Increase Your Productivity and Save Time Using Google Tools with Adrienne Farrow

Meet Adrienne:

Adrienne Farrow is the Go-To for all things Google Tools (Go-To = Google Tools... get it?). Her mission is to help entrepreneurs unlock the potential of Google tools both to increase their productivity and create profitable digital products. Solopreneurs and entrepreneurs with small teams come to Adrienne to help them get their Google Workspace organized, set up systems, and create amazing digital products for their businesses. Adrienne is the founder of the Go-To Membership, the place to go for increasing your productivity and saving time using Google Tools. 

Links & Resources:

• Website
• YouTube
• Instagram
• Go-To Membership
• 5 Day Go-To Dashboard Challenge

Ready to evergreen your emails?  Let's hop on a call and see if working together is a fit.

For the transcript and show notes:
https://laurakamark.com/74

Transcript

Laura Kåmark [00:00:01]:
Hey, everyone. Welcome to the Be Bold Make Waves podcast, a show bringing you inspiring stories of women who are growing and scaling their business. I'm your host, Laura Kåmark, a website and tech integration specialist who works with online business owners who love their work and not their website. Join me as we have incredible conversations about business, mindset, productivity, and, of course, the website and tech behind the business. Let's go ahead and dive in to this week's episode. Hello, and welcome to this week's show. For those of you who don't already know me, I'm Laura Kåmark, Evergreen email marketing expert for coaches and consultants who love their work, but not their tech. I am so excited to introduce you to my guest today, Adrianne Farrow.

Laura Kåmark [00:00:50]:
Adrienne is one of my new online BFFs. We actually just got to meet in person at Renee Rebar's Experts Connect event in April, and she's just amazing. So let me tell you her bio. Adrienne is the go to for all things Google tools. Her mission is to help entrepreneurs unlock the potential of Google tools both to increase their productivity and create profitable digital products. Solopreneurs and entrepreneurs with small teams come to Adrian to help them get their Google Workspace organized, set up systems, yay, and create amazing digital products for their business. Adrienne is the founder of the GoToMembership, the place to go for increasing your productivity and saving time using Google tools. Adrienne, thank you so much for coming on the show today.

Laura Kåmark [00:01:38]:
Can you tell us Of course.

Adrienne Farrow [00:01:39]:
So excited to be here.

Laura Kåmark [00:01:41]:
Yay. Can you tell our listeners a little bit how'd you get into the whole Google tool world and your business?

Adrienne Farrow [00:01:48]:
Oh, it's kind of crazy. So I'm a teacher by training. I was in the classroom for about 10 years, and, that was kinda when tech started evolving in the classroom. So, like, when I started, it was kind of a newish thing. We had some iPads and such, and then it was think, like, my 5th year teaching Google Classroom came out. And I was one of the first adopters of Google Classroom, and then I found out, oh, I can get certified as a Google for Education certified trainer. So I was like I mean, excuse me, Google for Education certified educator. There's lots of different awards in those things.

Adrienne Farrow [00:02:25]:
So I jumped in. I did level 1, level 2, and then COVID hit. And I like to refer to COVID as the great digitization of 2020. Yes. So that's when the whole world freaked out, especially in the education space about how do we move everything online. And so I was already Google certified, and so I worked with the school I was working out at the time. I was a special ed teacher in a life skills high school classroom, actually. So a really challenging classroom to go put online.

Adrienne Farrow [00:02:59]:
And I was trying some different strategies and such, and so I started leading professional development for the teachers at my school, and that led me to get the what I needed to become a certified trainer for Google. And at the same time, I found out there was a need for teachers on the site teacher pay teachers, curriculum developers to start digitizing their products. And so I got a couple clients and was doing that on the side and found out I really liked it. And then one thing kinda snowballed into the other, and it was really the birth of my second child when I decided to stay at home where I was like, I kinda do this as a full time gig. This is kinda cool. And so I was still digitizing products for curriculum owners and then also helping them figure out how to develop those systems in the back end, how to use Google for just more than selling something online. And then I also was diagnosed with ADHD in 2020 at age 35, and that was like a big light bulb moment for me when I realized I gotta find things that work for my brain, not what everybody else says works. Like, I gotta find out what works for me.

Adrienne Farrow [00:04:10]:
And so it was at the end of 23, beginning of 24 that I actually pivoted from working with teachers to working with all entrepreneurs and really delved into how to use Google to build systems and also to use it effectively to increase your productivity because there's so many amazing things that it can do that people just don't know about. And that's kind of become my new mission.

Laura Kåmark [00:04:35]:
Oh, I love that. That is a fantastic story.

Adrienne Farrow [00:04:39]:
Yeah.

Laura Kåmark [00:04:40]:
I I know I find out new things about Google and Google tools all the time, and I there's just so much it can do. What are some of your favorite, like, tips for someone that you have had these, like, light bulb moments that you're like, this is so helpful and so amazing that you can share with our audience?

