Hey, everybody, and welcome to the Friday wrap-up on Streamline Solopreneur, a short episode where I talk
about three things, what's on my mind this week, recommended reading, and recommended media.
This is the show that helps you automate your business so you can take time off worry-free,
and hopefully this curation will help you think more about your systems.
I'm your host, Joe Casabona, and here's what's on my mind for June 19, 2026.
Okay, so number one, I'm doing it.
a lot of speaking this year. I updated my slash now page that's over at casabona.org
slash now. And I decided to add all of my speaking appearances. It is my heaviest speaking
year since before the pandemic when I was fully in the WordPress space and speaking at half a
dozen WordPress specific events per year plus meetups and other events that I was speaking at.
Each talk takes me a significant amount of time to craft, rehearse and deliver
in an impactful way. And while I do try to give the same talk multiple times, I always practice it
three to five times before giving it. And I will also often update the talks based on feedback as well.
So I will update analogies to make them land a little better. I'll change examples based on what I had
been working on in between those talks. I will tighten up descriptions and things like that.
there was actually somebody in the WordPress space at a WordPress conference I spoke at over 10
years ago now, but I had given the same talk about three times that I was about to give at this
conference. And he got on my case about it, telling me like that it's wrong that I'm giving the same
talk multiple times as he was working on his slides. So I said, hey, my talk is done and I know it's
going to be good because I've given it before. You are working on your slides right now and you
don't know what it's going to sound like until you get on stage. So one of us cares about the craft.
But that is, that's really not the point, right? Yes, you should absolutely rehearse your talks and I
rehearse my talks a bunch. But this actually got me thinking about three questions, because now I'm
giving five, six talks, something like that in the next few months and they're going to take a
significant amount of time. So here are the three questions I'm thinking about. Why do I
speak, is it a waste of time? And whether it is or isn't, how will I make it worth my time?
For professional speakers, authors, and other specific professions, the three questions are obvious,
right? Professional speakers get paid to speak. It's their whole thing. Authors are going on book
tours and speaking in order to sell books or get more of their books in the hands of more people.
But what about events where you're paying for travel and lodging, where you might not be getting paid?
I have been a paid speaker before.
Most of the time, I am not a paid speaker.
So why am I doing it then?
And how can I make it worth my time?
The truth is I really, really like teaching.
And speaking gives me the ability to do that.
I was a drama club kid, and I've always thrived on being on stage in front of people.
It was my favorite part of my time as the parent-teacher organization president at my kid's school, too.
I just loved giving talks and networking with meeting people.
I'm not really networking at my kid's school, I guess, but building those relationships.
But publicly speaking is one of my favorite things to do.
But there is still a tangible cost in both time and actual money when I go to a conference that I'm not being compensated for.
So the reason I'm doing this needs to be more than just for the love of the game.
And for me, it's really about exposure and business development.
I do my best selling in person when people meet me and see that I'm a genuinely helpful guy.
and I will say that this is based on feedback. I've gotten not me foisting platitudes upon myself.
I had a discovery call with someone earlier this week where they said they felt like they
know me. Another person said they feel like they can ask a question without thinking I'm going to
make them feel stupid. And that's like the whole thing I'm trying to go for. Right. Like that is me.
You get me. And I, and it's hard for me to communicate that with.
website copy or sales copy because I don't do the things that you're supposed to do to write
compelling sales copy. So when I speak, it gives me a better opportunity to get in front of and
help more of the people I want to help while also growing my business. So in that regard,
I do not feel like it's a waste of time. But it doesn't mean that it's de facto worth my time.
In order for it to be worth my time, I need to have a clear plan to get clients or at least build relationships from those talks.
When I was speaking in the WordPress space, it was a pretty clear path.
You are not allowed to sell from the stage at Word camps. These are community events.
And, but I would always have a QR code for people to join my mailing list.
Or I would casually mention my book and people would want to buy the book.
So as I do more of these in-person events, this is what I'm working on over the next week.
Especially since in-person events are different from virtual events, where usually some
lead magnet or link is super easy to take action on.
I spoke at my friend Alex Sam Filippo's podcasting made simple live event a couple years ago,
or maybe it was a year ago.
And 70 people signed up for my mailing list from that talk.
So that's really easy.
What am I going to do as I give more of these talks,
both virtually and in person, but mostly in person,
to start more conversations and get in front of
or get connected with more people who I can help.
And I want to give a shout out to my friend Austin Church here
because I was having like a crisis of conscience earlier this week.
and he basically told me that, you know, I have a strong conviction,
but I really need to feel it stronger, if that makes sense.
So he gave me a really good pep talk, big fan of Austin Church.
My question for you is, do you speak at conferences?
When is it worth it for you?
You can let me know over at streamlinedfidback.com.
So that's what's on my mind for this week.
Let's move on to recommended reading.
The story I am sharing this week,
Mark Zuckerberg orders his employees to start having fun again
after brutal layoffs called their colleagues.
In a turn of events that will shock no one,
the guy who apparently had to hire a PR firm
to make himself seem less like a robot
is failing to read the room at his own company.
My favorite quote from this article is Zuckerberg offered employees access to permanent desks,
a symbolic gesture that unintentionally illustrated how expendable many of them had become.
Many employees at Meta have been working from hot desks,
a controversial scheme involving multiple workers sharing the same desk.
