Note: This transcript was auto generated. As our team is small, we have done our best to correct any errors. If you spot any issues, we’d sure appreciate it if you let us know and we can resolve! Thank you for being a part of the community.
Verbatim text
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Welcome to the Agency Trailblazer podcast. This is Lee. And on today’s show, we are talking with Yael who is helping us unpack mindfulness, well-being, fitness, and health. This is an episode not to be missed. So sit back, relax. Actually, you should relax because that’s what we’re talking about, and enjoy the ride. This podcast is brought to you by the agency trailblazer community. Is agency life stressing you out? Then it is our mission to help you build an agency that you love.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
We’ve created a community which includes the agency reset roadmap that will allow you to get your agency back on the right track. We also have lots of noble straight to the point, easy to consume workshops. We have a thriving community of other agency owners. And we all wrap up every month with a mastermind call with myself and sometimes a special guest where we unpack your questions. For more details, check out agency trailblazer.com. Good morning, good evening, good afternoon, and good night. You are joining a conversation with me, Lee Jackson. And today, we have Yael Matsliak on the phone or on the web or whatever sort of device this should be called.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
How are you?
Yael Matsliak:
I’m doing well. Thank you.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Oh, awesome. That is good. We had at least 10 minutes of me practicing your name, and I think I nailed it.
Yael Mitzliak:
You did it. You nailed it. Yes.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Yes. Achievement unlocked. I am a happy person. Yael is from Pixel Happy Studios. She focuses on web design, web development, and I think you like the color blue, I’m guessing, because you got a lot of blue on that website and it looks awesome.
Yael Mitzliak:
I recently, redesigned Pixel Happy at, like, late spring
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Mhmm.
Yael Mitzliak:
Early summer, and, I just was so drawn to those those nice cool colors. So, yeah, I do like blue.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Well, you recently had your logo redesigned as well. Do you wanna share with us how you went about doing that?
Yael Mitzliak:
Well, you know, the logo design, that’s an interesting thing. So I have a client that has a logo that’s that seems a bit outdated, but her work is in restoring history. She restores homes to, like, period restoration, kitchens, bathrooms, ovens, everything. And so at first, she wanted a new logo. Yeah. And we did a couple of different variations, and this was one of them that that she rejected. I absolutely loved it. You know? Yeah.
Yael Mitzliak:
She it was too modern for her, and it was like all of a sudden, I was like, oh, that’s that’s actually for pixel happy with the mandala and everything. It really it it just fit my it really was for pixel happy. So I just kinda had a misguided direction there, sending it to her. Yeah. So she rejected it, and I was like, oh, actually, that’s that’s the that’s the new logo for pixel happy.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Yeah. And it looks like it’s also dictated your color palette as well. Folks, if you wanna know what we’re talking about, we’re talking about pixel happy dot c o. That’s pixelhappy.c0. But I can see here as well, you’ve you’ve mirrored then the color scheme in here because you’ve got the would you call that a peach or a red? I’m not sure.
Yael Mitzliak:
Kind of a peach coral.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
I really like it. It’s such a good combination. So there we go. And, I like your use of photography as well, by putting your sights inside of a, like, a frame. So, like, you got the Imac rocking on there as well. So well, we kinda went straight into it, but probably what’s now a good idea is if you just introduced yourself. Tell us a little bit about yourself, where you’re based in the world, a little bit about your business and what you do, and then we’ll I’ll ask you a whole lot of questions about it. How about that?
Yael Mitzliak:
Okay. Yeah. Sure. So I started web design probably in 2002. It I mean, it wasn’t my I studied economics and political science, public administration in undergrad and grad school.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Mhmm.
Yael Mitzliak:
So didn’t really have any plans of being in any kind of business. I was more nonprofit public oriented, in in terms of work. But I was a new immigrant in Israel, and my Hebrew was was lacking.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Mhmm.
Yael Mitzliak:
So it was either go to work and make, like, you know, $5 an hour or, learn a trade.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Yeah.
Yael Mitzliak:
So yeah. So I was, living in the old city of Jerusalem at the time, and I had a lot of friends that wanted to get online, so I just started teaching myself. I had Dreamweaver, an old, old version of Dreamweaver.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Yeah.
Yael Mitzliak:
And I bought a book, and I started learning, and that was pretty much how I started on this track of web design.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
So how how did you get your first client? Was that through friends who needed a website?
Yael Mitzliak:
Yep. Friends. Like I said, I lived in the old city, and there’s obviously it’s a tourist, you know, a big tourist area. So, they wanted to get online and sell their products. And, so I was there and I was learning, and I had a few of them that actually trusted me as I was learning to build websites for them. So
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Yeah. I think that’s the story for many people who get into web development who are self taught. You’ve had somebody take a punt and say, yeah. Please make me a website. And then that’s a really good experience for you, isn’t it, for for learning how to build. So 2,002, this was kind of prior any major CMS taking over the world. So was this all fully HTML?
