Ep.93/ Finding Part-Time Consulting & Poking the Status Quo: Amy Fiore
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Amy Fiore, Managing Director of Sobel Bixel: Consulting for Nonprofits and Director of Development for The Story Pirates and who previously served in executive roles at several esteemed Manhattan-based cultural institutions including The Public Theater, shares her journey of ‘poking the status quo.’ She discusses the importance of finding flexibility in work, advises time management tips for consultants, how to find part-time work and the significance of aligning personal and career happiness.
Amy emphasizes listening to all voices, especially those at lower levels, to truly understand and improve organizations. She also delves into the world of nonprofit work, highlighting the impact and challenges it presents.
In this episode you will learn:
Poking the status quo in your career (3:48)
Her best advice for other consultants (10:49)
How to find part-time work (12:27)
How listening is actually the most important job you will ever have (19:04)
Why you should be strategically planning all the time (28:26)
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Are you tired of the status quo? Are you looking for flexibility in your job?
Amy Fiore, Managing Director of Sobel Bixel: Consulting for Nonprofits and Director of Development for The Story Pirates, shares her journey of taking control of her life and career, challenging the status quo. She discusses the importance of finding flexibility in work, time management tips for consultants, and the significance of aligning personal and career happiness.
Amy emphasizes listening to all voices, especially those at lower levels, to truly understand and improve organizations. She also delves into the world of nonprofit work, highlighting the impact and challenges it presents.
In this episode you will learn:
Poking the status quo in your career (3:48)
Finding work as a consultant (12:27)
How listening is actually the most important job you will ever have (19:04)
Why you should be strategically planning all the time (28:26)
Quotes from our guest:
“How do you take a step back and say, well, just because I've always been doing it doesn't mean that it's the way I should always be doing things in both my career, my life, and in the way I do work.”
“I needed to work for myself so that I didn't feel this guilt and this responsibility to continue proving myself to someone else.”
“I got to make sure that I am not going in only assuming that what I assume is correct is correct, that instead I got to stop. I have to throw all of that away and I need to listen to a variety of voices.”
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AMY’S LINKS:
Connect with Amy on LinkedIn
Amy (00:02):
I was in labor and delivery at my husband. I had to argue with my husband to say, but I need to send one more email.
Kim (00:07):
Meet Amy Fiore, a nonprofit executive who has taken control and poked the status quo in her life. No more sending emails from the hospital. She has great perspective and shares how she got the flexibility she was looking for, and she shares her time management tips for consultants juggling multiple projects and advice on how to find part-time work.
(00:29):
Welcome to the Exit Interview with Kim Rittberg. Do you work for yourself and want to supercharge your business while still having fun? Well, this is your go-to podcast part MBA Part Cheer Squad. Every week I'll be joined by top business owners who share the secrets to their success. After I found myself working during childbirth true story, I quit my executive media job to bet on myself fighting the fear and imposter syndrome to eventually earn six awards, an in-demand speaking career and features in Fast Company and Business Insider. Now I'm here to celebrate all you rock stars betting on yourself, and I want to help you win. Tune in every Wednesday to hear from remarkable founders and don't miss our Solo Friday episodes, a treasure trove of video and podcasting mini masterclasses with me. Exit the Grind, enter success on your own terms. Don't forget to subscribe today and grab my free video tips at my website kimrittberg.com.
(01:30):
So I've been celebrating some of my clients' wins. They are out doing podcast guesting, they're running webinars, they're launching their group coaching. It's been a really, really exciting season for the students that I've worked with that I've coached through video and teaching them how to be thought leaders through content. So I just want to say it's just been a really gratifying season for me. It I'm really excited to bring in Amy and I want to let you know if you are looking to grow yourself as a thought leader, maybe you're an executive and you're really looking to shine more through better communication skills, more on camera presence, or if you're running your own business and you want more people to know about you and your business, whether that's through video and podcast or through messaging and just really tie your messaging together, let me know.
