How To “Keep It All Together” As A Busy Entrepreneur With Marla Beech

Prioritizing yourself, running a business and the demands of everyday life are tricky to balance. This is especially true when overwhelm has caused you to lose sight of yourself, what you want, and where you’re going. Marla Beech, owner of Hunkeedori and the host of the Overburdened No More Podcast is on the show today to walk us through her signature process that will help you get back to you, what you want, and help you create priorities and processes that will help you, “keep it all together.”

In today’s show you will learn:

• How to identify what you really want
• How to prioritize yourself and work toward what you want effectively
• How to take care of everyone in your life (yourself included) without feeling like your needs come last or not at all
• Create systems that will help you manage all of your demands efficiently, without losing sight of yourself and your time

More About Marla Beech

Marla Beech is a wife, mother of four, and owner of Hunkeedori.com.  She designs and creates custom Travelers Notebooks for overburdened women who want to feel unique.  She teaches monthly workshops and the Camp Connection and Uniquee Connection programs to help women learn simple, daily practices that make "Keeping it All Together" more possible.  More than anything, she wants to create connection with TIME, LIFE, and SELF so that we can love ourselves more so that we can love others better.  Life is beautiful and it's there to enjoy!

Full Audio Transcription of this Podcast Episode:

Amber (00:00):

Hey, everyone. Welcome back to the podcast today. We have a really special guest and I'm so happy to finally introduce you to my friend Marla Beech. If you've ever wondered, if it's possible to keep it all together, the answer is that it is, and that's what Marla's programs help you do. Prioritizing yourself, running a business. And the demands of everyday life are a tricky balance. This is especially true. When overwhelm has caused you to lose sight of yourself, what you want and where you're going. Marla beach, who's the owner of Hunkeedori and the host of the overburdened. No more podcast is on the show today to walk us through her signature process, that will help you get back to you, what you want and help you create priorities and a process that will help you keep it all together. So in today's show, we're going to talk about how to identify what you really want, how to prioritize yourself and work toward what you want effectively, how to take care of everyone in your life, yourself included without feeling like your needs come last or not at all create systems that will help you manage all of your demands efficiently without losing sight of yourself and your time.

Amber (01:12):

I don't know about you guys, but that sounds like music to my ears, which is why I was so dang blessed to have gotten, to meet Marla in the first place. So I am so excited for you to meet her. Join me today in my conversation with my friend Marla Beech.

Amber (01:35):

Hey there friends, are you one of the many women who started a business and quickly got overwhelmed by online marketing? You want your message and your marketing to be effective, but you don't want to spend all of your time on social media. Am I right? Well then you're in the right place. Welcome to the school of copy and messaging, a podcast where we help you craft an effective message, create relevant content and give you simple and effective marketing tools that don't require you to spend hours on social media. I'm your host, Amber Glus. I'm a certified StoryBrand marketing guide who professionally has been in this business for 20 years. Personally. I'm a breast cancer survivor and a lover of all things. Coffee, who believes that Friends is still the best TV show ever. If you are ready to craft your message, promote it easily online. Let's get to work, grab a laptop or pen it's coffee time.

Amber (02:34):

Right? We have a special guest today on the podcast. Um, Marla, I introduced you already in the intro, so you'll have to go listen to that later. I said all kinds of nice things about you. Of course. So, um, our special guest today is Marla Beech and Marla runs a company called Hunkeedori, which I want you to say in your intro, what Hunkeedori is and how you came up with that name. Okay. So please tell the audience who is Marla Beech? What is Hunkeedori? What do you do and who do you serve?

Marla Beech (03:09):

Well, first of all, I have to say, this is my very first podcast interview. So you're all I'm experienced experiencing history in the maker. Oh, funny. Okay. So excuse me. As Amber told you, I'm Marla Beech and I own Hunkeedori and real quick, I came up with the name of Hunkeedori because I had been searching for the name for my company. And I was, as I'll tell you a little bit later, I, I make Traveler's notebooks. And in that world, there are the founder of it or whatever things that started first were I'll call them. They were Madorie brand. So everybody was like, kind of altering the name of Dory, but I hadn't really, you know, I was thinking about and playing a bunch. And so my daughter, my oldest daughter came in one day and asked what I was working on it. And I showed her my travelers notebook that I had just created. And she's like, that is hunky Dory. And the rest is history. So usually it's spelled with a Y, but because my last name's Beech, I put two E's . And because of that, every product they put in my shop has two E's. Okay.

Amber (04:20):

Which I think is adorable, which is why I wanted you to talk about it because as I'm sure my listeners know, like when you're an entrepreneur, sometimes you get so up in your head about like, well, what do I call my business? And what do I call my products? And you do want it to be a reflection of not only like the business, but the heart and soul of why you created the business, right? When you have so much invested into this thing that we all spend our time doing, you want it to be significant and to reflect the heart and soul you have in your company. And I love how you came up with the name and also the, just the name itself is such a cool name for what you do. And I think my audience will understand that a little bit more after we get into it today. Um, but it really does fit what you do. So that's why I really wanted to have you talk about it because I think it's such a great name.

Marla Beech (05:10):

Well, ever since it took, it has stuck and I have loved it and my daughter is adorable. So I was glad that I get to put her in the heart and soul of my company. So, well, I guess I can tell you a little, did you want me to tell you a bit more about it is? Well, I started it, I started it about six years ago, actually, almost exactly six years ago. And I still love what I do. Like I've made thousands of travelers notebooks and I'm not tired of it. And the way I started as I, I was tired of carrying my planner and my notebooks and my wallet, and I hate carrying a big purse and I'm a seamstress. So I'm like, I'm just gonna come up with something on my own. And I had really stayed away from starting something new because I get in all kinds of things in squirrel all over the place, trying new projects.