Adrienne Farrow [00:04:59]:
Yeah. Definitely. So my number one is shared drives and Google Drives, and I don't think enough people know about shared drives, especially if you have, like, a virtual assistant or team members or you work with clients, because ownership is such a big deal in Google, and whoever originates the file in Google is the owner. So if you have a virtual assistant who is working on their own Google account and they originate the file and then they decide, oh, I'm done being a virtual assistant. I I am going to close down my Google account, which has happened, and I have helped people through. You've lost your files. Like, you've lost what is yours as a business owner. And so, shared drives is one of the number one things I help people set up and help people figure out the system for because then you share the ownership with that person who's in the shared drive.

Adrienne Farrow [00:05:52]:
And as the business owner, you can actually determine what level of access they have so they could, you know, only be able to add things to it or edit things but not delete things. And so you're always in control of your own Google files. And so that is my number 1. And then number 2 close behind is color coding your Google Calendar. I don't know. Do you do that?

Laura Kåmark [00:06:15]:
Maybe. Tell me more.

Adrienne Farrow [00:06:16]:
Okay. So on Google Workspace, it's it's only in the paid program, not in the free version of Gmail. You can have one master calendar, and then you can give events in your calendar different colors. And then you can actually label. It's called the label in there. You can give that color a name. So when you pull down the drop down menu like, for me, yellow equals work, and then, like, purple equals personal because I love purple, so I had to make that personal. And then, like, red equals appointments.

Adrienne Farrow [00:06:47]:
And then Google will take that actually one step further and give you a wheel on the side to show you how your time has been broken down that week, to show you how much how many things are in each label. So you can get a visual of, like, oh, I spent this much time on work, this much time on personal, this much time in appointments, etcetera. So it's super, super cool.

Laura Kåmark [00:07:10]:
Okay. So, yes, I use that. No. Not like that. And all the little heart emojis coming off my head. Yeah. I love this idea. Oh, I love what the thing that got me was the wheel.

Laura Kåmark [00:07:24]:
Yeah. Yes. The wheel of productivity. Like, that right there, I want that. I want that in my life.

Adrienne Farrow [00:07:30]:
I it came out of a need because I needed this calendar that I could set up with, like, my Calendly or, you know, acuity scheduling or whatnot. Google has their own. It's called appointment scheduler. I don't really like it. It's not set up very well. But I needed I had a personal calendar, and I had a work calendar, but then the this calendar system wouldn't talk to both of those so it could double book me and all that stuff. So I had to figure out what to do. And so when I found out that this hack, I could just literally put everything in my life on one calendar and color code it, it just made a world of difference.

Laura Kåmark [00:08:04]:
So I'm struggling right now with something very similar a few steps back from where you're at. Yeah. Where I have I have my work calendar tied to my hello at Laura Comark Mhmm. Account, and then I have my personal calendar, which is tied to my Gmail. And so but the and let me not call that my personal. That's the one that's tied to my acuity. It's tied to my iPhone, and then that one's, like, the master calendar because it I had that connected before I started using Workspace. And it I had, like, a finagled way for a long time that I was using a domain email because I didn't wanna pay because I just wasn't at that place yet in my business, and I finally broke down and did it.

Laura Kåmark [00:08:46]:
And I never moved it over because I was trying to sort of keep things a little bit separate, but even just my husband was asking me over the weekend, like, oh, what's on your schedule Monday? Like, I know I have 2 things on my calendar, 2 calls. And I pulled it up on my phone. I'm like, nope. I have to look from my computer because it's either in my planner, my actual printout handwrite thing planner, which is upstairs in the office, or I have to look on the computer because that's where it is going to be. And so I'm like, I it re made me think, like, I need to find a better solution, which I think the answer is I just need to connect my hello at to acuity and everything. I think I can get acuity to talk to too. I just I don't know. Yeah.

Laura Kåmark [00:09:29]:
It's but I love that you're saying that I can do the color coding to see the wheel of productivity. That's a and that's gonna push me over the edge of, like, everything.

Adrienne Farrow [00:09:38]:
I like that. The wheel of productivity. That's what I'm gonna call it in the future. The wheel of productivity. And I have, like, a shared calendar that I use with my husband. So it's, one that we both access. And then I just any event that I want him to know about, I just invite him to it. So, like, he doesn't, like, see my calendar, but then that gives him, like, a heads up because he doesn't need to see all my work.

Adrienne Farrow [00:10:00]:
You know? Like, I have a podcast here. I have a meeting here. But, like, you know, he should probably be in the loop above my daughter's doctor's appointment, or he should probably be in the loop above this other thing. And so that's kinda how I get around it is, like, it's all on my work calendar. It's color coded, and then I just invite who needs access to as needed. Try and just keep it simple.

Laura Kåmark [00:10:22]:
I have on my iPhone, I can access multiple calendars Mhmm. When I create something, And so my husband and I have a shared email address.

Adrienne Farrow [00:10:33]:
Same. That's the okay.

