Planning by the Moon: an Intuitive Led Content Planner

*This is a raw and unedited transcript.

Speaker 1 (00:04):

Hey Outlaws. Welcome to episode number 50. That's a big deal. We're at 50 episodes and I'm excited because today's episode, I'm going to be taking you behind the scenes or my most recent project. I'm going to be sharing with you a little bit about the planning by the main planner. Something that I've been working on for, it feels like a really long time. It's been about three months, I guess. And as I shared at the end of last week's episode, this planner has definitely pivoted away from your original, the original plan. So back in the summer, I had this idea to create a seasonal content planner for business owners. We were heading towards my favorite season of autumn, and I really wanted to focus on planning my business. And I felt like a lot of my peers and a lot of clients and people, I was speaking to have this feeling as well, this energy of wanting to kind of get back to some planning, get back to whether it was content planning or just having like a bit clearer schedule because the last almost two years have been so uncertain and things are still crazy.

Speaker 1 (01:19):

But in the uncertainty, I think a lot of us have neglected to plan. We'll just avoided planning because it was like, what the is the point? Right. I know that's exactly how I felt in my business in 2020, felt like crazy. It felt like such a wild roller coaster because I was so busy, which meant I didn't have the time to plan. And yet everything was so uncertain and everything was constantly changing. And so most of 2020, I did not plan anything. I mean, I wasn't going anywhere. So it wasn't like I have to worry about, you know, family stuff or anything else coming up. I just was kind of in my business the whole time. And as I've traveled through 2021, I have been kind of feeling this need to, I was feeling this desire or craving to do some planning, get back into planning.

Speaker 1 (02:15):

And as I came out of the summer, slow, slow summer, I was really eager to start this new season now, to be honest, autumn has not felt how I wanted it to feel it has, has been really unexpected. It's been, I don't know, it's been a bit of a let down to be honest, I've done some really lovely things. The weather has finally got cool here in the UK. So it's fine. This week we've had like frost on our windows screens in the morning. It's finally got cold. It's like blanket weather finally, but I've just not really been feeling my usual October spooky season itself. And now that we're in November, I'm feeling a bit more like myself. I don't know something has shifted. And I think a lot of, a lot of my friends and peers and clients have said the same thing, like really excited for November have felt the same way about last month.

Speaker 1 (03:16):

So over the last couple of months, I have been using the planet and testing out the different pages and really leaning into this idea of planning by the moon. Because if there's anything I've learned from the last couple of years, it is that, you know, can change in an instant. And at the same time that has encouraged me to slow down in business. It's encouraged me to, you know, look at things differently, have a different perspective of what I want to be doing, you know, different income streams and how I want to run my own business. And working on this planet has been a reminder of that. It has reminded me that I wanted to slow down and the universe kind of gently encouraged me in that direction so many times. And even when it's felt really uncomfortable and I've been super anxious about what has it, where's my next income coming from, or what should I be doing in my business?

Speaker 1 (04:23):

And these are questions. I think plague a lot of us as entrepreneurs. We often have these questions of like, what should I do next? What's the next step? And I've definitely noticed that I take on too many things in a short space of time, right? I will decide I'm going to start a project. And that project kind of evolves into like a thousand different things. And I put a lot of external pressure on myself. I will put a lot of like self-imposed deadlines on myself. And so I've tried to step back with that with this planner. And whilst I am hoping, really hoping that in the next couple of weeks, this plan I will be published and you will be able to buy your copy. There is currently a waitlist open. Again, I will let you know more about that towards the end of the episode, but you know, we're running on a wait list at the moment and we will be doing a pre-sell as I've done previously.

Speaker 1 (05:19):

So there'll be 20 copies available from me directly. And I'm really looking forward to getting this, both the manuscript completed, but having this physical copy in my hand and getting your thoughts and your feedback and seeing you guys use it. So the planning by the moon planner is all about integrating our businesses into the moon cycle. It will take you on this journey. We will talk about business 100%. I will share my thoughts and I will share anecdotes and, and tips and things that I use in my own business. But the deeper meaning behind this planet is to help you align yourself with a cycle, whether it's the moon cycle or your own energy, this planner is here to serve you in the way that you need it. So we get into the lunar cycle. We talk about the phases that we're going to focus on.

Speaker 1 (06:23):

There are four phases that we're going to focus on inside of the planner, which is the new moon, the first quarter, full moon, and last quarter, that just makes it a little bit simpler rather than trying to focus on all eight phases. I talk about the energy that each of these phases offers, right, and how we can then align our business tasks, projects launches with these phases, which phases may be best for you to start a launch. When might it be best for you to be strategic and work on planning? When is it best for you to adding creative tasks or execute the things that you have been working on? Right. So when is the best time to kind of show up and launch and promote and maybe do a a workshop or a webinar, these kinds of things. So we talk about all of that inside of the planet, we talk about the four phases and the energy of each of those phases, what it represents and both what we can be doing in our business, but also the spiritual admin that we can be doing.

