EPISODE 65 OF THE MARKETING SOLUTIONS PODCAST: YOUR IDEAL DAY TO MAXIMISE PRODUCTIVITY
Sonya:
Today, I am joined by Mackenzie, who is a productivity coach, and I actually came across Mackenzie, I think it was about a month ago on one of her incredible TikTok videos, and I was totally sucked in.
Sonya:
Welcome to the Boom Your Biz podcast. A podcast for the movers, the shakers, and even bigger action takers in business. I'm your host, Sonya McIntyre-Reid, and each week I'll be exploring the question of what really makes businesses and organizations thrive. I'm on a mission to educate, empower, and inspire business owners and myself along the way.
Sonya:
Mackenzie, what is a productivity coach?
McKenzie:
I teach people how to master their time and energy, really using neuroscience, and a little bit of energy management and spirituality, but it's a lot of understanding your brain on a deeper level, on a physiological level, and really matching up your brain's output with the work that you have to do. A productivity coach teachers people really how to really control their time and energy, so they can actually enjoy their life. You know what I mean?
Sonya:
Mm-hmm (affirmative). Yeah. Look, something that I have been exploring a lot lately is that I hit the point where I felt really burnt out at the end of last year. I was looking at my schedule, and I thought I should be able to have the energy to do everything that I want to be able to get done in my business throughout the week. Right? But I was finding that I was sort of hitting the end of the day or even getting halfway through and just feeling completely fried. My brain was just, I don't know, did not have the energy and the focus I needed to try and get everything done, so when I came across your videos on TikTok talking about, I guess, these different phases and the different archetypes that people have for productivity, I was really, really intrigued.
Sonya:
For people that haven't been down that content rabbit hole that I did with you TikTok videos, and guys, I'm going to link to Mackenzie's incredible TikTok in the show notes for this episode, so you can see what I'm talking about, but can you give me a bit of an overview on what is this archetype concept? How is it our brains work differently?
McKenzie:
A hundred percent, so what, Sonya, you're talking about is what I've developed. It's called the Ideal Day Formula. Pretty much, what is the ideal day per person to be able to do certain peak times? Right? It's kind of combining a lot of biological research, sleep research, neuroscience, a lot of deep work in flow state research and it's really combining it with the outcome of being more productive in your mind.
McKenzie:
Long story short, we have a group of nerves in our brain that we call the circadian pacemaker that literally control everything about your day, from your hormones that are being released, to your memory, your social ability, your executive functioning, and it resets every single day. That's why we sleep every single day, or we should, we're grouped into these different archetypes that we call chronotypes, so time types. There are four general different patterns that every human falls into, but essentially if we can match up these rises and falls of your body temperature, your hormones, the chemicals that are in your brain with the tasks at hand, for the day, you're actually going to get more done in less time, and you're not going to hit that awful 2:00 p.m., feeling where you feel like you can't get anything done, and just kaput for the rest of the day. This Ideal Day Formula and these chronotypes really give us the ability to master our schedule and mash that up with our work, and in turn, literally just be way more powerful in the work that we're creating.
Sonya:
From memory, you've got a quiz or something where people can actually go and find out what type they are. Is that right?
McKenzie:
That is correct. I'll make sure you have the link in the show notes, but the Ideal Day Quiz, you can find out if you're one of four chronotypes, you're either a bear, a lion, a dolphin, or a wolf, and it's kind of fun because these chronotypes really do match up with a little bit of the animal kingdom, and the population's going to fit in different pieces. I want to share the top three things that people always ask. Can I change my chronotype? The answer is no. Being genetic, you are born with it. It is not Maybelline, you are born with it, and it also has to do with the phase in your life that you're in. Especially as women, puberty and perimenopausal women, your chronotype's going to shift, right? Because it has to do with the hormones, the body temperature, and the chemicals that are in your brain.
McKenzie:
You cannot change, like you can't hack your way to another chronotype. It's genetic, you are born with it, and it's all about making little, minor course corrections. If you go to the quiz, you can find out your chronotype, and then you can go to my TikTok, and you can find out all of your ideal day, which is super fun.
Sonya:
Listen, what is your chronotype?
McKenzie:
I'm a bear. Bears are 50% of the population. We rise and fall with the sun. We have a very high sleep drive. Productivity wise, we put the pro in procrastination. Did you take your chronotype?