(02:09):
You can connect with me through Instagram or LinkedIn at Kim Rittberg or you can connect with me through the podcast website kimrittberg.com. I'm really excited to bring in Amy because she actually reached out to me on LinkedIn. So she had heard me on another podcast and started listening and she really connected with my story of working during labor and delivery. What I love about Amy though is she works in a totally different field of nonprofit and she just has a really fascinating story of how many years ago she decided to take control and what that looks like for her, what it really looks like for her to work in the nonprofit sector, to juggle different clients and how she has poked the status quo of her career. I'm really excited to bring in Amy Fiore. She has served as an executive director, managing director and director of development for several esteemed Manhattan based cultural institutions, including the public theater, Tada Youth Theater, and only Make-Believe after serving as an adjunct professor on nonprofit management at NYU, she has had the opportunity to guest lecture for a number of organizations like the Association of Fundraising Professionals, the Center for Nonprofits, the Association for Development Officers, points of Light and Nonprofit Learning Lab among many others in her current role as managing director of Sobel Bixell Consulting for nonprofits, she specializes in board and staff training and retreats, strategic planning, corporate sponsorships, fundraising plans and implementation, project management and interim leadership.
(03:31):
She also currently serves as a director of development for the story Pirates. Amy, I'm really excited to have you join us. Thank you for joining us.
Amy (03:39):
I am thrilled to be here. Thank you for having me.
Kim (03:42):
So I love first of all story Pirates. I feel like everyone has kids knows Story Pirates and it's such a cool organization. So talk to me about, one thing that jumped out at me that I saw when we had corresponded before you coming on was you talked about you've poked the status quo in your career. What does that mean?
Amy (04:03):
It's funny. That is, it's something that I didn't know that I was doing at the time, but has become almost a mantra for me of how I not only live my own career, but also how I work with clients. I started in nonprofit arts administration about 17 years ago. I decided to have a child and I wanted to make my life work. So I decided to make the request of telecommuting, which is what we called it at the time, that I was going to work a few days a week from home and I had to really fight for it at the time because nobody was doing it. And when I got those types of positions, I felt this massive chip on my shoulder of then I need to be the very best I need to consistently earn this privilege that I've been getting and poking the status quo.
(04:51):
For me, I always sort of go back to where I started and the way I was doing my work because I wasn't looking closely at how I was living my life and actually the reason why I reached out to you in the first place was because of your intro, the way you talked about doing work while in labor. It just absolutely, I recognized it in an instant because I did the same thing. My younger daughter, I was in labor and delivery at my husband. I had to argue with my husband to say, can I, but I need to send one more email. And that was the poking the status quo moment of when he sort of looked at me is like really does that right now? And I was like, oh, wow. I didn't realize that that's where my priorities were. So when I talk about that, it was what do I see as the norm? What do I see as what have I determined my responsibilities or what have I determined are the things that I know to be true? And how do you unpack that? How do you take a step back and say, well, just because I've always been doing it doesn't mean that it's the way I should always be doing things in both my career, my life, and in the way I do work.
Kim (06:03):
And so I love that. And so once you had that change in how you see it mentally, what are the actions you take from that then?
Amy (06:12):
Well then you stay in it for a little while and it's like, I would love to say, and that was it. And I said, never again. No, of course not. You stay frustrated and you say, why am I living in this existence that doesn't work for me? Why am I in this career setup that doesn't make sense in my life? And for me, it was taking time. It actually for me was about leaving the job I was in at that time thinking, I will find another job and I'm going to make some rules for myself. I was sort of second in command in the job where I was sending emails during labor, okay, I'm going to be an executive director and this is going to make it better, but I'm still reporting to other folks and folks who for some reason felt like I need to be sitting in a certain spot in order to prove that I'm doing my job.
