Episode 36: Using ClickUp for Productivity, Ecosystem & Brain Building with Meagan of New Leaf Digital

Maximizing Productivity and Building a Business 'Second Brain' with ClickUp: A Conversation

 

Today's Throwback Thursday episode is with my friend, Meagan Beltekoglu of New Leaf Digital.

Meagan is a Certified Director of Operations and Vetted ClickUp Consultant who helps women-owned small businesses and agencies with their businesses' back end so they can spend more time making a difference in the world.

It can be challenging to stay organized and get things done in today's fast-paced world. But it doesn't have to be. With ClickUp, you can build a second brain for yourself! It's the simplest way to stay productive while working on all your different projects.

During this episode, we talk about:

  • What is ClickUp?

  • Importance of having a second brain

  • Project management and beyond

  • Using ClickUp for automation and sending emails

  • Creating a plan for automation

 

Visit Meagan:

Work with Meagan: https://www.newleafdigital.net/services/

Connect with Meagan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/newleafdigital/ 

Like New Leaf Digital on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/newleafdigital 

Follow Meagan on Twitter: https://twitter.com/newleafdigital  

 

Thanks for tuning in to another episode of Collab with Kiva. Growth stage, brick-and-mortar business owners come to Kiva to document their operating systems to grow their revenue and impact without investing more time in their business.

Are you ready to take massive action in your business and make data-driven decisions? Click the button below and let’s chat 👇🏽

 

Podcast transcript:

Kiva Slade: [00:00:01]

Hello, and welcome to Collab With Kiva. I'm your host, Kiva Slade. From the marbled halls of the US Congress to my racing-themed office chair, I've learned that there is no perfect path to the life of your dreams. My journey over the past 20 years has included being a legislative director for a member of Congress, policy director for a nonprofit, stay at home mom, homeschooling mom, jewelry business owner, and now the owner of a service-based business. Whether your journey has been a straight line or full of zigs and zags, join me and my guest as we share insights, hope, and lessons learned from our female entrepreneurship journeys. May the collaborative sharing of our stories be the tide that lifts your boat. Let's dive in.

 

[00:00:55]

Hey, now, we are in the final week of June, which means today is our last throwback Thursday episode and we are throwing it back to my girl Meagan. Meagan is my self-proclaimed, I call her at least, queen of ClickUp. And if you know anything about me, you know that I love some ClickUp. Well, Megan loves ClickUp even more. And whenever I have a ClickUp issue, problem, question. Hey, can I? How do I? What do I? Meagan is my go-to person. She is also a homeschooling momma. We are both certified directors of operation and we have both gone through Tiago Forte's building a second brain. And she talks about some of that in this upcoming episode, so make sure you check it out. Find out some new things that Tiago Fortes building a second brain does that may actually surprise you.

 

[00:02:05]

And make sure to check the show notes to follow Meagan. She has an awesome newsletter that she puts out that gives you tips and tricks as it relates to Tiago Fortes building a second brain. And she has an amazing offer right now to help you weed through all of those different tech pieces that you may have acquired during your business journey. And she really is phenomenal at helping you know what you need, what you don't need. So, she'll have your keep and your giveaway pile nicely sorted as it relates to the tech in your business. So, check out this episode. Share your love for all things ClickUp because Meagan is a genius, and make sure to follow her and subscribe to her newsletter. Thanks.

 

[00:02:56]

Hello and welcome to another episode of Collab With Kiva. I am super excited today to bring you my next guest. I have the pleasure of having attended a program with her together. In addition to that, just we're both homeschooling mamas. So, I am super excited to introduce you to Meagan Beltekoglu, and she is the owner-operator founder of New Leaf  Digital. And so, I am super excited Meagan to welcome you today to Collab With Kiva. How are you?

 

Meagan Beltekoglu: [00:03:28]

Thank you for having me, Kiva. I'm super excited to be here. And yeah, we did two programs together.

 

Kiva Slade: [00:03:33]

We did you two because we did [crosstalk 00:03:35]

coaching.

 

Meagan Beltekoglu: [00:03:36]

Yeah.

 

Kiva Slade: [00:03:38]

Absolutely. It's so odd in this online space. I feel like I've known you longer. If I think back, it was literally last June or May that we really met. But I definitely feel like I've known Megan way longer than that.

