most important tasks at the beginning of the week.

Most weeks, this usually means writing lessons for my next educational program or working on an ebook. These are the tasks that bring more revenue and have long-term impact on my business.

So, Mondays and Tuesdays are my hard days for deep work sessions, no matter what. Which means no scheduled appointments, no meetings, no phone calls — just me doing the work. The reason I front-load the week with these crucial tasks is because they usually take me a lot longer than I think they will.

When it’s time to launch something new, I do my best to set aside a work block each day for launch-related tasks. But on Mondays and Tuesdays, I create intentional work blocks that require the most focus to ensure a successful launch. 

I’ve learned from experience that if I push important tasks, like prepping for a launch, to the end of the week, things get chaotic. Appointments get double-booked, urgent issues pop up, or I find myself buried in social media content creation. So, I like to play it safe and start the week strong to make progress on those long-term goals for my business. 

Back when I had my product-based business, I used to do the same thing. I’d block off the mornings to work on my next launch and spend afternoons working on orders because since it was manual work, it didn’t require much focus or mental energy.

Then at the end of the day, I plan out an hour to reply to emails, review messages from my team, and catch up on small tasks — like reviewing a blog post that’s supposed to go live next Tuesday, for example. 

Tuesday-specific tasks 

Tuesday is pretty similar to Monday — again, dedicated to making biiiig progress on a key project, offer, or launch I’m focusing on.

But on Tuesday mornings specifically, I like to spend one work block brain dumping content ideas for my social media pipeline. Creating content is a big part of how I promote my business, so creating content in the morning, when I’m most productive, sets the tone for a productive week. I always like to stay ahead and continuously build a pipeline of posts I want to create for the future. 


After Mondays and Tuesdays, when I’ve gotten the most important tasks out of the way, it’s time to shift gears and focus on day-to-day operations and marketing. That happens on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Wednesday

Wednesdays are my designated social media and catch up days. The first half of the day is dedicated to scheduling social media posts for the upcoming week or even two weeks ahead. I’ll batch record new content and study viral videos so I know what’s relevant. 


On alternate weeks, I focus on batch creating carousels, but I’m actually working on a way to streamline that process into a once-a-month task instead. In general, I’m doing my best to stay on top of all things social media.

The second half of Wednesday is dedicated to playing catch-up. I tackle anything I didn’t get done on Monday or Tuesday, or get to the lingering tasks from the previous week.

Thursday

Thursdays are my long-form content creation days.

Before I had a podcast, I’d write blogs or newsletters as my long-form content. But now that I have a podcast, it’s my main focus for long-form content. On Thursdays, I write out notes for 2-3 upcoming podcast episodes, and sometimes, I’ll even record them on the same day. 

If you’re wondering what long-form content is, it’s essentially a long piece of content that can be broken down into smaller pieces of content. When I create a podcast episode, that’s my long-form content. From there, I repurpose it into newsletters, blogs, Pinterest pins, and sometimes, even carousels and reels. 

To sum it up, Thursday is all dedicated batch-creating long-form content. 

Friday

CEO work block

I start with a CEO work block, because that usually requires the most brain power from all the other tasks I do on Friday.

During my CEO work block, I tackle a different task each week that makes my daily operations smoother, saves time in the long run, and could potentially bring more profit to the business. 

This can mean reviewing or mapping out…

  • My current email marketing strategy
  • How the latest marketing campaign’s performance and what could I do better
  • Reviewing my Instagram insights and tracking progress
  • A marketing strategy for next launch
  • Templated responses to store in keyboard shortcuts so I can save more time on Instagram
  • Mindset exercises, reflecting on where I hold myself back, and brainstorming changes to overcome those barriers 

These are all tasks that are awesome to do, we as business owners SHOULD do, but never have TIME to do.

In the past, I always wanted to work on them but never got around to it. Now, I make sure to block out a dedicated 90-minute work block tackle these CEO tasks — and that’s on Friday

Admin work block

The second part of my Friday is for admin tasks and scheduling. Instead of wasting 10 minutes here and there on random admin tasks during the week, like accounting, sending missing receipts to my assistant, or reviewing monthly profitability sheets, I reserve them all for a specific work block on Fridays.

Even if they only take a few minutes each, those minutes add up throughout the week and in the past made me feel like I was all over the place! 

So instead of trying to squeeze those admin tasks into the workday or deal with them as they pop up during the week, I jot them down in my Notion daily worksheet or move them over to Friday. Then, I work on them all at once during my Friday admin power hour.

