Hey there, and welcome to the Planner Pals Podcast, a podcast
hosted by two true planner pals. My name is Mark and I go by Mark
your pages. And I'm Jess or Jessie Karen,
and this episode is kind of special because it was actually
one suggested by our I don't know what are we calling them
planner pal official, but the team members or community
members over on the YouTube channel where we have an
official membership. Now, if you wanted to be able to
see our episodes early ahead of time, as soon as they are
uploaded, then make sure to check out the membership over
there. But the topic we're chatting
thing about today is planner inspiration or inspiration from
the planner community and in particular the creators that we
love. The ones that we go back to time
and time again to find inspiration, ideas, whatever
else. We've lined up 3 creators each
for you. And also just in the interest of
shouting out somebody else, we also are going to be looking at
at least one person each that is non planner related.
But I swear, in thinking about who to shout out for this
episode, I came to realize how much less planner content I am
consuming nowadays then I used to.
It is one of those things now where I feel like you have to
really, really want to watch something to, to keep up with
it. And that's I love the planner
pals that watch and watch every single time.
And same thing on YouTube, you know, every time someone
comments, it means so much that you're taking the time to do
that. Because I think with any type of
long form content, because we're so used to the short form
content now, but it's just like a constant feat of things.
And we had kind of given ourselves a little bit of grace
with this. We said, well, we can't think of
Youtubers, also Instagram. And I was scrolling through
Instagram and I was realizing how little content of like
bullet journal planners that I follow actually show up.
It is so much ads and like memes, which I mean, I'm a mean
king. So like it's fine to post it,
but I'm not seeing a lot of it. I actually have to now go and
like click on the Instagram logo and click on followed and that
does actually show me people. I was like, that's show me the
people first. Like give me what I've been
actively working on. So I mean, I worked out OK, I
figured out my people, but it is definitely something that, yeah,
you don't think about as much as you're just like going onto
YouTube and whatever because those algorithms be algorithm.
And it's like, what are you into now?
Here's all the content for that thing that you're currently
into. Forget about what you used to
watch. Literally, I think it's it's
kind of a nice thing in the the fact that you can change what
you're being presented so quickly, at least on certain
platforms. I know on Instagram and YouTube
in particular, I find that if you search for or watch a couple
of videos in a row by like the same creator or of the same kind
of topic or theme, then your algorithm can kind of churn out
other stuff related to that quite quickly.
I have heard that it is harder to do that on TikTok but I am
not on TikTok really. I mean, I use TikTok more as a
personal space. I have a TikTok for marker pages
and I do post things there. But it is it's a different world
over there. But it's very true though.
Like one time my brother and I send them to each other like all
the time. We basically have the same
algorithm and I don't know what it was some like silly video and
then I like swiped up and it was another one of those videos and
I was like, Oh, I liked it. And then every time I went it
was like same general idea. I was like, damn, you caught on
real quick. Like every now and again I'll
get like a planner person that will pop up or a fountain pen
user or whatever. And not my usual just like funny
random content. And I'm just like bad you so
fast. Give me like a second.
Like, OK, it's funny right now, but we've always said social
media is a marketing platform, not as the user.
Like this is the way I've always been told.
If you're not paying for a service, you are the product.
So we are the product. They want to keep us on there as
long as possible. They're going to give you what
you're currently interested. I totally get it.
But when coming in back to this topic here, the people we're
talking about today though, I can honestly say like I will go
and search them out, especially if they're not popping up on my
usual feed because I know the content is always good.
And I think it's also kind of nice to be able to have your
like people that you come back to time and time again.
I think of these people as like, if you release something, if you
put something out, if you post something, I'm right there
looking at it like every single time.
I want you to be the top of my feed, which is why I'm going to
interact with your stuff. So the algorithm's like she
likes that one more of this me thinks.
So be your first person that is one of those people in the
planet community that very much inspire you.
Absolutely. So if you are not already on the
feed watching Rachel, in theory, I am very much in line with
horror content. So what's been great about
Rachel is that, I mean, I watched her come out of nowhere
and then just like skyrocket from a standpoint of viewership
and and people watching her channel.
But the reason is it's not. It's just like, oh, you know,
something random. It's like an overnight success.
Her content's fantastic and I really do enjoy it.
There's kind of two main areas that I really enjoy about it.
I think the first one is the fact that she is also a working
person and a full time job and then also has this YouTube
channel and brings how she uses her planner in these systems
into that space and talks about different ways of doing it.
There's been a number of videos that have really stood out to
me. One of my favorite ones that she
did. Of course, I can't think of the
name of it right now, but it was this idea that every time you're
interrupted during work, you write that down.
And that way when you have your one on ones or you're talking
with your managers or whoever that might be and they're asking
you about how productive you have been, you can go back and
be like, well, I was I was supposed to do these five tasks
this week, but I was interrupted by these people asking for these
other things. And that was like a really big
moment was like, oh damn, like I've never thought about writing
that down in my journal. So that's kind of the biggest
thing. She definitely is not inside of
the bullet journal space. I think she's really kind of
crafted her own kind of area. But man, every single time she
post a video, it's just like 10s of thousands of people that are
watching the content and comment that I'm just like, wow, like
this is really amazing. But I think it really is because
the topics are so on point. Like I said, I very much relate
to them because of a working person using a, a paper planner
to do the things that I'm doing. And I've always just really kind
of enjoyed that perspective of it.