 

Meagan Beltekoglu: [00:03:53]

I know.

 

Kiva Slade: [00:03:55]

It hasn't been that. It's almost a year and a half-ish. So, I guess an internet time, that's a lot. So, let me get let me tell you guys a little bit about Meagan. So, she's a certified Director of Operations and a vetted ClickUp consultant who helps women own small businesses and agencies with the back end of their businesses so that they can spend more time making a difference in the world. She thinks tweaking the settings of tech tools is fun, and she loves breaking big visions down into focused and manageable projects and tasks. Using her favorite productivity tool, ClickUp. She has converted me, I will just say, and she'll probably convert you by the end of this episode. She applies her love for strategy, planning, and project management to every aspect of her life, from her children's homeschooling to her basement remodeling, to her client work. We are both jersey-born gals. And she's an obsessive researcher, info form [sounds like 00:04:53], birdwatcher, and homeschooling mother of three living in Pennsylvania. You can find out more about her and her business at newleafdigital.net.

 

[00:05:03]

And the secret catch to all of that is you will not find Meagan all over social media. So, I love that about her because she really has made how she runs her business unique to her. So, let's dive in because ClickUp is it's everywhere it feels like now. I kid you not, one of my most popular blog posts, I did a comparison of tools, and when I look at search terms, people find me for looking up ClickUp because that was one of the tools that I talked about. So, tell us a little bit more about what is ClickUp. How does it help with productivity and how do you use it for homeschooling, basement remodeling, and client work?

 

Meagan Beltekoglu: [00:05:47]

Yeah, those are great questions, Kiva. So, what ClickUp is, it's a work and project management tool. But actually, what their goal is, is to be one app to replace them all. So, not only is ClickUp something like Asana or like the Reminders app on your phone where you can have your regular to-dos, buy milk, call the electrician, but you can also have you use ClickUp to replace Google Docs because they have Docs. You can replace SurveyMonkey or Typeform because they have forms. They also have dashboards. So, it's really a comprehensive place to manage all of your work. And yes, even your homeschooling and your basement remodeling. So, as you know, homeschooling has a lot of moving pieces. One kid is doing this, one kid is doing that. You have trips, you have books, you have all these kinds of things to keep track of. So, I have a template actually that I use and I also have it on my website. People can download the free version too to their ClickUp.

 

[00:07:05]

And you can just use it to keep track of all those different things from the paperwork you have to submit to your school district portfolio at the end of the year if that's what your state requires. And all the different things you come across and think, Oh, that looks cool, I want to do that in my home school. There are so many of these things, too many actually, so it's really good to have a place to store them. And it's also at its heart a project management tool. And remodeling your basement is a significant project with tons of moving pieces. And so, I needed to have a place that wasn't a notebook that I would lose so that I could put in dates, I could put in links, I could put in information about the plumber, the electrician, the tile, the paint colors, and have links to my Pinterest boards and everything all in just one place.

 

[00:08:01]

Oh my goodness. I love that though. I know that I shared your homeschooling template in a homeschooling group and people were eyes glazed over feeling like, oh my gosh, is this like the most amazing thing whatsoever? Because there are a ton of moving pieces, like you said, in each of those, whether it's homeschooling, whether it's a basement remodeling or client work, and keeping track of all of those things and having a tool that either A, has its own native integrations in terms of documents ... I personally love that I can add a quick photo to something that's in ClickUp and it's there for me to see, which sometimes I need. It's like what is that task again? Oh, yeah, that's right, it's about such and such. So, I love the functionality of that and the fact that, like you said, it's almost like a hub for all of that information that we've been collecting. In some cases, it's a lot of information. So, that leads me to my next question, and we were talking about that earlier, which is a second brain. And some people might be wondering what that is, but you have a feeling that businesses need a second brain. So let's talk through that and what that looks like.

