Myo Life
Myo Life is a podcast for bored, burned out dental hygienists (and myofunctional therapists) who are ready to work less, earn more, have total control of their calendar, enjoy geographic freedom and most of all - make a bigger impact for their patients - while ditching the long hours, constant aches and dreaded Monday's. You will learn simple and effective strategies and tools to start and grow your profitable myofunctional therapy practice. Make sure you subscribe so you don't miss a thing!
Myo Life
#23 How to Build a CEO Calendar When You’re Still Working in the Op
In this episode of Myo Life, Carmen breaks down the three essential steps to take control of your calendar—even if you’re still working full-time in the op. If your schedule feels like it’s bursting at the seams, this episode will help you finally make space for the business and life you’re dreaming about. From figuring out your financial “enough,” to setting non-negotiable boundaries, and preparing a realistic weekly calendar, Carmen walks you through how to get strategic with your time instead of being overwhelmed by it.
Whether you're still working hygiene or already transitioning into your myofunctional therapy business, this is the practical and empowering time management conversation you've been craving.
Hey, I'm Carmen and welcome to Mayo Life. That's short for my outrageous life, which is exactly the kind of life I get to live since I found the courage to ditch dental hygiene and build a life I'm bonkers about as a Mayo functional therapist and entrepreneur. Here you will find all the things Mayo business and how to build a life that you, too, are bonkers about. I'm very happy you're here. Shall we dive in. Hey there, friend, let me guess You've got a calendar that looks like a toddler attacked it with a box of crayons and still you somehow have no time to actually work on your business. You're not lazy, my friend. You're not disorganized, you're just doing it backwards. And today I'm going to show you how to flip that mess into a CEO level calendar, even if you're still working clinical, juggling kids and wondering if this business dream of yours is ever going to get off the ground. How exciting. I love teaching this content.
Speaker 1:We are going to be diving into three steps that I teach inside Total Calendar Control. And if you skip these, no planner, no app or no time blocking trip is going to save you. So grab your coffee and let's go. Okay, so the first step is to figure out your enough. So this is an important step to kick off with, because you've got to know this number. So a lot of people like to skip it, but you need to figure out what your enough is, and I don't mean how much do you want to make, okay, I mean the bare minimum. So what's the number that's going to let you breathe and what's the number that's going to keep your lights on and your bills paid without pulling extra hygiene shifts just to stay afloat? So we're going to walk through those steps on how you figure it out. But I want to preface this by saying I'm going to be using examples for somebody who is still working in the operatory. Okay, if for some reason, you're not, then I trust that you are smart and you can break that up into figuring out how many clients that would be Okay.
Speaker 1:So step one is to write down your non-negotiable expenses. So grab a piece of paper. You're going to want to write these down. So what are the things that absolutely have to be paid every single month? No excuses, okay, you're not going to list debt here every single month. No excuses, okay, you're not going to list debt here. We're talking things like mortgage, your rent, your utilities your beanie weenies, okay, your groceries. We're not talking about your Amazon prime or your favorite latte. We're not talking your car payment. That's going to come later. Okay. So write down your non-negotiable expenses for rent and mortgage or rent or mortgage utilities or food. Okay, total it up. Boom, that's your total non-negotiable fixed expenses.
Speaker 1:Step number two you're going to add in debt payments. So this is going to be your credit cards. This is going to be your student loans, medical bills, whatever you are paying down, add it in. This is your actual financial responsibility right now, but not your future fantasy budget. Okay. So once you do that, then step three we're going to look for cutback opportunities. So now is the time to get scrappy. We're talking negotiable expenses here. These are expenses that are only fixed in your brain, okay, so first we're going to talk debt.
Speaker 1:Are there any areas where you could cut back at this time while still maintaining your excellent payment record? Could you get a lower interest rate? Is there an option to consolidate monthly payments? Can you get rid of your ridiculous car payment on that Jeep that you just had to have and buy something a little more in line with your goal of starting a business? Can you pay cash for something so that you don't need full coverage insurance. Remember, this is not your forever jalopy, okay. This is just your right now jalopy. It's not your forever vehicle. So get a beat or get something you can pay cash for.
