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Hey, everybody, and welcome to the Friday wrap-up on Streamline Solopreneur, a short episode where I talk

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about three things, what's on my mind this week, recommended reading, and recommended media.

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This is the show that helps you automate your business so you can take time off worry-free,

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and hopefully this curation will help you think more about your systems.

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I'm your host, Joe Casabona, and here's what's on my mind for June 19, 2026.

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Okay, so number one, I'm doing it.

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a lot of speaking this year. I updated my slash now page that's over at casabona.org

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slash now. And I decided to add all of my speaking appearances. It is my heaviest speaking

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year since before the pandemic when I was fully in the WordPress space and speaking at half a

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dozen WordPress specific events per year plus meetups and other events that I was speaking at.

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Each talk takes me a significant amount of time to craft, rehearse and deliver

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in an impactful way. And while I do try to give the same talk multiple times, I always practice it

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three to five times before giving it. And I will also often update the talks based on feedback as well.

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So I will update analogies to make them land a little better. I'll change examples based on what I had

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been working on in between those talks. I will tighten up descriptions and things like that.

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there was actually somebody in the WordPress space at a WordPress conference I spoke at over 10

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years ago now, but I had given the same talk about three times that I was about to give at this

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conference. And he got on my case about it, telling me like that it's wrong that I'm giving the same

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talk multiple times as he was working on his slides. So I said, hey, my talk is done and I know it's

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going to be good because I've given it before. You are working on your slides right now and you

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don't know what it's going to sound like until you get on stage. So one of us cares about the craft.

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But that is, that's really not the point, right? Yes, you should absolutely rehearse your talks and I

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rehearse my talks a bunch. But this actually got me thinking about three questions, because now I'm

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giving five, six talks, something like that in the next few months and they're going to take a

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significant amount of time. So here are the three questions I'm thinking about. Why do I

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speak, is it a waste of time? And whether it is or isn't, how will I make it worth my time?

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For professional speakers, authors, and other specific professions, the three questions are obvious,

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right? Professional speakers get paid to speak. It's their whole thing. Authors are going on book

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tours and speaking in order to sell books or get more of their books in the hands of more people.

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But what about events where you're paying for travel and lodging, where you might not be getting paid?

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I have been a paid speaker before.

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Most of the time, I am not a paid speaker.

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So why am I doing it then?

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And how can I make it worth my time?

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The truth is I really, really like teaching.

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And speaking gives me the ability to do that.

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I was a drama club kid, and I've always thrived on being on stage in front of people.

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It was my favorite part of my time as the parent-teacher organization president at my kid's school, too.

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I just loved giving talks and networking with meeting people.

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I'm not really networking at my kid's school, I guess, but building those relationships.

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But publicly speaking is one of my favorite things to do.

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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.

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So the reason I'm doing this needs to be more than just for the love of the game.

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And for me, it's really about exposure and business development.

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I do my best selling in person when people meet me and see that I'm a genuinely helpful guy.

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and I will say that this is based on feedback. I've gotten not me foisting platitudes upon myself.

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I had a discovery call with someone earlier this week where they said they felt like they

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know me. Another person said they feel like they can ask a question without thinking I'm going to

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make them feel stupid. And that's like the whole thing I'm trying to go for. Right. Like that is me.

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You get me. And I, and it's hard for me to communicate that with.

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website copy or sales copy because I don't do the things that you're supposed to do to write

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compelling sales copy. So when I speak, it gives me a better opportunity to get in front of and

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help more of the people I want to help while also growing my business. So in that regard,

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I do not feel like it's a waste of time. But it doesn't mean that it's de facto worth my time.

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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.

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When I was speaking in the WordPress space, it was a pretty clear path.

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You are not allowed to sell from the stage at Word camps. These are community events.

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And, but I would always have a QR code for people to join my mailing list.

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Or I would casually mention my book and people would want to buy the book.

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So as I do more of these in-person events, this is what I'm working on over the next week.

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Especially since in-person events are different from virtual events, where usually some

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lead magnet or link is super easy to take action on.

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I spoke at my friend Alex Sam Filippo's podcasting made simple live event a couple years ago,

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or maybe it was a year ago.

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And 70 people signed up for my mailing list from that talk.

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So that's really easy.

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What am I going to do as I give more of these talks,

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both virtually and in person, but mostly in person,

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to start more conversations and get in front of

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or get connected with more people who I can help.

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And I want to give a shout out to my friend Austin Church here

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because I was having like a crisis of conscience earlier this week.

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and he basically told me that, you know, I have a strong conviction,

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but I really need to feel it stronger, if that makes sense.

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So he gave me a really good pep talk, big fan of Austin Church.

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My question for you is, do you speak at conferences?

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When is it worth it for you?

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You can let me know over at streamlinedfidback.com.

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So that's what's on my mind for this week.

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Let's move on to recommended reading.

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The story I am sharing this week,

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Mark Zuckerberg orders his employees to start having fun again

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after brutal layoffs called their colleagues.

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In a turn of events that will shock no one,

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the guy who apparently had to hire a PR firm

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to make himself seem less like a robot

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is failing to read the room at his own company.

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My favorite quote from this article is Zuckerberg offered employees access to permanent desks,

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a symbolic gesture that unintentionally illustrated how expendable many of them had become.