Yeah, I think that that method was, I think was called the
distraction method or something like that.
But I love the idea of even if you're not using it in a kind of
professional setting, given that I don't know if anybody else can
relate to this hashtag, yes, they can.
But when you get to the end of the day and you just kind of
look back and you're like, what did I even accomplish?
Because half of the stuff you ended up doing or maybe even
more was not stuff that you initially wrote down on your
task list to get done that day. So you're kind of like end of
the day, scanning your eyes over this list of like, you know,
half crossed off things or maybe just like not even touched.
You're like, cool, an entire day wasted because I didn't get
these things done, but you were doing something.
So it's kind of nice to have a system where you get to give
yourself credit for the stuff that you are doing, whether that
was expectations put on you by somebody else or just other
stuff that kind of came up in the moment.
I do very much think that in terms of her content and
viewership that she got from like, you know, the get go
because as you said, she kind of came out of nowhere and is just
doing amazing and there's definitely value in her content
very much. I do think that her marketing
background comes out in that like I think that she is very
good at crafting like a title and a thumbnail that work really
well to kind of like pique curiosity and such and kind of
bring you in. But there's also a really good
payoff when you get there. It's not like click bait or
anything. You know she's still providing
value once you actually get there and watch the content.
Yeah, that was my second thing. As a creator myself, I can sit
back and take a look at that and think about exactly those
things. And it's funny because as I
started watching her, over time, I realized like, there's no
fancy equipment, fancy lighting, even when it comes to editing.
I think recently she's done a little bit more of that, but I
also know that she's talked about it because we had a
mastermind that we had going on. She was a part of that upfront
and we had talked about it. She's like, yeah, I kind of do
the content, all of that, and then her partner edits the
videos. He had a background in that.
And I thought that was really cool too.
That was like a really exciting way to make it like a little
entrepreneurial kind of system at home to say, OK, I'm going to
create these contents and these and the and the videos
themselves record that. And then I have someone who's
also helping me with the titles, the thumbnails and understanding
it and really respecting, like you said, that marketing
background of it and kind of bringing that into which is
exactly what I know that I like to do with it, especially being
in digital marketing and doing those types of things and just
really learning. And I really come to just really
appreciate kind of that part of it too.
So it's a the perfect mix for me and why I really appreciate it
so much is like, they're good topics.
They're very user friendly. I'm not going to lie either.
There's definitely the overconsumption video.
You all know that. Like I don't really go for those
and there's a whole conversation there about it.
I just think it's weird to have a person in the planning space
making comments about overconsumption when you're
pumping out content about planning and things like that.
But that aside, I've really have enjoyed a lot of the other
pieces of that. So it's been a, it's been a
really cool ride. It's been some of that.
Again, I really enjoy the content.
I've put a few things into place myself.
I know that she works in product design.
So I remember one time and I did this too, she talked about
planning in two week sprints similar to product design.
And I was like, that just makes so much sense.
And so for a full year I did that and I really enjoyed it and
thought it was a really great way to do it.
I've definitely fallen out of practice because I've also
changed my planner and what I've done, but some great tips.
Yeah, I hope the two week planning system was quite
interesting and that's something that I did try and implement for
myself at one stage. I found though that it still
didn't necessarily gel well with me, but that kind of like you
know was a stepping stone to me forming my own system of like
you know the cyclic and quarterly and all of that kind
of thing that I do. But in terms of my first person,
which I think The funny thing about this is OK, when we were
brainstorming for the topic that we're talking about today, I was
kind of talking to Mark like, oh, you know, it's OK if maybe
we do Instagram people too, because I know you don't watch a
lot of planner Youtubers, like that's fine.
And then when it came to picking out my people, I was just like,
Oh my God, struggle bust. Like who do I actually watch
that genuinely does like planners and planning on YouTube
as opposed to, you know, journaling more in a kind of
creative sense and such. So I turned to Instagram and
still found journaling content because the person that I very
much want to shout out is Alex, also known as the Journal
corner, does absolutely amazing things with especially carousel
posts, like the amount of value and information that she's
packing into those is really impressive.
And just like the the breadth of topics that she's covering, you
know, big range of ideas. I said very much journaling
focused. So maybe not necessarily
planners, but there is still stuff that you can kind of learn
from her content and apply to planners and planning.
I also appreciate that she is an ex teacher and I think that that
very much comes through in her content.
She does a really good job of breaking things down and kind of
when I'm thinking about, you know, pitching ideas and such
for any given topic or whatnot, my first instinct is to go high
level because I'm like people know the basics already.
But she does a really good job of doing both.
I feel like she gives you the basics, but also takes you to
those kind of like out-of-the-box kind of ideas or
things that maybe you haven't thought about in terms of how
you can utilize materials or set up layouts in your journal or
anything like that. And one type of content that
she's had along with the carousel post, which I
absolutely love, was the idea of marrying memory keeping with
junk journaling because I feel like junk journaling is kind of
having a moment at the moment. So it's been really nice to see.
It's like, OK, you're not just like, no offense to junk
journalists, I swear I'm not coming for you.
She's not just like collecting junk for the sake of having junk
to put into a notebook or whatnot.
She is very much thinking about, you know, how this captures
moments from her life and how she can put those together in
something that becomes more of a keepsake rather than just like a
mindless hobby kind of practice, which is totally fine.