(07:01):
And I realized that I, and again was asking for a privilege of some flexibility and work and the chip on my shoulder, but also the resentment of you need to be in a certain place at a certain time to prove that you are working really hard. Even though all of my workflow showed that I, that for me was when I realized, oh, okay, Taylor Swift, it's me, the problem it's me. I had to realize that what wasn't working for me, being in what the world or the confines determined as a nine to five or a 10 to six, whatever you wanted to call it, I needed to work for myself so that I didn't feel this guilt and this responsibility to continue proving myself to someone else. And that's when I realized I have to, I got to make a shift. I got to go off on my own, even though that's a terrifying thing to do, but that for me is really where it happened, that it was the only way this works is if I'm reporting to me
Kim (08:04):
Now, talk to me about, I know you're managing director for one organization. Do you work for yourself and you're working on different projects? Are you full-time somewhere? I'm always very interested in the structure of how people make it work for them. So explain to me the structure of what you're doing right now.
Amy (08:19):
I overheard my child say to someone, semi-recently, my mom has a million jobs. And at first I'm like, oh gosh, wow, that's not the way I describe me. And I mean God bless people who are in that situation where they have to work a lot of different jobs. This is very much by choice. What happened was I decided I'm going to leave this grind that I'm in, and I started looking for jobs and playing name that tune with the jobs I was looking for, high level part-time jobs and in the nonprofit sector, specifically in the art sector, because of the way their budgets work, I was able to find these postings for part-time executive director 20 hours a week and part-time director of development 20 hours a week. And I'm like, I can do that in 15 and if I have three of those, well there I go.
(09:07):
Now I'll call myself a consultant. And the weird thing was it kind of worked and I loved it because I liked being able to bounce. So that's actually when I started with Story Pirates. I was talking to a couple different arts organizations at the time, story Pirates, the very best sort of said, I was honest with them. I'm like, look, I'm literally trying to upend everything that is normal in my life. This might take me a minute to solve. And they said, well wait for you because they're incredible. And luckily at the time, I was also talking to this consulting firm where I am an independent contractor. My title is managing director, but I work for myself. I ended up working with another arts organization because it was sort of like this juggling act of how do I make my life work? And my husband and I were both concerned of, will there be enough money at the end of the month?
(09:52):
Can we do this? So my 45 hours a week was turning into 60 65 and I realized, oh wait, okay. The first couple months when I actually was getting paid for it, I was like, oh, okay, I need to sleep so maybe I can take one of these off of the plate. So the way my life works now is I am officially half of my time goes to consulting, half of my time goes to Story Pirates, and there's never a week that it's exactly 50 50, right? That's not real. There are weeks that both of them want a hundred percent of my time, but because I work for myself and because everyone knows the situation and respects it and actually has recognized the value of me doing both, because I'm able to parlay those relationships to be beneficial for both organizations, there's no apology necessary. I will sometimes say, listen, I'm going to start this next line in two weeks because I'm doing this event for Pirates or Hey Pirates, listen, can't take this on.
(10:49):
We can't do this grant proposal on this. We're going to have to apply for the next event. I don't have the time to do it. And that's how it averages out week to week, month to month that it ends up being about 50 50. Okay. What is your best advice for other consultants? Oh, the one that I had when my consultancy started to grow and I started to realize, oh wait, I fully undervalue myself. I'm charging way less for an hour than I should be, and I was able to start really building my career from consulting. I then had this moment of panic of, but I like the story parts and I want to work for them, but they're a small nonprofit organization and I want the money to be going towards the programming. And that was when I realized, wait, when I make the rules, I make all of the rules and I can choose to work for less for the organizations that I want to.
(11:37):
I'm going to be a consultant. I'm going to enjoy that life. And so I decide who I want to work for. I decide what I'm good at and what I like doing. So for example, I like being with a client for a hundred days. It reminds me of an episode of the West Wing where they talk about first hundred days of office. I believe that you get the very best of me for a hundred days in the night. I've given you my best advice. I get kind of bored and I'm ready to move on. So both of those things. Also, being able to carve out time to run a local theater program that I love, that I only do one time a year, I do it for three months and then I let it go for several months. It's about being able to say no and being able to be really conscious about how you want to use your best effort, what is going to create the space for you to give your best effort.
