Daniel J. Lewis

Internet entrepreneur, award-winning podcaster, podcast consultant, keynote speaker

Serving More People Better by Delegating and Reducing Accessibility

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For years, I've prided myself on my accessibility. When someone emailed my podcasts or my businesses, I would personally read and respond to every message. It would sometimes take weeks or months for me to respond, but I refused to let someone else do it for me. I wanted to keep my hands in every aspect of my business—even in the design and coding of projects.

I was the superhero of my business.

Even though I knew that business style can't scale, I held on tightly. I considered it a badge of honor for me to directly serve my audience and customers, and to be skilled enough to design and code well.

But the truth is that badge and my pride were getting in the way, weighing me down, and thus actually preventing me from serving as many people. Even those I could serve were often not getting my best.

As is the brilliant title of a friend's podcast, I need to mature “from founder to CEO.”

Growth is what all podcasts and businesses want, but it's also the hardest thing to handle. Growth requires more financial investment, better planning and communication, andmore trust in others.

With properly guided growth comes higher returns, a stronger team, and greater outreach.

Thus, with both anxiousness and delight, I must officially let go of many things I've been holding on to:

  • Answering emails
  • Customer service
  • Product administration
  • Graphic design
  • Web programming
  • Video production
  • Accounting
  • And even some of my writing

This will be a hard transition for me. Many of these things will take longer for me to train than to do myself. That's only a short-term problem with long-term gain.

Most importantly, this will allow me to better serve more people because I won't be so burdened with the details.

So if you email my podcast or my business, you may get a response from someone on my team and I may never read the message myself. I hate that I can't promise a personalized response from myself, but that's now an impossible promise to keep while providing for my family.

I'm no longer only the entrepreneur, I'm the teamleader—the CEO.

By focusing on the right things for me, I can serve you better and reach more people at the same time.

Taking a Sabbatical

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Taking a Sabbatical

I'm sure you never have a stressful day, week, month or year. Everything you touch turns to gold, right? Isn't that what it's like for all smart people on the Internet?

You know I'm joking! Podcasting, whether for business or hobby, can be stressful at times. And running a business, no matter its underlying passion, can also be stressful.

So I'm doing something radical.

I decided to take a kind of sabbatical. For the month of June, I'll be unavailable for consulting, interviews, answering questions, responding to feedback, or any other business. All requests will be automatically archived and may not receive any personalized responses. I will be available only to members of Podcasters' Society, and customer-support for my products will continue. If you need something from me, please contact me again after July 15.

I will continue to publish episodes of The Audacity to Podcast, possibly some thoughts on this blog, and maybe some other content.

This won't be a work-free sabbatical. During this time of reduced demands, I will focus on making Podcasters' Society even better, including new courses, resources, and other value exclusive to members of Podcasters' Society.

Being transparent with you, I'm nervous about this. But I think the timing is right. Plus, while I was already considering this, I heard several podcast episodes confirming this is the right thing for me to do right now.

I still have a lot of things going: several of my network's podcasts need your daily votes in the Podcast Awards, I'm preparing for Podcast Movement (as a speaker and a sponsor), The Audacity to Podcast was nominated for an Academy of Podcasters award, I'm re-opening Podcasters' Society on July 1.

Plus this very special announcement:

This is what I need to do, and I'm looking forward to it! I encourage you to consider how you might be able to take your own sabbatical this year.

When I sent this to my podcasting newsletter subscribers, I received wonderful cheers and encouragement. Even as I respond to consulting requests or halt business talks, everyone has been understanding and supportive!

Here's to focus, clarity, and renewed energy!

Why Moving Your Home Business Out of Your Home May Be Your Best Decision

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Guy working from home

Working from home seems like the entrepreneur's dream, but it may not be as fun, productive, and profitable as you may think.

I left my full-time job in 2011 to fully commit to my growing podcast-consulting business (known as The Audacity to Podcast). Being recently married, I thought the combination of doing what I love, around the woman I love, and in the place I was most comfortable was a dream come true.

But it was far more stressful than I ever expected. Moving my studio office out of my home—four years later—was one of the best things I did for my business and my marriage.

Your story and situation are probably quite different from mine. So you may need to adjust my advice for your circumstances.

1. Clear boundaries

My home office had always been in the lower level of our bilevel home. (These seemingly state-mandated constructions are like two-story homes half-sunken into the ground. The entry is between the two floors with immediate stairways. The kitchen, living room, and bedrooms are usually upstairs and the “family room” and fireplace are usually downstairs.) And there was no door to my office.