Speaker 1:What about other expenses? Can you cut, pause, downgrade anything while you build this business? Can you cancel subscriptions? Can you cut the Starbucks out? Can you use a cheap antenna instead of cable? Can you make dinner at home instead of eating out? Can you get rid of your unlimited cell phone plan? This is a biggie, my friends. Do not get me started on this. I have the money to more than afford whatever cell phone plan I want. And you know what? I use some off-label plan where I get five gigs of data per month for $15. The savings add up. I know people who pay more in a month or two of their cell phone plan than I pay in a year.
Speaker 1:This isn't punishment, my friend. We are working on buying your freedom. For every $50 that you cut out, that might mean one less hour that you need to work to hit your enough, okay. So work on it, see where you can trim the fat and then, um, get your total, okay. So next, we're going to calculate your monthly enough. Enough, so you're going to take all your adjusted expenses, your non-negotiables, your debts, whatever is left after you cut the fluff, and that number, that is your monthly enough. Okay, so that is the bare bones, and then you're going to divide it by your hourly rate. Okay, that's how you get it.
Speaker 1:So, for example, if you need to make $3,000 per month and you make $50 an hour, you need to work 60 hours per month. Now, I get that you have taxes in there, so you have to adjust for that. But you get the point here In this example you only need to work 60 hours per month, not 40 hours per week, my friend. This is how you create free time on your calendar so that you have time to work on your business. Now, whether you're studying with me inside the Ditch Hygiene Academy or whether you plan on studying with me inside the Myo Business Accelerator, you need time for those. And you now know that you only need to work 15 hours per week instead of 40 hours per week, because 15 times four, my friend, is 60. So that just gave you your business runway.
Speaker 1:Okay, now we got to talk about reframing your mindset, because this is huge. It is hard to cut back and go without. It is hard to cut back and go without. But if you seriously want something that you've never had, like calendar freedom, or geographic freedom, or building wealth, maybe buying a home, a second home or, you know, paying cash for vehicles If you want something you've never had, then you have to be willing to do something you've never done. Okay, and so it's hard, you just need to get by, okay, so get your mind right for this.
Speaker 1:I always like to share the story about Jessica, my associate, because she was in a situation to be able to leave hygiene right away. So she enrolled to work and study with me for a year and she was in a position to be able to just leave her hygiene job, and then her husband was going to, you know, pay all the bills. So whenever her and I would get together for her business coaching, I would find out that she's been doing hygiene. And so, finally, when I had to say, like Jessica, what is going on here, is this because you need it to keep the lights on and to keep groceries on the table, or is this a fear thing? And she really thought about it and she said you know what, carmen? It's a fear thing because it's hard to get by with less, and so they were used to living a certain kind of lifestyle and they were having to get by with less.
Speaker 1:So it's hard, but the whole point here is we're trying to get you some time. That is the biggest thing, because when I teach you how to build your business, it doesn't just happen. Okay, you have to have time to do it. So when we figured out your enough number, which came down to 60 hours per month, and you're working, you know, 120 hours per month, you're working more than double, and so if you really do only work that 15 hours per week, it just gives you time, okay. So reframe your mindset. This is not your forever enough, okay, because trust me, my friend, if your goal was to earn $3,000 a month for the rest of your life, your goals aren't scary enough, they're not big enough, they're not audacious enough. So it's not forever, it's just right now.
Speaker 1:So that was step one determine your enough, okay. Step two is set your boundaries. So this one stings a little bit. We got your freedom number and now you got to have boundaries, okay. So I have to say this loud and clear you cannot build your business in the leftover scraps of your week. You've got to make space for it, and that, my friend, means boundaries, setting your business hours, saying no to time, sucking favors, having the hard conversation with your spouse, letting your kids know that mom's office hours are real. You want people to respect your time, so you have to start by respecting it yourself. You train people how to treat your time your family, your clients, your coworkers all of them.
Speaker 1:So, instead of trying to work in the cracks and crevices of your life, decide right now, from the beginning when are you going to work on your business, what are your non-negotiables and what are you no longer available for? Okay, write it down, post it, tattoo it to your forehead if you need to. This is one thing that we really take a deep dive into inside the Ditch Hygiene Academy. But working on Doing business during business hours is so important Like I want all of my students to have a two hour power hour power block every day. You know, and like in this example, like I said, you would be working 40 hours. Now you all have to work 15. You just got some freedom, which is amazing, but boundaries are going to be tough. So you got to figure out what your boundaries are going to be. What are your non-negotiables? I'm not missing family dinner on Friday evenings, or I'm not missing my yoga class on Tuesday afternoons, okay, so write all that down.