Kim (12:27):
Okay. What is your advice for finding Part-Time work?
Amy (12:32):
I think it's about boldly asking for it, knowing your value, knowing how quickly or efficiently you can get something done. I believe that 40 hours is arbitrary, to be honest with you. When I initially started applying for these part-time gigs, which I was calling consulting, and they were like, yeah, no, we're going to put you on payroll. I started to argue it and I learned really quickly, I don't need you to tell me how I can prove to you, give me a chance to prove to you how this job can get done in a certain number of hours. And I really believe in the test. I really believe a lot of folks are scared about the idea of starting a job and then you're going to do a review in three months and it's like, oh, well now job security, I'm really nervous about, no, give me the chance to prove myself. I'm going to prove it to you. I'm going to prove to you I'm good at this job and I'm going to prove to you that I can do it the way that works with my own life.
Kim (13:28):
I love that. I would love to note, obviously you spent so many years in nonprofit, what do you love about nonprofit work?
Amy (13:34):
Yeah, the double-edged sword. I love that nonprofit. I like small nonprofits because I feel like you can have a real impact. You see the work when you work for a big organization, you know that you're making a product, you're selling a product, you're doing something greater, but often you're such a tiny little piece in that machine that you don't feel like you've ever put your thumbprint on it. At a small nonprofit, you do have the ability to do that. And of course the flip side of that is it's really hard to turn it off. I work with organizations beyond the arts. I do a lot of strategic planning. I do a lot of coaching and leadership development and fundraising plans for organizations. I get to really be doing the work and knowing that it's actually going to have an impact on another human being, that it literally is making the world a better place. But that means that there's a huge responsibility in it as well, that if we do it wrong, either we're not going to be able to serve the people that need serving or we're going to burn out the folks that are doing that work because burnout is super high in that sector.
Kim (14:38):
Yeah, it's interesting. So most of my career has been in media, but I had the honor, it was so amazing to work on several big projects for it gets better, which is a pretty big nonprofit actually, it's not small. I bid on this project and I'm like, they're not going to pick me. I'm very well known for not well known, but I have a very good reputation in media and content. But I was sort of in the first few years of running my own company and I do production, but it's a part of my business. They loved my voice and they loved my tone and they brought me on for a project. It was the most gratifying thing I've done, and it was in probably the first two years of my own business, I had had 20 years of media, so I know what I'm doing in terms of making content, and I ended up doing this four part series explaining different phrases in the L-G-B-T-Q glossary sort of, and we made it fun.
(15:32):
My background is pop culture and news, but I basically like to take concepts and make them fun and easy to understand fun colors, good set decoration, but everything's researched and well explained and everything like that. We ended up winning all these awards and I was like, oh my God, I already was so excited to be just doing this project. And they ended up using it in school system in Los Angeles. It's a part of the school systems documents for education. And I got that taste of like, oh my God, this is so cool. And then I did another program with them with where I made all the videos that had first person interviews with people of trans or non-binary, whatever the word that we were talking about. Secondarily, there's a glossary that explains basically all the words that a kid on their journey, a teenager on their journey might be questioning.
(16:19):
And so we did 18 videos for this main page, which is their number one landing page, which gets millions of views each year, and that also won awards. And I was like, this is so crazy. You go from being like, I don't think I'm going to get picked for this project to being all in and super excited and then getting gratified. But what I found was I find it's like you have to really find that organization that you're really connected to. I felt really connected to it. I have a lot of friends that are queer or gay or whatever, and I felt like this is such an amazing project, I'm really excited to work on it. But I do think, to your point, nonprofit pays less and depending on the organization, sometimes they're known for not being very well organized. So you really have to pick the organization you're working with and it has to be something you're really aligned with because I think because it's nonprofit work, it has to come from here. And so for me, it was fantastic. And I do think about, oh, maybe I want to do one sort of low bono. I didn't do that pro bono, obviously it was like low bono work each year, one nonprofit project each year, but really it has to be utilizing my best skills and helping their organization in a way that really works because it can do so much. And it was so incredible to be able to be a part of that.