Also, like, you know, junk journaling is your mindless
hobby and it does the thing it needs to do for you.
More power to you. But I do love the idea of doing
junk journaling as a memory keeping tool because that's
something that I mainly want to do at some stage.
But yeah, big shout out to Alex because her content is awesome.
Yeah, I was on the Arch Ronaldo ambassador team and she was.
And like you said, like I wasn't also part of the team at the
same time. Were you?
Oh, I don't remember. So many people come in and out
of that. It's one of those things where I
always, I can't remember. I was like, I know that we were
at one point, but there was a time when you weren't and we
were like, oh, we missed each other or whatever.
But we know you didn't like writing blog posts, Jess.
So like I never. There.
She was always really good with new ideas, like you were saying,
like she always had very in depth ideas and and really
fantastically written blog post and breaking it down exactly
like you said. I was always a little jealous
because I was like, Ben, how are you coming up with these amazing
ideas and then producing really good videos?
I also really like her content too, because she does do reels
and she's like, you know, out there in vocal kind of doing all
the multimedia. She was a part of the one I did
with like a few years ago where I think when when we were all
were all on the team. I'm hope you were there.
Not at that point, but we did the like, I'm a stationary
person and we all said like things that we like to do and
like that was super fun. Like she was always open to try
and do things like that and make video content and be there.
She was also a really great voice.
I feel like in the planner she's always very positive, you know,
no drama, at least that I can ever see and know of.
And I also know like she's a big collector as well.
She has beautiful setups for all of her stuff.
So it just all the good things happen with Alex.
She's a fantastic find if you haven't already found her.
Yeah, and I definitely agree. And I like your point about the,
you know, the setups and such for the kind of like, I don't
know, Instagram being a different base.
I very much feel and at least in the early days of Instagram, it
was very much about the aesthetic.
I feel like her flat light pictures are absolutely
gorgeous. Like, you know, that there's
effort being put into that, but I love that it's not just about
the kind of like the look or the styling or anything like that.
There's so much value to kind of like back it up.
I like I said, the carousel posts in particular, like she's
given you a good crop of ideas, but because they are done in
that carousel format, they're very consumable.
Like when I do an ideas post, it's typically either one idea
per picture per post kind of a thing if it's on Instagram or if
it was a video, it's like, hey, here's like 50 ideas in a 40
minute video. So it's nice that she kind of
like has that nice middle ground of like, OK, well, he's 12 in a
carousel. Very savable, very findable
again after the fact, and thus very utilizable, which I like.
Yeah, it's essentially like a mini blog post in a way.
Like here's 5 pictures and a description for each of them of
how to do a thing. I always very much appreciate
that about her. That's a really, really good
one. She's fantastic.
Everything about her is great. Agree.
Who would be your second person to shout out?
Yeah. So my second person would be
Matt Raglan. He definitely has been
influential and inspirational for me from literally the get
go. When I first started and I was
trying to just check out the general bullet journal space.
He was definitely the most prevalent guy that was in the
space and I really like that because as we all know, there
are not a ton of guys in the planner space.
There are some really great ones, but not a ton.
So when I first got started and I was trying to understand it,
he was really big in a bullet journaling.
He's had so many lives. I feel like over the past ten
years or more, no longer, I don't know how long he's been on
YouTube, but like for myself for being on there and consuming the
content. It's almost been 10 years.
And so I've seen him go from bullet journaling to then
getting a little bit more simplistic about it.
He disappeared for a little bit. I know that he was like working
full time and that's great and family and all that other great
stuff. And then had come back in like
kind of a different capacity. And then now I just feel like
he's just doing very straightforward, a lot of like
pocket journaling with like pocket planning, keeping it
very, very simple. I think that he's a really great
perspective on planning from a productivity working kind of
style. And that's what I very much like
about it. Anytime I'm like, dumb it down,
simplify it, like get it there. He is a go to resource for me on
a personal level, you know, I also like that he's a Family
Guy. You know, I like that you kind
of get a little bit of everything.
Instagram, it's a little bit of mix of everything.
I feel like it's more prevalent on YouTube, especially more
recently with his videos and what he's doing, doing.
And even early on, you know, he was a great person to kind of
reach out to. And I think that as I started to
grow, he probably started to realize, oh, there's another guy
in this community too. And I started to engage with his
content. He started to engage with mine.
And that was just really great. You know, it's just kind of out
there. I think at first I definitely
was like, oh, competition, like another guy in the planter
space. But I think I've talked about
this on past episodes where like I've completely let that go.
It's not a competition anymore for me.
It is much more about the community of it, what we're
doing. We're not doing the same exact
content, which is fine. Even if we were, everyone has a
different perspective on how they take it on.
So I've just always really appreciated that and his
different ideas and ways of taking it on.
I think for any guys that are maybe like, oh, I'm doing my
research and I'm seeing a lot of decoration or like this looks
very complex thing is a fantastic resource for not just
guys, but anybody that wants a very straightforward approach to
kind of just analogue writing and kind of doing the things
that you got to get done. Yeah, I in particular just
really liked your point there about, you know, this
competition versus community kind of mindset and whatnot.
It's like, oh, you know, even if we were making the same type of
content, that's OK. I guess there's a real
opportunity to just encourage people who are listening, you
know, planner powers. If you want to start a planner
channel or Instagram or whatever else, we want your ideas.
Like we want you to do that. You are not, you know, coming to
the game too late or oh, I I don't set up my monthly log and
it can completely novel and new way so nobody gives a damn.
