YouTube Wins: Pew Research on Teens and Social Media

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In October 2024, Pew Research Center conducted a survey of teens ages 13-17 and their use of social media. That they should discover that most teens have a smartphone and use social media almost constantly wasn’t a surprise. Instead, what was surprising to me is that the platform they use the most by 90% is YouTube.

The use of YouTube did decline from 95% a couple of years earlier, though that can easily be explained by the meteoric rise of TikTok. With TikTok in limbo and potentially nearing extinction for U.S. audiences, it’s likely the 90% may increase again. But even if it doesn’t…90% is a LOT of teens on YouTube.

I think this is important for heart-centered professionals to keep in mind as you plan your social media strategy. YouTube has been around a while, but it is not solely the domain of middle to upper-aged people. It still holds strong use by younger people and far eclipses TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat.

If you are offering any services of benefit to teens you may want to consider how you can begin engaging them on YouTube, because clearly it’s where they are hanging out.

Here is the graph provided by Pew:

You can read the full article here.

It’s okay to include silence in Self-Care

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In a overly noisy world that invites you to say yes to everything, it’s okay to say NO, too. It’s okay because saying no to someone else is also saying yes to yourself. It’s okay if you withdraw, even from causes or activities or events you are passionate about. It’s okay to not give them an explanation. It’s okay to say you’re busy because you’ve time-boxed alone time for yourself so that part of your schedule is “busy.” It’s okay to not go to the party. It’s okay to not answer your cell phone. It’s okay to “sit this one out.”

I know you already know this—that making space for your personal silence is important. You’ve probably taught this, wrote about it, made social reels about it, etc. Sometimes we just need to hear what we already know again, from a friend.

I don’t know exactly what’s happening in your life, but if it’s anything like what is happening in the lives of nearly every human I know, right now I’m being your friend and reminding you that it’s okay to include silence as part of your self-care. The world will still be there when you’re ready to ease back in from a stronger, more connected space.

Progress in 1% increments

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Sometime back, I read Atomic Habits: Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results by James Clear. It was in the early days of my work on Guide Garden. Creating this platform felt huge and sometimes overwhelming. I felt comforted when I read in the beginning of the book about the “power of the 1% rule.” Even making a forward step as small as 1% was still movement toward launching Guide Garden.

I had so many interruptions, some joyous (family visiting) to incredibly frustrating (hello, technology and customer support!) But I could still do at least 1% toward the goal. I knew if I could relax and allow that this is what the path looked like, in time I would see significant progress.

Whatever you’re working on, it’s okay to allow your productivity to progress in small increments. When you get frustrated, notice how it feels in your body—without judgment—and whether you are chasing after or trying to avoid something. Notice what emotions you are feeling and the chatter in your mind about it. This is just part of life and you’ll want to learn to work in peace with it. Learn how your body and mind respond to situations like this. While your progress may not be as quick as you’d want, you’ll grow in wisdom and hopefully increase your ability to remain calm even in the thick of real life.

Get started for FREE with Systeme.io

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A few weeks ago, I tested out a fairly new-ish platform called Systeme.io. Frankly, I was suspicious because well, you know…once bitten, twice shy. Usually free services are limited, omitting the features you really need unless you go choose a paid package. Or the free offer is for a limited time which is often too short of a time frame to really test the service. However, Systeme.io is forever free and right out the gate has most of the key features startups and small businesses need. I created a test site in just a few hours, poked and prodded, did online research…and came out a believer. I am getting all kinds of ideas for how to use Systeme.io.

To give you some context, Systeme.io will let you build your website, blog, email marketing, sales funnels, online classes, shopping cart, and share affiliate links for FREE. You only need to start paying when you get more than 2,000 newsletter subscribers or need more funnels or online courses than is allowed in the free plan. But the free plan is solid enough to get you started and will help you build your audience at your own speed.

Sean Elliott photo

In November 2024, our guest speaker will be Sean Elliott, owner of Zero2Income. He also has a heart for startups and bootstrapping businesses and is equally enthusiastic about Systeme.io. He has a lot more experience with it than I do, and I’m thrilled he’ll be our guest. He’ll be able to answer all your questions and help you determine if Systeme.io is right for you.

All links in this post are affiliate links, but the platform is still 100% free for you to use. I get a small fee if you ever move to a paid subscription. The beauty of their affiliate system is that you can ask your peers on Systeme to share links to your courses or services, and they’ll get a payment for everyone who signs up for your offerings. It’s just one more of those helpful features that supports you, your friends, and keeps the platform alive and well.

Have you filed your Beneficial Ownership Information Report yet?

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My friend Heather Pearce Campbell, owner of The Legal Website Warrior, just sent a reminder out to her followers that businesses need to comply with this new regulatory requirement. If your business was formed prior to 2024, this report needs to be filled out by January 1, 2025. Newly created businesses (anytime in 2024 or later) need to file their report within 90 days of formation. You only need to fill out this report once (unless there is a change in the benefit of ownership with your business.)

What is this report? Beginning in 2024, the Corporate Transparency Act requires that you file a Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) report with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). This act requires that businesses must disclose information about their owners to combat money laundering and other criminal activities.

Where to file? The report is filed with FinCEN, a bureau of the U. S. Department of the Treasury. You can go here to file your report. If you haven’t done so yet, please don’t put it off. The penalty fees for not filing can be quite hefty.