Laura Kåmark [00:10:34]:
Okay. That we created that's, like Yeah. Anything, you know, anything medical, travel related, anything I want both of us to see. And that was because for, like, birthday invites when we were getting invites to, like, kids' birthdays of our friends, they were sending it to one of his email addresses, and I never was getting the information. I'm like, I need more information to know what's going on. So I'm like, we're gonna create a a joint email account so that we can both be in the loop.

Adrienne Farrow [00:10:58]:
That's what we did too. Exactly. Exactly. So that's the email address that I invite.

Laura Kåmark [00:11:02]:
Okay. Oh, because then you can accept it yourself too. Because, yeah, I tried for a while to, like, send things to my and it just wasn't. He's he doesn't he's not on a computer all day typically. He's, like, building things, and he's not, like he has a technological black cloud that follows him around.

Adrienne Farrow [00:11:18]:
So, you know Trying to make it as simple as possible.

Laura Kåmark [00:11:21]:
Exactly. Oh my gosh. I love that. Okay. Yeah. I could go off on that tangent for a while. We're gonna move off.

Adrienne Farrow [00:11:27]:
No worries.

Laura Kåmark [00:11:27]:
But I love that. I love that so much. What would you say that you use Google the most for your business for, like, organizing?

Adrienne Farrow [00:11:41]:
So I I call it I have a fun word for it. I call it the Google trifecta. So it is drive, Gmail, and calendar. And I really think, like, that's the hub of, like, what I try and keep organized and what I try I access the most. So, really, all 3 of those tend to be up on my computer at any time. Drive, maybe not as much, but I'm in there quite a bit. And so, you know, Gmail's where I communicate with everybody. So I'm I have that there.

Adrienne Farrow [00:12:09]:
Calendar is where my life basically lives. I do have a a paper planner too because I do need that, like, write down to connect, but I'm generally looking at my calendar and then writing it down. And then my big focus, since the end of 2023 has been my drive. It's really making it so that I can access it quickly and, like, find what I need. So I kinda had that imposter syndrome at the end of last year. Like, I'm a Google expert who promotes organization, yet you wanna look at my Google Drive. It's a dumpster fire, and you don't wanna see it. And so I was like, well, maybe I should kind of figure out what works for me and my brain and, like, find a system that works.

Adrienne Farrow [00:12:51]:
And then I can say, hey. Guess what? You know? Like, I can show you what I do as a Google expert. And so, have you heard of the PARIS system or the PARAMETHID? So it's by a guy named Tiago Forte. He's pretty cool. He talks about building a second brain. So that's, like, his, like, big thing of, like, basically creating a digital organization system that works for you that becomes like your 2nd brain. So, try and declutter your mind and then keep things organized on your computer. But his system is called the PARIS system, and p stands for projects, a stands for areas, and, r stands for resources, and then the last a is for archive.

Adrienne Farrow [00:13:32]:
And I'm not joking you. I only have 4 Google Drive folders. There is no other folders in my main Google Drive, just those 4 folders, and everything else is then, you know, like, treat out from there. But projects is anything time based, so anything that has a set start and end date. Areas are ongoing things, so like your CEO docs or your finances or your social media, things that don't have, like, a specific start and stop date. R is resources. So, like, those lead magnets that you join or that article you found or something that you wanna refer back to later. And then archive, which is my number one trick to clean up your drive super quick, is the archive folder.

Adrienne Farrow [00:14:15]:
You throw everything else in there that you don't need to access right away, but it's still searchable. So you can still find it when you need it, but it keeps it all nice and clean. So I am not joking. I only have 4 folders now in my Google Drive. Those 4 folders.

Laura Kåmark [00:14:32]:
Oh my goodness. I feel like I need to go look and see how many folders I have. I will say mine doesn't feel too dumpster fiery, which is great. Good. Good. I I ended up, I color coded, and I numbered. I did numbering. It's a pretty rainbow, so it makes sense.

Laura Kåmark [00:14:47]:
It's nice to look at. And then I color coded, and then I I know I have, like, a client one, and that's anything client related. And then my clients usually get their own folders. I have a content. Mhmm.

Adrienne Farrow [00:15:01]:
And

Laura Kåmark [00:15:01]:
that's where and then that has rainbow color folders within that that breaks down my content more, like, my all my email stuff is in there. All my freebies are in there. All my digital products are in there. Courses.

Adrienne Farrow [00:15:14]:
Mhmm.

Laura Kåmark [00:15:15]:
I know that's one, and that was a newer one. Someone was like, how do you not have a folder for all of, like, assets that come with courses here? And I'm like, I don't know how I don't. And we both did the AI to a 100 k with Britney Long.

Adrienne Farrow [00:15:25]:
Yes.

Laura Kåmark [00:15:26]:
And I was like, I need a folder just for courses because I do. I have a ton of stuff that's I've you know, all those worksheets that we get and all these different programs we join. Yep. Yep.

Adrienne Farrow [00:15:36]:
Home. They need to go somewhere.