I give damn. Make sure that you make the
content so that we can consume it so that then next time we do
this episode, we can feature you and Jess won't have such a hard
time trying to figure out who to focus on.
No, that totally makes sense. What about yourself, Jess?
Who's your next person? So while Alex was very much
about that idea of our, you know, ideas and kind of the, I
guess the theory behind planning and journaling and such, because
that's mainly what I like her content for.
When it came to the second person, this is very much about
just having to give in to her cute aggression.
Because every time I come across the posts from this person, it
makes me want to like punch things in the best way because I
just love their like whole vibe so much.
Like the creativity that they show in their content and just
the way that their layouts end up looking makes me like angry,
but like happy angry. So I would love to shout out
Laura or Callie Griffin over on Instagram.
I love, I love her layouts so much.
I love the contrast between like the blackout pages and the pops
of color she's using. Or even if it's just black on
white, like it's absolutely gorgeous.
And as said, it makes me angry because I'm just like, why does
my planner look like this? But in a good way, right?
Because I know sometimes there are there are certain creators
or whatnot who in their planners or journals, they're doing art
that just feels like outside the realm of possibility, like
you're doing a hyper realistic pencil drawings or whatever.
And I'm like, sure, cool. If I wanted to spend the next
three years of my life hardcore practicing, maybe I could get to
your standard. But I feel like Laura's is still
approachable, like it's still doable, but it's just like a
beautiful finished product because it's not that like hyper
realistic kind of drawings or whatnot.
That would take a very, very long time to get myself to that
level. I feel like I could recreate her
stuff. I'm just probably not going to
be the person to do it. So I very much appreciate
getting to see hers and just being like, ah, that's what it
looks like. Beautiful.
I think in particular her work on black paper and just like the
contrast that she has between the different elements that she
puts on there, whether colored or just white, like that's
probably my favorite stuff from her.
But in terms of a kind of most recent shout out, she recently
shared her January setup and even just, you know, using
collaging elements and such and bringing that into a pre
printed. Notebook like a pre printed
planner. I was like, Oh my gosh, this is
like what I want in some of the previous setups that I've done
for myself. But you were actually able to
execute on it and it just looks gorgeous.
It's one of those accounts that I wasn't familiar with until we
were putting together this episode.
And then I like, instantly followed.
It's just like, how have I not already found this?
And it turns out we've had a lot of conversations actually, just
in DMS and responding back to stories and stuff.
And I was like, wait, I know this person.
I don't know why I've never like clicked through, like you just
don't know. But going through the page, Oh
my gosh, it reminded me of like old Instagram when you would
just scroll and drool because every photo was just so
captivated and so beautiful and going through.
And I always talk about this with any type of person that has
a really like well done, like decorative style layering, all
of that kind of can mix, you know, lettering with colors and
all this stuff. I have so much respect for that
because I can't do do that. We were talking about potential
episodes and I said to Jess, I was like, we should do an
episode around like decorative planning and like, is that a
skill? Like can I learn that?
Or is it just like an innate ability because it is not innate
for me. We already know I have trouble
with colors. Funny Side Story, my daughter
was like, hey, I want to play this like yarn game.
And I was like, oh, I want to play it too.
I can't get past Level 3 because I can't tell the differences in
the yellow of the yarn that you have to collect.
And I was like, this makes me sad.
But aside from that, like I look at that and I'm just like, this
is beautiful. This is amazing.
Like this is so good, so well done.
It inspires me to want to do it. Will I Probably not, not because
I I just don't feel confident with it yet, you know, but I
love the ideas that she's generating.
So I'm so glad that you're calling her out and I'm so glad
that I like Rediscovered Slash, discovered her, like her content
actually, versus the conversations we have just in
the DMS because it is so good. I think that's the thing, right?
Like when somebody sends you a message on Instagram, my first
thought isn't usually to click through to their profile.
So unless, you know, a happy accident happens or we get
somebody like, you know, shout it out or whatnot, or the
algorithm just feeds it up to you on a silver platter,
oftentimes a lot of people go undiscovered.
And I feel like Laura just needs more hype.
Her stuff is so good. It is amazing, Yeah.
It's definitely one of those things where I was just like,
exactly like you just said, like damn, I should have clicked on
that profile earlier because it was amazing.
Very much. Who would be your third person
to shout out? Yeah.
So this person, I can never say their name the right way.
It's it's Joshy Corin, I think is how you say it.
This person just has literally the best ideas on YouTube, hands
down. Like anytime I'm like, you know
what? I can't think of an idea.
I go to their page and she just has like 5000 ways to do this
inside of your journal. And I'm like, how does a person
even think of that Many ways to do the same thing and it's just
so great. The other content on there is
fantastic. She has all of these different
like ways to approach planning, which are a little bit different
than what other people are doing, but they just make sense.
So it's this thing called like, I can never say it's citrical
planning, cycle planning. What?
How do you say it? Cyclic planning.
Cyclic planning, which I find very interesting.
And but I'm, I'm just like, I could, but I'm such a calendar
person. That's how I work.
I work in quarters, I work in days, I work in months.
That's just how I go. But like, the idea is very cool.
She also has like a ton of these challenges that she'll do and
I'm just like, hey, I could do that too if she can do that.
And it's just this really fantastic mix of like,
occasional content, but also just like real life.