Speaker 1 (07:34):

I really love that phase phrase, sorry, spiritual admin. And so spiritual admin is like that time where we just need to be quiet, right? Which makes me so uncomfortable. It's actually our theme this month. Or this season, I should say for school period season inside of the outlook collective, we are focusing on stillness and quiet, and it just makes me really uncomfortable because I don't like being still old, quiet, which is why we need it. But sometimes in that stillness and quiet, I say sometimes, often more often than not in that stillness and quiet is when we really find the answers that we're looking for. And I feel like so many of us are looking for those answers are looking for those solutions in our businesses and in our lifestyles, you know, so many entrepreneurs that I've spoken to in the last couple of years, but, you know, especially this year, we're looking for things that are different.

Speaker 1 (08:42):

We're looking for different streams of income. We're really checking in with ourselves and our energy and understanding who we are as business owners, not who we should be or who someone else thinks we should be as a business or not. And so aligning our businesses with the moon and integrating that rest into our business on a regular basis really enables us to check back in. It's like this energetic Maka in the sky reminding us that we were human before we were a business owner and that we can integrate those rest cycles into our business, that by doing that, it helps us make faster business decisions. It helps us maintain our creative energy within our business. We're able to spend time outside of our businesses and enjoy hobbies, right? Enjoy the things that we love, which technically increases our productivity. Right. I don't love the idea of walking for productivity, but it does increase our ability to create right increases our ability to create.

Speaker 1 (09:56):

And I suddenly notice when I don't take that time to slow down when I don't take the time to read or listen to music or gout side, or have conversations with the people I love, that's when I'm like totally uninspired. And when I feel uninspired, I get really frustrated because as content creators and as small business owners, we need a fairly good dose of inspiration, right? We need a good helping of inspiration to allow us to come up with content, to feel inspired, to sit down and talk on Instagram stories or to write that email newsletter, whatever it may be that you're doing in your business. And so often when we don't feel inspired, we can get frustrated. And that's when we start to try and put more restrictions in place. And it can get, it can get into a really big spiral. We can really put that, you know, forceful motivation on ourselves instead of realizing that if we actually take our foot off the gas, slow down, step back, that can actually help us to get inspired again.

Speaker 1 (11:12):

And so throughout the planet, throughout these pages, we talk a lot about inspiration. I don't really ever talk about motivation. I think that it serves a purpose, but personally, I like to look at everything through the lens of inspiration, because inspiration is a pull energy, right? You can't push yourself into inspiration. Inspiration is always around us, but we are pulled to the things that inspire us, right? Often the things that are inspired by things that are inspiring us, other things that we get lost in, right. We can get lost for hours in that work or in those stories or in that writing or that creativity. And when I talk about creativity, I don't just mean drawing or artistry. It can be anything, anything that really gets you feeling creative. And we each have those things available to us all the time. But so often we don't allow ourselves to embrace them because we have been told and not chit in this way where hustle is important and productivity is important and sure, right?

Speaker 1 (12:25):

We've all got things that we got to do. We've got bills to pay and we've got, you know, responsibilities, but at the same time, when we can embrace those creative juices, when we can allow those things to flow, then we are able to make biggest strides in our businesses. So one of the things that you'll find early on in this planner is the outlaw approach. I haven't, I realized as I was creating this, I haven't shared the outlook approach publicly. I've been talking about it on my recent workshops, and I've been sharing this with them because it, again, this is something that has felt super crunchy. I'm like, oh, I'm actually saying, this is the approach. This is like the core framework. And that has felt really, really uncomfortable because for the longest time, I feel like I've been working on this. I've been working on, okay, what goes into this?

Speaker 1 (13:29):

How do we approach business? What makes us different? And so, you know, when you get your copy of the Jew of the planner, you will see the outlook approach in that. But what we're doing is looking at business through that lens, the intersection of strategy, spirituality and self-inquiry, and when looking at the things that make you and your approach to business unique, an approach, which is flexible, it offers you support it generally challenges you, it encourages you, but it's also profitable, right? This is really important because I know that shifting away from traditional marketing strategies and rewriting those rules, it feels like a big step. And it can also feel like you'll, you're really zigging when others are zagging, right. It feels like it's moving away from the traditional marketing, traditional business rules. And that can be really scary. So when you look at the outlaw approach, as I said, we start off with that intersection of strategy, spirituality, and self-inquiry you have had me talk about this before we need all three, right?

