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An Interview With Alexis Haselberger
Aaron Iara: Thank you for taking the time to chat with me this week! Please tell the readers about yourself and the work you do.
Alexis Haselberger: My pleasure! I’m a time management and productivity coach and that means that I help people to use their time more intentionally, in service of their goals and values. I do this through 1:1 coaching, group coaching, corporate workshops and online courses. The easiest way to describe what I do is that I help people to do more and stress less.
Personally, I live in San Francisco with my husband and 2 kids.
Aaron Iara: It is nice to meet you! How long have you been doing productivity coaching? How did you get your start?
Alexis Haselberger: I opened my practice in the beginning of 2018, but I feel as though I’ve been doing this work informally for many years. Before I opened my business, I spent the first 15 years of my career running HR and business operations in early-stage start-ups in the Bay Area. In a start-up environment, there is always so much more to do than people to do it. People work hard, they work long hours, and they burn out.
My super-power was always the ability to get A LOT done, and done well, with minimal effort and stress. I had a boss that used to tell people that I could do in 20 hours what most could do in 60 hours. Over time, people started recognizing these skills and starting to come to me for help with streamlining processes, creating systems, prioritizing their work, and general time management.
When the last start-up I worked for went out of business (as more than 90% of start-ups do), I decided that the most impactful thing I’d been doing was helping others with time management, productivity, and stress reduction. And luckily, that was also the aspect of my career that was the most fulfilling for me.
At that point, I decided to open my own time management and productivity coaching and consulting business so that I could help others kill it at work, and have fulfilling personal lives as well. I haven’t looked back. Turns out, there are a lot of folks really struggling in this department so there was strong product-market fit.
Aaron Iara: Running a business takes a lot of time and energy. What do you do to stay productive?
Alexis Haselberger: It probably won’t surprise you to know that I have lots of strategies for staying focused!
First, I use a task/project management app to track every single thing I need to do in my business, as well as delegated items. I have a daily, weekly and quarterly planning process to ensure that I stay focused on my top priorities. If it’s not in the app, I don’t do it. In that way, I steer clear of shiny object syndrome.
Every quarter, I review the backlog of ideas in my task app, and I choose a few things to focus on for the quarter. I add these goals into a quarter-long calendar appointment that appears at the top of my calendar so that I am constantly reminded of my focus. And then I add related tasks and projects for these goals into my task app so that I can properly prioritize the work to make these things happen.
On a more granular level, I keep all notifications (email, Slack, etc.) turned off and I keep my phone on silent. I don’t let the incoming distract me from my focus for the day. I’m still very responsive to others, as that’s crucial for my business, but I do it by batch processing my communications a few times a day instead of answering things as they come in.
Aaron Iara: What do you think is the biggest obstacle to creators and entrepreneurs when it comes to being productive and stress-free?
Alexis Haselberger: I think that relying on memory is probably the number one obstacle to being productive and stress-free. Much of the stress and anxiety we feel is because we are trying to keep it all in our heads. We waste tons of time rehashing the same thoughts about what we have to do instead of actually getting it done.
Get it out of your head so that you can prioritize. And remember that nothing is too small to go into your task system. The more you can offload the stuff you have to do out of your brain and into a system you can access, the more of your brain is available to focus on the task at hand and the more productive you’ll be and the more time you’ll have.
Aaron Iara: Outside of coaching, what do you do for fun?
Alexis Haselberger: I love reading, cooking, and traveling. And, of course, spending time with my family. I am in 2 book clubs and average about a book a week right now. I also love cooking. It’s a time of day, every day when I get to be completely in the flow. I rarely use recipes and I love to make elaborate meals. And, when I can, I love to travel. Sometimes with family, sometimes with friends. Eating myself around a new city is one of my very favorite things to do.
Aaron Iara: COVID seems to be changing the way we approach both work and life (working from home, schooling, etc.). How do you see work-life balance changing in the future?
Alexis Haselberger: One thing I’ve been noticing is that because the traditional boundaries between work and home have been eviscerated by COVID, people are burning out fast. We’re working too much and letting work bleed into all aspects of our lives. I think that in the future, we’re going to need to be more intentional about creating our own boundaries; creating space to work, defining work hours.
I think things will be more flexible in some ways because we won’t be physically tied to an office, but that means that individually, we need to be more attuned to our own needs and better about setting boundaries for ourselves.
Aaron Iara: Running a business is often a collaborative process between management, staff, and customers. How do you foster relationships and approach the collaborative process?
Alexis Haselberger: I think about all relationships from a point of “what can I do to ensure this is mutually beneficial?”. So, when it comes to clients, I always want to meet them where they are; I take an incredibly individualistic approach. I want to ensure that I help people figure out strategies that will work for who they are already vs. trying to fit them in a box.
With my assistant, we have a weekly 1:1 on the calendar, so we always have dedicated time to communicate. Of course, we communicate the rest of the week as well, but this allows us to ensure that there is space to grow our relationship and talk live (virtually) even when things are crazy busy.
Aaron Iara: What advice can you give to people who want to start their own company?
Alexis Haselberger: Plant seeds. Lots of them. What I’ve learned is that you just have no idea where that next client will come from. You don’t know what seeds will grow. But if you plant a lot of seeds, your opportunities are greater than if you plant fewer. What do I mean by planting seeds? Talking to people about what you do, meeting new people, offering to help others, making mutually beneficial intros, etc. Aim to give more than you get.
Aaron Iara: Do you have any upcoming events or releases you would like to discuss?
Alexis Haselberger: I’m about to launch my group coaching program, Take Control of Your Time. I’m really excited about that, as I only open it up twice a year.
I’m also hard at work on a brand new online course for working parents about how to kill it at work and be present at home. I’m really excited about this product, which will be my third online course, because working parents are really struggling right now during COVID, with kids at home while trying to work from home. And it’s a self-paced course that people can do at home, in the time they’ve got.
Aaron Iara: Thank you for taking the time to chat with me this week. Where can the readers find you and your work?
Alexis Haselberger: Thanks so much. Readers can find me at:
Website: https://www.alexishaselberger.com/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCh9iAkCALqr3FsKfYOqjb3Q
Instagram: @do.more.stress.less
Facebook: @domorestressless
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/domorestressless/
Check Out Alexis Haselberger!
A huge thank you to Alexis Haselberger for taking the time to chat with me this week. Make sure to check out Alexis at the following locations:
Alexis Haselberger’s Official Website
Alexis Haselberger on Youtube
Social Media: Instagram | Facebook | FB Group
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