And it's just on the point and so great.
She has this really cool accent as well that I just think also
makes me really enjoy it. And she says the most, like,
random weird thing sometimes. And then I find myself saying
the same things like Kettle of Fish or Persnickety Biscuit.
And everybody looks at me weird and like, who are you doing?
Like, is this girl on YouTube? I keep like, consuming all of
this content. Now I'm picking up her
vocabulary. Yeah, everybody needs to pick up
all the mannerisms. I I don't really know how I'm
supposed to respond to this because I can't be like, yeah,
she's awesome. You should give her a follow
because that feels like very self-serving.
Well, you could definitely share about your inspiration that like
allows you to do that kind of stuff.
I mean, answer me this question because I don't know if I asked
you this before. How do you generate 50 ways to
do X inside of your journal? Like how do you come up with 50
ideas? Because I can barely come up
with one sometimes. So part of it is just like the
level of planner content that I used to consume.
I think that like just really steep bring myself in and living
in that space, you just kind of like pick up and start to
generate them on like a daily basis kind of thing, I suppose,
or like a quite a frequent basis.
So then when you sit down to think of 50 ideas for XYZ, it's
like, OK, cool, here's like the back catalog that I have kicking
around in the mind palace. Like we'll just go and like, you
know, scroll these things out of hiding and put them into a
collection or whatnot. But also I think of it just more
like problem solving. So it's like, OK, well, if this
is the category that we're thinking, you know, like, you
know, like layouts for gardening or whatever, like what are all
of the possible problems that you would have with gardening
that could be solved by making a layout or making a collection?
So it's like, okay, cool seasonality, watering schedules,
fertilizer mixes, like recipes for those fertilizer mixes.
What can you use with your grown harvest after the fact?
Like whatever, you know, off the top of my head and in terms of
off the top of my head. Then obviously you're writing
them down. I'm like, OK, seeds, garden
patterns, what else do you got? No, but that's the thing.
It just comes so natural to you. It would take me so long to do
that. And then just the fact too, like
taking the time and like drawing it out and making it very
approachable. I don't feel like, I don't mean
this in like a bad way, but I don't feel like anything that
you do, I couldn't do like like, you know, very like elementary
about, but you just make it very approachable.
And I think that's what I really like about.
It's like, oh, I might not know how to do that same thing, but I
can figure it out and it's super fun and super creative and, and
awesome. So, so yeah, props to you.
And, and you don't want to give them to yourself.
You should because it's fantastic and everyone loves you
and your content. I mean, it's all a facade, like
they're all the five like 5 layouts all over again.
Like a list, a calendar, dividing a page into boxes kind
of a thing. And then just like slapping
different title and different content on it.
Oh, look, it's a new layout. But I feel like that's honestly
in terms of, you know, making your own planners and journals
or whatever, that's what most of it is.
It's like the same kind of base structure, just with different
information and a different header on it.
But unless you're kind of like no aware of those patterns or
whatnot, then you can have a collection of like 500 different
ideas. You're like, wow, they're all so
different. I'm like at least ten of those
are a year in pixels in disguise.
No, it's great. And I think the other thing I
really appreciate too, because before I knew you, I was
watching your content is I also really have appreciated the way
that you have morphed and changed over the years too with
how you plan. But we've talked about this in
the past, just one-on-one that a lot of people that used to be
really big on Instagram and YouTube years ago when bullet
journaling was all the rage, they haven't been able
necessarily to keep up. Whether it's just due to their
want to not to have to change out of that.
Or maybe I don't mean this in a negative way, but just like
they're not capable of doing that or they don't maybe have
the skills or willingness to do that.
Whereas I feel like you've always kind of challenged
yourself to kind of make that happen.
I mean, again, I was watching you way back when it was a full
decorative page and rainbows were exploding and things were
popping out doing whatever else. And then watching you kind of
change that a little bit and come into your own, especially
moving away from bullet journaling proper into how you
do it and coming up with your own ways of approaching it.
And then getting people to grab onto that and use that and like
make it their own, I think just speaks volumes to you.
And I know that you're not going to give yourself the praise and
the claps and the snaps that you deserve, but all of us will will
do it for you. That's very much appreciated.
I think it also is made better like, you know, if you're
changing your planning style or whatnot, kind of like I've done
over however many years of doing planning, it's always nice to be
able to take people with you. So one of the things that I
value the most about cyclic planning and such is that the
idea or the concept has resonated enough with other
people that they have also implemented in their own
planning styles. That makes my heart so happy,
like because when it comes to planning, whether you're in, you
know, a pre printed thing or you're doing bullet journaling
or, you know, just like getting out your stone Tabernacle and
chipping away at it every day you.
I'm all about people just finding systems that work well
for them and which is why when it comes to presenting ideas
around planning, I always wanted it to be like the biggest width
that I could possibly fit within that piece of content.
So that's like they're in theory is something for everyone who
wants something in that topic. Like, you know, if you're not
going to start a garden shore, maybe the gardening layout ideas
isn't for you. But hopefully there's something
in the kind of like, you know, work or professional space or
different weekly log structures or something about like keeping
track of relationships or like whatever else.
That was always very much the aim.
Nowadays it's less about about the kind of, I guess ways to set
up the planner and more about how to kind of like operate in
life with the plans that you have.
So it's like, cool, like how do we actually get the stuff to
happen as opposed to just like, let's make the structure in the
layout and put the plans in? Yeah, it's the full package.