I’m so happy that Heather will be our guest expert in February 2025. She will be presenting Protect Your Assets: Bite-Sized Legal Basics for Brilliant Entrepreneurs  and will have a special offer for Guide Garden members!

Featured image generated by AI.

Email Newsletters

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Choosing the right email newsletter platform depends on your specific needs, budget, and technical expertise.  For beginners and startups, here are five platforms that are worth consideration. I do not have an affiliate account with any of them but I will offer my experience with them to help you determine what may be a good fit for you.

  • Mailchimp. I used Mailchimp for years. I found it easy to make great looking newsletters with their ready-made templates and drag-and-drop interface. Mailchimp is rated #1 for lots of important reasons, but I especially like that they offer a fairly inexpensive plan for startups that includes the ability to create landing pages and customer segmentation. This means even if you don’t have a website, you can use Mailchimp to capture leads for your services, or sort your audience based on which services they’ve purchased from you.
  • MailPoet. This is my new, preferred newsletter platform and the one I currently use to send my newsletters. I get almost giddy when I get to create a newsletter in MailPoet. It’s soooooo easy to use and offers all the features I could wish for. The only catch is that you have to have a WordPress website in order to use it. I realize that eliminates those of you who have Squarespace, Wix, or some other type of website. 
  • MailerLite. Full disclosure: I have not used MailerLite. However, it gets great ratings and appears to offer great services at a lower price than MailChimp. 
  • Constant Contact. This platform has been around since the dark ages of digital newsletters, so I felt obligated to mention them. To be honest, it’s been a few years since I’ve had to work with it, but sometimes I have a marketing client that uses them and have to dip my feet in their pool. To me, they aren’t as easy to work with and their interface is not as intuitive. That said, it’s not a wrong decision to use Constant Contact if their price and features fit your needs.
  • Substack. If building your audience depends mostly on your writing, then you should definitely take a look at Substack. You can offer free articles and you can also create a paywall so only paid subscribers can read your content. You are in complete control of how you use it, and many writers are building their audience with it. Everytime you publish a new article, Substack sends a newsletter to your email list so your subscribers (free and/or paid) know you’ve got new content.

Delight Yourself

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I’m aware that talking to heart-centered professionals about self-care may seem a bit like preaching to the choir, but I also know from personal experience that those gentle reminders to bring compassion and kindness to myself also help me better serve my clients. 

Since our Productivity Tip today was about time management, let’s stay with that theme. One way you can take care of yourself is to establish time blocks in your workday where you solely focus on doing something that delights you. It can be anything from creative arts to music to taking a walk around the block. It may be your spiritual practice or talking to a beloved friend. Whatever it is, let it be something that relaxes you and brings you joy.

Now block out a time in your day when you will do it. It doesn’t have to take a lot of time. Maybe you do it first thing in the morning, before the craziness of the day’s schedule starts. Or maybe you add in 15-20 minutes midday to remember you are human (not a machine) and worthy of self-respect.

Perhaps you save your delight-directed time block for that part of the day when you walk away from your work completely, knowing it will be there tomorrow, and for the rest of the evening you rest in self-compassion, kindness, and do something that delights you…even if it’s a small thing.

And do this every day. While the way you delight yourself may change from day to day, make sure that each day you are including something that touches joy deep inside you. Your clients need you to be resourced and healthy, and including intentional delight in your day will help.

Timeboxing

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Timeboxing is a time management technique where you allocate a specific, fixed amount of time to complete a task. Once the time is up, you stop working on that task, regardless of whether it’s finished or not. This technique has been a huge support in helping me to maintain healthy boundaries with my own work. No wonder it’s rated the the #1 most effective productivity hack by Harvard Business! 


Here are the key principles:

  • Predetermined time blocks. You decide in advance how much time you’ll spend on a specific task.
  • Strict adherence. Once the time is up, you move on to the next task.
  • Focus. During the time block, you concentrate solely on the task at hand.
  • Flexibility. While the time blocks are fixed, the tasks within them can be adjusted.


Steps to Timeboxing:

  1. Brain dump. The first thing to do is what is called a “brain dump.” Formulate your thoughts on paper and write down all those tasks that are floating around in your head.
  2. Pick your top three. Prioritize your top three tasks from the brain dump. This makes sure you don’t overlook the most important tasks for the day.
  3. Create your timeboxes. Assign each task a time. This process gives you a visual of how much time you need today to make sure your priorities are addressed and creates a designated time to work on them. It’s a great reality check and priority filter, too, for overeager entrepreneurs. 

I often take a few minutes on Sunday evening to plan out my week’s work this way. Then, I do it again on a daily basis if something new has come up.

I think one of the things I appreciate most about timeboxing is when I have that sudden, “Oh no! I need to get X done!” I can remind myself that it’s on my schedule for either later that day or sometime that week, and I can relax and return to being fully present to the task at hand. 

Getting comfortable with marketing “talk”

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Marketing is not inherently evil or manipulative. It is a neutral method of communication that can help the people who are looking for your work to be able to find you. What is your heart’s intention? You are the one who determines the ethics of your intention as you reach out to your audience, helping them to understand the value of your work.

Caution for heart-centered professionals

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Be careful not to allow your identity and sense of personal worth to be dictated by how much money you make or how much celebrity you have.