Laura Kåmark [00:15:38]:
They need to go somewhere. So I don't honestly know any of my other drive folders. Let me pull it up. Oh, admin. Okay. Here we go. Admin, clients, content, courses, Canvas, which is my husband's business, chat gpt, and resources. Perfect.

Adrienne Farrow [00:15:55]:
And that's why I say, you have to find what works for your brain. Like, 4 folders works well for me. That works well for you. Like, as long as you can find it.

Laura Kåmark [00:16:02]:
I It's good. What I found recently that, like, kind of blew my mind and changed my inbox a little bit because I'm one of those people. I've never been inbox 0, and don't get me wrong. I still am not, but I want to have a better handle on it is I found a way I saw, like, a tutorial or I saw something on Instagram, good old Instagram.

Adrienne Farrow [00:16:22]:
Yep.

Laura Kåmark [00:16:22]:
And it was talking about how you can have multiple inboxes within the inbox. And so then I went in and labeled it based on, like, hers was a star thing, and then I talked to my good friend, Kristen Doyle, who you know as well, who's also been on the podcast. I'll link her episode up in the show notes. And Kristen was telling me she had a different system, but was using that same feature. And so I went in and kinda used hers, and that's been a little life changing because I'm able to give things labels that are still kind of in that pending state

Adrienne Farrow [00:16:50]:
Mhmm.

Laura Kåmark [00:16:50]:
Where they need axe. I need to do something with them, some sort of action, whether it's, it's in progress, waiting for a reply, like, something that's on my calendar coming up, and I just need to keep it top of mind. Even though it's in the calendars, I just still want quick access to that or a resource that I'm not quite ready to put in the example folder of my life. I need to do something with it. And so having all those 4 and then being able to tag the email and then archive it, and then it doesn't actually, like, leave the inbox. It still hangs out, which is really cool.

Adrienne Farrow [00:17:22]:
Was it just across the top, the the the ones up at the top, or are you talking about the labels down the side for the ones for your different inboxes?

Laura Kåmark [00:17:30]:
I moved them to the bottom because I was finding them really distracting because they're also kinda I mean, everything's still out of hand. Yeah. Yeah. I'm out of the 1,000, but, like, it's still a little out of hand. Yeah. And I'm it it feels less intimidating to hit, like, archive archive archive on things because I know something that I need to come back to. I can put it in a place. Again, it's gotten a lot better than it was.

Laura Kåmark [00:17:49]:
But I still I'll I would find things when I was going through them, like, all the way at the end of my inbox, like, an email from someone, and I left it there, because I'm like, I do wanna re follow-up with this person and continue our conversation, continue the relationship. And I wasn't ready to, like, send them into a folder somewhere or tagging, you know, because I still wanted to keep them top of mind.

Adrienne Farrow [00:18:10]:
Yeah. I like that.

Laura Kåmark [00:18:11]:
That helped that's helped me. That's been really fun.

Adrienne Farrow [00:18:14]:
I should I should adopt something like that because I really like that because I've done I did a big Gmail overhaul a couple about a month ago or so and really went in and labeled everything, created a ton of labels. And I don't know if many people realize this, but, really, labels are folders in Gmail. I mean, they really should have a different name, but if you label it, you're just basically creating a folder with all those emails with that label. And then I set up a bunch of filters so that I could automate those labels being on. So, like, some of those newsletters that I get from people that I don't wanna unsubscribe, but I don't necessarily want it, like, clogging up my email box. I just have it so that it gets that label. It goes to that label, and then it just bypasses the inbox. So then I just see on the side, you know, that there's 5 emails in there, and then I'll go check it every once in a while.

Adrienne Farrow [00:19:02]:
But that has really helped to to kinda, like, streamline that and keep it organized. I do have to check it every now and then. There would there was one time what happened was, like, I wanted newsletters from someone to go in that label, but not emails from her, and it started putting the emails and bypass the inbox, because inbox is actually just a label. Yeah.

Laura Kåmark [00:19:20]:
I don't

Adrienne Farrow [00:19:20]:
think a lot of people realize that, but inbox is just a label. So you remove the inbox label. That's where the archive part comes from. So you do have to check those systems every now and then to make sure that they're working the way that you anticipate them working because sometimes our best ideas don't always come out to be the what we what we really want them to look like.

Laura Kåmark [00:19:41]:
Absolutely. I find that I have, like, a lot of those newsletters. I have, like, I call it my it's not a junk email, but, like, it's kinda my junk email. It's the one I use to sign up for all the things. I always when I reply to my friends, I'm like, you know this is me. Right? Because it's still I mean, it's an active Gmail that I used for years, but it's just it's not my personal one. Mhmm. And it's not my business one.

Laura Kåmark [00:20:04]:
I try to, like, keep as many newsletter things out. If I'm in active in a program, I'll sign up with my business email. But other than that, I try to keep my business email very much like client communication because, otherwise, it just we get so many emails, which I think is great. That's a great way to connect with our people, and there's nothing wrong with getting lots of emails, but I think it's can be overwhelming when we have so much coming in in today's world.