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Many employees at Meta have been working from hot desks,

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a controversial scheme involving multiple workers sharing the same desk.

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What an incredible benefit this is, knowing you can work from the same desk every day.

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That's only something that you can get from a co-working space for 300 bucks per month.

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And I'm sharing this mostly because when things get hard for solopreneurs,

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there's a little bit of like a grass is always greener effect, right?

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where it's like maybe I should stop doing this and get a full-time job.

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Full-time jobs have traditionally been more stable, right?

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But the truth is, I mean, I've been out of the game for nearly 10 years.

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This podcast turns 10 years old next month.

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And my full-time self-employment as an adult, I guess, is nine, right?

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It's nine today, actually.

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Nine years ago today is when I started working for myself full time as this episode comes out, June 19.

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So when I read stories like this, it's really indicative of just how disconnected some company leadership is.

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And I'm not saying this is all companies.

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I've worked for some great people.

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I've worked for some terrible people.

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I've worked for people who, when I told them that a family member passed away,

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their first words were there's no bereavement for ants.

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Okay.

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I'm sorry would have been a better statement.

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I wasn't asking for bereavement.

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I was just informing you that there's going to be a day next week where I'm going to be

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at a funeral.

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So I'm not saying everything is bad.

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But Meta, one of the biggest companies in the United States, at least, is firing

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a ton of people over, like, they have the resources, right? They're firing a ton of people.

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They're overworking their employees. And they're making it seem like a benefit is having your

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own desk. Like, so if you're, if you're working for yourself and you're thinking,

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this is bad. I need to find a full-time job. I would encourage you to take a step.

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step back. I need to do this every so often. Take a step back. Look at what you're doing,

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where you're spending your time, and optimize for spending time on the right things.

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Not the things you necessarily feel like doing, but the thing that's going to move the

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needle. That's the kind of work that I do with solopreneurs all the time. Where are you wasting

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your time? How can we make it better? So I'll end this segment by saying, I'm largely

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dubious of most tech companies. I understand most of us need to reconcile with our own tolerances.

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I happily use Apple. I use Google. I begrudgingly use Claude since no AI company is the good guy.

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And there are going to be people who are like, no, chat GPT, OpenAI is the bad guy. Anthropic

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is the good guy. They are not. If you have learned anything over the past couple of months since they

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had that very self-serving press release about Claude Mythos, you should know that everything

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that they are doing is to increase the valuation of their IPO. Because if they were really

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scared of Claude Mythos, they would have never even remotely released it. And the government

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telling them that they can't release it is good for them too. So I begrudgingly use Claude because

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I think it's the best, but I don't like any of the AI companies.

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If meta, and all of this is to say, that if meta goes away tomorrow, I will not shed a single

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tier. I will feel bad for the people who lose their jobs, but I will not shed a single tier

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if meta just falls off the planet. And I'll finally be rid of WhatsApp, which is an app I hate

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but I use because that's what a lot of people I talk to prefer to use.

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So that's recommended reading, plus a little rant,

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a little nice Friday morning rant for you.

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All right, let's move on to recommended media,

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which is House of the Dragon Season 3.

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House of the Dragon Season 3 drops on Sunday, June 21st,

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and I cannot wait.

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I don't watch a lot of new shows.

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I still haven't finished indoor.

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and I tend to

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I tend towards lighter stuff

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comedies I've seen a hundred times

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like friends scrubs

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How I Met Your Mother, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Parks and Rec

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those comedies that add in

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some heartfelt moments

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those are right in my wheelhouse

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I don't like the heavy stuff most of the time

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I just want to unwind at the end of the day

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but man am I excited for season three

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of this show the two-year release cycle

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kills me right so season one dropped in 2022 i was like a different person back then and uh season

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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

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excited for big battles betrayals and probably the soul-crushing death of my favorite character

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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.

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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.

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Now, before I go, I do want to once again mention this is now next week as I record this.

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So June 25th is the first day.

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I'm giving a free workshop in partnership with eCAM.

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Ecam is the software I used to record this.

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And I am going to, I am going to give you a full breakdown of how I produce this exact show,

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the Friday wrap up, in an hour or.

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or less using e-cam and some other tools. And so, like, this is a newsletter. I do write the

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newsletter. That takes me some time. Once I have the newsletter written, I go from recorded to published

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in less than an hour without using AI for any pre-production stuff or actual production stuff.

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e-cam live, or e-cam, I should say, helps me do that. So if you want to sign up for this free

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workshop, head over to e-cam.com slash joe. That is my affiliate link, but there will be a link to my

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workshop there, which is totally free for anybody, not just people who use e-cams. So

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check it out. This is how I get ahead with my content. People say, how do you produce so much?

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how do you put out so many videos and podcast episodes and articles every week?

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ECAM is a very crucial part of that.

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But I'm going to give you a behind the scenes look at everything I do,

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the system I have for creating this content.

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And because it's a speaking event,

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how you can work with me to get a similar system set up.

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So again, that's over at eCAM.com slash Joe.

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But that is it.

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for this edition of the Friday wrap-up.

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If you enjoyed this, consider joining my mailing list over at streamlines.fm slash wrap,

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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.

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Thanks so much for listening, and until next time, I hope you find some space in your weekend.