 

Meagan Beltekoglu: [00:09:14]

Yeah. So, a second brain is another location obviously outside of your actual brain where you keep stuff. And so, that can be all kinds of different stuff. You can have personal things there, but we'll focus on the business side of the second brain. I heard from so many women that I've worked with that they spent so much time searching for things. They're looking, they want to be visible, they want to get on podcasts, right? But to apply to be on somebody's podcast, what do you have to do? You have to submit your bio. You have to submit your headshot; you have to submit your freebie links. You have to submit this and that. And they spend, or their VA spent all this time just looking for all of that stuff.

 

[00:10:04]

So, a business second brain is not only a place to keep track of all your fundamental business-related documents, but also the other things that aren't so fun, like your W-9. Sometimes you will ask for that. "Where the heck did I put that thing? Which folder did I say it in? Is it in my Google drive?" Just having one place where that stays saves you time. Even if it's a few seconds every time you're searching for something, that adds up. It's a great place to keep your hex codes, your branding photos, and also your team directory. Who's on your team? What's their email address? What time zone are they in? What's their anniversary date? So, these are all the kinds of different things we build into your second brain.

 

[00:10:56]

It's basically like the fundamental pieces of your business, what are they, and how can we keep them in one nice organized area alongside other pieces of information that may be useful to you in the future. This can be swipe files [sounds like 00:11:18]

or programs you want to do, or conferences you want to attend. It's really designed to be something that's really comprehensive with the goal of trying to make the business owner more relaxed, more present, more focused on what they're really good at, and letting the tech in the background handle that heavy lifting of holding things and finding things for you, just like our actual brains do. Our actual brains are overloaded. We're tasking them with way too much. And we need to get that stuff out and stored somewhere external so that we can make use of the innovative powers that our brains have.

 

Kiva Slade: [00:12:07]

Yeah, I love that. Because I know for me, and I was thinking about this earlier, affiliate links. I know I have them and it's like ...

 

Meagan Beltekoglu: [00:12:16]

That's in the brain.

 

Kiva Slade: [00:12:17]

Yeah. That's literally something that I've had to start categorizing because otherwise, like you said, it's time spent looking for them or it's time spent like, 'Where did I put that? Is it in Slack? Was it in Google? Was it in my Gmail?" I don't even remember sometimes where it is, so I've literally made a spot in my ClickUp for that where it's like affiliate links, so that I know exactly where they are and they are much more accessible now. And then also, on my shortened links that I have for redirects from my website and things like that, It's like people are going to constantly schedule a call with me, Oh wait, you don't need this ... here. Boom! I can just give you this quick link.

 

[00:13:01]

But you're right, if we don't get it out of our heads and into a spot, it does take time to where we're constantly looking for it in that time does definitely add up. So, I love that. I can imagine your clients are like, Meagan is a godsend because she comes in, and it's like getting all of that out of our brains, like you said, our brains are tired. I feel like at times it's like we're so overloaded, you can't sleep at night. Rest is disruptive because of some other thought. I have a notepad in the shower just because like the shower is a place I feel like I get thoughts, and I'm like they just dissipate if I don't write them down. But it's like, maybe it's the water. I'm not sure what it is, but it's my actual place where thoughts come. And it's like, I need something to write them down. Oh, look, Amazon actually has a waterproof tablet for the wall, go figure. So, obviously, I must not be the only one who thinks in the shower. But it is so helpful to be able to know that that idea that you had wasn't sometimes just a fleeting thought and it has now found a resting place. So, that is super helpful.

 

Meagan Beltekoglu: [00:14:08]

Yeah. And not only having a resting place for those things but also having some filters to pull things through. Because we come in contact with information from when we wake up until when we go to sleep. And some of us are even waking up in the middle of the night and on our phones. We really need to create some kind of filter for the information that we're actively processing and actively storing in our brain or in our second brain. So, thinking a little bit on that has been a really valuable experience for me and asking myself, is this content, is this something that's inspirational? Is this something that's useful, useful to me personally, and useful to my business? Is it something novel, and then surprising? Or what kind of benefit can I get from this now or if I save it in the future?