Adrienne Farrow [00:20:29]:
I wish I would have done that. Like, I signed up for a bunch of free resources from a bundle, like, back in December, and my inbox was just flooded. And it was just it took me so long to recover from that that I'm like, okay. Going forward, I have a training account. So it's a anytime I do demos with Google, like, for my YouTube channel or for my course or things like that, I use my training one, so I'm not showing personal information as I'm I'm demoing. So I'm just starting to use that email as my sign up for newsletter email, because then I can demo with that content about how to clean up your your Gmail, and there's and then it it tries to keep my my main one clean.

Laura Kåmark [00:21:07]:
Yeah. I yeah. It's so important to do that. I think I have I mean, I have a ridiculous amount of, like, Gmail and email accounts because I have my my business one Mhmm. And my personal one. I have my personal, like, junk one that was really old from before I got married.

Adrienne Farrow [00:21:23]:
Yep. Does it have your maiden name in it? Because that one mine does. It absolutely does.

Laura Kåmark [00:21:28]:
And so I use that one for, like like, that's what my Amazon account's tied to. And if I, you know, if I do online shopping, like, that's where that stuff goes. The personal one's gonna be, like, actual things I want to make sure I keep an eye on, And then I have, like, the junk one, which, again, is more like it's when I sign up for all the freebies for things. Mhmm. Yep.

Adrienne Farrow [00:21:49]:
Yeah. Yep. And I guess this is a good time to throw this in there too. If you're a business owner and you still are using an atgmail.com email, you need to get yourself a Google Workspace because of 2 reasons. 1, with the new email, authentication, I don't know. I wanna I wanna say thingy right now because I don't know the word to give for it. But what's new you have to have something with your domain to have that deliverability go through your email marketing service. And so I still see a lot of business owners, unfortunately, with an at Gmail, and it just kinda makes me cringe a little bit.

Adrienne Farrow [00:22:26]:
And, also, you're a professional. Like, it's it you need to have something that has your domain at the end, and Google Workspaces aren't that expensive. So to me, it's a really, like, critical business expense. And I do transfers all the time from Gmail to, Workspace because it is not easy to transfer over, but it's a necessary evil, unfortunately.

Laura Kåmark [00:22:52]:
And if anyone listening is like, what are you talking about with the email compliance thingy? I did a whole podcast episode on it. I will link that up in the show notes. I also have a blog post talking about it, but everything Adrienne is saying is a 100% on the money. Like, we need to have domain based emails. Absolutely.

Adrienne Farrow [00:23:10]:
Otherwise, your email not might not make it to your client's email box, unfortunately. So you know

Laura Kåmark [00:23:19]:
Okay. I want to talk a little bit about your membership. Can you tell our listeners about, like, how that came to be, and tell us a little bit about it?

Adrienne Farrow [00:23:29]:
Yeah. Sure. So my membership is called my go to membership, and it is, go to stands for Google Tools. So anything to do with Google Tools is kinda what this membership is about. Hello there. Hi. So the main part of my membership is providing that support that comes with Google. So I have a monthly q and a where you can just hop on and ask me any questions to do with Google tools.

Adrienne Farrow [00:23:59]:
I had, a monthly tool tutorial, so I break down a tool each month. And based off of people in my membership's question and some things that I want you to know about the tools, and, of course, I'm gonna be going through each tool kind of on a rotating basis. But giving you some of those behind the scenes, those tips and tricks, some things just to know about those tools happen in that live tutorial. And then I develop a business template for you to use every month as well in there. So I have a KPI tracker on there right now using Google Forms, which I actually need to update, and I'll be recording a a live, or a a how I am updating it so you could see how you can customize it yourself. I have a content planner on there. I have a Eisenhower matrix, the planning matrix where you can determine, like, what's important and urgent using post it notes in Google Drawings. And then let's do the last one.

Adrienne Farrow [00:24:52]:
I have a, oh, just a fun go to bingo where you can gamify what you need to get done in the week. So, actually, it's called get it done bingo. So you can put all of your tasks and try and get it, you know, download there. So it's trying to enlighten you to what you can do with Google tools and then also make it fun and in a welcoming environment. And then I do have a core, like, curriculum part to it. It's called my go to toolbox. So it's 20 things to know about Google so that you can work through in about 30 days or less, depending on how much time. But it starts with, like, setting up your Google Workspace accurately, getting your shared you know, your Google Drive set up and your shared drives, getting your calendar set up, all of the different things just to really optimize your Google Workspace.

Adrienne Farrow [00:25:42]:
And then the key part for me was making it affordable for entrepreneurs because I really also wanted to target, entrepreneurs who are just starting out who might not be able to, you know, spend a $100 a month or whatnot. So it's only $14 a month. It's pretty pretty reasonable. And, honestly, my q and a's are my favorite thing. I love just getting on and answering people's questions, so it's been a lot of fun. I just started it in March. So it's Oh,

Laura Kåmark [00:26:08]:
that's amazing.

