Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
When was the last time you took a vacation...like a real one? Not take a vacation where you still respond to email. If the answer bums you out, Streamlined Solopreneur is for you. Because you SHOULD be able to take time off without feeling like your solopreneur business will fall apart.
The problem is that if you're a solopreneur, your whole business can rely on you doing everything. As a result, you’re constantly worrying about it. But what if you had great systems in place to put parts of your business on autopoint, while you focus on the work that matters?
That’s exactly what you’ll get with Streamlined Solopreneur. You’ll learn how to turn manual tasks into reliable systems, so you can take time off worry-free.
Joe Casabona knows about this firsthand. He went from worrying so much that he had a panic attack to taking 4-6 weeks off every year. Worry-free. And he’s helped hundreds of solopreneurs do the same.
If you’re ready to automate your business, and take time off to do what you want (instead of letting your solopreneur business dictate what you do), start listening to Streamlined Solopreneur.
Subscribe now or visit https://streamlinedsolopreneur.com/
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,
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 May 22,
2026.
I spent most of this week.
in Baltimore
with some friends discussing our business's mastermind retreat style.
As is often the case, I came away excited and energized.
And unlike a conference, I had a very specific set of actions
I need to take for my business.
It was much needed.
I was in, uh,
I was a, I was a little down about my business earlier.
in the week,
and this retreat helped me realize that most of it was unfounded. I didn't need to be
as down as I thought I was, which is, as you probably know, the ups and downs of running your own
business. But that's not actually what's on my mind.
I drove to Baltimore,
which is around two hours
each way,
meaning I spent four hours in the car by myself. And that's a real treat for me,
because I
I love driving with the windows down and my music blasting,
something I don't really get to do when the kiddos are in the car.
At least not on the highway,
where it gets too windy and too loud and we can't hear anything,
and we end up having to roll up and roll down the windows when the kids need something.
Part of me wanted to spend that time thinking about my business.
It was four hours in the car.
I couldn't, you know, respond to email.
I would strongly recommend don't check your email while you're driving.
It's stupid.
Don't at me.
I could think about what I wanted to discuss on the way there.
Why was I so down about my business?
I could think about my action plan on the way back
and how I would implement these new ideas and important actions I need to take to improve my business.
But really, it was a tiny part of me that wanted to do that.
I usually view traveling as forced downtime.
In oasis where very few people can get a hold of me and I can't do much of anything anyway.
Like I said, I'm not checking my email.
Don't seriously don't check your email when you're driving.
It can wait.
It can wait.
I promise you.
Anyway, I decided to turn off for those four hours.
I didn't think about the business.
I didn't even listen to podcasts.
I turned up my music,
sung as loud as I could, as poorly as I could,
which is not a hard thing for me to do.
And I just enjoyed the drive.
It was an important reminder that we don't need to act like we are being productive all the time.
And I am really intentional about using the word act there.
Just because we are doing something doesn't make it productive.
And if you can steal a few hours to just turn your brain off,
and enjoy the moment,
that is as good as working on something in your business. It's actually
better than doing something poorly because you're tired and not thinking clearly.
It's important
to take breaks after all.
And what I want to know is how do you spend your time driving?
Reply and let me know, either in the comment section,
if there's a comment section where you're
consuming this or over at streamlinedfeedback.com. I'd love to hear what you think.
But as I said earlier,
don't at me if you are going to defend checking your email while
you're driving.
Okay.
Speaking of reading,
here's the recommended reading segment of the show.
I had a choice to make.
Between a really cool, wholesome story and
And some hot nonsense that makes me think the AI apocalypse is coming.
And I'm choosing the cool,
wholesome story.
It's from The Athletic and it's called A Teen Umpire Tost a Baseball Coach in a now viral video.
Here's his side of the story.
The gist is that the coach got upset about the music that the other dugout was playing
and he had a huge hissy fit.
Those are my words.
They're not the umpire's words.
They're not the athletics words.
But my estimation
in watching the video is that he was having a hissy fit because he didn't like one of the songs.
We also know that parents, like sports parents and sports adults in general, um,
can take the game
way,
way too seriously.
Way too seriously.
So this kid, a senior
in high school handled this coach which such poise and grace and patience that it was honestly
impressive. The coach,
who eventually got ejected,
told his whole team to just leave the field,
which is just super classy.
Seeing stories like this, though, give me hope that younger generations
are actually learning the people skills that many adults,
who are my age or older,
have lost in the age of social media,
the pandemic,
and the age of having keyboard courage,
where you are willing to be a jerk behind the safety of your keyboard,
that erodes the way you treat people in real life.
That's why I've always been a,
if I'm going to say something online, I will also say it to their face,
and I expect the same treatment.
if you're going to criticize me online,
I expect you to say it to my face.
So there's a really good story.
It's from The Athletic.
I have the gift link article here,
so I will include that in the show notes.
And finally,
recommended media.
Over on YouTube,
I feel like I've been talking about SNL a lot,
and I'm going to continue that.
Over on YouTube,
SNL has been doing a series called The Rundown,
and this is where they're getting cast members,
and guests to build a show over several weeks, right?
SNL has a fairly segmented show where they have a very similar format to the show where
they do the cold open,
the intro,
the monologue,
and then they'll either throw it to
commercial or have a pre-tap, which is like a fake commercial,
a few sketches,
musical guest,
weekend update,
maybe another pre-tape.
And then the weird sketches.
And then the musical guest again and the outro.
So it is a well-oiled machine, which is always super interesting to me.
And I love this series.
I'm going to link the latest one from Questlove.
He picks a musical sketch.
And it's been fascinating seeing them pick sketches from across 50 years to build what they think is the best show.
S&L is such a force.
Any insight into their systems and processes is so,
so interesting to me.
And this series in particular is a cool mix of history,
behind the scenes, and just a walk down
memory lane.
I strongly recommend the whole series. Like I said, I will link to the latest
iteration.
You should probably start at the beginning because you are seeing the entire
board get built out.
And I really,
really hope that they do a super cut of all the chosen
sketches. Like they make an episode out of those chosen sketches.
But that's it for the Friday wrap up. If you enjoyed this,
consider joining my newsletter
over at streamlined.fm slash wrap.
You'll 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.