 

Kiva Slade: [00:15:11]

Absolutely. I love that. Thank you so much for sharing. I feel like offline we're going to talk more about the second brain. I'm going to pop into your passages. So, tell us how ClickUp can be more than just a project management tool. Because I feel like it does so many different things. And I know for myself I'm just starting to tap into the automations that it does, which to me have been pretty eye-opening and mind-blowing. I feel like at the same time ... So, there are days where, I don't know about listeners, but I feel like I'm just totally underutilizing ClickUp. And then there are days when I'm like, Oh yeah, I'm rocking today, it's being amazing and doing so much great stuff. So, when we think of a project management tool, I think in general terms we're like, okay, we're keeping track of this project, and this task needs to be done, and by whom, but how do you ClickUp, and how can we use it then more than just project management?

 

Meagan Beltekoglu: [00:16:11]

Yeah, that's a great question. So, it's definitely more than just a project management tool. And a lot of ... I would say maybe 90% of the women who I work with, they're just scratching at the surface. They have ClickUp and they're using it as mainly just a really long to-do list. What's great about ClickUp is that not only is it a place to store all of your tasks related to your projects, but it lets you organize all those tasks in different ways. One of the biggest mistakes that I see people doing is not making use of the custom fields. And so, with the custom fields in ClickUp, you can track any kind of data that you want.

 

[00:17:03]

Going back to the homeschooling example, I can track which kid does which lesson, I can track subjects. For business, you can track your department, you can track your team members, you can track a checkmark, was something done or not done. For your leads, you can track industry. Really, the possibilities are entirely endless of what you can track in ClickUp. And generally, people aren't doing that. So, that's one thing. The other thing is then once you're tracking those different pieces of data in ClickUp, you can then create these customized views so that you can see only the information you want to see and you can hide all the rest. So, if you're the CEO, that might mean you only want the big picture of what's going on, you don't need to see like, okay, someone created a social media post, and they added the graphics. You might just want to see a project is done and ready for review.

 

[00:18:08]

You don't need to see all those little tiny steps that go into getting that project done. ClickUp has a variety of different views that not only let you see what you want to see and not see what you don't want to see, but also takes into consideration the different learning styles and how people prefer things visually. That's also endlessly customizable. In addition, there are forms. I have one client, I helped her set up a pretty automated hiring process inside of ClickUp, and she was doing this before in Excel, where she's now using a ClickUp form, the ClickUp form comes into a list, they're all different preset up views so she can see all the applicants in one place, all the shortlisted candidates in one place, and all the people she has selected as finalists in one place.

 

[00:19:11]

And a lot of this is happening automatically, or just with one or two clicks. Then once you hire somebody, an automation fires, moves up person down to the onboarding list and they go through her onboarding process. It's all very smooth and automated. The point here is that ClickUp is so much more than just a project management tool, more than just a to-do list, more than just the reminders app in your phone. It's really can be a system for managing at least 75% of your business.

 

Kiva Slade: [00:19:48]

Wow! That was just mind-blowing for me because I was literally kind of walking through that process with you. Because I personally have hired and it's like, here's the Google form that they've completed, that has led to obviously the Google spreadsheet where we've gone through and made that shortlist of then those who are interviewed. But it was a very ... I'm going to say it was a manual process in the sense of you have to really [crosstalk 00:20:15].

 

Meagan Beltekoglu: [00:20:15]

I didn't even mention the automated emails we had sending out. So, we had this automated email going out from inside of ClickUp, where if she changed the status of one of the candidates to rejected, it was sending out this nice automated email even right to their name saying, Dear so-and-so, we're sorry we didn't pick you, blah, blah, blah.

 

Kiva Slade: [00:20:40]

Okay, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait a minute. Wait a minute, Meagan. That was a whole mic drop. Wait a minute. You're telling me that within ClickUp we can send automated emails?

 

Meagan Beltekoglu: [00:20:54]

Yes. So, you can send automated emails and there are tons of triggers so you could send an email. So, like when the due date arrives, send an email. When the custom field changes, send an email. When the status changes, send an email. And a lot of what you're pulling into the email and the automation, you can use the smart variables so you can reference things in the email. You can reference the task name and it will pull in what the task name is. You can reference the due date and it will put in the actual due date.

 

Kiva Slade: [00:21:33]

I don't know about everybody else, but now I'm just sitting here like, okay, yes, this is a definite confirmation that I'm underutilizing my ClickUp.