Speaker 1:Next step three is going to be preparing your calendar. So now we get to plan but not in that overambitious, unrealistic way that makes you feel like a failure by Tuesday. Okay so, so we don't. We don't want to be like have chihuahua energy and just think we can do everything and then we end up not doing anything. So I'm talking about total calendar control.
Speaker 1:So again, this is the method that I teach inside the Ditch Hygiene Academy and it works. It works for real life, for women building real businesses. So here's the process kind of in a nutshell. I've made it quick. So Sunday hour one you can actually do this Monday hour one is what I do. So basically it's the first hour of my week and then on Fridays I do Friday hour done. So that's when I wrap things up.
Speaker 1:So we won't be getting into that today, but so the beginning of your week, whether that's Sunday or Monday, you are going to brain dump your tasks for the week and you are going to want a digital calendar for this. So I encourage everybody to have a Google calendar because you can create different layers, of course, in the total calendar control. I mean, everything is beautifully organized, you get color coded calendars, all of that kind of stuff. So if you're like me and you like all that prettiness, then maybe you want to be inside that course, but for now, you just want to make sure that you're setting up a Google calendar. The reason I say Google calendar is I have used it and Apple and I like the Google calendar better.
Speaker 1:Okay, so you're going to set aside an hour whether that's on Sunday or on Monday and brain dump your tasks for the week. Then you are going to plug in your non-negotiables onto your calendar. So this is going to be your job, this is going to be appointments, this is going to be family stuff. So this is where you're going to start to see those blank open spots. Now, obviously, if you did your enough and you're still working 40 hours a week, your first goal would be to get down to that enough. Okay, I understand that that doesn't happen overnight, but maybe over, say, the next month. You could get down to whatever the minimum number of hours that you needed. So that's when you'll start seeing space on your calendar.
Speaker 1:But in the meantime, if you're working full time and I'm asking you to put your two hour power block on the calendar, then you might be saying, wow, so if I work a full-time job Monday through Thursday, you might be doing your power block. You know, maybe from seven to nine at night, maybe hubby has to get the kids tucked into bed, or maybe you're getting up earlier in the morning and doing it, okay. So first, non-negotiables, go on the calendar and then make sure you get that two hour power block, and only then do you get to add in other business tasks that are based on three big priorities in your business. So, of course, I teach you how to choose these three big essential priorities, but you're going to just kind of do that on your own now. So let me walk you through what this would look like in this example.
Speaker 1:So first, let's consider a normal work week of 40 hours. So in the event that you are only going to work 15 hours per week, that leaves you 25 hours. But let's also remember that you need time to human. Okay. So you, you need time to human, and that's things like driving to and from work, eating potty breaks, so let's give you eight hours each week for that. So now you are down to 17 hours of free time to work on your business. Wow, think of the things that you can get done Now. If you mentally divide that 17 hours over five days, that gives you almost three and a half hours per day and of course I'm talking just Monday through Friday to work on these three essential priorities.
Speaker 1:Normally, these three priorities are going to be marketing your business, selling your services, delivering your services or client fulfillment, and then a very little bit of like backend office stuff. Okay, you're not going to do 37 things. You are only going to be doing the things that actually move the needle. And here's the crucial part, my friend you have to follow the plan, even when you don't feel like it, even when it's hard, even when your brain is throwing a toddler tantrum because you're not scrolling Instagram. You don't want to be doing that, okay. So that's what total calendar control is about making a plan, protecting the time and showing the heck up. Okay.
Speaker 1:So I'm going to get ready to land this plane, but I wanted to tell you that, if you're thinking like, holy crap, this is exactly what I need. You are in luck. I have a workshop coming up soon where we are going to map out your exact calendar together. You're going to walk away with a clear schedule, your big three priorities and a plan to finally start making space for your business. So no fluff, just real action. So we have not set the date for that yet. I got to get the move completed.
Speaker 1:So keep listening to the podcast and as soon as we get settled on the other side of the country, we will give you all the details. You're definitely going to want to take part because it's going to be awesome. So here's my final thoughts before I go. You don't need more hours, you need more clarity, more boundaries Boundaries is a biggie and a calendar that actually reflects the business and the life that you're building. So let's get you there. Keep listening so you can get information on the workshop and in the meantime, my friend, go build a life that you were bonkers about. I will be back soon with some more Mayo business goodness and I'll see you then. Bye for now.