Not having a door is an issue all on its own. But the proximity of my workspace to the rest of my life made it difficult to create and maintain healthy boundaries.

It was too easy to be interrupted by home life. Every brief question, kitchen noise, and even small moments of affection were interruptions.

Plus, it was difficult for me to stay away from work when my same PC also doubled as an entertainment device.

When I moved my business into separate office space, it made it much easier to leave work at work and enjoy home at home. The small commute gives me time to transition between work and home mentalities. Plus, my home is no longer set up for intense, focused work, so I'm far less tempted to let that kind of work interrupt my home life.

It's now much easier to make home a place for family and my office a place for work.

[clickToTweet tweet=”Moving your business out of your home creates clear boundaries.” quote=”Moving your business out of your home creates clear boundaries.”]

2. Greater focus

With far fewer interruptions, it's much easier for me to focus on my business priorities while I'm at work. There's no washing machine, there are no clashing dishes, and there's no noise-maker from hell (also known as the vacuum clean or—worse—the dryer buzzer).

Working from home requires a lot of discipline. You still need discipline working from a private office, but the opportunities to be distracted are far fewer. It's like the difference in maintaining a diet while you're walking in a park versus walking through the candy aisle.

[clickToTweet tweet=”Moving your business out of your home brings greater focus.” quote=”Moving your business out of your home brings greater focus.”]

3. Improved relationships

I totally love my wife! I made a lifetime-binding oath before God and man that I would always and forever love her. But that's not easy when I'm being selfish and under pressure. Marriage is hard work (because it means my changing and growing), but it's totally worth it!

During the first few years of my business, it was only my wife and me in the house—all day, every day. That continuous exposure to each other was bound to stir up nastiness we didn't realize we had (marriage doesn't create problems, it reveals them). So in addition to learning how to live together and become more Christlike toward each other, we also had the extra stress of my new business.

With blurry boundaries came frequent interruptions. With the interruptions came reduced productivity and increased stress. With increased stress came more temptation to be ugly.

I'm not saying that a home business will cause problems in your marriage. But it certainly is an additional burden stacked on what you may already be struggling to work through, which makes it easier to fail.

I hated facing a crisis multiple times every day. My crisis (or turning point) was how to balance loving my wife and investing myself in my business. I hated making those decisions between important priorities, and I was confronted with them throughout the day. Those decisions, alone, caused more stress in addition to all the other stresses (especially when I would make the wrong decision).

When I moved my business into a separate office, my marriage improved significantly. It wasn't this decision, alone. There were other things changing, too. But removing this collection of stresses made it easier to focus on and appreciate my relationship with my wife.

Let me be clear. Moving my office did not save my marriage; God saved my marriage. And I believe God gave us the wisdom to finally move my office space and relieve some of that stress on our most important relationship on Earth.

[clickToTweet tweet=”Moving your business out of your home can improve your family relationships!” quote=”Moving your business out of your home can improve your family relationships!”]

4. More flexibility

My business is podcasting and helping podcasters. This means I record a lot of audio and video—reviews, podcast episodes, consulting, courses, promotional videos, and more. That kind of multimedia work requires specialized equipment, a quiet environment, and sometimes lots of space.

Recording anything was always a challenge. I would cage our dog and ask my wife to be absolutely quiet—no dishes, microwave oven, flushing toilets, and sometimes not even walking around (because my office was below the kitchen and dining room). My activities and responsibilities were conflicting with my wife's activities and responsibilities. This meant my recording times were extremely limited, or the inconveniences would create additional conflict.

Plus, it wasn't practical to leave my video equipment set up, especially while we were trying to sell our house.

Now, having my own, dedicated space gives me the flexibility to arrange the space how I need it and leave my equipment set up. This makes it much easier to record something when time and inspiration hit.

[clickToTweet tweet=”Moving your business out of your home gives you more flexibility!” quote=”Moving your business out of your home gives you more flexibility!”]

Is a separate office for you?

As for me and my wife, we realized that even though working from home is very comfortable and affordable, it's far better for both our family and my business for me to work away from home—not even a small building on our property.

Your situation may be unique and still share some similarities with mine. You really have to decide this for yourself. But I hope this gives you some ideas to discuss with your family and associates.

Please comment with your own working-from-home stories and what inspired your decision for where you work.