Meagan Beltekoglu: [00:21:43]

Most people are. You're certainly not alone now. And that's why I like to really make it clear to people when I'm working with them, I show them my ClickUp, I show them my personal ClickUp, I show them my demo workspace, and I open their eyes to the possibilities that are out there. We didn't even really talk about dashboards. Yesterday I showed one of my clients my lead tracking dashboard, and she was just like, "This is a marketer's dream." Because I'm tracking the industry. I'm tracking the source where they find me. I'm tracking what service they buy. I'm tracking why they don't buy, what's the reason why they don't buy. And I'm using all of these things to make database decisions. So, you mentioned I don't do a lot of social media, and one of the reasons is because I don't need to because most of my clients are referrals.

 

Kiva Slade: [00:22:44]

I love it.

 

Meagan Beltekoglu: [00:22:46]

And I have the data that shows it.

 

Kiva Slade: [00:22:49]

Absolutely. And I think that that's so key and important. And just such a fact of stress is that for some businesses, they may not be tracking data, but it is so necessary and vital to inform the decisions that you're making for your business. Because obviously, yours is showing you that you don't need to have this heavy presence on fill in the blank platform that you can literally because of referrals, your client list is the way that it is and you're able to see, hey, it's the referrals that are coming in. That's what's generating these leads. It's not the latest, I don't know ... TikTok video that I made. We start talking about ClickUp that has actually led to where leads are coming from. So, I think that's very, very helpful. And these dashboards, are you creating those in ClickUp with basic information that you're pulling, I'm assuming, from different places?

 

Meagan Beltekoglu: [00:23:47]

Yeah, I'm creating them in ClickUp. And so, the main thing is that in order to have a nice dashboard in ClickUp that's providing you with valuable data, you need to have that data in ClickUp. So, either that data is being entered manually or it's being pulled in from another source. So, for example, I have a Zap set up so that when somebody fills out my contact form, all that data is being sent into a ClickUp task. And so, that's automated. I don't, I don't need to do anything aside from going in there and putting in some notes after our call. Other times I have to add things, like I have a dropdown field for industry, so I have to pick are they a coach, or are they a bookkeeper, and I just have to select that custom field there. Once I have all that data, I can pull that data into the dashboard and that's what I use to review. I review monthly and I make my decisions about what are my future plans for my business based on that data.

 

Kiva Slade: [00:24:52]

Oh, I love that. So, I touched on the automation. You've touched on automation that occurs pretty much within ClickUp. So, for someone who might be listening, who is a solopreneur, it sounds like with some good foundational setup of ClickUp, they could literally have a lot of processes in their business that are automated and not necessarily requiring them to hire out yet. Would you be in agreement with that or not?

 

Meagan Beltekoglu: [00:25:21]

Yes and no. There are a lot of things that ClickUp can help you do as a solopreneur. They even have a personal mode, so it turns off a lot of the features if you don't have a team. Can it replace the work that, for example, my VA does for me? Not really, because that's more hands-on kind of things that my VA does. But there are ways that you could automate things or use different ClickUp features like we talked about, like the forms. Instead of having that process where you have the Google form, the Google sheet, you're manipulating the data in the Google sheet, you're copying and pasting the rows, and you're sending out the emails to the candidates, come for an interview, you're rejected ... that process could all be automated. That you could do on your own with very minimal manual actions.

 

Kiva Slade: [00:26:29]

I love that. So, when it comes to automation, though, it does seem like we need to have some vision about it and probably some wisdom. Because obviously, not everything can be automated and there are some things that require still a human touch. But when you're working with clients, talk to me about automating their businesses. What does that look like and what does it mean? Because I think for some there's a perception that they can pretty much automate their entire business, or there's a tool or something that's going to automate everything or maybe they'll have a gazillion and a half Zaps. But those things that when it comes to beginning to set up automation, what do you need to think about?

 

Meagan Beltekoglu: [00:27:09]

When it's when somebody is ready to set up an automation, like who is ready to set up an automation. So, that's something you should think about first. You need to have your processes already documented. You need to already have those processes in place, otherwise you're not really going to know what you're going to be automating. You're just going to go into Zapier or Integrately or Integromat, start clicking around and trying things with no clear goal in mind. You have to have a goal of what you're going to automate and do some thinking on why you want to automate it. Does it take a lot of time? Is it just this totally boring, repetitive, manual tasks that you can't stand? Why? There has to be some thought into it. You shouldn't just go off and just start connecting your apps and setting up things. You're just going to waste your time.