You are the full package, Jess. All right, who's your #3?
That's a great question. Who is my #3?
OK, excellent. I was able to find one YouTube
person to put on this list and that's not to say that I don't
watch other Youtubers who plan. It's more so just when thinking
about people to shout out in this episode, I really wanted to
try and focus on people we haven't really shouted out
before. And so the person I wanted to
shout out third was Ellie or Elisa of Ellie plans plans it
Ellie planet, which I feel like is a play on word there because
it's not like planet like stars and planets, it's like plan it.
So it's probably actually 2 words.
But anyway, I just, I love her content for how relatable she is
and I love she's just, she's funny and she feels genuine and
there's a warmth to her content that I feel like in some planner
spaces, especially in the more kind of, I'm going to say like
aesthetic first planning that we have seen previously.
I don't think we say it quite as much anymore, but there was kind
of like a distance between you and the creator.
It's like a they were shown up to show you the finished
product, but weren't necessarily giving you a glimpse into the
backward like the back end processes, I guess.
So I really love that Ellie takes you through the process of
things. She shows you where she's kind
of like questioning or like, you know, struggling with a decision
or something like that, which just adds that warmth and kind
of like genuine feeling to it. One piece of content in
particular I watched from her recently was just the process of
picking out her 2026 planner. So going through the
considerations she had even before she like, you know, set
foot in the planner shop or whatever, before she even
started really thinking about which one she was going to go
with. What kind of things was she
considering in terms of her needs?
Like what is the stuff that she wants to have in there?
What's the stuff that hasn't worked for her previously?
And how is she going to find something to accommodate that?
I have very much been vibing with her content this year so
far. One thing I most resonate that
you said is relatable because it's exactly what I think about
whenever I see her posts come across like Instagram.
I don't know that I've watched a lot of her YouTube necessarily,
but I know that I definitely see her post over on Instagram and I
do. It's just like so relatable.
I don't know how else to really say it.
It's not like overly processed, it's not overly set up.
It looks good. It's like real use situations.
And that is I think what I really love.
And, and I think that's what a lot of people like about like
our stuff too. And I think that's why I also
gravitate towards the type of content myself kind of in every
example that I've shared so far here too, It's just like these
are ways that people are actually using that and they're
kind enough to actually share that with us.
You know, like it's awesome when you get that.
I know not everyone feels comfortable doing that or can
maybe because of how they use it or the job or just personal
information. I mean, I still think often when
you were talking about people copying like word for word, like
what you're even writing in your journal, it blows my mind.
But just like the idea that, you know, it's out there, people are
sharing kind of the pieces that they can.
And I just feel super lucky that that we have these people out
there doing this as well. I think it just makes such a
difference, especially for people who aren't sure how to
get into it or they're only seeing the Pinterest like worthy
photos to grab people's attention, but never like the
next swipe over to see like what that actually looks like.
And it reminded me I need to get back to doing the like sharing
what my journal looks like after the week of me using it because
so many people are like, I love that.
Like that shows me like, you're not just drawing it, making this
real in the beginning of the week.
And then I never see what happens with it.
And I was like, oh, I need to go back to doing that.
I stopped because I hate having to blur out all the words and
names and people because I do use it for work but I I get a
lot of value out of it so I have to remember.
Like maybe you bring that back from my own account too.
No, I do think that there's very much value in getting to see how
people use their planners as opposed to just like how they
set it up or like what they're putting in there initially from
the get go. But of course, you know, sharing
personal information and such, there can be kind of
difficulties in doing that in such a way that still keeps you
and your privacy and your information safe and also other
people's information. Because, you know, if you're
using this in a work capacity, you might have sensitive
information for other people. And they're like, Oh yeah, not
everybody on your team and the Internet needs to know you had a
one-on-one at this time with this person in this place or
whatever. It is, it's like it's the
hardest part not to like take us on the sidetrack there, but just
from like a creator standpoint, it is, it's like I have to ask
permission of people, you know, if I write someone's name, I'm
like, I'm not writing last names.
But then at the same time it's like, well, I got to be careful
because I use this, like you said, professionally in doing
that. But it's definitely a wonderful
way to experience content. I love seeing like a well used
page because it just shows me that like I'm not alone in my
craziness, like my scribbly scratches and you know, random
doodles and notes and all this different kind of stuff.
It's not always picture perfect. Yeah, Or even if like you get to
the end of the week and it's only half filled in.
I love that because I'm like hey, obviously I died, didn't
use any of that layout. I know it's, it's hard now.
I think about all the time I get to the end of some of my weeks
and I was like, did you not do anything this week?
And then I have to remember I have all these digital tools
that I use for work. And it's like finding that mix
between. And it's just like, like, yeah,
you got to remember sometimes, like, it's a journal right in
it. It's OK, you know, write
everything, but don't forget to write some things inside of it.
Exactly who would be your non plan of person that you want to
shout out? Yeah, so I feel like at the end
of the year where we share our like top viewers, like it was
basically no. Well, myself, I watched a lot of
my own content. I was my number one viewer.
You were on there a few others, but some of my top non is
honestly just entertainment. I love, I love movies, I love
celebrity, I love kind of all those things.
So I was saying that part of mine is like new rock stars is
probably one of my favorite channels to watch because they
do all of the reviews and breakdowns of all the movies and
TV shows that I like. So all of the Marvel movies, all
of the everything shows and everything else.
