Not Just Candle Talk: Burn the Rules. Build Your Legacy
This isn’t your average business podcast.
Not Just Candle Talk is the unapologetic, unfiltered audio home for ambitious entrepreneurs, creatives, and side-hustlers ready to do business on their own terms — no fluff, no fake motivation.
Founded on real experience and raw truth, this podcast dives into the real-life challenges behind the candle business and beyond. Whether you’re just starting out or scaling your empire, every episode is packed with lessons, strategies, and mindset shifts to help you build a business and a life you don’t need to escape from.
Hey, I’m Toni, and I know what it’s like to start from scratch.
When I launched my candle business, I had big dreams but limited resources — no investors, no fancy marketing team, just grit, Google, and a lot of trial and error. I built my brand from the ground up, burned out more times than I can count, and learned to pivot, scale, and get smart about what really makes money in this game.
Not Just Candle Talk was born out of my journey — the highs, the hustle, the hard lessons — and the deep desire to have conversations no one else is having in entrepreneurship. The stuff beyond the surface. The why behind the work.
This Podcast Is For You If…
- You’re tired of overnight success stories with no receipts.
- You want to make real money while staying true to yourself.
- You believe business can be both profitable and purposeful.
- You’re building your brand while managing your real life.
Not Just Candle Talk: Burn the Rules. Build Your Legacy
The Silent Killer of Success: Why Time Management Makes or Breaks Entrepreneurs
Time management is the hidden CEO skill that determines whether entrepreneurs thrive or merely survive in their businesses. We explore how poor time habits silently sabotage success while introducing practical strategies to reclaim control of your schedule and accelerate progress toward your goals.
• Recognizing when you're "busy but broke, booked but burnt out, posting but not profitable"
• Understanding that most entrepreneurs fail due to poor time management, not lack of talent
• Viewing time as currency that's either invested in or withdrawn from your future
• Implementing the 3D Rule: do it, delegate it, or drop it
• Creating sacred CEO time blocks for working on your business, not just in it
• Setting just one powerful goal each week instead of diluting focus
• Protecting your creativity with silent mornings before digital distractions
• Batching similar tasks to maximize efficiency and preserve energy
• Recognizing that saying "no" is sometimes the most productive action
Check out our Time Clarity Tracker PDF—a free downloadable resource to help you monitor and optimize how you spend your hours. Print it out, hang it on your refrigerator, and use it as a starting point for better time management. Because you deserve not just success, but peace.
Collect all free downloadable checklist and access to other items including the featured Stanley on the go tumblers. https://linktr.ee/notjustcandletalk
Hello world, welcome back to Not Just Candle Talk the real, raw and unfiltered show for creators, entrepreneurs and dreamers who are done playing small. I'm your host, Tony, and today we're going to talk about the one thing you can't buy back time time. Whether you're building a brand, launching a product, running a side hustle or still stuck in your nine-to-five trying to juggle it all, this episode is your wake-up call. This isn't just about planners and productivity hacks. We're diving into the real emotional costs of poor time management, how it silently kills your progress and, most importantly, how to take your time back. So let's get into it. Let me tell you a quick story before we get started.
Speaker 1:A few years back, I was working on a project, trying to build, taking freelance gigs. I was showing up on socials and being everything to everyone and being everything to everyone, but inside I was drowning in a calendar full of stuff that looked productive but wasn't profitable. I was busy but broke, Booked but burnt out, Posting but not profitable. That's when I realized I didn't have a business problem. I had a time management problem. And if you're listening to this, chances are so do you. So here's the truth. Most creators and entrepreneurs aren't failing because of lack of talent. They're failing because of lack of time, clarity and how they're spending their hours every single day. You don't need more time, Okay. You need to use your time differently. So what do I mean by that? Let's break it down. So if you're not managing your time, you're not managing your energy, your output or your income. Think of time like money. Every minute is a deposit or every withdrawal from your future. Here's what poor time management looks like in real life Starting 10 things but finishing none. Saying yes to every collab that doesn't pay. Getting stuck in content creation but never actually promoting. Being on 24-7 and wondering why you're exhausted. Time is the CEO skill nobody's teaching. It affects your launches, your sales and, above all, your sanity. And here's the kicker when you waste your time, you're not just delaying your dream, You're also feeding your imposter syndrome, because the longer you delay action, the louder the doubt gets. So here these are things that might work. Okay, that may work if you practice them.
Speaker 1:Number one the 3D rule is do it, delegate it and then drop it. Every task must go in one of these three buckets. Period Number two the CEO time blocks. What that means is you can block out two hours a week that are non-negotiable for working on your business or any project, Not just in it Podcasting, planning, email strategy, a revenue review that's your boardroom meeting with yourself. Number three one goal per week, Not five, not 10, one powerful needle, moving goal each week. You'll be shocked how effective this is.
Speaker 1:Number four silent mornings. This is my all time favorite. No phone calls, no scrolling, no reacting. Spend your first 20 minutes every day creating, journaling or planning. Protect your mind before the internet hacks it. Number five batch and bounce. What does that mean? Batch your content, Batch your projects, Batch your life. Then bounce out and live.
Speaker 1:You weren't meant to be on all day, every day. Let me speak directly to my fellow creators and artists and those passionate entrepreneurs. Of course, you've got a skill, You've got a gift, but your gift can become a grind when your calendar doesn't protect your creativity. Your creativity needs space, not chaos. You can't build an empire if your time is always on clearance. You can't scale if every hour is always spoken for. You can't succeed if you're treating your dream like a side hobby and you're a distraction like a full time job. So here's the uncomfortable truth. Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is actually just saying no, my favorite thing, Another one of my favorite things. One of my favorite things. So I want to challenge you for the coming week, starting today, or you can start it tomorrow. Let's try these things for one week. Audit your calendar that's one. Reclaim five wasted hours that's two. Apply one of the five time habits that's two. Apply one of the five time habits that's number three and repeat this mantra my time is expensive. So is my dream.
Speaker 1:So I wanted to touch on this episode or this subject my bad on this episode or this subject. My bad, this subject. Because a lot of people have difficulty with time management. It could be either getting somewhere on time, it could be the stop and start in a project. A lot of people get stuck in time management. It's important, it's a part of time management, is a part of discipline. Right, those two? To me, they go hand in hand. If you don't have discipline, you will not. An artist will tell you without discipline and time management, it just does not work.
Speaker 1:So I think I needed to do this episode, just because the outpour of responses I've been getting from people is this I just don't have enough time to do X, Y, Z. So that sparked me doing this episode, and anybody out there, if this episode hit home, please share it in your friend groups uh, your bestie, who's always busy, busy, busy and um, it's just, you know, having a hard time. And if you're ready to go deeper, what I'm going to do is uh, I'm a download, have a downloadable PDF for you. That's the time clarity tracker. Uh, I created it just for Anybody who has difficult With time management.
Speaker 1:It's a short PDF. You can keep track of your time. You can print it out, Hanging on your refrigerator. Just, you know, a starting point To getting on track and staying disciplined, Because you deserve success. But, but, more than that, you deserve peace. And if it starts with how you spend your time, I think it's important to take a look at it. Every little bit helps, right when you're running a small business, or even doing a side hustle or working, for that matter. You can apply this also to if you've got your nine to five and you've got a family. You can apply this, these tactics or life skills that I put in this episode. So I'm not going to take too much more of your time Until next time. Stay lit, but don't burn out. Thank you so much for listening. Talk to you soon, Bye.