Yael Mitzliak:
It was. I think, probably, maybe 2,004. I don’t remember the exact time, maybe 2,005, but it was the it was the, precursor of Joomla. It was called Mambo.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
I remember that. Oh my god. Yeah. Yes.
Yael Mitzliak:
So I was just doing pure HTML and then Mhmm. At some point a few years later, I started incorporating Mambo mostly for, to add the blog functionality. I wouldn’t do the whole site with that. Then when it transformed into Joomla I started using Joomla. I used Joomla for a number of years and was, really didn’t start using WordPress until, I would say, 2008. Yeah. Yeah. It was about 2008.
Yael Mitzliak:
And I was a bit hesitant, but once I created my first theme and converted it to a WordPress theme, I was hooked. It’s so much more intuitive than Joomla.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Yeah. I totally agree. I couldn’t work out the reason why I left Mambo, because I remember it was Mambo, was I could not work out for the life of me how to actually theme it properly. I mean, this was back
Yael Mitzliak:
in in, you know,
Lee Matthew Jackson:
in the early days. And I remember falling into WordPress very, very early on. It was it it I think it it had only just changed from, it was called b b something or other. And I remember just I installed the very first. It felt like the very first it wasn’t even version 1, basically, of WordPress. I remember thinking, this is incredible. And also the theme that came with it was kind of cool. So I just kinda stuck with that for a while.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
But then I found theming easier to learn over time. But Joomla and the interface, I just found very complicated.
Yael Mitzliak:
I think I I don’t think I did any custom themes for Joomla. I think I would just customize a theme. But WordPress, you know, it was once you did once you did it the first time, you know, you would create a theme and convert it to WordPress. It was not that difficult of a process.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Yeah. Exactly.
Yael Mitzliak:
Yeah. I agree. Joomla was was a was a beast.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
So, obviously, you’ve made the transition over to WordPress. So does that mean you are still using tools like Dreamweaver to build out the HTML and then make themes, or were you actually taking existing themes and customizing those?
Yael Mitzliak:
No. I I I don’t use Dreamweaver anymore. So I was a Genesys user for many years. So I would usually, before I entered into the Beaver Builder world, I would take the Genesys sample theme and cost you know, build a custom theme from that.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Yeah.
Yael Mitzliak:
So that probably was 4 or 5 years. And now I’m I’m a Beaver Builder. You know? I was, again, I was always hesitant to, like, make these these transitions. And, so I was probably a little bit late coming into Beaver Builder, but, once I embraced it, it was for me, it was just like, you know, I’m just gonna design in the browser. Yeah. You know? You know? So, it was, kinda like WordPress. Once I got into it, I was like, oh, I love this. This this makes life so much easier and and more efficient in my mind for my
Lee Matthew Jackson:
clients. Yeah. So, folks, if you’re not aware of Beaver Builder, which you probably are because you listen to this podcast and we talk about it practically every other episode. And angledcrown.com is made in it and so is agencytrailblazer.com. It is an amazing visual builder. It kind of if you wanna be able to build sites quickly or you wanna be able to, like Yael said, design in the browser, etcetera, or have that freedom of flexibility, then you really, really need to check that out. I’ll put a link in the show notes. But it’s an amazing visual.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
I would say visual page builder. Have you had any exposure to the Beaver Thema as yet?
Yael Mitzliak:
Oh, yeah. That was another game changer.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Absolutely. Absolutely. Tell us how that benefited you because I think there are still some people listening in who are still trying to understand what beaver Thema can do for them.
Yael Mitzliak:
Okay. So, well, I guess, the primary reason I was so excited about Thema was simply being able to create templates to assign to custom post types.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Yes.
Yael Mitzliak:
You know? Before that, I was using the toolset plugin
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Mhmm.
Yael Mitzliak:
Toolset types and views.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Yeah.
Yael Mitzliak:
And, you know, the templating system was was, how would I say that? You could I I never could really do anything amazing with it. It was pretty basic rudimentary. And, so being able to create a custom template in BeaverThemure and apply it to a custom post type was just, you know, it was world changing. Yes. Absolutely. Yeah. And then, of course, you know, all the being able to do a custom template for for archives and blog posts. It really changed everything.