Amy (17:35):
I totally agree. And now that I am consulting and I'm working with so many different types of organizations and getting to know social service organizations, health organizations, and seeing the different ways in which we can serve the community, that's been incredibly meaningful to me. And yeah, there are some that it's a gig, right? It's a consulting gig and I'm showing up because I've been hired to do the work. The thing about the nonprofit sector is the reason why they're less organized is because of the passion. And so I've had the privilege of being able to go in and try to fix that. And so the strategic planning process is about how do we make this list chaotic? How do we make this more manageable? How do we find efficiencies within these organizations so that those individuals who are working out of the passion and are doing what I was doing 10 years ago where it's, but I'm making the world a better place, so therefore let me be a martyr and not make my own life livable because I'm trying to make the world a better place. Taking care of this industry has for me also become part of the nonprofit work I do, taking care of the nonprofit employees, those people who have decided to spend their lives trying to focus on one mission, that to me has become a passion point because there aren't enough opportunities to make things easier for them.
Kim (19:04):
Yeah, absolutely. One of the things you wrote in that I want to follow up with you about the importance of listening. Talk to me about the importance of listening.
Amy (19:15):
So when I talk about poking the status quo, it usually comes up when I'm working on a strategic plan for an organization. And the bulk of that work is a discovery process where we talk to about 15 to 20 stakeholders. When we say stakeholders, it's who has a really diverse view of the organization, but the truth is, I am waiting for them to give me the opportunity to interview someone who's either an assistant or as an associate level person who has been around for a little while because the second you interview them exactly what's wrong with the organization and exactly how to fix it. And the problem is that person doesn't have a voice. That person maybe has sort of quietly said it, sort of suggested it. Nobody listens to them. And my experience has been if you open up the channels where everyone has a voice, where you're listening, and we talk a lot really definitely in the nonprofit sector, but I think everywhere about diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, and we talk about that under the guise of Let's Hire, right?
(20:18):
Let's diversify, let's make sure that the about us page on our website looks good. But what it really means is the lower level individuals in your organizations, the ones that are being served by an organization, especially in nonprofit or the ones who are making just above minimum wage, do they have a voice too? The ones that are living the status quo, they're the ones that if there's something that is unnecessarily cumbersome or just plain annoying, they're the ones that have to deal with it on a day-to-Day basis. And their job is to basically put up with it or leave. It's a good example of the kind of listening that I think we need to do in our jobs. It's kind of listening we need to do in our lives, right? Story parts is a great example of this too. The entire mission of Story Pirates is about celebrating the words and ideas of children because how often, and I'm the first person to say I'm guilty of it.
(21:14):
How often did I not listen to my kids when my kids were telling me, Hey, this is going on in the classroom. Well you're probably acting out, or This is what I'm excited about. Oh, that's too silly. That's that TV show is annoying. Don't turn it on. If we aren't listening to all of the voices, are we really looking at the way we interact with the world around us? And so it's a little bit of do as I say, out as I do because it's hard and now have teenagers and it becomes harder and harder to remember, oh, you're a growing human being and I need to listen better. Or when my spouse is talking and we're basically talking over each other and we don't necessarily listen, but it is a core of what I've learned in my consulting work. I can't go in and make an assumption. I can't go into an organization and say, even though a lot of times I go in with some idea of here's what I think is wrong and I realize I got to check that. I got to make sure that I am not going in only assuming that what I assume is correct is correct, that instead I got to stop. I got to throw all of that away and I need to listen to a variety of voices.
Kim (22:23):
Oh, I love that. Okay. I got some rapid fire for you.
Amy (22:26):
Alright.
Kim (22:27):
I want you to fill in the blanks before poking your status quo before your life was blank and now your life is blank.
