How to screw The Nine to Five with Jill Stanton [PODCAST]

Jill Stanton joins me today from Screw the Nine to Five which she runs with her husband. They help web-preneurs cut the overwhelm, cut the bull, get focused and work on the right task in their business. Jill takes us through her entrepreneurial journey and what she credits her success to. You don’t want to miss it (and we may just have a special surprise in this episode for you).

COMPETITION: Listen to the episode and then leave a comment and share your biggest takeaway below – we’ll be picking someone from the comments to win a one month free pass to the Screw U membership!

The start of the entrepreneurial journey

Jill states she is the “worst employee you could hire”. Never wanting a “job”, Jill eventually found herself as a bartender and model, where her 9 to 5 was more like 9pm to 5am and she still hated it. Having an idea for a web tv show, she got an opportunity to pitch it, and it actually got picked up- which lead her journey into the online world initially. Learning skills even though the show never really went anywhere, it transitioned to another show which eventually prompted her to set up a service based business doing social media management. Wanting to work less and inspired by Josh (her now husband) who had his own software gig and made far more while working a lot less, they decided to scrap their solo stuff and start a business together. They set off into affiliate marketing initially and branched off into other sites.

During their wedding week when the last thing most people do is “work”, they were masterminding business. They registered the domain for Screw the Nine to Five and ultimately their new business journey began. Screw U was born from this, which is their membership site and community and is what they have mostly focused on since.

Turning “throwing it all at the wall” into focusing on community building (which they are good at) and focusing on what is dependable and predictable for them gives them space to enjoy their time, gives them their freedom and allows them to actually have fun in their business.

“Figure out your strengths in your business and what works and what doesn’t, and what you want to devote your time to- and then go all in on that”.

Overcoming obstacles in your Biz

Jill and her husband built up their business on content marketing and offers and their process was mostly, “well that didn’t work, let’s not do that again”. Starting out, most everything was trial and error. With no mentor or framework to follow, they really just put it out there to see what worked and what didn’t.

The simple shift of polling their audience on what they wanted and needed has changed their business and allowed them to be much more calculated. Through simply asking members in their free Facebook community, they no longer ugly cry their way through their business, but they build things that they know are of value to their community.

Business besties have also been a game changer- asking for feedback from people who also run their business can give you new insight into what to try when you get stuck or a direction to go in.

Breaking through in Business

Jill credits their success to figuring out three main principles and a lot of hard work:

Recognize your skills as your core structure. Jill is more into communication, coverage, copy, etc. and Josh is great at systems, software, etc. They each handle what they are great at in their business and let go of what doesn’t, saving them a lot of time and headache.
Focus on key promotions – amp those up and take a pause on things that aren’t relevant to building major momentum.
Outsource where you are weaker– give yourself some mental white space to focus on the big picture items.

Jill is huge on focus which is a theme that seems to be recurring in her journey. Jill states that in her business when her and Josh have gotten side tracked with what is shiny or flashy, how to make major money or what other people are doing, it has knocked them off of their game in the long run. Whenever they have followed things that aren’t in alignment with themselves, they have felt disconnected from the ease and flow that makes their business work.

Taking Time for Self Care

Entrepreneurs need to be resourceful, goal oriented and driven which can lead them to put their blinders on and work in excess. Jill cautions others to be aware of how much bandwidth what you are working on takes, so you can consciously make time and space for self care. Jill and Josh plan on taking off Friday, Saturday and Sunday next year as they have so much on their plates. It seems counterintuitive but it allows you to actually accomplish your goals faster when you are working. It won’t just be all day drinking and fun, but days off with purpose. Friday will be self care day, Saturday will be “faturday”- you know, eating out and general enjoyment and Sunday is prep day to prepare for the week. You need key things in place to ensure success, even on your off time.

Why Entrepreneurship is the Best Game in Town

When you do what you love, you don’t necessarily need a huge break or a ton of time off (even though breaks are important). Jill see’s the entrepreneural journey as a constant challenge that

Jill believes that when you feel like you are about to give up that is where you have to keep going. On the other side of that is where the purpose kicks in. It’s never happening to you, it’s only happening for you. On the other side of all of the hard stuff is the pure magic.

outlineof this episode

[1:13] Introduction of this episode with Jill Stanton, owner of Screw the 9 to 5.
[3:25] Jill Stanton talks about the progress of her business and how to get focused and work on the right tasks.
[4:07] Jill Stanton shares her story of what inspired her to start off on the entrepreneurial journey that led to her monthly membership community.
[7:35] Find one thing and do it well. Jill Stanton’s advice to entrepreneurs.
[10:50] Momentum marketing: Jill Stanton’s 5-stage process for building an online business.
[13:00] What to do when you have no clue.
[14:16] How to get through the error phase and overcome obstacles — two crucial groups of people to connect with
[16:58] What has helped Jill Stanton to have breakthroughs in business and move to the next level?
[19.34] Why a clear focus and personal white space matter.
[28:45] The crazy entrepreneurial journey – The best game in town
[29:46] Jill Stanton’s top piece of advice to entrepreneurs
[30:43] Lightning round: Quick business advice and resources from Jill Stanton

Resources& people mentioned

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See you next week for another episode of She Means Business!

Carrie xx

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