Yael Mitzliak:
Basically, what it did was I mean, the theme that you use is is almost irrelevant. It’s simply a frame it’s I don’t even know how what do you how do you define the theme now when you can create custom headers and custom footers and custom you know, it’s more of the global styling is in the theme, and then the individual components, you can you can style in Beaver Themer. So
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Absolutely. What we found with Beaver Themer is it’s enabled us to create a very simple base template that we can reuse multiple times, which gives us the absolute basic burger that we need for WordPress, with regards to your your basic loops and the relevant calls so that we can have all of the features of WordPress we need. But then everything else can be done inside of BeaverThema is perfect for creating minimum viable product sites. So something, you know, we know need to do quickly. So we did that with agency trailblazer.com.
Yael Mitzliak:
Mhmm.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
That was something where we were gonna design a theme and everything from scratch, but we needed to test the idea whether or not people would be attracted to a community. So we used Beaver theme, and it it really sped up our process. Right. But it’s also something that you can use like you’re doing in in live websites. It’s really, really well supported product. This sounds like a big long advertorial now, doesn’t it, for Beaver Builder? But it is a really good, well supported, solid product that just puts WordPress on steroids. And, and and, I mean, I do miss my HTML and CSS. So we do a lot of that anyway, and we create our own modules.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
But for people who wanna get into the browser and just cut out all of that, it is absolutely phenomenal. So you predominantly build websites. You’re you’ve got a a great eye for design. You build websites for a lot of people. Do you have any particular type of niche or a particular type of customer that you attract regularly?
Yael Mitzliak:
I yes. I do, actually. And I think it it’s kind of a kind of reflects on, you know, my own life journey in the sense that I even, you know, my education in my early work years before I started working for myself was not business related. It was, I started a couple of nonprofits. I worked in Central America and, worked for the city of Houston, you know, in public sector jobs. So, my tip and I also am a yoga teacher and have studied a lot of different alternative healing modalities. So in short, my clients are either professional, like an educator or a consultant Mhmm. Or, some type of healing practitioner.
Yael Mitzliak:
I do have a few food bloggers, but, I mean, generally, my my clients are in some some form of education, some professional type of education, or, alternative healing.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
And do you find, I mean, how are you attracting those types of people then? Is it through recommendation from a small pool of people that you started with, or are you creating content that’s drawing people in, or are you networking with those sorts of people?
Yael Mitzliak:
Yeah. So that’s a good question. Almost all of my clients have come from from referrals. There are a couple of, groups that, have a pretty large following for, I guess, you would call them they’re entrepreneurs that that have a holistic side to them. I don’t really know how to describe that. Like, they’re not just like money money money money money or whatever. You know? They’re they’re they wanna contribute something to the world, but they’re also in business. And I’m not saying you can just be in business and not you know, I’m not saying that, but these are there’s a special niche there.
Yael Mitzliak:
And so, there’s a couple of websites. One in particular, his name is Paul Zelzer, and he has a huge, I don’t know, huge following. He has conferences in all over the world, and he has a dedicated recommended holistic web designers who get you, and I’m on there.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Nice.
Yael Mitzliak:
Yeah. So I get a lot of, I got I got a lot of leads from him, really. So
Lee Matthew Jackson:
That’s amazing. So you’ve you’ve found your niche. You are one of the recommended people, and that’s driving traffic towards you, which is phenomenal. That’s really cool.
Yael Mitzliak:
Yeah.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Yeah. I’ve seen as well I mean, this isn’t related to the web, but I’ve seen where a, a an accountant, for example, will align themselves with a particular accounting product. So, for example, I found our first accountants because we were using something called FreshBooks. And on the FreshBooks, they had a list of recommended accountants that specialized in FreshBooks. Therefore, I obviously chose one of them as opposed to just any particular accountant. So I love the fact you’ve got your niche. It’s very obvious from your website what your niche is. You are very clear on that as well.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
And because of that, you are getting great exposure from industry leaders who are driving traffic towards you. So I I do think that’s a it’s a very good example of the power of niching down. I think we very often worry about niching. We think that if we put our stake in the ground and say, I only do this type of site or this type of product or work with this type of person, that we’ll miss out on so much more business. But, actually, having that niche means we attract the right sort of customer, and, you know, we can we can charge we can charge better. We can have a a better project or product experience overall. So So I’m a big fan of that. Do you do any, networking as well to complement it? So going out to local business networking meetings?
Yael Mitzliak:
Well, the thing is, my my business is I’m a registered limited corporation in America. Yeah. I live in Israel most of the year. Mhmm. And my clients are not local.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Okay.
Yael Mitzliak:
My clients are in Europe and Australia and America. So and for a number of reasons. One, just tax purposes. I generally don’t work with Israeli clients.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Mhmm.