Speaker 1 (14:47):

We need all three. Yes. Strategy is really important. I'm not going to deny it. I love a good strategy. I love to, you know, go back and reflect on where I'm heading and what direction. And I've talked about that before here on the show, spirituality can serve such a purpose for us as business owners with no matter where you source your spirituality from, for me, I really like to tap into meditation. I like to journal. I really see journaling and quiet time as part of my spiritual practice. And the self-inquiry is that practice of being curious with yourself, right? Leaving the shame and judgment at the door and allowing ourselves to be curious and really get to know what it is that we need. Right. Which is a really great segue. Because again, one of the other things you're going to find inside of the planning by the main planner is that we're going to be talking about what you need a lot.

Speaker 1 (15:51):

There is a whole section of journaling about your needs. And so I'm, I'm giving you journal prompts in the planner that will help you to identify what you need from each layer of your business. What you need from this season, from this month, what it is that you need to feel, what it is you need financially. Because so often we know what we want, but sometimes what we want and what we need, it's not aligned. And that feels like super uncomfortable, right? Like we can sit down and say, I want to make $5,000 this month, but that may not be what you need this month. And it's really about alignment, right? Recognizing what I need and then aligning the steps that I take in my business with that. And that's powerful. It's a game changer. So we look have what you need. We will look at the data, right.

Speaker 1 (17:05):

There will be space for you to capture the data. You know, your KPIs, your key performance indicators. If those are things that you are looking at and tracking, and we'll also be capturing your values, right? You'll kind of cool business values, brand values. And the reason that's really important is because I believe when we know what we need and we approach business from our core values, the main values that are important to us right now, we can't go wrong. That is where intuition lies and we can make faster business decisions. Those won't be plagued with doubts. We weren't question ourselves because why would you question something that you've decided from your core values and what you need, but that's the process, right, is getting there is knowing what we need, recognizing it, writing down, aligning our business with those needs, making sure that our values are front and center and then approaching business in that way.

Speaker 1 (18:15):

And what we end up with is ethical business led by intuition, ethical business led by intuition, which is why we're all here, which is why we are entrepreneurial Outlaws, because we do what is right and not what is easy. And the truth is that nowadays the things that aren't easy is recognizing in our own way, what our business times, all the things that we want to do, right? The things that fit into our energy and our personality rather than doing that thing, that seemingly makes money, right? That has kind of an a to Z framework. And instead identifying and recognizing and meeting our own needs as a business owner, because this is when you hear and trust your intuition, but your intuition is built upon your needs. And when we neglect our needs, we are not listening to our intuition. We're encouraged to ask for one, but the truth is that what you want.

Speaker 1 (19:22):

Isn't always what you need in this season. And that's really important because things go, things change so quickly, right? I always, I don't know why still I'm always shocked that so much can change in 30 days. And so recognizing that we're in control of our business, we can decide to align our business with our needs and that it's a season. It can evolve. We can change our mind, right? This is a permission slip to change. Your mind is okay, doesn't make you flaky, right? No one will really notice that you've changed your mind, right? It's like this ultimate permission slip from the universe. And this is the reason why I created this planet because this is where I was being called. I just, I realized very quickly that this was, this was the work that I needed to be doing. This was the work I needed in my own business. It's the work that we've been doing inside of the outlook collective for, I don't know, like almost six months now, we have been having these conversations during the new moon, during the full moon and in between, and really quickly the started to pivots into planning by the moon.

Speaker 1 (20:55):

So inside of the soft covers, you will find everything you need to help you. If you're brand new to the lunar cycle, we'll talk about the lunar cycle. We will get into the four phases that we're looking at. I share with you, as I said, the energy and the types of tasks or work that you could be doing during each phase. But as you go through, we then start to get into kind of the more practical pieces where you've got the journal prompts. It's plenty of space to add your journaling inside of the planner, we look at reflections celebration. And then as I said, identifying what you need during this season or month looking at whether it's a slow or busy season for your business. And then we start to focus on content creative cycle, looking at how to lay out your kind of mood board or vision board for your business for that month or season coming up with content ideas.

Speaker 1 (21:55):

So instead of giving you like very specific ways to write your content, I'm have created a space, right? And really embracing that space to allow you to curates almost a content bank. So over time, you can come back to it and capture those ideas in one place in your planner. And you can write down different prompts or different ideas that you have because I am the first one to admit that I have these amazing ideas. And then I forget where I put them forever, sending myself Voxer messages. This is a place where you can capture those and you can come back to them, right? You can either come back to them as you start to create your content that month, or you can come back at the end of the season and just revisit them. Maybe you have an idea for something that you want to share, but it's not the right time.