Sonya:
I did, but I can't remember now, it was probably about six weeks ago, what it was, so I'll have to go back and have a look, but I'll share that on my Instagram Story and tag you. Okay. You're a bear. 50% of the population are bears. How does that mean that you need to structure your day to be productive? Can you walk me through an ideal day?
McKenzie:
The cool thing about the ideal day is all three chronotypes have the same three peak times. They just happen in different increments for each other, so it's kind of like a calculator. You're like, "Okay, cool. If I get up at this time, what time during the day are these peak times?" Those three peak times are deep work, which sounds exactly like it sounds, you're doing problem solving. You're doing things where you need to do a lot of vigilance and focus, and for 50% of the population around the entire globe is going to be between, if you wake up at seven o'clock, 7:00 or 7:30, it's going to be at 10:00 or 12:00 p.m. 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m, excuse me, and then the second peak time we have more than one peak time.
McKenzie:
The second peak time is going to be your communication time. Right? This one, I really found, because this is the best when your mind is trying to articulate and share your ideas, so your communication time is best to have client meetings. It's best to write long form emails, to write content as a content creator. Man, this is when I'm writing Instagram content. This is when I'm writing my emails for my newsletter. That's what I'm doing the bulk of my writing. That happens between 3:00 and 5:00 p.m. for bears. Then the third peak time is creativity. This is when your mind is actually the most tired and the most illogical. We want the mind to be strategically disengaged, so you're making neuro-transmitter connections that normally wouldn't be connected.
McKenzie:
That tends to happen when you are physically most tired and your cortisol is going down and melatonin's rising. For bears that time's eight to 10:00 p.m., or right when you wake up, when you're not quite putting sentences together is actually the best time for ideation. Creativity is really being able to separate, when am I coming up with ideas? When am I acting on those ideas, and when am I communicating those ideas, is a game changer for any business owner?
Sonya:
Essentially we've got three peak times, and each of them lasts for approximately two hours. Is that correct?
McKenzie:
Correct.
Sonya:
Okay.
McKenzie:
[inaudible 00:08:00].
Sonya:
Okay. I guess then, we are not designed to be able to do eight hours straight of deep work, or eight hours straight of that communication, or eight hours straight of that creativity time, and that could be why a lot of people end up feeling burnt out with their nine to five jobs. Is that correct?
McKenzie:
A hundred percent. Henry Ford was the one who created the 40 hour work week, and it was at the time of industrialization, and really moving, like oh, eight hours of work, eight hours of rest, eight hours of sleep. Now, with the advancements that we have in neurology, in trauma therapy, just in entrepreneurship in general, studies have really come out that the 40 hour work week is not something that actually fits with how our minds, as humans, and our prefrontal cortex, it's not really beneficial anymore.
Sonya:
Mm-hmm (affirmative). I think for anyone listening to this, if you do have control over your calendar throughout the day, then working out your chronotype, blocking out in your calendar, that two hours of deep work, and then scheduling your meetings and client calls, and things like that during that two hour period of the communication. Then it might be that your work hours are a little bit irregular, and that you are doing that creativity and creating things in the evenings. I think this gives us a completely different way of looking at how we're executing our work.
Sonya:
That doesn't mean though, that we should be going and then filling those other spaces in time with other busy work. Is that right? That's what I think someone like me, is going to find very hard not to do, so in those other times, what should we be doing? Is that when we're doing emails, or what are we doing?
McKenzie:
Look at you, cute workaholic you. I see you working so hard. That's the biggest issue with just trying to be productive, right? Because if you take somebody, eight hours of the day and you make them productive, so that they get eight hours of work done in four hours, they have no idea what to do with the other four hours. So what are they going to do? Fill it with work. Welcome to burn out. That's too much. In terms of like, "Okay, cool. Mackenzie, I've never been taught how to not work. How do I shift that?" Right?
Sonya:
Yes, tell me.
McKenzie:
Then it starts to... This is what I call the productivity pinnacle, right? The very base level is being productive, right? Being able to create and produce a lot of something, but then you want to go towards this efficiency. You want to be able to do this production at the right time, but truly what you're aiming for is to do the right thing, which is effective, right? It's not necessarily just your productivity journey, it's about being effective, because when you choose the right things to do, and you do them at the right time, in the right amount of time, you get to go play, because you already created success for you by choosing the right thing. Right?