 

[00:28:02]

So, really, I encourage people to think first, what is my process? Is my process optimized? Are there other parts of my process I can streamline first before I automate it? And automation comes later. It's not something that I encourage people to jump right into, but more to reflect on what they're doing, how they're doing it, who's doing it, what's the goal for doing it ... and then look at those kind of annoying parts that you hate or that take up a lot of time and look to automate those. Can you automate your business 100%? I don't think so. But there are a lot of cool tools out there that make a lot of things really, really smooth and easy for you. Something like, in my other business, we have a Facebook group, so we use a tool.

 

[00:29:00]

We get a lot of our leads through the Facebook group. We use a tool that manages the Facebook group. And so, when somebody joins and they put their email address, that's going right into a Google sheet. We have that Google sheet connected with Integrately into our funnel software. So, when somebody goes and joins our Facebook group and they leave their email address and their questions, they're going right into our funnel as well. So, that is a process that probably would have taken a VA 10 minutes per person to admit them, copy their info, save it somewhere, add them into the funnel, tag them into the funnel so they go into the right sequence, but that's all happening automatically. And then we're not paying somebody to do it either. So, I really caution people when you're going to looking to automate things to just pause, reflect, think through it and then go forward.

 

Kiva Slade: [00:30:06]

Yeah, I love that. And I love the fact that you said to document. It's so hard to optimize what you already don't even ... You can't say what you're doing, so you don't really know what needs to be optimized. Can it actually be optimized? And taking that time to reflect on what the actual process is. What's the goal in the process and where are we going with that? What's our end goal of what we're trying to achieve is so just vitally important as we move forward in our businesses and our business to start to grow. So, you mentioned super quick, Integrately, I know I mentioned Zapier, and you said Integromat. Do you utilize a combination of all three of those tools or do you have a preference or tool as it relates to making connections for automation?

 

Meagan Beltekoglu: [00:30:53]

From my side as somebody who does a lot of work in these tools, there are a few different things I look for, ease of use, availability of apps to connect, and great customer service. Those are my top three. And affordability, that's a big one as well. So, for example, Integrately, I have a lifetime deal so I don't pay for it. I already paid. And it's awesome. They have great customer service. They offer to go on ... We did a call on Google meet when I had trouble with one of my automations, we went on Google Meet to solve the issue. It was very, very helpful. But Integrately does not have all the apps that Zapier has, like Dubsado, for example. A lot of my clients use Dubsado, Dubsado is only on Zapier. So, if you want to integrate Dubsado on ClickUp, you have to do it in Zapier, you can't use Integrately. If you're looking at something that's more complex and more filtering, that's when I go to Integromat.

 

Kiva Slade: [00:32:15]

Okay. I appreciate that. Because I think sometimes we hear these tools being batted around, and understanding what we should look for even with those, and understanding that like any tool, there's never a one size fits all because obviously they may not have some of the same integrations or they may not work with some of the tools that you're using. So, really just being diligent in doing your research, being open to, hey, I might have to use more than one of these to get the job done after I've already paused, reflected, documented, and optimized my process. So, I think that's super helpful. So, you have shared some wisdom upon wisdom, gems, mic drop moments, everything. How can people work with you? Is there anything you have coming down the pipe that they might just want to say, run down, run the doors down, we've got to get to Meagan.

 

Meagan Beltekoglu: [00:33:05]

So, I have two different paths that people can take. So, one is for people who are already active ClickUp users and they need help with optimizing their ClickUp. They have a lot of questions they need answering, and they're just not finding the answers on YouTube or in Facebook groups shouting into the void. So, I have a consulting session where I just answer all your questions in that time. It's super fun for me because I love problem-solving and it's really valuable for my clients. I also have a service where I restructure and reorganize ClickUps that kind of got a little out of control. A lot of people come to me and they've done this setup on their own, which is fine. I'm not going to say don't do the setup on your own, but sometimes that kind of just grows to a point where it becomes not productive.