Yael Mitzliak:
So, there’s not a lot of networking I can do locally. Okay. You know? So it’s mostly, I really have to do a great job, and I have to my clients no. Really. My clients have to love me to keep referring me to people they need.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
That’s a really good mindset to have, to be honest. It’s it’s I really have to do a good job because by doing a good job, that is investing. That’s your marketing budget, isn’t it? That is investing Yeah. In that ongoing referral. And okay. So local networking is obviously out, but, I mean, me and you met through social networking. So that’s being inside of Facebook groups. I’m pretty sure it was through the Beaver Builder group that you and I met, actually.
Yael Mitzliak:
Probably. Yeah.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
If I remember correctly. Yeah. So are you, involved in any of those online communities as well within your industry? So not WordPress, obviously. I know you’re involved there. But inside of in the holistic and health communities, are you involved there at all?
Yael Mitzliak:
Oh, that’s a really good question. And I am in a number of of of Facebook groups for diff different types of modalities, but I’ve never really I’ve never really looked at that as a networking opportunity, really. I look at it as you know? Because I’m also I’m certified in a number of different modalities, and I’ve always looked at it more as, like, just my personal life. But that’s actually a really nice point that you brought up.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Oh, cool.
Yael Mitzliak:
Yeah.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Well, I seem to remember that you do yoga.
Yael Mitzliak:
Mhmm. Right.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
So I would love to kind of shift a little bit onto that and kind of health and well-being, mindfulness, and all of that sort of stuff. And I wondered, it’s really stressful running an agency. It’s really stressful being a web developer, web designer, etcetera. And a lot of the time, we’re kind of stuck at our desks. So that can be quite unhealthy mentally, and it can also be obviously physically very unhealthy for us. So would you have any advice based on the industry that you’re in and the experience that you have, any advice for us web developers of either mindfulness or exercise or things that we could explore to help us better look after our our overall health?
Yael Mitzliak:
Yeah. Gosh. That’s, that’s a big, big issue. I know
Lee Matthew Jackson:
it’s a big question. I could just now go quiet for the next 20 minutes while you, reel off a whole load of top amazing points.
Yael Mitzliak:
First of all, I think it’s there’s so much distraction around us. And I don’t think any of us there was even a study. I don’t I don’t remember the resource, but there was a study a few years ago that multitasking is actually a myth. Yeah. We can’t do more than one thing at a time and do it well.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Yeah.
Yael Mitzliak:
So first thing that I do my best at doing is focus on one thing at a time.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Yeah.
Yael Mitzliak:
And, the other day, I was talking to she’s one of my we work regularly together, and so we meet on Mondays. And all of a sudden, I didn’t have Facebook open, but I had a Facebook notification come up in the bottom corner. I was like, gosh. How did that get turned on? You know? Because it’s distracting. I it took me completely away from what we were discussing to think, well, why did that what did this person post on Facebook? You know? Yeah. So I think that the the the if if we can simply, you know, focus on one thing at a time, at least for a period of the day and literally shut down the other things that that come popping popping in on your screen or on your phone. Just doing just focusing on one thing at a time for, like, 20 minutes. It is is can bring tremendous benefit because you’re you know, you have a single focus and you’re and you’re not distracted.
Yael Mitzliak:
Yeah. Does that make sense?
Lee Matthew Jackson:
That does. I’m a big proponent of the Pomodoro technique. I’ve got an app on my Windows computer called focus 10. Although, I think there’s one called tamale or tomato or something called Mac.
Yael Mitzliak:
Yes.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
And that allows you to apply the Pomodoro technique of 25 minutes of focus on one thing and close everything else out. And then you can take a 5 minute break and then 5 you know, another 25 minutes in. And I’ve actually written this morning using the Pomodoro technique. I’ve been writing an entire series all about creating podcasts. So I I’m I’m with you on that. I’ve
Yael Mitzliak:
Yeah. And then and then you’re right. And then that and then that 5 minute break where you, you know, clear the plate, so to speak.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
So number 1 is focus on one thing at a time. What are the top tips would you have? Either mindfulness, health, anything like that.
Yael Mitzliak:
Yeah. But this isn’t so much a tip, but, actually, I just created my first app for a client using AppPresser. It’s an it it it’s it’s really it’s really not that challenging. It’s a little bit of a learning curve, but, basically, you create an app for Google and Apple, and it pulls content from your WordPress website. Yeah. So I created this app for a client of my not mine named Deborah. And we met many years ago, when I first discovered something called EFT, which stands for emotional freedom technique. I think today, it’s more referred to as tapping.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Yeah.
Yael Mitzliak:
But it’s a very, very simple process of tapping on certain points of your body, and and the science behind it would go back to acupressure or acupuncture.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Yeah.