Sonya:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
McKenzie:
It's truly, actually, an identity shift, understanding that, oh, make it like, "As a content creator, as somebody who runs a team, as somebody who coaches more than 30 clients at once, what kind of schedule do I need? What kind of work/life integration or balance do I need to be able to show up for that?" I'm going to come into the office on Monday from 11:00 to 3:00, and then I'm going to be done, because I chose the right things and it's going to be really helpful if I get my rest, if I go get my movement, if I read my fantasy novels, because I'll have enough energy for the intensive days that I have. Right?
Sonya:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
McKenzie:
Let's take you as an example, like, "Okay, cool. Wow. I got all my work done and it's 3:00 p.m. on a Monday. I feel like I should maybe start to optimize my podcast guest flow." You're like, "Wait, let's maybe brainstorm for 30 minutes, but then let's go home." Let's go away from our work, because incubation and percolation are going to be really key for those big ideas, and our identity equates busy work completion equals success. Right?
Sonya:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
McKenzie:
It's really about starting to shift that identity, and then the behaviors follow, and then you don't stay at the office for 10 hours, and you can go play at the beach. Right?
Sonya:
Yay. Yes. Oh, that makes so much sense, and I think that the phrase around the identity shift as well is something that's going to be an absolute game changer for anyone trying to change their habits and optimize their productivity.
Sonya:
Let's switch the conversation up a little bit for a moment. I want to know about how you got started in business, and how did you get the word out there when you were first getting started?
McKenzie:
I worked in the entrepreneurship world and I worked for other people. After living in Costa Rica for three months, one winter, I came home and I was really broke, and I was like, "I need a job." I found this super cool virtual assistant firm, and I taught myself automation, database building, business optimization. I was just hungry for knowledge. I ended up splitting off and working with these mentors for about two and a half years until I really came to this point where I was working with my mentor. We had scaled his business to six figures in three months.
Sonya:
Wow.
McKenzie:
I built all the backend systems for it, and I was... I mean, he's amazing. His name's Ari Mizel. He's written a couple books. He would bring in the clients and I would fulfill on those contracts, and it was a really great partnership until I had this itch inside my body that was like, how do I work for my own influence when I'm enhancing that of somebody else's, and I'm finding what I want to teach to shift away from our methodologies and creating my own? I ended up becoming like a straw that broke the camel's back one day, I was like, "Today's the day I'm leaving," and I wrote my resignation letter. That was in 2018, and the next day I filed my LLC, and I was doing business consulting. I was literally building backend systems, custom software solutions for small business owners. I don't know if anybody knows this, but it kind of sucks doing work for other people.
McKenzie:
I really stepped into the coaching world back in 2019. I created three different iterations of a coaching program, tested them all out. The third iteration happened to be the Productivity Accelerator, and that, I was operating a hundred percent on referrals and Instagram. I had about 2,500 Instagram followers. Going from like, "Oh, I'm a consultant," to, "I'm going to call myself a coach and I'm going to teach productivity. I can teach business all day long, but productivity and neuroscience are just lightening up, so I'm going to do this." It has not always been an easy or busy. You know, I mean, it's like hair-pulling to elation, right? The whole roller coaster [crosstalk 00:15:17].
Sonya:
Waves, I call it.
McKenzie:
The way of the waves. Bring on the waves, but it's really since 2018, was when I fully stepped into my own business and it was out of necessity. I was like, "I got to fucking do this, because there is no other option. I cannot, and I will not continue to do this for somebody else. I floundered for about eight and a half months. I started two different businesses. I did full-time at yoga teaching. I took the time to figure it out and I got relentlessly resourceful, and I didn't necessarily start making a profit in business until, I would even say the last eight or nine months. I would just reinvest everything back into my business, and now we're at a place where like, "Oh, okay, cool." Our business has scaled to a point where we get to reinvest. We're also covering ourselves really safely, and I can finally pay myself.
Sonya:
Look, I'm so glad that you talk about that, because I think we see on Instagram, in particular, these people start businesses and it looks like they're profitable from day one, and I'm sorry, but 99% of the time it just does not work like that. I've been exactly the same. I put everything back in my business to grow it, and grow a team, and keep constantly improving things. I think you've got to be like that, because if you're in it just to make a quick buck, then it's not going to be a sustainable business, and it is going to fall flat.