Weekly reflection + planning for next week

Define 3 main tasks for the week

My third work block on Friday is dedicated to weekly reflection and planning for the upcoming week. I use my Notion system to review everything I worked on during the week and also take a look at what didn’t get done. This isn’t to make myself feel bad, but it’s meant to help me be realistic about my expectations, improve my systems to support my weekly and monthly goals, and make better choices for the week ahead. 

If I notice a task that keeps getting pushed from one week to the next, I ask myself why. Do I really need to do it? Can I outsource it? How long will it actually take me, and should I plan a catch-up day for the next week to finish it?

Then, I look at my priorities for the month or any upcoming launches, and write down the 3 main tasks I want to make progress on the following week. 

A “main task” for the week could mean writing a module for my upcoming social media class. In the past, when I had my product-based business, common “main tasks” were planning a marketing calendar for the next launch or organizing a photoshoot for the next product collection. 

Create checklists for 3 main tasks and schedule work blocks for them in the upcoming week

Once I’ve set 3 main tasks that serve as a “theme” for the week, I then break them down into smaller checklists to plan every day realistically. 

For example, if one of my main tasks for the week is to have a photoshoot for an upcoming launch, I’d break it down into several steps and time blocks:

  • 45 min: Create mood board for photoshoot
  • 30 min: Choose props or outfits
  • 20 min: Write list of shots I want to take
  • 20 min: Prepare all my equipment and backdrops for set up
  • 1-2 hours: Take photos 
  • 1-2 hours: Edit photos
  • 45 min: Save photos to drive 

I get this detailed so I don’t wake up on a Tuesday morning, look in my planner and see “photoshoot for next launch”, only to scratch my head and wonder where to start. I mean hey, no judgment here, I went through that stage! I like going into the weekend knowing I’m prepared for the next week, so I can start Monday with my head screwed on right. 

Once I’ve defined the 3 main tasks for the week, I drag them into specific work blocks on specific days. 

Respecting the plan when the new week comes

It’s crucial for me to respect this plan when the new week starts. In the past, I’d sometimes get great ideas during the week, like updating my website, and I’d impulsively start working on them. That only led me to throw my previous plan out the window, which created overwhelm — definitely not productivity.

During the following week, I concentrate only on the tasks on my priority list from the Friday before. If new ideas show up, I just write notes of them in Notion and make sure I stay focused on the tasks in front of me. 

Most days, I shut off work at 7 P.M., with about 2.5 hours of breaks during the day. I start each day with dedicated time for myself, whether that’s meditation, reading, or movement like yoga or exercise — so I feel energized and ready to work!

But on Fridays, I finish the day at 4 P.M. and clean the house in between my work blocks. I like to start the weekend knowing I can just relax and recharge. So basically, my Fridays are an admin, planning, and cleaning day.

The Weekend

When the weekend arrives, I don’t go on social media or randomly check my emails. The weekends are a time to catch up on sleep, have a relaxing morning, and enjoy planned or spontaneous activities with my husband so we can recharge together.

We also take the time to plan our meals for the upcoming week. I prepare all the vitamins, make protein seed balls for my afternoon snacks — just little things here and there to make life easier for us during the week.

We didn’t always do this, but after experiencing weeks of stressful, last-minute meals and unhealthy eating due to poor planning, we realized the importance of making a plan on the weekend to eat healthy during the week.

Now of course, not every week is picture perfect. But having set themes for each day and dedicated time to work on specific tasks helps me reduce stress and make progress on what matters most. 

Want to feel more productive in your weekly routine?

If I had to sum it up into three key takeaways that will give you the most impact on your weekly  productivity, here they are: 

  1. Spend a few minutes each Friday to reflect on your week and plan the week ahead — This is so you’re ready to show up on Monday and know exactly what to do when the new week comes. 
  1. Plan an admin power hour — Instead of doing random admin tasks and spontaneous to-do’s throughout your day, set aside an admin power hour to batch them all at once to save time and energy. 
  1. Plan out hours for deep work on the tasks that matter most — Whether it’s your next project, next launch, or next product, focus on important tasks at the start of the week. This way, you continue to make progress on what’s most important. 

Curious about my weekly routine and how I balance working on day-to-day tasks and bigger business goals? Tune in to today’s podcast episode here 🎧

Talk soon,

Michaela

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