 

[00:34:11]

And so, what I do then is I come in, we have a strategy session, we talk about what you want to see in your ClickUp, what you use it for, what kind of data you want to track. And then in one day I just do my magic and package it all nicely up for you, and give it back to you, and it's shiny and nice and beautiful and ready to go for it for your team. The other side is a brand new service that I recently launched, and that is the strategic business ecosystem which is related to that that business second brain that we were talking about before. So, that is a service where we really look closely at your business, at your mission, at your vision and your values, and where you're going in your business.

 

[00:35:05]

And we look at some priorities in a short strategy session, and then I set up your ClickUp based on that. And that is set up not for where your business is now, but it's growth-oriented. So, it's about where you're going. So, it's different than how other people set up ClickUps because it's really focused strategically on what you're doing and where you want to be. It's not for it's not a stagnant system. It's really it's really unique in that way. And then I teach you how to use it, of course. So, I want you to be active in using it. Yeah. So that's my new service that I launched a few months ago. And it's just been really rewarding to be able to help people create that space outside of their brain, outside of all their files on their computer, just to be more organized in that way.

 

Kiva Slade: [00:36:18]

I absolutely love that. A strategic business ecosystem. I love it. Awesome. So, everyone, there will be additional links in the show notes of how you can definitely reach out and connect with Meagan. You can obviously find her. She is on Twitter at New Leaf Digital and she's on LinkedIn, you can find her on Facebook as well there, but we'll make sure that all of those links are in the show notes so that you can reach out. Because if you're like me .... And I've had a strategy session with Meagan, I might be one of those who's ClickUp, I don't think it's out of control, but maybe it's grown a few thorns and it may need pruning and some cleaning up or something of that sort in order to make sure it's bright and shiny and new again, with that new car smell. So, I am so grateful to just have you here obviously on the podcast to share with everyone because as we've talked about, our brains are taking in a ton of information, that 20 years ago was not even a thought that we were going to have some of these input areas that we currently do have. So, I am so grateful to just know that you exist and you are helping us obviously solve a lot of these different problems. So I am curious though ... When Meagan was young and growing up, what did she want to be when she grew up?

 

Meagan Beltekoglu: [00:37:44]

I wanted to be a meteorologist.

 

Kiva Slade: [00:37:48]

All righty, everyone. I love that, though. You wanted to be a meteorologist, and your journey, though, has led you here. I see you creating some stars and some moons that were talking about, and maybe some other weather patterns that might start to shift with that business ecosystem that you're creating. So, I don't know ... I think somewhere or another we can all tie that all together. So, thank you again, Meagan, for being here. Make sure you check out the show notes to reach out to Meagan if you want to optimize the ClickUp that you already have set up, or if you're saying "I have never heard of ClickUp, but I know that I need it, and I want it, and I need to have it set up in a way that works for me," definitely reach out and connect with her. Also follow her newsletter, which is always chock full of really great detailed information on how we can all do life better. So, thanks again, Meagan, for being here.

 

Meagan Beltekoglu: [00:38:49]

Thanks so much, Kiva.

 

Kiva Slade: [00:38:50]

All right, everyone, tune into the next episode. Talk to you later. Bye. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Collab With Kiva. Each of us has a different path. And I hope that this episode gave you some takeaway that has left you inspired and motivated to keep pressing forward on your unique path. Make sure you subscribe so you don't miss out on any future episodes. And of course, your reviews on Apple are greatly appreciated. If you're a small business owner, ready to start making data-driven decisions in your business, and you know that without the data, you're really just guessing, make sure to visit my website, the516collaborative.com, and let's schedule a time to talk to make sure that you can harness the power of data in your business. I'll see you next time. Bye.

 
 

Meet Kiva Slade - the Founder and CEO of The 516 Collaborative. With a unique background in high-power politics on Capitol Hill and sixteen years as a homeschooling mama, Kiva found her calling in the online business world as a trusted guide for entrepreneurs looking to build the business of their dreams.

Kiva's work began behind the scenes, orchestrating the back end of businesses and managing teams. But her inner data diva couldn't help but notice that small businesses needed help harnessing the power of data for growth. So she and her team set out to uncover and tidy up the data required to enable clients to grow their businesses confidently and easily.

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