Amy (22:34):
Before my life was heavy and now my life is joyful and creative and light.
Kim (22:45):
Do you have a funny or embarrassing work moment to share?
Amy (22:48):
I do. Story Pirates has this incredible volunteer program, I'll try to say it quickly. You said Rapid Fire. We work with corporate volunteers to have them read stories written by children and send back notes of encouragement. In end of March, 2020 when we were in full on panic mode, we had one of these corporations, big giant corporation reach out to us and say, can you do this program virtually? And we said yes, we definitely could not. We were not ready. There was literally no infrastructure for it whatsoever. And so we built this entire system on Google Drive and we're like, yeah, we'll have it ready for you in one week. We built this whole thing and somehow managed to miss the point that the corporation could not use Google Drive. So it was yet another technology company that I will not name that was like, yeah, great, we can't do it.
(23:41):
And when we were so excited, we were like early scary, terrible pandemic time. And so we got everybody onto the Zoom, we're like ready to go. We've been working around the clock and within the space of 13 seconds they were like, yeah, we can't do this thing that we have made a massive sponsorship for and this thing that I thought was going to save the organization. And ultimately it did sort of help keep us very much help keep us going. Yeah, super embarrassing, super terrible and allowed my assistant at the time to be like I told you, and I owned that and then we fixed it. And now actually now it's an incredible program.
Kim (24:14):
I love that. Okay, what always gets a no and then what always gets a yes?
Amy (24:18):
What always gets ooh? What always gets a no? What always gets a no is if in the business development process you're really difficult. I already know that. I know you're going to be difficult as a client. That gets a no. What gets a yes is the ones that I can't stop smiling about when I'm talking to them and already I'm going a mile a minute and I already have them buzzing with ideas. Then it doesn't matter how much money is available. That always gets a yes.
Kim (24:48):
What about in life outside of the office? No. And yes.
Amy (24:51):
Oh, what gets a no is something that seems exhausting. Anything that requires jumping from an airplane or a cliff or anything like that, for me, that's a hard no. But anything that is theatrical or musical or creative, the opportunity to work with kids or sing or put on a show, that's That's an absolute yes.
Kim (25:18):
Do you sing?
Amy (25:19):
I do, but I'm not going to right now.
Kim (25:21):
Oh, you do? You knew I was going to ask that. I'm too, I'm transparent.
Amy (25:25):
Very rarely in public these days though. There are every year there's about 52nd through eighth graders who hear me sing a whole lot and they're usually like, Missie, can you stop now please? It's our turn.
Kim (25:37):
I'm too transparent that you knew. I was going to ask that. Amy, this has been so great. Is there anything I didn't ask you that you'd like to share with the audience?
Amy (25:43):
No, I just appreciate the opportunity. I am really fortunate. I'm fortunate because I was able to figure this out without a podcast like this almost 20 years ago, but I was really alone at the time and I really thought that I was the only person that was trying to make this work. And I knew that I needed to find a way to match my personal happiness with my career happiness. So I'm really thankful that we're helping other people in this space right now and that it doesn't have to be quite so long.
Kim (26:13):
Oh, I love that you're saying that. I started this podcast because I was like, what am I doing? How do I do this thing that I love what I do? I never am like, Ugh, I have to work. I like working, but I was like, I don't like how work is right now. I don't like what it's doing to me. I don't like what it's doing to my household. And then I started meeting all of these incredible people, mostly women, mostly moms who had figured out a different way. And I was like, Ooh, what does that look like? What does that look like? What does that look like? Someone was working seven to three, someone else was working four days a week, someone else was working three days a week. I'm like, there are other ways to do this. And it just got me on this spin.