Adrienne Farrow [00:26:09]:
Yeah. It's a it's my new baby.

Laura Kåmark [00:26:12]:
I love that. Because I'm a techie person, I just always love knowing what other people are using. What's the container where you have, like, the membership in?

Adrienne Farrow [00:26:20]:
So it's in MemberVault. Are you familiar with MemberVault?

Laura Kåmark [00:26:29]:
Oh my gosh. I love MemberVault so much. They're amazing. That's a great container to have that in for sure. That Yeah.

Adrienne Farrow [00:26:37]:
The support there has been I I switched from Thrivecart over to MemberVault, and I really couldn't be happier. Erin, who runs it, is a gem. She's amazing. And my first like, I joined, I think, at the end of January, and she started a thing called expert of the week. And I just threw my hat in the ring, and I actually was their first expert of the week, back in in March. So my blog post, I can give you the link and you can put it up with it. But, my, blog post on how to use Google within MemberVault or my expert week, was back in March. That was that was a lot of fun.

Laura Kåmark [00:27:17]:
Oh, I love that so much. Yeah. I was I've been with MemberVault for many, many years. I'm in the process of switching over to ThriveCart only because one time fee. And I looked at the member vault lifetime, and I was like, oh, it's gonna take me a long time to get that to pay off. I should have bought it when

Adrienne Farrow [00:27:37]:
it was less. Yeah.

Laura Kåmark [00:27:39]:
And that's and between that and then there's some things that ThriveCart can do that member vault's checkout couldn't do, which if you're switched, you're probably are you still using Thrivecart checkout?

Adrienne Farrow [00:27:49]:
I am not right now. I'm considering doing it with the affiliates and stuff. There was there's just been a lot of glitches with Thrivecart that I just haven't been super, super thrilled about, and their support as well. So that was part of the reason I switched was really to do with their support and everything that I needed to do in member vault. So far, I've been able to do, and I know that they're working on some stuff down the road. But I have been considering, especially as the membership grows and I wanna add affiliates and stuff like that, I might need to go back to just at least the Thrivecart checkout part. But I'm on the lifetime member vault, so that's that's part of that for me.

Laura Kåmark [00:28:29]:
So that piece is done. I know. And and I know so many people who use Thrivecart for the checkout and member vault for

Adrienne Farrow [00:28:34]:
the course

Laura Kåmark [00:28:35]:
of this, and they it all works just swimmingly.

Adrienne Farrow [00:28:38]:
Yeah. Yeah. And it's it's, again, what works well for your brain, personal preference. You gotta find what works for you.

Laura Kåmark [00:28:45]:
Oh, I love that. So I wanna talk a little bit about some mind stuff mindset stuff. Just because, you know, as entrepreneurs, we don't always know what we're getting into when we decide, I'm gonna start this business, which really is such a, like, journey of, you know, all these fears and doubts and imposter syndrome coming forward that I did not feel as much in corporate. Maybe I did, but I definitely I mean, I'm sure I felt like sometimes I wanted to leave my job, but I wasn't I would say at monthly, I have a burn it all down try time of life in my business when things build up. So I would love to know, what are some fears and doubts you had going on when you were starting your business and, like, transitioning over to the Google tools?

Adrienne Farrow [00:29:32]:
A lot of that a lot of it was like, hey. Could I do this? Like, would people actually pay me to do this? Like, it works for me. Is it gonna work for someone else? I had a lot of those fears, that were, you know, quickly squashed when people did. You know, my business hasn't grown as quickly as I would like it to. You know, some people have those skyrocket. They they do their business, and then suddenly they're making, you know, 5 figures a month or something like that. Like, you know, that hasn't been my experience. So as I've been going through there, I have to just remind myself, like, I'm good at what I do.

Adrienne Farrow [00:30:10]:
Like, I'm growing at my own pace, what's right for me and my own business. And for me, the classroom burnt me out. Like, by the time I left, it was just not the the working structure for my family was just not healthy. And so for me, the flexibility and freedom that I get from being an entrepreneur that drives me every day. So I just remind myself like, hey. Like, if I wanted to, I can go to Target in the middle of the day. That's pretty cool. Or, like, I get to go and be at my daughter's spring performance, or I get to not worry about the time that they tell me the pediatrician's available because I can either make that work in my schedule or, like, move something around.

Adrienne Farrow [00:30:55]:
So for me, like, that that is what I kinda come back to is, like, I get to kinda design the life that I want to to live, and that's what ends up really just, like, fueling me as a entrepreneur.

Laura Kåmark [00:31:11]:
I love that so much, and I feel like I can relate to that so much. I know we had, my daughter's field trip earlier this year. My husband and I both you know, we're both entrepreneurs.

Adrienne Farrow [00:31:20]:
Mhmm.

Laura Kåmark [00:31:21]:
Both our own boss. We both took the day off to go be mom and dad at the field trip up in Santa Barbara, and it was great. And we're like, this is why we do this. Mhmm.