Yael Mitzliak:
And so I would say that EFT, when I discovered it, and it’s such a simple thing to learn and yet it had it it is very, very powerful. So, basically, it just you you can take 10 minutes and go through a round of tapping and just clear your energy field, clear your mind. Or if you’re oftentimes, if you’re really upset about something, it’ll, like, stabilize your emotions. I mean, it’s just a very simple process, and yet it’s very, very powerful. So it’s one thing to say focus on one thing at a time. Mhmm. But some of us have monkey minds. Right? We’re not able to.
Yael Mitzliak:
And and with really, with so much
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Explain a monkey mind for those who haven’t read the book.
Yael Mitzliak:
Oh, I haven’t read the book. I just need your no. No. Your thoughts are all over the place. You know? You
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Okay. Yeah.
Yael Mitzliak:
You know, I’m just talking about your thoughts are are all over the place. Yeah. And sometimes you literally can’t break you’re you’re not able, by sheer effort, to bring them back to one point. Yeah. Right? So some techniques like EFT or even just deep breathing for a couple of minutes, just closing your eyes and breathing deeply in, breathing out, and just, you know, I’m breathing in, I’m breathing out. You know, that you know, you sometimes you need a technique to to be able to bring yourself into focus.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Yeah.
Yael Mitzliak:
So, I mean, breathing is a great one because we breathe all day long. You know, you just close your eyes and breathe in, breathe out, and do that for a couple of minutes, and it’ll bring you back into the present. Yeah. No. I don’t even know. There’s a book called The Monkey Mind. I need
Lee Matthew Jackson:
to look
Yael Mitzliak:
at that.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Well, I’m not sure if it’s called The Monkey Mind, but it’s it’s definitely about having that kind of monkey brain. And like you said, your thoughts are all over the place. One thing I’ve been trying to do is I’ve I’ve struggled to do this quite a lot, but it’s it’s the whole idea of meditation. So what I’ve done is try to focus on on thinking about one thing as part of that meditation. And I feel like you kind of go into some sort of hypnotic state. I’m not sure, but I’m not sure how it works. But all I know is is that I’ll put on some nice relaxing music. I’ll I’ll either put focus music or or just some sort of music on YouTube because there’s tons of free stuff on YouTube or I’ll just do it on Amazon Music.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
I’ll have that playing in the background and then I’ll lay on the floor or I’ll lay on the if I lay on the bed, I fall asleep. So I can’t do that.
Yael Mitzliak:
Yeah. Yeah.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
But, you know, I’ll lay on the floor. I’ll have that and then I’ll just think about one thing. Like, maybe I’ll imagine that there’s an island and I’ll just pretend I’m looking at the sea or something like that. So it just takes everything out of my brain and just allows me to imagine the scene and I’m almost wakeful dreaming it. Mhmm. And once I’ve kind of got to the end of that session, I’ll probably set an alarm or something to well, not an alarm because that would jot me out of it, but I’d normally Yeah. Find something that’s long enough to spend, say, 20 minutes and then and then I’m done. And I’ll often find if I’ve done that and then I go back to whatever it is I was doing, I feel a lot more calmer and the answer comes to me a lot a lot quicker.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
I’ll also do the same for just going for a walk or something like that. Something I’ve really tried to do a lot more of recently is is just for the physical health benefits of a walk, but also there is the the mental health of, you know, you’re walking away from whatever the problem is you’ve been dealing with all day, all the problems. And you you just kind of walk aimlessly around looking at what’s around you. And usually, the answer to my problem pops into my mind when I’m out and about having a walk, which I still don’t know don’t know why that happens, but it seems to happen.
Yael Mitzliak:
Well, I think sometimes we get well, I I do. You know, sometimes, you know, you’re working on something and you get so enmeshed in it and you’re Yeah. Like, it’s it’s not it almost becomes a struggle, like, you know, what should I do here? And oftentimes, when you go for a walk, you’re just kind of letting it go. Right? And so I think in a in a more relaxed state, we can our mind works better.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Now am I right in saying that you also do yoga?
Yael Mitzliak:
I do. Yes.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Could you explain to us what yoga is and some of the benefits that you get from it?
Yael Mitzliak:
Yoga is many things to many people, especially today. You know? For some people, it’s simply a form of exercise. For some people, it’s a deep spiritual practice. Obviously, the roots of yoga is grounded more in in the spiritual component. And and the actual physical movements were there simply to help you come to that place of calm so that you could sit and meditate. Today, I think that’s kind of rare. I think the modern yoga industry is more on on just the physical movement of the body and the breath, which is fine, you know, because if you get out and you link your breath with with body movements, that is a form of meditation, you know, because you you’re focusing. I’m breathing in.
