S03 E02 - Family, Priorities, and Writing it Down with Curtis McHale

Today’s guest is Curtis McHale. Curtis is a husband, father, web developer, and business coach (you can find him at curtismchale.ca and SFNDesign.ca).

Currently, Curtis builds membership websites and is a writer and business coach. He helps clients run the business they want, earn what they want, and spend more time with their families. On the development side, he helps his clients achieve those goals through business automation.

Curtis’ favorite quote is: “If you don’t write it down it didn’t happen.” - Jack Ryan (Tom Clancy). This speaks volumes about how he approaches his life and his business. For Curtis, what you write down is what becomes your priority, so it’s important to write things down if you want to make progress toward your goals.

A defining moment in Curtis’ life was realizing he was doing a lot of work but not getting to see his kids as much, even though he was working from home most of the time.

One of the ways he became more effective was by adding constraints to his work. For example, right now he’s only working on iOS - it makes focusing much easier and removes the temptation to get distracted. He likes knowing what he can and can’t do, which allows him to work smarter and truly prioritize what matters to him.

Curtis found his way to coaching after 10 years doing web development and turning it into a six-figure business. At that time, he would talk to friends who would ask how they could improve their business or their income and they’d do 10-minute calls or emails to help them through their roadblocks, which ultimately led to more coaching and less web development.

No journey is without difficulties and Curtis’ story is no exception. One was trying to balance the need to provide for his family and the desire to spend more time with them. Another was accepting that the work he enjoyed the most didn’t always pay as much as other work he could be doing.

[click_to_tweet tweet="You don't have quality of time unless you have some quantity of time. ~ https://rezzz.com/podcast/s03-e02-family-priorities-and-writing-it-down-with-curtis-mchale/" quote="You don't have quality of time unless you have some quantity of time." theme="style3"]

In this episode Curtis talks about:

• How seeing his own father spend so much time at work drove him to want to create a life where he could actually spend time with his children.
• Putting everything into his calendar or a todo list.
• How to market in such a way that attracts the right kind of clients.
• Adding constraints to his work to enable him to work smarter and more efficiently.
• Being straightforward and direct when it comes to coaching his clients.

Main Takeaways

• If you don’t write it down, it won’t happen. You have to align your priorities and goals with what you make time for, and the best way to do that is to write it down.
• You don’t have quality of time unless you have some quantity of time. You can’t just schedule long vacations and consider that quality time without having some type of existing relationship to build upon.
• Plan your week and have your top priorities written down (3-5 of them). Too many people get stuck in productivity porn. Ultimately, tools aren’t the solution because they’re aren’t the problem.
• Don’t just do something because it’s what your client says they want. Your job is help them figure out what they really need, whether they know it or not.
• Make sure your marketing and positioning is focused around your ideal customers. Marketing isn’t about you - it’s about your customers. Use your marketing to attract the kinds of customers you want to serve.