What an incredible benefit this is, knowing you can work from the same desk every day.
That's only something that you can get from a co-working space for 300 bucks per month.
And I'm sharing this mostly because when things get hard for solopreneurs,
there's a little bit of like a grass is always greener effect, right?
where it's like maybe I should stop doing this and get a full-time job.
Full-time jobs have traditionally been more stable, right?
But the truth is, I mean, I've been out of the game for nearly 10 years.
This podcast turns 10 years old next month.
And my full-time self-employment as an adult, I guess, is nine, right?
It's nine today, actually.
Nine years ago today is when I started working for myself full time as this episode comes out, June 19.
So when I read stories like this, it's really indicative of just how disconnected some company leadership is.
And I'm not saying this is all companies.
I've worked for some great people.
I've worked for some terrible people.
I've worked for people who, when I told them that a family member passed away,
their first words were there's no bereavement for ants.
Okay.
I'm sorry would have been a better statement.
I wasn't asking for bereavement.
I was just informing you that there's going to be a day next week where I'm going to be
at a funeral.
So I'm not saying everything is bad.
But Meta, one of the biggest companies in the United States, at least, is firing
a ton of people over, like, they have the resources, right? They're firing a ton of people.
They're overworking their employees. And they're making it seem like a benefit is having your
own desk. Like, so if you're, if you're working for yourself and you're thinking,
this is bad. I need to find a full-time job. I would encourage you to take a step.
step back. I need to do this every so often. Take a step back. Look at what you're doing,
where you're spending your time, and optimize for spending time on the right things.
Not the things you necessarily feel like doing, but the thing that's going to move the
needle. That's the kind of work that I do with solopreneurs all the time. Where are you wasting
your time? How can we make it better? So I'll end this segment by saying, I'm largely
dubious of most tech companies. I understand most of us need to reconcile with our own tolerances.
I happily use Apple. I use Google. I begrudgingly use Claude since no AI company is the good guy.
And there are going to be people who are like, no, chat GPT, OpenAI is the bad guy. Anthropic
is the good guy. They are not. If you have learned anything over the past couple of months since they
had that very self-serving press release about Claude Mythos, you should know that everything
that they are doing is to increase the valuation of their IPO. Because if they were really
scared of Claude Mythos, they would have never even remotely released it. And the government
telling them that they can't release it is good for them too. So I begrudgingly use Claude because
I think it's the best, but I don't like any of the AI companies.
If meta, and all of this is to say, that if meta goes away tomorrow, I will not shed a single
tier. I will feel bad for the people who lose their jobs, but I will not shed a single tier
if meta just falls off the planet. And I'll finally be rid of WhatsApp, which is an app I hate
but I use because that's what a lot of people I talk to prefer to use.
So that's recommended reading, plus a little rant,
a little nice Friday morning rant for you.
All right, let's move on to recommended media,
which is House of the Dragon Season 3.
House of the Dragon Season 3 drops on Sunday, June 21st,
and I cannot wait.
I don't watch a lot of new shows.
I still haven't finished indoor.
and I tend to
I tend towards lighter stuff
comedies I've seen a hundred times
like friends scrubs
How I Met Your Mother, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Parks and Rec
those comedies that add in
some heartfelt moments
those are right in my wheelhouse
I don't like the heavy stuff most of the time
I just want to unwind at the end of the day
but man am I excited for season three
of this show the two-year release cycle
kills me right so season one dropped in 2022 i was like a different person back then and uh season
two was a really slow burn so it's it's felt like a very long four years of this show but i am so
excited for big battles betrayals and probably the soul-crushing death of my favorite character
I'm going to assume that. I've not read the source material. I've avoided spoilers, but given that it's Game of Thrones, I'm just going to assume whoever I like best is going to die.
So that is my recommendation for the week. As far as media goes, I will link to all the stories I mentioned, but also the trailer for season three in the description for this episode.
Now, before I go, I do want to once again mention this is now next week as I record this.
So June 25th is the first day.
I'm giving a free workshop in partnership with eCAM.
Ecam is the software I used to record this.
And I am going to, I am going to give you a full breakdown of how I produce this exact show,
the Friday wrap up, in an hour or.
or less using e-cam and some other tools. And so, like, this is a newsletter. I do write the
newsletter. That takes me some time. Once I have the newsletter written, I go from recorded to published
in less than an hour without using AI for any pre-production stuff or actual production stuff.
e-cam live, or e-cam, I should say, helps me do that. So if you want to sign up for this free
workshop, head over to e-cam.com slash joe. That is my affiliate link, but there will be a link to my
workshop there, which is totally free for anybody, not just people who use e-cams. So
check it out. This is how I get ahead with my content. People say, how do you produce so much?
how do you put out so many videos and podcast episodes and articles every week?
ECAM is a very crucial part of that.
But I'm going to give you a behind the scenes look at everything I do,
the system I have for creating this content.
And because it's a speaking event,
how you can work with me to get a similar system set up.
So again, that's over at eCAM.com slash Joe.
But that is it.
for this edition of the Friday wrap-up.
If you enjoyed this, consider joining my mailing list over at streamlines.fm slash wrap,
you will get an additional automation of the week, as well as regular emails on how to approach building systems that help you take time off worry-free.
Thanks so much for listening, and until next time, I hope you find some space in your weekend.