Speaker 1 (22:57):

Whenever it may be, you will have space to capture those ideas. I'm going to be sharing with you. My signature storytelling path also you'll have access to the content alchemy method inside of this, which is where we talk about the three phases of that method. This is like my signature framework for creating content. And it's, it's very much about you and your story and connecting that and engaging with people who already follow you rather than kind of focusing on client attraction. Because honestly, when you have a small business that is just, there will be space to map out a calendar. You'll have a spread, which you can either use as a monthly spread, or you can use it as a cycle. So to give you that flexibility, if you want to track, you know, the Gregorian calendar, you can do that, or you can track the lunar cycle on the spread.

Speaker 1 (23:49):

The choice is yours, cause it is undated. I'm going to be sharing more and more over the next few weeks on how to customize and use this part of yourself. We get into spiritual admin. So there's a space for you to capture a Oracle or tarot deck pool for the month ahead, kept it really simple, right? A three card spread, allowing you to write down the interpretations and takeaways for the focus for the coming month. Look at what your projects are for the coming month. Any tasks, call to actions and really capturing how you want to feel. And then we get into that daily tasks. So we're looking at what it is you're doing every day. And I decided to adapt this originally, it was going to be a weekly spread, but we're going to capture every day because every day is a little bit different.

Speaker 1 (24:48):

And on each day, you'll see that there is space for you to capture the moon phase. You can track your energy right, in a really simple way. And then I'm using a method which we've talked about here on the podcast before, but it's cool to have need one list. And the have need won't list is really, really powerful for those of us who tend to commit our time to work before we commit our time to the things that we want to do, my hand is raised high. So if you are someone who dives into work, like the moment you get in your office, and doesn't kind of ease in slowly. Again, my hand is raised, this is something I'm constantly trying to manage this list that you'll be able to use every day, enables you to write down something that you have to do today.

Speaker 1 (25:40):

Something that you need to do today, and then something that you want to do today, right? There is space for one thing for each which not only challenges you to really lean into the things that you want to do, but it also reminds you that you can't and don't have to do everything right. You can't, and don't have to do everything on any given day, the space, fewer your appointments. And then every day I'm sharing with you, a writing prompt. So a journal prompt or a little exercise to really help you capture how you're feeling, what you want to be working on. Because as business owners, there are so many emotions. And I think it's really important for us to know that we can capture how we're feeling and then capture the things that we're doing really well. Write down anything that's feeling challenging, write down the things we're looking forward to, and then what we want to maybe change or how we want to approach the following week.

Speaker 1 (26:47):

We're going to look at ways in which you can celebrate in your business, because that is so incredibly important that we remember to celebrate before we evaluate and allow ourselves to really dig in to what we did well. Even if it didn't look the way we expected it to, you'll also find, I am putting together at the moment, a bank of journal prompts towards the back of the planner, because I want to give you the opportunity to expand and evolve your journal practice. So these will be focused specifically on business. That's kind of the way in which I approached journaling often looking at the ways in which we feel about our business and how we feel as a business owner and how we want to approach things. If we want to approach things differently, the planning by the moon planner will be available in November.

Speaker 1 (27:41):

I am still not giving a specific date because at the time of recording this, I'm still working on their manuscripts. And as I said, beautifully frustrating, but we all looking at a tentative date of the 15th of November, which is really scary, but the 15th of November, I'm hoping to start the pre-sale. So if you are interested in getting a copy of this stunning soft cover journal, soft care planner, sorry, make sure you go over to the show notes. You will find the link to add your name and email address to our waitlist. Wait-Listers. We'll be the first to know when the planet is published. I am updating on a weekly basis with where, what I'm working on, sharing the pages and behind the scenes, and you will be able to buy one of the first 20 copies of this planner. Those planners will be sent directly from me and as always, I will be making sure to include some fun little gifts with your planner as a thank you for supporting me, supporting my work, supporting this business, because without you, these things would not be possible.

Speaker 1 (28:53):

So as I said, head over to the show notes and you can find the wait list there. You'll be able to add your name and email address, and I will update you as, and when we have a publication date. So thank you for joining me for today's episode. I have put so much love and energy into this project, and that has been, as I said, super uncomfortable, but I'm really excited for this direction in my own business as well, and expect to see on my personal Instagram feed, expect to see more of that creative side, more of the creativity that goes into the planners. And I'm going to be sharing more about that in coming episodes as well. So thank you so much for joining me for episode 50 of entrepreneurial Outlaws. As I said, make sure you go and grab a space on the wait list over in the show notes. We'll link to that there. And I am looking forward to seeing you using your copy of planning by the moon. And I will see you next week for episode number 51.