Marla Beech (06:00):

So I stayed away from travelers notebooks for a long time, but then I finally decided, you know, that's going to be what I really need. And so I designed these travelers notebooks and I decided that that's what I was going to sell. And I also decided that I wanted every single one to be unique. I didn't want somebody to come to my shop, see something on the page and just order that I wanted it to be unique. And so I designed my company to be where you can choose a different size and a different style and a different, I have over 250 fabrics. And so I just want everybody to feel unique when they carry it. I don't want them to feel like it's like anybody else's. And so my business has kind of evolved from that into teaching workshops and programs that focus on what I actually put in my travelers notebook and, and all those things I put in there have helped me in my busy life with family of four kids and a husband and just life itself. And so I teach programs and workshops that help busy and overburdened women dislike me to try to keep it all together. Basically I teach simple daily practices that help you to connect to yourself so you can create deeper connections with those around you that you love and the things that are most important to you. So that's basically what my company does

Amber (07:22):

Well, and we're going to dive into those programs today, and I'm excited to talk with you and share with my audience, what those programs do before we get to that point for anybody who doesn't know what a Traveler's notebook is like when we hear you talk about the fabrics and how you use these, I first want to give them a picture of what it is cause I'm not sure that everybody is familiar with that term. So what is Traveler's notebook?

Marla Beech (07:48):

Okay. So it's hard to, sometimes it's hard to explain without showing it, but I'm going to do it. So I want you to picture, um, Traveler's notebook is basically a square or a rectangle, and it's made out of either leather or fabrics. Cause that's what I make them out of. And then you picture in the middle of it. There's a last six that are thread through the middle of it. And those elastics hold the different parts of what you want to put in your Traveler's notebook, like notebook or a planner, or I also make fabric inserts that hold different things inside, but basically that's what it is. And then you fold it in half and then another elastic wraps around it and it keeps it all closed. And so the reason I like it is you can exchange the inserts in there for whatever you need. They go, if they come in and out really easy, they're versatile. So that's what drew me in the first place is that it can hold every single paper pen office supply that my nerd loving heart so I Can make it exactly how I want it to be. So that's what a Traveler's notebook is.

Amber (09:01):

And so I want to just make sure that we give this visual, because you talked about like hating to have a big purse and carrying your wallet and your planner and your notebooks, and like all the things, right. As busy entrepreneurs, we're managing sometimes multiple calendars. I have a feeling, some of you who are parents are carrying half of your kids' stuff in your purse too, in addition to your stuff. And so all of this, if you can start to picture gets a little bit overwhelming. And so not only were you talking about the programs that help with that kind of mental side of that, but the physical part of keeping it all together is what I really want my audience to understand with this is because what, before I met you, I didn't know what a Traveler's notebook was. I knew really more of just the term journal and that's really all I knew.

Amber (09:49):

So I didn't really understand like what exactly the options were until I went to your shop. And I kind of started seeing the different options that you can have for sizes, the different inserts you can have, where you can put like your money and your credit cards and all of, all of this stuff that we all typically carry around. So it's really cool that you have this product that I love that you know how to make these cause I'm, I can't even sew a button on. So that's like unbelievable to me, but me too, Amber beat you, but they really are so cool. So, um, we're going to talk a little bit more about where people can find those and your programs, but I wanted to give a visual of what that is, cause I'm not sure that everybody is familiar with that term. So before we move on to your programs, I, and I didn't think to add, to know to ask you this. Um, but it just popped into my mind. Why are they called Traveler's notebooks? Is it just because you travel with it, you take it with you.

Marla Beech (10:43):

Well, I think it comes down to that Madorie brand that I talked about at the beginning is that that's kind of what it was for. We'll carry those little, little leather travel journals with them and they would like document their travels, but they've expanded into more. And so the travelers notebook itself is what makes up, what holds all of it. Basically what I make is, is a cover and you put inside whatever you want. So, but I do think the Traveler's notebook travelers journal all came from and I could be wrong, but I think it comes from that Madorie brand, whether it's like a Japanese type thing of traveling. Yeah.

Amber (11:20):

Gotcha. Okay, cool. Cool. Well, let's talk a little bit about your programs and then we'll mention how those notebooks specifically fit into them. But I wanted the audience to have a little bit of a visual first. So, um, I have been through Marla's programs and when I went through her program, I want to first tell you guys, um, those of you who've been listening for a little while now. I went through brain. Uh, I went through brain cancer with my sister and knew what chemotherapy can sometimes do to your memory from watching her. Um, and then I went through breast cancer myself and after, um, found exactly what she found, which is sometimes the chemo brain as they call it, doesn't always go away after cancer. And so, um, one of the things I struggle with is memory in general, but also the ability to multitask as much as I thought I could now, truthfully, maybe I wasn't doing as good of a job at multitasking precancerous.

Amber (12:15):

I thought I was, but definitely now I notice a difference that I can't multitask as much. And one of the things that really struck me with your program Marla, there was three main things, but the first one was how do I really make sure that I am keeping those memories along the way that I want to make sure I can go back and remember, and enjoy, because I don't want to forget those things. And then the second thing that your program's helped me with that we'll get into a little bit is answering the question. What do you want? That sounds so simple. But for me it really got difficult because I went through a time where for 15 years we had a lot of different things happen in our family, that my focus always had to be, how do I help this next person? And so for 15 years, I didn't get to answer that question.

Amber (13:04):

And then I finally looked up one day and didn't know how to answer it. When I finally got the chance. And that was something else that your program really helped me with. And then the third thing was, once you figure that out, how do you prioritize it so that you actually get to do it? And so those are the things that your program really helped me with. And I knew after going through it that it would help other entrepreneurs, not just because we're all busy and we all need to figure out how to keep it all together, as you say, but for other personal reasons too, I really felt like this would help a lot of people. So let's dive into some of the aspects of your program. You have three main things that in your programs, help women to accomplish keeping it all together. So can you share a little bit about each of each of these and why they're important? The first one was connecting to your time?