Adrienne Farrow [00:31:32]:
It's not

Laura Kåmark [00:31:33]:
the time freedom for sure.

Adrienne Farrow [00:31:35]:
You just need to and I think just getting those reminders and when you get in the hole of just, like, you know, really sitting in, like, what is my big why? Like, what is the reason I'm doing this? And that really always I just always come back to like, I'm I'm doing this for my family. Doing it for myself, of course, but I'm doing it just for that yeah. That time freedom to be present. You know? Yeah.

Laura Kåmark [00:31:56]:
I know. I I feel when you were saying, like, when the pediatrician when I need to make an appointment and it's yes. I can make that time work. I that to me is huge also. It's Yeah. Having the freedom with when I call the doctors for my kids. And, yes, I can be there. Whatever time you Yep.

Laura Kåmark [00:32:12]:
Whatever time slot you have, I can make that work. And And for

Adrienne Farrow [00:32:16]:
for me as a teacher, I had to do sub plans. Like, if I'm sick or my kids are sick, you know, I can work while they're sick, or I can just say, hey. I'm taking the day off, and it's not gonna be the end of the world. And I have so many memories of being up at, like, 4 in the morning typing up sub plans, like, so super sick because I decided to call in because I wasn't gonna be able to to be there for my my kids, like, my my classroom. But somehow, I still had to work to get them the stuff that they needed. You know? And it's really you know, it's not fair to those who are still in the classroom. I still have so much respect for those teachers who are still in the classroom, but it was just not gonna be sustainable, you know, for me and my my family anymore.

Laura Kåmark [00:33:02]:
Yeah. Our teachers are amazing. They really are. They really are.

Adrienne Farrow [00:33:06]:
Yeah.

Laura Kåmark [00:33:07]:
I would love to know. I am such a huge fan of celebration and celebrating our wins and all the actions we take because, again, as moms who are raising children, businesses, and trying to wear all the hats and do all the things, and it's I mean, it's hard. Entrepreneurship is hard. It's never goes as fast as we would like it to. And as much as we would love it to be this, like, upward, you know, slope, it is not. It is much more of this, like, crazy roller coaster like the one I went on with Kristen Doyle at, at

Adrienne Farrow [00:33:43]:
New York, New York.

Laura Kåmark [00:33:44]:
At New York, New York and Las Vegas. That is on that. That roller coaster was entrepreneurship. It was very bumpy. It my my head felt like it was spinning, and we went upside down a few times. And it was a little wild, and I was very anxious. And I was very glad that I wanted to get off.

Adrienne Farrow [00:34:02]:
I'm I'm gonna think of that every time I see that. For the listeners, I live in Las Vegas, so I actually, like, see those things on a regular basis. So now whenever I see New York New York, I'm gonna think think that's my entrepreneurship journey.

Laura Kåmark [00:34:13]:
That is that is yes. But, yeah, I mean, I I know even for me, I just started, putting out into the world on the podcast income reports Mhmm. This year, and that's been terrifying. But I'm getting a lot of good feedback on it, which is great. Awesome. It's great to see the back end of someone's business because I know it can look really altogether from the Instagram side of things. And really on the back end, we're all just trying to figure this out and flying by the seat of our pants. Like, we are building this plane as it is flying, people.

Laura Kåmark [00:34:45]:
Staying afloat. Staying afloat.

Adrienne Farrow [00:34:45]:
Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. So

Laura Kåmark [00:34:52]:
that's my long introduction to asking you the question of what are you proud of that we can all celebrate you today, that you just really even if it's just like, I didn't burn my business down today. Like, that's something to be proud of. I love asking people what their wins are and how we can celebrate you.

Adrienne Farrow [00:35:11]:
Awesome. Well, in the beginning like I said, the beginning of 2024, I decided, okay. I'm gonna just lean into Google tools. And so I decided to try and push my shiny shiny object syndrome to the side, and I created I call it my go to dashboard, and I created it in Google Sheets, and it is literally like the hub for my business. I have links to all of my, like, docs that I need on a regular basis, all my sheets. I have stats and stuff like that. And I was like, I'm a bundle this up and sell it as, like, a low ticket mini course and see how it goes. And I haven't expected it to be as popular as it was, and I have almost 500 people who've grabbed this from me.

Adrienne Farrow [00:35:51]:
And I it just has made me, like, super excited to see the feedback that has come through and been like, this has been, like, life changing for my business. I like, this has been, like, I have fun filling this out. I just had someone reach out to me about, like, getting a license for it so that they could, you know, use it with their clients. And so something that I created for myself, like, just to see the positivity out there is amazing. So, yeah, I'll definitely, if I haven't given you the link already, I'll give you the link for that. It is like it's it's my baby. It's my baby, and I love it so much. So I'm just so every time I see that number go up, I'm like, I don't think because I actually don't really make much money from it because I keep it low cost.