Yael Mitzliak:
I’m I’m doing this. I’m you know, when you link body with breath, it is a form of meditation even if you don’t intend it to be. Yeah. Yeah. Does that make sense? So yoga, like I said, it can it’s many things to many people. And, but the benefits are the breath and the movement. Right? So well, that’s one thing. But the other thing is most of yoga is not it’s not like when you jog, you put a lot of pressure on your joints.
Yael Mitzliak:
Right? Mhmm. Most of there are some there is obviously some jolting, I mean, jumping and things like that in yoga, but a lot of the standard poses, you’re standing or you’re, you know, you’re you’re not putting continuous pressure on the joints. So you so you get the physical benefit of exercise with without the repetitive motion of, like, jogging or, what would be another well, walking is a little bit different. Jogging, you know, you put a lot of pressure on the knee joints. Right? Yeah. So there’s a benefit of being able to do a physical exercise without risking injury on your joints. And then even if you don’t intend to, it is a form of meditation because you’re in the present moment. You know, if once you start doing that practice, kind of the outside world kind of fades away, and you’re there on your mat breathing and moving.
Yael Mitzliak:
So when you when you do that, you take time to do that every day, eventually, and the goal is that that that moves into other parts of your life. So, I mean, you know, I could be really I could get frustrated or something, and I I know I’m just gonna stop and breathe for a few minutes, and that’ll kind of, like, settle things down.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Now with regards to the physical benefits, you were saying that, obviously, there is it is there is the the poses, the stands, etcetera, which will which are less far less impactive, but also have physical benefits because you are actually burning energy or calories, etcetera, all of that sort of stuff. And it can also help build muscles and tone, etcetera. We’ve found that my daughter has, quite severe scoliosis, so she’s got a curvature of
Yael Mitzliak:
the spine.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Right. And we found she gets great benefit from Pilates, where they’re doing lots of different types of exercise and stands and poses, etcetera. And I’ve always thought it seems quite similar to what I’ve seen my mum doing in the yoga. She she does yoga herself. And, I’ve always found it quite fascinating, the the parallel. What’s really impressed me about it is for my daughter, she’s absolutely, like, toning up very well, which is great for her. She’s getting a, like, a good strength in her core, which is fantastic. But, also, we’re very hopeful, that there will be some long term benefits with regards to her back, the muscles in her back, etcetera.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
The sort of scoliosis she has isn’t structural. It is hopefully something that can be fixed with surgery in the future, but we’re also hoping that through her practicing regular well, she’s doing it every single week now, doing things like the Pilates, etcetera, these similar sorts of exercises and will hopefully be beneficial. The reason why I wanted to talk to you about it all as well, really, was because it’s something that I think it’s a sort of exercise that helps both mindfulness and your physical being as well. And it’s something that a lot of us are struggling with, and it’s something we’ve talked about a lot in the Facebook group. We’ve talked it in the agency trailblazer community, but also on my private strategy calls that I have with different, agency owners, different business people. It’s been that constant frustration of, how do I keep healthy? I’ve I’ve I feel like I’ve put on weight. I feel unhealthy, etcetera. And something like yoga would I think would be a very good a good field, a good whatever the right word is for people to go ahead and investigate.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Because taking time out to go for a run is kinda horrible because you go out for a run, like you said, there’s an impact. You then you’re then all sweaty and yucky and feel exhausted. Whereas if I’ve ever done something like Pilates, etcetera, I find that a much more enjoyable exercise. I still feel the benefits, and I don’t feel yucky afterwards. Yeah.
Yael Mitzliak:
And, I mean, you know, jogging goes with you as well, but I don’t know. A lot I’m guessing a lot of a lot of people work at home.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Yep.
Yael Mitzliak:
So that has its own, benefits and downsides, you know.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Yeah.
Yael Mitzliak:
So, you know, even if you take it, you know, 20 minute break on your yoga mat and just do a couple of sun salutations
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Mhmm.
Yael Mitzliak:
You don’t need any expensive equipment or, you know, just go to your living room.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Yeah. It’s free.
Yael Mitzliak:
Yeah. It’s free. And I wanted to mention too, I have a book. It’s a there’s a doctor. I think he’s in New York.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Yeah.
Yael Mitzliak:
Lauren Fishman, and he has a website. And I have both of his books. One of them is yoga for osteoporosis. Yeah. And so I bring that up because there’s another and I can’t think of her name, and that’s yoga can correct osteoporosis. Yoga can also correct scoliosis. Oh. And there is a teacher, but she worked with a 80 year old woman and was completely hunched over with scoliosis and and, like, remember what the name of it is when you but in a year, this 80 year old woman was up and, like, standing straight up
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Wow.