Sonya:
Can you talk to me for a second around what you feel made an impact on Instagram when you were trying to get clients? Because a bit of a pet peeve of mine is that people talk so much about building up your Instagram, and growing your followers, and all this stuff, and I'm like, it's not that easy. It doesn't just work like that. But you are someone that has incredible engagement on Instagram, in a time when the algorithms have really shifted, so what are your tips, I guess, around Instagram, if anyone's going, "Well, I want to use this as a lead generation tool." What would you recommend people do?
McKenzie:
I'm going to get real peel back the layers on business here. Instagram, you have to know your audience span. You have to like constantly talk to your ideal client avatar, know their pain points and know their pleasure points. You have to talk directly to them, so when I'm writing an Instagram post, or when I'm talking to a story, I'm not saying, "Hey guys." No, I'm talking to one person who's watching the story. Probably flipping it right there alone, in a very private space watching this story, and so I want to interact with them in that way. I also have a two take rule, so whether it's writing a caption or whether it's a story, I don't give myself more than two takes. That way, I still feel like a human on the other side, you know what I mean?
McKenzie:
Where you're like, this is the Mackenzie that you're getting, because it's not scripted. It just is what it is. The other thing, is I actually have never done direct outreach. I found that it was too much pressure, and I felt really inauthentic. I would just create a shit ton of stories, and I would use the pain points that my ideal client avatars were talking about. I literally have an Excel sheet library of phrases, and sentences, and words that my ideal audience have told me from general to specific. I don't assume anything when I'm creating content. I literally go straight to the source.
McKenzie:
If somebody tells me like, "Oh, Mackenzie, I keep getting in my own way, and I feel like I know how to create a schedule for myself, but I'm not using it." I will go turn around and say, "Do you feel like you're getting in your own way? And you know how to use... I will use the exact languaging. I do have a few clients that I coach specifically on building a coaching business, and that's a skill that we work on, is being able to turn your ideal client's languaging into marketing. That's tip number one. It's like, get really good at that.
McKenzie:
Number two, you don't have to be married to Instagram. I found TikTok, because of my 13 year old stepdaughter, and I was like, "This looks fun, high intention, low attachment. I'm going to just go on here to procrastinate. I'm going to use..." And I love making videos and TikTok is where my stuff lit on fire again.
Sonya:
Mm-hmm (affirmative). That's where I found you. Do you know what? That statement before about using your audience's language. When I came across your first video on the, for you page, I felt like you were talking directly to me, and that's why I got sucked in. It was just straight to the point, and that is so powerful.
McKenzie:
Do you mind me asking which video it was?
Sonya:
Ah, look, I can go back and find it, because after that I watched all of your videos, so I'm not sure, but every single one of them, I feel like you always open with a statement, or a question, or something that really hits straight to the point. Again, guys, I'm going to be linking to Mackenzie's TikTok, because this is what drew me to you, I guess, from a marketing point of view. I was like, "Oh my God, she's nailing it. She's speaking straight to me every single time." The videos are done in a way that a message or a point gets across really quickly. You say some people do videos and you're like, "All right, get to the point, get to the point, get to the point."
McKenzie:
[inaudible 00:20:38].
Sonya:
Yeah, exactly. Then you get bored and your attention span on TikTok for videos, if there's two seconds where you're like, "Eh, not interested," you just swipe to the next one. Right? They've got to be really straight to the point, but then what I think you do really well, as well, and I actually went and signed up for the profile creator afterwards, but you've got this tool that's like a much more amazing version of... What did we all use back in the day?
McKenzie:
[inaudible 00:21:03].
Sonya:
Linktree, yeah, but this tool is... What's it called again? I've signed up for it and everything.
McKenzie:
I'll send you my link. It's called beacons.ai. I love it. First of all, it's so freaking easy to set up. Two, they have way better analytics, and it's super simple to use, and you can link your TikTok, and have a longer bio. The founder actually reached out to me and was like, "Hey, I found your profile, made this for you. What do you think?"
Sonya:
Oh, really.
McKenzie:
I was like, "I'm obsessed." [crosstalk 00:21:33].
Sonya:
Well, I signed up to it after seeing yours, so I have one now too, and I'm about to go and add it.