Adrienne Farrow [00:36:37]:
But I think of, like, how much it's providing as a service to people, and that's what brings me joy out of it.

Laura Kåmark [00:36:44]:
I love that. I love I love hearing that things I'm creating, like, content I'm putting out, that it it resonates with people that's helping people. Like, that that fills me for sure as well. I love that. Yeah. Okay. What would you say that you are doing in the industry where you're making waves, being bold and doing things a little different than some of the other Google Google people?

Adrienne Farrow [00:37:11]:
So for me, I think it's been really leaning into what works well for your brain. And, like, that has been my, like, mantra a lot is that stepping away from the typical and really realizing that, like, so many entrepreneurs are neurospicy. So many of us, our brains don't work the same way as those who are in other other, facets of society be and that's why we're entrepreneurs because we're creative. We're we want the different aspects and such. And so, like, leaning into more of the system side of Google and leaning more into, like, how to make it work for you and your brain. And let me give you those tips, tricks, hacks, things that you can think about to create your own system. I think that's really where I, like, am making some waves and doing something different. Rather than just a straight how to, like, let me just how to use Google.

Adrienne Farrow [00:38:05]:
Let's take it a step further and think of it as a system that's gonna just be a a different system for your brain. You know?

Laura Kåmark [00:38:13]:
Oh, I love that so much. I could seriously sit here and talk to you all day about this.

Adrienne Farrow [00:38:19]:
Me too.

Laura Kåmark [00:38:21]:
We are getting close to our time. I do have one question that I ask everyone who comes on the show. And what is one piece of advice you would give to someone who is growing and scaling their business to help them be bolder, make waves?

Adrienne Farrow [00:38:36]:
Stay true to yourself and find what is your inner power, that inner that inner strength, that inner drive that keeps you going. Because when that roller coaster sends you upside down, like, that's what you're gonna need to, like, hone in on. And that, like, never give up framework. Like, I tell myself I can do hard things all the time. I can do this. This is going to happen for me. You know? It is slow and steady wins the race. And, also, one other thing is just not to compare yourself to others.

Adrienne Farrow [00:39:14]:
Because even if you're doing the same thing as someone else, you're doing it differently. And that was something big that I heard recently from someone is that people follow you for you. Like, you could be doing the exact same thing as someone else, but you're connecting with your audience because of who you are. So just really stay true to yourself.

Laura Kåmark [00:39:35]:
I love that so much, and it is so true. I mean, I know I I I even do it. I compare myself to others, and I'm like, stop. Don't do that. And what I've tried to do is go back and look at, like, years prior, look at my income, my p and l, and see how far I've come. Mhmm. And that's something that's really helped me in being, like or or taking my my p and l, my profit and loss, and starting it from, like, running it in QuickBooks of, like, from the beginning to now. And I'm like, oh, look at all that money.

Laura Kåmark [00:40:05]:
Like, fun. Because that's where you can really, like, see, like, again, where the numbers have shifted. Again, it's not all straight up. It's that roller coaster.

Adrienne Farrow [00:40:15]:
Yep. Yep. And you might re niche and things like that, and then that's gonna change things too. Like, I re niched in February and so well, actually, really January. So, like, it's that roller coaster. Yeah. It's that upside down roller coaster.

Laura Kåmark [00:40:28]:
And it's your business. You get to run it how you want to. I'm in the middle of a pivot. I've been pivoting from, you know, website and tech integrations to evergreen email systems, and that's been a very interesting journey that I've been on. But we'll talk more about that another time. So

Adrienne Farrow [00:40:45]:
So

Laura Kåmark [00:40:45]:
Adrianne, thank you so much for coming on the show today. Can you tell our listeners where they can come find you, where they can check out your membership, all the things that I will link up in the show notes?

Adrienne Farrow [00:40:54]:
Yeah. All of my links are on my website at, www.adrienneferro.com. The courses and services and stuff are also on go to.adrienneferro.com. I'm @theAdriannefarrow on Instagram, and then my YouTube channel is just my name, Adrienne Farrow, and I have a lot of tutorials, tips, tricks. That's gonna be a big focus of mine is growing that, so definitely subscribe because there'll be a lot of really cool videos coming out soon.

Laura Kåmark [00:41:21]:
Wonderful. I will link all that in the show notes. Thank you so much for coming on the show today. This was such a fun conversation.

Adrienne Farrow [00:41:28]:
Awesome. Thank you, Laura.

Laura Kåmark [00:41:32]:
Thanks so much for listening to this week's episode. Be sure to check out the show notes at laurakamark.com/podcast. And if you're ready to turn your website into a marketing machine, get more sales, save time, and simplify the back end of your business, grab my free resource, power integrations for your website. Head on over to laurakamark.com/power. If you enjoyed today's episode, make sure to subscribe. And also, I'll just love you forever if you leave me a review. It helps get this podcast in front of other people that can help inspire. Thanks Thanks so much for listening.

Laura Kåmark [00:42:10]:
I'll see you next week. Bye now.