Yael Mitzliak:
You know, and dancing. And now she is very specialized in this. Right? So, obviously, for, scoliosis, you know, you you would want some someone that is highly trained in
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Yeah.
Yael Mitzliak:
In in in this. But, it is possible to correct or at least greatly improve and correct that that spinal curve.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Well, that is really, really helpful. I’ve just popped online whilst you were chatting, and I found Lauren Fishman’s book. So I’m gonna pop that into the show notes. Obviously, great for scoliosis, but also great for, from what I can tell, a whole load of, different types of back pain, etcetera, and discomfort. And, obviously, like you said you know, like we were saying earlier, the the overall health benefits as well. So folks, if you’re listening, I hope you are encouraged with regards to there are totally options to help you exercise, be it in the office or at home. We don’t have to go and join a gym. We don’t have to go out for a run and all of the extra stuff that comes with that, like showers and kit and all the other stuff.
Yael Mitzliak:
That’s right.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
There there are other options available to us. So be sure to check out yoga. I have been making good notes during this conversation, and I’ll put a whole load of links in the show notes for you guys to things like the books, also some informational sites about yoga, also informational sites about deep deep breathing, about the emotional freedom technique as well. And remember oh, sorry. Pomodoro as well. And and remember, like Yael says, focus on one thing at a time. So mindfulness and your physical well-being as an agency and as a web developer is so freaking important, and it’s something that I am guilty of not looking after because I’m too busy worried about trying to get stuff done.
Yael Mitzliak:
Yeah. Well, you do get quite a bit of stuff done. So
Lee Matthew Jackson:
That’s true.
Yael Mitzliak:
Yeah. I think if I think if you didn’t I did I think if you were not focused, you wouldn’t be able to produce the quality and the quantity of material that you produce. You couldn’t do that with a distracted mind. Do you think?
Lee Matthew Jackson:
I don’t know how I do it then because I I do have a very distracted mind.
Yael Mitzliak:
But when you’re working on something, I I have a feeling you’re pretty focused.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Yes. I am. That’s well, I I suppose I did I did say yeah. So I so the way I do that, obviously, is that Pomodoro technique. Like, this morning, I produced in an hour well, how many pages have we got? Seven pages of content in Google Doc just brain dumping a whole load of stuff and then having to take that 5 minute break. Because like I said, I’ve got that I think I think you said monkey brain. I’ve definitely got that, and I’m drawn towards things like Facebook as well. Most people will know if they comment on something.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
I’ve usually liked it within 30 seconds, which is worrying because Facebook’s always open. So I kind of have to adopt something. Otherwise, I’m doing all sorts of oh, and the other thing as well is Larissa, who works with me, will very often ask me for something. So I’ll turn to the machine to start to do it, and then I’ll end up seeing an email notification. And go ahead and check that email, and then I’ll start replying to that email. I’ve forgotten what she’s she sat looking at me watching me do this. So she she can attest to that. And then maybe 10 minutes in, she might then just gently remind me that she’s still waiting for an image of today’s guest or or whatever it was that she requested.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
And I’ll try and make up some excuse like, oh, yeah. Yeah. I was on that. But actually, I totally forgotten.
Yael Mitzliak:
Well, listen she
Lee Matthew Jackson:
sat right next to me waiting.
Yael Mitzliak:
It is a you know, 10 years ago even 10 years ago, but really before social media. How long ago? 15 years ago, it wasn’t as challenging to focus because we didn’t have so many distraction. I don’t mean they’re not distractions. There’s just we’re bombarded with information and notifications and emails, and I’ll do that too. Like, you know, I I try to shut Gmail down. I’m really working on something and other stuff because I’ll do the same thing. I’m working on something, and I get an email from another client. All of a sudden, I’ve completely left this, and I’m going down this road.
Yael Mitzliak:
And it’s it is a monumental it takes a monumental effort to focus today.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Yeah.