I've always been really big into media and movies.
I still say to this day that when I saw The Matrix in
theaters, it changed my life because that was just such a
otherworldly experience. And then also I really got into
like TV show, like lore and you know, like tin hat theories with
Lost was my first show that I got really big into it because
there was so much and they weren't around when I was
watching those shows. But like now with a lot of these
shows, I'm like, oh, I'm thinking about this and they're
like, here's what I'm thinking about and here's what happened.
And also I feel like this is my own fault.
And you're watching a movie, you're watching a show and
you're like also like on your phone or doing something else
and you miss all those little details.
Or again, like, I'm not that eagle eye like hardcore fan.
Like I've haven't read every single Marvel comic book to know
all of the lore. But when they call that out and
they show that and they talk about the history of it just
makes me feel really like immersed inside of the space.
And also then you read through the comments and there's other
people there that are like just excited or calling out things
that they saw. It really makes it feel like a
community. So as I'm enjoying content, my
girls are always like, wait, why are you watching a YouTube video
about the show that you just watched last night?
And I watch like several channels.
I watch 3 different like movie TV show channels because they
all are pulling out different things.
Some of them are the same. They're all just general.
But like, I love that kind of thing.
So you know, when I'm not using my journal or making content, I
love movies and TV shows. And so that's my, that's my big
one. No, that's awesome.
I kind of give it, I don't know, secondhand version of that
because Voggle does a similar thing with a lot of the kind of
movies and such that we end up watching together or he watches
by himself watching kind of like, not necessarily analysis,
but like a review kind of a thing with a little bit of
analysis or whatnot. My favorite version of that
would definitely be Dead Mate. I think that they do a really
good job of theirs because they are pretty much just doing
horror films, horror games and whatnot.
In particular, I love their game series because of Zarin.
Zarin is great. Like we love Zarin in this
household. So if you're a Dead Meat fan and
you also like Zarin, you let me know.
But those ones in particular just like going through and
talking about the kind of making of the films and then also doing
what the kind of main point of the video is, which is the kill
count. So how many people got off in
this film specifically? And then like, you know, doing a
little step breakdown at the end.
It's all just a bit of fun, but that one, it's not necessarily
like my recommendation in a sense because I kind of just
watch it with Vogel, but definitely my favorite version
of like movie analysis. Yeah, well, absolutely.
We'll share yours. What's your favorite non planner
channel? YouTube, Instagram thing to feed
on? Yeah, so despite finding this
creator like what, maybe halfway through last year or something,
I ended up in the top like .6% of viewers worldwide or
something. I watched like 190 of her
videos, but this would be Hannah Alonso.
She does like anti MLM and also like influencer kind of content,
you know, not necessarily like exposing influence or whatever,
but very called influencer insanity, which I find really
interesting. And the reason that I came
across it is because I was in the back end of my YouTube
analytics, like, you know, just looking through different bits
and pieces of information. And one of the pieces of
information that YouTube gives you in the back end is what
other people who watch your content are watching.
And one of the videos that came up was this influencer insanity
video. And I was like, why are people
who watch me watching this? Like, did I do something wrong?
Like my first thought was, Oh my God, have I done something
wrong? You know, to lock myself in with
the influencer crowd for a second there, it was definitely
not about me. Absolutely not.
This was the people who have like millions of followers kind
of a thing. I'm not on that level.
But I did then, you know, very quickly get just hooked on her
influencer Insanity series, watched all of those, but the
primary content that she actually makes is anti MLM.
And the thing with anti content or people who make content like
specifically like their stances against something else is that
oftentimes it can come off very like negative and very blamey.
But hers just doesn't like all of the ways that she pictures
things always come from a place of kindness for the people who
are like, you know, in MLMS or like working with them or
whatnot and such. And just kind of unpacking
things as related to. Multi level marketing or
whatever. So some of the ones she does MLM
horror stories where people who follow her channel write in with
their stories about how MLM persons or have, you know, been
in their life somehow. Whether that be like, you know,
the salesman came to my door and like wouldn't leave.
Or it could be like, hey, my friend got involved with an MLM
and then like used my personal tragedy to sell their products
and stuff like this. It's very interesting.
One of the things I very much like is that really well
researched, it's very thought provoking and she just does it
from a very like genuine place of kindness, which is quite
nice. I would say it's quite nice
because when I was looking them up, because I hadn't heard of
her before and all the thumbnails, she's a very good
job with the thumbnails. It's like 90 minutes of calling
out influencers or like influencers are lying to
exposing their real lifestyles. I'm like, oh, this is like
gossipy tea. OK, I think I'm gonna like this
too. But that it was funny with the
MLM's because if anyone ever watched my YouTube channel with
my brother, we all know that he's a person.
He was a part of 1. And I was watching through some
of those videos and I was like, Oh my God, I could write it with
mine because it is crazy like the the levels that people will
go through to like sell you something.
Now my brother did very well with his.
I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing, but he could sell
anything to anybody. And but it was really funny
watching those. But I definitely, I'm not gonna
lie, I sort of watching it when I saw the name and I was like,
oh, this sounds juicy. But you're right.
It's I mean, I'm all about that to a certain extent too.
Like we talked about this again in a previous episode.
Well, the overconsumption video I think is where it came out the
most, where I was like social media is marketing.
Like the whole point of this is to sell you things and do that.