Marla Beech (13:52):

Yeah, I do have those three main systems that are in that, um, unique connection program. And I, it, where I came to this is that, um, there's so many different places that we find ourselves disconnected from ourselves. Your example was, you know, taking care of your sister and other family members and then having to take care of yourself, you know, in, in a hard situation, mine happened to be depression or also raising a family. You know, we just kind of put ourselves in other really big and important things, but we lose where we're coming from. So as I worked back through all those types of things, that's where I came up with these three systems. And that first one is connecting to your time. And well, those three systems, they make up the unique connection program. And the intention of the program is that you'll come away from it.

Marla Beech (14:49):

Believing, not believing in the dreams that you are feeling pulled towards. Like, I think anybody will acknowledge that when you come out of a hard time at first, you don't feel a pull towards anything, but then you eventually do start feeling pulled toward things that it's like your old self is like knocking on the door saying, Hey, remember me? And so that's what this program does is it helps you reconnect to that. And then it also teaches you how to know that you've had that ability within yourself all along to do those things that you want to do. So that first system is connecting to your time. And the way I teach that is that you need to define your top priorities. And I just recently read the book essential ism. And he even says in there that you really should only have one priority that gets kind of a new century type thing, that we have multiple priorities.

Marla Beech (15:43):

So it is really important that you find your number one, there's a lot of things that want our attention, but you, when, once you know that what your number one is, and you focus on fitting that in first, before anything else I've found that it's really true, that everything else falls into place. Now having a number one doesn't mean you don't do anything else. And it doesn't also, it also doesn't mean that it takes it the majority of your time, but it is something that you are consistently doing. Like you would drop anything else to take care of this. And the rest of our priorities, aren't written in stone and they've changed and they kind of flux and sometimes something else moves up the priority list, but usually that number one doesn't change, but I've also found that my top three never change. And then the important thing why I think that's so important is that when you know your priorities, it makes plenty of your life easier.

Marla Beech (16:36):

It makes it easier to say no to things. And we all have a hard time doing that. Um, it also like for connecting to who I am, it helps me to choose. That makes me feel that what I've chosen to do is important because it's important to me. And it also helps me to set better boundaries because I know why I'm choosing to do what I'm doing. And then it helps me to stick to it. So, I mean, there's lots of things we can dive in about, um, connecting to your priorities and connecting to your time. Um, but that's kind of the general gist of the first one. And then

Amber (17:13):

The things I love Marla is in your program, you go through an exercise that helps people identify those priorities, because let's be honest. Our first reaction is everything's a priority, at least of mine. I'm like, how do you expect me to choose? Like I have so many of them in that. And truthfully, that was part of the problem. So you have an exercise that you go through in your program that really helps people pull out what are those top priorities or top few priorities. And so for anybody out there, who's like, okay, this sounds the sounds fabulous, but how in the world do I figure that out? You have that in your program. And that was really helpful to me because I truly didn't know at the time. And I felt a little bit, um, I guess they would say a little bit embarrassed about that, right? Cause it's like, shouldn't, we know what that priority is, but to your point, you go through these times right in life where maybe you lose that a little bit. And I think you felt that way too. So you really have a process for helping people pull out that priority and figure out how to identify it. And it's okay if you go into your program without knowing what those priorities are, is that correct?

Marla Beech (18:26):

That's correct. In fact, I wouldn't expect that you would, or maybe you wouldn't necessarily be attracted to the program, but I think, I don't know you still would because sometimes even though we know it, we don't know how to apply it, but it's definitely geared towards that time of my life, to where I just, I couldn't, I didn't know what my top priorities were either. I always thought it was, you know, you just kind of assume it's what everybody else asks me to do. That's my priority. Well, as you came to know, and I've come to know too that that's not actually true, that we can serve other people better when we have learned what we need first. And that's actually the very basis of everything that I teach. Very good. And it was not an easy thing for me to admit, because I always thought if I love other people more than it's, then that's the way it's supposed to be. But I don't, I don't believe that anymore.

Amber (19:22):

Yeah. Well, the next part, uh, the, the second part of your program is connecting to your life. So talk a little bit about what that means.

Marla Beech (19:29):

Okay. So connecting to your life is using those priorities and that's what helps you decide how you're going to spend your time and the way you spend your time is your life. And it's helping you to live the plan that you've created. And I do, I use an analogy of going on a trip in a car in the program. And the question I ask with this part is, do you want to enjoy the journey of getting where you're going? Or do you just want to sleep through the trip or just get there as fast as you can? You know, those are your choices. And so when, you know, when you say no to the things that aren't your top priorities, then you give yourself more time for the things that are, but you have to know what your priority is. First of course. And then you take that knowledge and you plan things that are meaningful to you.

Marla Beech (20:16):

And when you do that, this is the most amazing thing that I've learned. And it really is true that it actually helps time to slow down when you do things that are meaningless and mindless, that's what makes time speed up. And so a quick example of that, as we all know this, when you get sucked into social media and you start scrolling mindlessly time goes like that. All of a sudden you look up and you're like, oh my word, I can't believe I just spent that much time on social media. There were no points made nothing important happened, but if you went on social media with the intent of looking for something specific and said, I will spend five minutes doing this, that just having that purpose changes the whole activity. So that's just a quick example of that, but, um, making, um, making those memories and recording those memories is a big part of connecting to your life.