(26:55):
And it's funny, I'm very open about the fact that I thought about this podcast for a year before even doing it. And to your point about working so hard and not saying, well, this is passion. So it takes over. I know I'm an all or nothing person. I know that if I'm going to make a podcast, it's got to be a good podcast. I'm a content expert. If I'm going to make a podcast, it's going to be interesting. And I, it's had to be thought through and the visuals have to be good. And I sat on it for a while. This needs to feel totally right. I know it's involved and I know how much work it will be, but I know how great it will be if I do it. And I waited for a year and then some of it was imposter syndrome, just being like, who wants to hear from Kim Rittenberg?
(27:33):
Who is Kim Rittenberg? Who cares? And so I had those voices. So it's been really amazing meeting women, people, we have some men on the show meeting people like you and other people who are just really putting their life in their career under a microscope and saying, is this working for me? And I talk about this with my oldest brother. I talk about this with both of my brothers. My oldest brother runs a business and I talk to him about just reassessing each year or each half year how things are going. And he's like, I think everybody should constantly reassess where they're at and is it working for them? And he runs a business, so it's like I'm telling everybody, quit your job. But he runs a business. And I think I love the idea of just saying, is this working for me? What is working? What isn't working? And how do we improve upon that? It's basically not New Year's resolution, but it's just lifetime reassessment, lifetime resolution at any point in your life where things aren't working.
Amy (28:26):
I feel like that New Year's resolutions is exactly the point. In the nonprofit world. We call it strategic planning and we say we're going to do it every three years, but the truth is you should be strategically planning all the time. Every time you're trying to put something in place, you need a strategy for it. You don't just sort of throw things at the wall and see what sticks and then think that it's going to be successful and think that people aren't going to get frustrated by it. So yeah, I think it's two sides of the same coin of point if we're assessing, but also planning because both of them, you cannot do one without the other.
Kim (29:00):
Totally. And then it's interesting. The other aspect is I find when we're under this pressure to perform and do better and work really hard and the reassessing can end up being okay, these things are doing well, so then what more can I do? Which is good, but can also push you too much sometimes. Like, okay, there's literally a hundred more things I could do. Maybe I'm going to pick seven. Two, I do this quarter. Two, I do next quarter. Two I do by the end of the year. And I think it's important to have goals and planning, but also not to take your word, not let it be heavy. I find that I'm like, oh, that to-do list is literally 80 pages long in my Google Doc. That's too long. One page of what am I working on this or this week or today? And then the rest is when I get to it or whatever. So I think balancing the mental load of sort of pressure, the personal pressure of what is good and assessing and improving and making better versus what is pushing myself to a point at which it's like, is that necessary? Go have your coffee, go be with your kid, go have your weekend, turn off your phone. And so I think I work on that. I work for myself, so it's a balance for me as well. Okay, Amy, where can people connect with you and find you?
Amy (30:13):
LinkedIn is probably the best place to find me. You should also go and find the Story Pirates, if you are a parent, the Story Pirates podcast, and then also the Dr. Seuss podcast. We are producing as well. And we have a few more in the works. So keep on looking for the incredible content of Story Pirates. If you are a corporation, you're working with a corporation in looking for employee engagement, employee volunteerism, find us there too. You can read kids' stories, we would love to work with you. And if you're with a nonprofit, Sobel Bixel Consulting for nonprofits, but all of that is available from my LinkedIn.
Kim (30:46):
Awesome. Thank you so much Amy.
Amy (30:47):
Thank you.
Kim (30:49):
And if you like this episode, please take a screenshot, share it on social media and tag me at Kim Rittberg. And I would love it if you would rate and review the show.
Kim (30:59):
Thank you for joining us. Don't forget to exit the grind and enter success on your own terms. This is the exit interview with Kim Rittberg. Don't forget to grab my free download, how to Grow Your Business with Amazing video at kimrittberg.com and linked out in the show notes. I love to hear your feedback. Make sure to submit to me what you learned from the show and how you are crushing it on your own terms. Connect with me on Instagram or LinkedIn at Kim rittberg, R-I-T-T-B-E-R-G. And this show is edited by Jillian Grover and produced by Henry Street Media. I'm your host and executive producer, Kim Rittberg.