And we all know that some of it can be very cringy.
I'm sure all of us at some point in our lives, you and myself
included, have done a cringy thing when it comes to like
trying to promote or do a thing. It's a part of it.
You also learn a lot about it and when you're just getting
started, I mean, in our little like Instagram engagement chat,
like y'all used to make fun to me, they're like, you could send
anything to Mark and he'd talk about it.
And I was like, yeah, well, when I first got started, I was like,
whoa, someone's going to send me a thing.
Yeah, I don't care what that is like has nothing to do with
anything that I talk about, but hell yeah, it will.
Someone sending me something for free.
But it is just like the reality of it.
We all see it, you know, we have friends that are like full
influence or lifestyle. Like I'm not into the fashion
part of it, but I have a few other parent friends that like
are very much into it and they'll be like, oh, she wore
this, so I bought that. And then again, like that person
looks like they're on the cutting edge of fashion because
like no one else is wearing that yet.
And it's very much about that. Like I don't consume from that
space. So like, I don't know a whole
lot about it, but the people that I know that do, I mean,
that's, that's what they do. I mean, and it's also it's in
there. They're usually selling
something that's I feel like most people are, especially when
you do that full time, that is your money.
That's how you make money. That's how you make a living.
Instagram and TikTok, They're not paying you what you think.
You know, maybe, I mean, maybe she is because like she's got
millions of views on every single one of her videos.
So like, she's making good money over there, but like, not
everyone is and you all got to start somewhere.
No, very fair. I think that the nice part is,
is that like based on the fact that it is like well researched
content and such, it's not just like, oh, gossip, blame, blame
kind of a thing. You know, she kind of highlights
that back end stuff to people who aren't as familiar with the
back end of social media. So it's like, yeah, sure, you
get, you know, ads on videos and such, and that small Commission
from that goes to like the creator or whatever.
But then you also have a lot of content that is being focused on
these types of videos, which is like LinkedIn, my Amazon
storefront. And so while the content might
be, you know, outrageous or something to really gain
viewership or whatnot that, you know, she's focusing on, not her
content, content she's, you know what, providing commentary on.
It's like, sure, it's getting a whole bunch of views because
she's this person has like made the content in such a way to get
a lot of views. But at the end of the day, the
thing that actually makes them money is 0 Lincoln bio or go and
buy this thing from my Amazon storefront or whatever.
And it's those kickbacks in that Commission.
So it's a kind of nice way to highlight some of the things
online that I don't personally say because like I'm not on
TikTok in, in terms of my Instagram like algorithm, it's
not really showing me those kind of things.
So it's an opportunity for me to see that kind of content and
enjoy the commentary around it without having to like, I don't
know, ruin my algorithm and see it like constantly.
Yeah, no, it's good to have like that little like guilty pleasure
space of things. I think I agree.
Like we all need that in some capacity because I feel like if
all you're doing is consuming one type of thing, like you have
to have an outlet from that. And again, because I'm not like
full planner consumption all the time, like I pick and choose on
the people that I really kind of go through.
I think it's the ones that like stand out the most that are like
really exciting. Again, it's someone that I might
not necessarily subscribe to all of their stuff because there's
plenty of people that have that like breakout video.
I mean, I'm probably one of those people myself, like my
YouTube videos that get like a ton of views all the time, but
there's a handful of them that have done really well over time.
And I thank all the goodness for those sometimes where I'm like,
oh, what's what's made the most money?
Oh, this video from five years ago.
OK, you know, like, well, why remake it?
It's still doing well. But then there's just like a lot
of things where you see that. But I also think it's a really
great way to kind of get introduced to other people.
I don't know how many people are really like sharing videos.
I know that they do because I try to think about myself now
with like content, like I'll share a lot of Tik Toks and
Reels, but I don't know that I'm sharing a lot of YouTube content
necessarily. No, I think that like Instagram
as a platform is based on the direct message, right?
Like that, that is a big part of the platform, whereas we don't
have that here on YouTube. So in terms of like sharing
content from YouTube, obviously it happens because when I look
at my weekly stats, it's like, oh, your videos got X number of
shares this week. I'm like, who is sharing this
and to whom? Like where is this going?
I think the same exact thing, like the only time, like on
Instagram or I'll see like someone shared this thing.
It'll like pop up and say this person shared it to their
stories. But then you do you see little
airplane at the bottom and I'm like, oh, people are sending
this to other people. Like they thought of someone
else when they saw that, which is like what I do on other
content and it makes me really happy.
I'm like, oh, that was nice that they did that.
I'm glad they thought of somebody else when they saw my
ridiculous reel. But Planner Pals, we would very
much love to know who in the planner community would you love
to give a shout out to? Who are the creators that you
are consuming all of their videos or all of their posts?
Let us know in the comments if you're watching on YouTube or
hit us up at plannerpalspodcast@gmail.com or
hit us up over on Instagram at Planner Pals Podcast.
The comments are just going to say Jess Jess, Jess, Jess, Jess.
Hey, I heard about Mark through Jess, Jess.
No, just kidding. Absolutely not like hey I found
out about this like weird like girl from New Zealand because I
just love so much. I love when they're like, I
found your podcast because I watched this random video.
I'm like, oh, awesome that they're referring it to you.
This has been a great episode. Thank you all so much for
watching. I can't wait to hear about who
your favorites are as well. And we'll talk to you next time,
friends. See ya.