McKenzie:
The cool thing is, especially on the marketing side, if you or any of your listeners do partnerships, sponsorships, or collaboration, you have immediate, I want to say, you have immediate ammo, because you can say like, "Hey, well, this is my rate, because this is my click-through rate." When I send my rates to people, because I get offers all the time from TikTok, like, "Hey, can you make a video with sponsorship collaboration?" I'm like, "Yeah. My click through rate is 85%. On over 50,000 clicks a month." This is what [crosstalk 00:22:13]-
Sonya:
Oh, my God.
McKenzie:
... here's my rate.
Sonya:
Okay. TikTok has been a real game changer for your business, from the sounds of things.
McKenzie:
It is. And here's the other thing when it comes to marketing on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, whatever it is, if you can create your own niche and create your own hashtag, that is immediate social proof, immediate social proof.
McKenzie:
I randomly, on one of my videos back in October, it was one of the trendy things that I did. I created a hashtag, #productivitytalk. That has over 14 million views now, and other people are [crosstalk 00:22:48]-
Sonya:
Oh, my gosh.
McKenzie:
... creating under that. That's huge, that's marketing, right? Being able to know and create, that's the blue ocean strategy, right? What kind of ocean are you creating that is relatable, accessible, but also elite and enticing? It all goes back to, you have to talk to your ideal clients, so if you're having problems with marketing messaging, or you're having problems with sales...
Sonya:
Marketing. This podcast, right?
McKenzie:
You have to work on talking to your people, on talking to your audience.
Sonya:
Mm-hmm (affirmative). Mm-hmm (affirmative). I think that's when people say, "You need to know your client avatars," and people are so general about it. I almost think sometimes you need to be in business for a little bit to work out those pain points, and work out exactly who you're going to work with. When people go and do a business plan or a marketing plan, and they're just about to get started, I think it's very hard to actually pull out that client avatar and it's an exercise I always hated doing, because honestly you do not know enough about your audience and their pain points yet, because you haven't been working with them yet.
McKenzie:
You also, haven't been asking to talk with them at that point. I didn't learn this piece until I was a year and a half into my business, of like, "Mackenzie, you should literally have market research interviews." You're already an amiable person. You're already a coach, but to be able to develop and sell a high ticket item or anything for that matter, you have to talk to the horse itself, do a call out on your Instagram, talk to five people, ask them the same 10 questions. Yes, demographics, but what are your pain points? I ask them like, "Hey, what is your biggest challenge when it comes to time or energy management?" Have these market research questions and ask them, "Hey, have you ever invested in something like this before? How much money would you pay?" But asking true, tactical questions of your audience will give you the answers that you need, and that makes the business plan effective versus just imagining, "Oh, I would like to work with somebody like this." You have to talk to them directly.
Sonya:
Mm-hmm (affirmative). Yeah. I love that, and I think that's a step that people so often overlook. They think they know it all, without actually having those conversations. All right. Are you a reader? Have you read any good books lately?
McKenzie:
Oh my Gosh. Yes. I will tell you, I read a lot of fantasy novels, but I also do... I've got a couple recent, more nonfiction, tactical, productivity, development, business, all that jazz.
Sonya:
Excellent. Excellent. Any that come to mind?
McKenzie:
Yes. I just picked up Biohack Your Brain by Dr. Laura something or other. It's published post-COVID. She's a German neuro scientist biologist who is a genius. I really, really love, and if you haven't read this yet, everybody should, The Body Keeps Score by Dr. Bessel van der Kolk. A lot of the work that I do revolves around the trauma of the brain and then how to be able to be productive through that. What else? Letting Go, by Dr. David Hawkins. Get it on audible. Listen to it in the background. It will change your energy forever.
Sonya:
Oh, okay. Okay. Letting go, I'm writing this down now, and guys, I will link to all of these books as well. I am going to link to Mackenzie's website. Also, your TikTok and that Link in buyer service, beacons, as well, because it is amazing. Also, I would recommend that everyone go and do your chronotype test and then go down the rabbit hole of Mackenzie's TikTok.
McKenzie:
Yes. Yes.
Sonya:
Because it will be so much more relevant then. Mackenzie, thank you so much for your time. Really appreciate it. So many valuable insights there.
McKenzie:
Oh, so fun, Sonya. Thank you for having me on this wonderful podcast, and this was just so juicy. Productivity and marketing all wrapped in one.
Sonya:
My favorite things.