Marla Beech (21:15):

And you've talked about that, that, that, that is such an important thing. When you record the moments, you think that you'll never forget, it actually makes it so you won't, we've all said that we've gone through something really important in our life. And we're like, I am never going to forget this. And if someone was to ask you some of the important details of that, even a few months later, it's just gone. Whether you have chemo brain or mom brain, or just a super busy lifestyle brain, any of it, it's like we lose it and it takes away the impact. But if you just take a few minutes to write it down, then it becomes a permanent memory. It's just such an amazing thing, how that happens. And there's so many different ways to record these memories. You can choose anything that fits your personality best.

Marla Beech (22:01):

If you're a writer, just write a few lines down. If you like the whole, um, artistic way of doing scrapbooking, you can do that. You can just simply take pictures and make notes under a picture of what happened. Just little things, any of those things. Like I love it when my kids start sharing memories and their memories are specifically what I had scrapped booked. You know, they thought that their memory that they've remembered it, but they've remembered it because I saw it in one of my scrapbooks or, you know, something that I'd written down. So that's a really interesting thing. And sometimes we think that if I'm going to keep memories that it's gotta be a big deal and it doesn't, it can be just a few lines. And on a piece of paper, you know, I do have, um, what a freebie on my website, that's called moments to memories.

Marla Beech (22:52):

And I love this because it gives you three different ways to record memories, really quick ways like the count I have the calendar method, the brief note method, and the long hand method, you can choose any of them. You don't have to stick to one. That's one thing I just cannot do. I can't choose one thing and stick to it for very long either. Yeah. So I like having lots of variations. So that's why I made this, um, insert like it is, and you just print it off and you fold it. You can put it, just make it like a notebook, or you can stick it in a Traveler's notebook if you have one, but it just gives you a place that you keep it with you all the time and you can just jot down little memories. And it's awesome. So that's one thing that those are the things that we'll cover in, um, connecting to your life is that you would make, you decide how you're going to live your life, and then you record it however you choose to.

Amber (23:42):

Well, it's interesting that before I took your programs and it's, I truly don't know why I never thought of doing this, but the thought of like just journaling every day and trying to write down the memories seemed hard, right? Like, especially at the end of the day when I'm tired and like, I just, it just has never dawned on me that there might be an easier or a different way to do it until I took your program. And one of the things that I think you mentioned about, we think we're going to remember something and we don't. And just today I had, um, I, I know most of my audiences on apple products and I'm sorry, you guys, I'm a Microsoft girl. Um, one drive on Microsoft has started doing this thing. That's similar to Facebook where it will pop up a picture that says on this day, four years ago, kind of like your memories on Facebook do.

Amber (24:34):

And today the one that popped up this morning was a campsite. And I was like, what in the world is this picture? Like, I have no idea what this is. And since going through your program, I actually do, I will make little notes. Now when I take a photo, because I, I think I'm going to remember this. And of course, two years from now, I don't. And I, thankfully my husband has an excellent memory and I showed it to him and he was like, oh yeah, that was that campground in Missouri, where we spent two days and we really liked the pool. Like his memory is insanely good, but that's impressive. It is really impressive and mine, I just don't have that ability. But now I have started to make notes. I've started to do my journaling at the end of the day, even if it's two sentences, that's like the thing that really was the highlight of my day, those kinds of things helped me a lot. Not only does it help me to remember it better, but it helps me to be able to go back and really enjoy those moments a lot more. So I appreciate that about your program And even just at the end of your day, cause sometimes you can be like, bam, that was a wasted day. I'm just so tired. What did I do? But if you can think of one thing, it makes it like, Hm I did. Okay. Yeah, absolutely. I wanted to just say too, it reminded me. My dad has books and books of black and white pictures of people. We have no idea who they are. Right. It just goes to show, this is not a new thought. We have the, we're going to remember who these here's a picture. We're going to remember who that is. We have no clue. Right.

Amber (26:06):

But they don't mean nothing. We know who they are. Well, Marla, the third thing in your program is connect to yourself. So explain, explain that part.

Marla Beech (26:16):

Okay. So if you know me at all, you know, like I get teary pretty easily and talking about this makes me really teary because it means so much to me now. I don't always like doing it because I do it first thing in the morning. And I am really good at talking myself out of doing things sometimes, but to connect to myself, um, I have really learned that the things that we have in the past, I should just put it myself. The things that I've experienced in the past have been all the things that have prepared me for what I'm going through right now, or whatever else is going to come up. And so we need to spend time accessing that part of ourself that helps you to make progress right now. And that's what journaling has done for me. That's what connecting to yourself means to me now, journaling is different than keeping a journal.

Marla Beech (27:11):

Keeping a journal is writing down dates and memories and specific things. Journaling is a process of free writing where you just let whatever comes to your mind, just free flow. This, let it come out. And to just right now, a lot of times I get started and it doesn't even make any sense. Like I rarely go back and read what I wrote because it's almost embarrassing. But, and every morning I don't get a big aha moment, but it happens often enough that I stick to it. Sometimes I start out my journaling with a specific thought in mind of something that I want to work through. Like something that's maybe hurting my heart a little bit something that is worrying me, that I, that I'd like to figure out. Sometimes it's like this morning, I wanted to clarify how I wanted to speak on Amber's podcast today.

Marla Beech (28:02):

You know, what are the things that I really wanted to say? And I just, you know, I don't think I just write and that's what journaling does. And it's helped me to connect to the deepest part of myself that has always been there. Our brains are the most amazing things out there. They store everything and we just can't access everything that's there. But journaling to me has opened up all those experiences that I've had, the things that I've learned, because not that I have all this knowledge, but I'm about to turn 50. And I feel like I've been through a lot of things that have helped me to be, become who I am now in a lot of those things I've forgotten. So I love that my brain can actually pull for the pool from those things that I've forgotten. And I get to become my own teacher. This is where I have learned to become my own best friend, because I can trust myself. I know that I'm going to be there for me and I won't get sick of hearing my same stuff over and over again. So I do love that. That's what connecting to yourself means to me. And that's, I, I teach you a lot of different things about why that's so important and how to do it.