Yael Mitzliak:
It really does.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
I think my my because you’ve been very, very generous with the advice you’ve given, and a lot of the stuff you’ve said are stuff that I personally want to explore. I would recommend a tool for everyone listening, especially struggling with email. So it could be with Gmail or whatever email platform you’ve got. It’s called SaneBox. And what this allows you to do is to connect your email account and slowly train the system. And what it’ll do is put all of your kind of newsletter junk and all that sort of stuff in a folder. It’ll put stuff that is not so important in another folder, which you can come to later. It’ll also track things like emails that haven’t had replies.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
You can also delay an email and say, actually, this email can come back to me tomorrow. I don’t really need to see it now. And the beauty of that means is that my inbox never has more than kind of 5 unread messages at any one time now, which is really nice. Whereas I used to have a 100 and then another 100 within the next hour. Now everything’s all filed off. I’ve been training it saying, alright. Well, when this sort of email comes in, that just needs to go out to the accountant and get filed. I don’t wanna look at I mean, you can achieve the same sort of thing with with filters within Gmail, etcetera.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
But I think the benefit of SaneBox is it’s already done a whole lot of scoring on particular types of emails. So it already has that kind of AI, that knowledge of, okay, well, that can go in there. And you’ll get a few false positives. You know, you’ll find an important email buried in the wrong folder, which is, you know, there’s gonna be some teething issues. But, it’s been an absolute lifesaver, I think, for me for the last 2 months. We’ve been using this now in my inbox just
Yael Mitzliak:
Yeah. I’m just looking at it. I’m planning on exploring that.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
So well, well, do explore it. Like I said, if if people don’t want to invest, I’m sure people have got SaaS fatigue, you know, that’s monthly subscriptions fatigue. Don’t wanna pay another subscription, then in Gmail, you can at least activate the folders where you’ve got promotions folder and
Yael Mitzliak:
all the other things.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
And you can start to use that and you can use filters. So that exists if you wanna do the free method. For me, I’m kinda lazy and I just wanted to pay for a service that would just do everything for me and I didn’t have to think about it. So, certainly, something to help with those notifications. The other thing I do on the notifications at night is I have all of my social media apps turned off with regards to any notifications. So if I purposefully go and check them out, then that’s my fault. But at least I don’t get any notifications and it’s really easy to do on an iPhone. I’m not sure how you might do it on Android, but I’m pretty sure you can turn off those sort
Yael Mitzliak:
of notifications. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You can. Yeah.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Yeah. And I leave them off for holidays, and I leave them off as well for weekends as as well as as my effort.
Yael Mitzliak:
Oh, the weekends. You do take the weekends off. Good for you.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Oh, I definitely try and take those off. Yeah. Although sometimes I will you know, sometimes I’ll be halfway through a conversation with someone. And because of the time difference, I might still chat to them on a Saturday morning just to wrap something up, but that’s rare. So there you go.
Yael Mitzliak:
So I wanna just circle back quickly on the, scoliosis. I did remember a teacher’s name. Her name is Rachel Jesien, j e s I e n. Yep. And she’s a globally recognized yoga instructor specializing in back care and scoliosis, and she has some home practice series on her website. So
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Awesome. Alrighty. Well, folks, if you, if you, are connected with anyone, with scoliosis, then there’ll be some notes in there as well in the show notes with some help for that. So if you either suffer it or you know of anyone who does, that’ll be helpful. And equally, if you do suffer scoliosis or know anyone who does or are affected by it, I would really love to have a conversation with you because this is something that we’ve only experienced now for just a few months when it was diagnosed in my daughter at the beginning of the year. So it would be great to have some conversations. We’ve got a Facebook group for that and you can find us over on agencytrailblazer.com/ group. Yael is in there as well with a whole lot of crazy people, and we’re all having great conversations on a wide range of subjects.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
So I highly recommend you check us out there. So thank you so much for your time. Thank you for educating us on the benefits of focus, of breathing, of meditation, walking, yoga, all of these great things. And also thanks for sharing your story as well and reminding us of the power of having a niche. I I think this has been a fantastic episode. All that is left for us to do is to find out how to connect with you, and then we will say goodbye.
Yael Mitzliak:
Yeah. So I have, multiple social media accounts, but, honestly, the only one I’m really active on is Facebook. So that would, you know, send me a message there. That would be an easy way to connect with me. And then obviously, my website, pixelhappy.co.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Awesome. I will get your Facebook and your website in the show notes. Thank you so much for your time.
Yael Mitzliak:
I enjoyed it.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Wonderful day.
Yael Mitzliak:
Thank you.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
Enjoy your day. Cheerio.
Yael Mitzliak:
Bye.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
And that wraps up today’s show. Be sure to check out the show notes for all of those techniques, the books, and all of the other links that were mentioned throughout the show. Also, if you are not part of the Agency Trailblazer Facebook group, then you can find that on agencytrailblazer.com/group. It’s a great place to help each other out. This is a big problem. It’s mindfulness, health, well-being. All of these things are really important to us for a healthy business, for a healthy life, and for a healthy family. So let’s have a conversation in the Facebook group.
Lee Matthew Jackson:
If you are not a member of the paid community where we have regular masterminds and hold each other accountable, then check that out over on agency trailblazer.com. If I don’t see you in either community, have a wonderful day, and we’ll see you in the next episode.