Amber (29:09):

And another thing that just came to mind, as you were saying, that is you, you talk about really putting yourself in the situation you're going to be in and preparing for it and thinking through how am I going to react to something? How do I want to handle something? And this just came to my mind. So maybe it's something that we need to talk about today, but that has helped me when I know like, cause I'm a planner, you know, I just, I love a good plan. That's why I love the notebooks. I love all that stuff. But because of that, I've ha I've been able to use your suggestion of not just planning for something, but really thinking through how I'm going to handle it, how I'm going to react to it. Because sometimes we know that there's a situation coming up that might be difficult and most of our time is spent with anxiety, right?

Amber (30:00):

Like, oh, what's this going to be like, is it going to go wrong? And the reason that when you talk in your programs about actually spending your time, that you're going to think about that thing, being more productive with thinking like, how am I going to react? How do I want it to go? How am I going to take care of this situation? That perspective has been really profound for me because I'm typically planning and thinking more about the anxious side of like, well, how is this going to go? Is it going to be okay? And now I've shifted that to, if I'm going to think about it, I'm going to think about what I'm going to do to handle it and handle it well and how I'm really going to think through the reactions that I'm going to have. And that's helped a lot. Like if I'm going to think about it, it's going to be a lot more productive now.

Marla Beech (30:43):

And I did it. I wanted you to talk about that. Oh, well it does go to show you that you have a lot more control over our thoughts. We have a lot more control over our thoughts than we think that we do. Like, um, I share an example in, this is what I teach in camp connection, which is another program that I teach and I call it looking forward. And I talk a lot about that, about how, um, there's some things that really scare me going down a hill fast as one of them. And I got put in that situation, but I had thought through it before and because of that, I was able to handle it and enjoy it. Not love it, but, but I was able to put myself in a different mindset because of that, that is, there are the two things that are my most favorite things it's looking forward, which is what we were just talking about and journaling. Those are my, I have to do those everyday. They're non-negotiables if I don't get anything else done, first thing in the morning, it's those two things.

Amber (31:42):

Yeah. I can see why those, those have really helped me a lot too. So, okay. So we talked about those three main things that are in your programs, and we're going to talk about what those programs are, because I know everybody's like, what are they? So we are going to get to those. But first I want you to talk about how your Traveler's notebooks fit into this. How do they fit into this picture? Because this was, and maybe everybody else already gets this. But when I first started to get to know you and your products and stuff, I had this moment where I was like, oh, this is what the Traveler's notebook does. And this is how it can fit into these programs. And so before we specifically talk about each program, how does the Traveler's notebook fit Into this?

Marla Beech (32:21):

Well, I, I get on a lot of soap boxes. One of my soap boxes is when people call a Traveler's notebook, a planner, it's not a planner. The planner goes inside of the Traveler's notebook. If that's part of your system that helps you to keep it together. You know, you get to decide what goes in there so they can hold your planner. But the Traveler's notebook holds all of the systems that make me feel like I'm keeping it together. And I didn't really talk about this, but the plate, the way that I feel like I'm keeping it all together now, I don't think that I'm one of those people that looks like, or even pretends to be somebody that keeps it all together. But the daily practices that I keep in my travelers notebook that I teach in my programs, make it possible for me to feel peace.

Marla Beech (33:14):

And that's when I feel like I'm keeping it all together. I don't have a matching handbag and shoes. You know, I don't have my kids all in a row. Like I have three of my four kids have left home. So it's not like I'm even in that stage of life, but I feel like I'm keeping it all together. That knowing that whenever whatever comes at me, I'm ready to handle it. Even if it's I've chosen how I'm going to handle it, even if it doesn't happen perfectly, it means that I perfectly keep trying. And that's what keeping it all together means to me and my travelers notebook is just a way that it combines all of those things in one place. Now, the weird thing is, is that a lot of the ways that I've designed the pages that go in, um, the planners that I sell in my, um, programs is, has come to me like slowly and little bits in little pieces.

Marla Beech (34:09):

And they've all come together into one thing. And usually it's when I'm out running and I'm not a big, fast runner or anything like that, but it's something keeps my body active so that my mind can go somewhere else. I don't know how else to explain to explain it, but the thing that drove me crazy about other systems as you get somebody else's idea of what needs to be in your planner and you open it up and you, there's a couple of things you like, and the rest are all wasted pages. And then I feel guilty that I'm not using the whole planner and I get rid of it and, or I feel like I'm wasting it. So I just hoard them and then there's nothing to do with them. And that always drove me crazy, but that's why I can, a travelers book keeps everything together and all the parts of the programs that I teach. And you get to do that with your Traveler's notebook, you know, put the parts that are important to you. I hope that answers your question. Another

Amber (35:01):

Cool thing is once you figure out the parts that work for you, then you can print off pages and fill your, like, you don't have to keep buying different planners all of the time, which is really cool. Because another thing that drives me crazy is like, okay, you find one that works for you and then you can't find it again. That'd be like, what in the world? So I love that with your stuff, you can keep your notebook, keep filling it with the different things that work for you and change those. If you need to, if you don't need to, you can, you can keep the same stuff and keep printing off new ones. I really liked that too. About yours.

Marla Beech (35:39):

Yeah. You finish one journal notebook full, you know, you're not getting, you're gonna fill that faster than you will, you know, the yearly planner section. And so you'd take that out and put in the new one and just file the other part away. So, yeah. Awesome. I'm obsessed with them.

Amber (35:53):

I can see, I can see why. Well, um, let's first talk about your starter workshop Marla, which is called camp connection. So in camp connection, I specifically I'd love for you to just talk about a little bit about what that program is. And then let's walk through each of the first aid kit visuals that you haven't kept connection because anybody out there feel like you're a busy entrepreneur who needs a first aid kit. Sometimes that helps you deal with life. This is it. So tell us what camp connection is. And then let's start with the first, um, the first thing in your first aid kit, which is your map.

Marla Beech (36:28):

Okay. So I love teaching camp connection. It's like one of my favorite things because I was using these, um, date little daily practices for a while. And then I told you that, you know, a lot of ideas come to me when I was running. And one day they all came together, all these different things that I was doing, they came together. Like they morphed into how it would work on a planner page on a double page spread. And each of those things represent something in my, that goes in a first aid kit. And I do what I call a daily devotional every day. Part of it I do in the morning part of it I do right before I go to bed and I use these supplies. So actually, um, the very first, um, supply that I put in my first aid kit is actually a compass. I do need to, if you brought this up and I think that I actually need to incorporate the map into my first aid for this really, this, it really does need to be there. Like I just haven't put it there before it I've referred to the map in the next level program. But I think the net map, so Amber in your honor, I'm going to add the map to camp connection To be there because you told me this before we got started. And I still said It. No, I really think it needs to be there. I think you were inspired to tell me that because I do believe that we need to know where we're going. And I use the compass to talk about that, to get headed in the right direction. But a map gives us even a bigger overview. So you are absolutely right. I'm going to add it. So I'll put Amber's map in the future camp connection. We'll have a map. Yeah. So you'll all know it came because of Amber. Rightly so. I'm so sorry. So let's start with the compass. No, that's fine. Like I said, I really makes me super happy. So I do add the compass, the very first thing, and my compass, I decided is broken up into three parts, three different daily practices that I do that helped me to show up for myself so that my cup is full.

Marla Beech (38:28):

And that this is, I told you before that I'd never believed that my cup had to be fooled to be able to really, um, help else. But I do believe that now. So I find a way to just that I pay attention to how I'm feeling, how I'm I need to show love to myself that day. And it changes every day and it makes it so that I have enough in my cup that it's overflowing so that I can serve other people. So that's the first part of the compass. Then I do a spiritual practice every day. Um, and I have specific things that I love to do that are taking part in that spiritual practice. And it's just connecting with something higher than myself. And then the third part of the compass is I decide on a daily affirmation means something that I need to hear that keeps me encouraging myself when I get discouraged that day, or I run into a problem and getting my compass straightened out in the direction that I want to go is why is very important. So that's why it's the first supply in the first day kit.

Amber (39:28):

Okay, perfect. The compass. I'm so sorry that I messed that up.

Marla Beech (39:33):

Sorry. I absolutely love it. All right.

Amber (39:36):

So the next thing in the first aid kit that you go over in camp connection is the binoculars. What are the binoculars?

Marla Beech (39:43):

Okay. The binoculars are that looking forward part that I talked about, this is more than a to-do list. It's thinking through what you're going to do that day. So we all have to do lists, but then you decide how you want to feel what you want to have happen during each of those things you visualize who you're going to be with and how do you want to feel when you're with them? And I love thinking about how I want them to feel when they're with me, this helps me to get my mind straight and to remember why I'm doing what I'm doing that day. And I'm sure you can see how that goes in with priorities, that I'm going to think through the things that are my top priorities. And those are the things I'm going to make sure that for sure, I get done that day. And then there's the other things that are important, but not necessary.

Amber (40:32):

Yeah. I really liked this one more live because you know, we all get busy, especially when we're trying to run a household, we're trying to run a business. We're trying to take care of our physical health, our mental health, or like there is so much that we all have going on in a day. And what I loved about this was it really made me stop and think and, you know, fill in the blank for the people in your life. Right. For me, it was my husband. It really made me stop and think about how do I want my husband to feel when I'm done with work at the end of the day and it's time, you know, for he and I to have a conversation, I don't want him to feel like he's not a priority. And so in order to do that, I didn't, I couldn't have my mind thinking about work or thinking about, you know, the podcast episode I need to outline. Like I really want to be present in that moment. And so thinking ahead about some of that stuff and really thinking through how I want them to feel when they're with me, it changed that perspective for me. So I really, really love part. I hope people kind of catch on to why that can help.

Marla Beech (41:37):

Yeah. And one thing that, so I developed this a while ago, but, and I've been super busy in my business since I developed that. And I noticed that I was not doing it when it came to separating work and family, like I wanted, you know, I'd hurry and get dinner on and we'd have dinner and then I'd rush back to work again. And, and I, I'm not embarrassed, but I'm kind of embarrassed to say that it's only been in the last month or two that I'm like, I don't need to work every night. I don't need to work all night. Every night. There might be a couple of things every once in a while, but I'm not going to do that anymore. And by knowing what my priorities are, not just in my life, but in my business and defining those before I get started and looking forward to the things that are most important and figuring it all out, I can fit more in a day, in a shorter amount of time.

Marla Beech (42:29):

It really has helped me to feel less burdened down by the stuff that used to just like weigh on me all the time and affect my relationships. And those, like when you write it out and you write your priorities, I don't know many people that put, you know, my email is more important than my spouse or my child, but how do we spend our time? We don't do it like that. So I want to have energy left for the evening when I only have like two hours with my, my number one, my spouse, you know, I love him so very much. And if I don't give him, if I have nothing left, that's not a priority, then I'm not doing it. Right. Yeah.

Amber (43:09):

Boy, that's so true. So true. All right, Marla, the next thing is the magnifying glass. What does that signify? Simple. Signify.

Marla Beech (43:19):

Yeah. The magnifying glass represents looking backwards. I mean, maybe it's a little bit of a stretch, but it works. Cause it, it shows up like from everything that's happened that day it's things you don't want to forget, so you want to make them bigger. So that's why I chose the magnifying glass is I'm going to, and I decide how I'm going to record the things that I don't want to forget. So we talked about this in it. So everything ties together, but this little first aid kit is like your compact things you want to take with you everywhere. So, um, I chose, um, I choose one method and I'm consistent with that in the evenings. You're going to forget. And so I make sure I write down one thing every night that I don't want to forget. That's what the magnifying glass represents.

Amber (44:04):

Okay, perfect. And then last in the kit is the field notebook

Marla Beech (44:09):

And don't forget the good pen. You have to have a really good pen. Yes. It's all about the paper pen combo, right? Okay. Does it write smoothly on the page? Okay. There's my nerd again. All right. So I use the notebook to represent the gratitude practice. Gratitude is strongly connected to experiencing greater happiness. And if you don't believe me next time, you're in a bad mood, start listing off things that you're grateful for and that bad mood leaves pretty quickly. So we always hear that we should have an attitude of gratitude, but how often, like, do we really do it? Do we wait until like somebody's birthday or somebody passes or something to realize what we're grateful for? Right. So I make sure that I do this every single night and I send myself off to bed in a peaceful state by thinking about the good things that happened that day. And sometimes it was a little bit harder to draw them out, but I told you that the way that I really feel like I keep it all together is by that calm and peaceful feeling that I have inside. And so I pushed myself to come up with five every night. Okay. I didn't do it the other night when it was my daughter's birthday. Cause I just didn't have any time. But for the most part I do. So I'd stretch myself to do five things that I'm grateful for every night.

Amber (45:34):

Perfect. All right. So Camp connection, Marla is your starter workshop. So tell me when I go into camp connection, what, what do I expect?

Marla Beech (45:42):

Yeah. In camp connection, you, what you can expect is that there are five days where we spend it together, where I teach each of these programs, each of these systems that I just told you about or break them up into different sections. So they go through the five, five days. Um, I, um, give examples of what to do, how to do it. And then the teacher and me couldn't help myself. I had to assign homework every night and camp connection where you do, um, a little assignment. It's nothing big, but it is something that helps you to actually start practicing it because we all hear things that sound really great. And then we never do them. So I hope that giving you a homework assignment pushes you to do that. And then I also offer, um, kind of a little bit upper level thing where, um, I've, I think it's, I just got back from a camp and the best, um, chat's always happened around the fire. So I, um, offer a VIP experience where we have a campfire chat in the evening of, of that camp. And so that's what that's called the VIP experience. And so that's, what's in camp connection. Perfect.

Amber (46:52):

So five days, 30 minutes a day, and I come out of camp connection with the ability to understand how to use these areas that we just talked about, go into the first aid kit. So the map that is going to be in there, the compass, the binoculars, the magnifying glass, the field notebook. So I've got now my practices that I can use after camp connections, that I now know how to do daily to help me reconnect to the things that we talked about in the beginning, my time, my life myself. Now talk about step number two, going into unique connection. What does that do?

Marla Beech (47:30):

Well, the unique connection takes all those basic things in the first aid kit. And then it explodes it into the time life and self connection because those, you know, those are the simple daily practices. And then, you know, we talked about how it's not easy to come up with your priorities and it's not easy to live according to your priorities. And it's not always easy to dive into are the self that is there ready to support us. So that's what unique connection does. It's a five week program where we go through each of those, there's also a mindset section that we talk about where, you know, something that I definitely struggle with is going up and down and how I feel about the things that I do, how I feel about my own abilities, if you, most people on this podcast that listen are business owners and it's a real struggle.

Marla Beech (48:18):

So the mindset part is really big, but just the very basics of that first aid kit really helped keep me in a good mindset, but, um, let's see, I got sidetracked. I get squirreled real easy. So that's what unique connection does is it teach? So I have the mindset week, then we do the time week, the life week and the self week. And then there's the pulling it all together week where we talk about lots of different things. So that's what the unique connection program does is it teaches the Time-Life itself in deeper ways. Um, it also goes into, you know, the importance of our physical bodies and how we have to keep those healthy to keep our emotions healthy. There's a lot of stuff that I just give the very basics in the definition of it. Yeah.

Amber (49:01):

Perfect. Well, I will put in the show notes, um, where people can register for those, um, because this episode is going to air as you and I are recording today. Your program is still open, is that right? But when, when this airs it may not be, so when would it be open again?

Marla Beech (49:19):

Well, um, next year I'm planning on running it three times. I'm of, I kind of had a little jolt this last week where I, um, made a little shift on what I was doing. It just didn't feel quite right. And so hopefully we will, I'll be jumping right back into it as this air. So I think it'll be just perfect. Um, okay. You might not catch camp connection right at the beginning, but I might make that so you can get it any time. This is all kind of something new that I haven't really idea, trying to think about is that, you know, I just got thinking about how I wanted it to feel like I talk about connection all the time and I didn't want it to feel like you had to work your way up to get to anything I wanted you to feel like it's all connected. I want to camp connection to feel more like a circle instead of a triangle where you have to work your way up to the top. I want us to all be connected all the time. So I'm thinking about doing camp connection, where you can get it more often. If we're going to do it together, got to have some kind of organization, but, um, unique connection. We'll be opening up very soon after this. It'll probably be open when this airs okay.

Amber (50:26):

Perfect. Well, everybody can find the link to that then in the show notes. So you can go register for these programs. Um, Marla, I want to ask you, you created this program out of a personal need and now you use it to help other women who feel overburdened. Can you talk about how this program helped you and how you use it now while you're running a household and a business and all of the things?

Marla Beech (50:50):

Well, I know that we've talked a lot about this, is that because it all comes down to feeling like I can keep it all together. Like I don't want to feel like I'm barely keeping it all ingrained in myself, you know, and like barely making it through. I want to feel that peace. I want to feel like everything just flows because you just take things as they come, because I've taken the time to, um, work through those daily practices that get me in the right mindset and the, and the right place where I, you know, I know that I have more control than I think that I do, you know, and I don't need to feel in control, but I do need to feel like I have a choice that I'm not just being pulled in every direction. So, you know, I think that I can refer back to these practices whenever I start feeling overburdened, whenever I do, I can take a minute.

Marla Beech (51:49):

I can stop and I can write down, you know, what I'm feeling or thinking. And if I can't, I can do it a little bit later. Cause I always worked that into my time. And um, my family will always come first. And even though my kids are older and I don't have a house full of kids anymore believe it or not, they still take up a lot of my thoughts and they need me every once in a while. And I need to be aware in a good place for them. And I love running my business. I, I, um, have been so grateful for the way that all these things have come together because it's just creating, you know, just a perfect combination of all the things that I love and feel are really important. And I also know surrounded by people that, um, struggle with this kind of stuff, you know, where you feel like you don't know what you want anymore.

Marla Beech (52:43):

And you know, I've been through that. I've been through, you know, not harder things than anybody else. Everybody has hard things. We just all have different things, but they're basically the same thing where we, we lose connection from who we are and what we want. And those transitions can happen multiple times in a lifetime. And so I think it's something we have to keep doing. And so, anyway, as I told you, my looking forward to my journaling are my non-negotiable things. They are the two things that give me the most peace and that makes it so that it puts me back to where I can be, where I feel like I can keep it all together.

Amber (53:18):

Awesome. Well, I have appreciated your program so much as you know, so I was anxious to get you on the, and have you talked to my audience about everything that you do? Um, so tell people where can they find you, where can they order a Traveler's notebook and where can they sign up for your programs?

Marla Beech (53:35):

Okay. So, um, like everything starts with those travelers notebooks and I do still sell them on my, in my Etsy shop. So that's just, hunkeedori.etsy.com. It's pretty easy to find. It'll be a, you can find everything at hunkeedori.com. Amber is currently helping me to build that website. So it all makes a lot of sense and, um, easier to get to because that's not my thing. So she's helping me with her thing and it's not really good, but, um, so you can get the challenge notebook there, um, and you can design it exactly how you want in that, and I can help you to design it. So it's exactly what you want. So it can be really, um, customed to you. So you can feel really unique. I love doing that. And then you can also get all my programs at hunkeedori.com when they're available, there'll be up there.

Marla Beech (54:26):

And if they're not, then there'll be a wait list that you can join. You can get on the camp connection, wait list, or the, uh, unique connection wait list. Um, and then I'm also Hunkeedori everywhere. That's with two E's and Dory is D O R I. So those things are kind of spelled differently and I'm on Instagram and YouTube and Pinterest, where I share all kinds of ideas on there. And then I, in the last two months, I just started a podcast that's called overburden no more where I teach short little ideas each week about all the things that we talked about today and ways to use your Traveler's notebooks, just all of those things that help us to get rid of that overburden feeling that you all know what I mean.

Amber (55:07):

Oh yes. As soon as we hear the word, we're like, yep. That's me.

Marla Beech (55:10):

Yeah. Been there.

Amber (55:13):

Awesome. Well, I hope you guys will go follow Marla on all things social. Um, I follow her on Instagram. That's my favorite place. Um, and go check out her podcast cause, uh, I'm so glad that she started one. So go listen to that show. So you can hear her every week. Um, Marla, thank you so much for being on the show. You know, how much I adore you and your programs, and I'm so happy to share it with my audience. So thanks for coming on today.

Marla Beech (55:39):

Well, the feeling is very mutual. Thanks Amber.

Amber (55:42):

Thanks for being here with us today. Marla, we so enjoyed that episode. Marla is certainly someone who I've been so blessed to get to know, and her program has been amazing. It has been so helpful to me in my personal life and in my business. So go check out hunkeedori.com. That's hunkeedori.com. And I'm also going to put a link in the show notes to Marla's free moments to memories, PDF that she mentioned in the podcast. So link to that in the show notes, as well as the link to where you can get on her list to join both of her great programs. So go check her out again, hunky dory.com with Marla beach. And if you would be interested in grabbing a Traveler's notebook from Marla, which I encourage you to do, you can get to her Etsy shop off of her website as well. And grab one of her custom designed Traveler's notebook. She is a beautiful seamstress, and you're going to love all of those notebooks that you see. They are so well done. I have one myself now and I love it. So go check that out as well. All of those links will be in the show notes. Thanks for being here today, friends. And remember until next week, go share your unique message with the world.

Amber (56:58):

Thanks for listening today, friends, and spending a piece of your day with me to get more information on my copywriting and content marketing and messaging services. Go to Amberglus.com. You can also learn more on Instagram with me at @amberglus. Until next time go share your unique message with the world.

Resources From Today's Show:

Get On The List For Marla’s Programs
Uniquee Connection Wait List: www.hunkeedori.com/UCWaitlist
Camp Connection Wait List:  www.hunkeedori.com/CCWaitlist

Marla’s website https://hunkeedori.com/  

Connect with Marla on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hunkeedori/

Download Marla’s Free Moments to Memories PDF https://hunkeedori.com/choose-your-size-2/

Schedule a free 30-min marketing consultation  https://calendly.com/amberglus

Download my free guide for The Five Essentials For A Successful Website www.amberglus.com/website

Connect with me www.amberglus.com

Follow me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/amberglus/