If you are tired of putting out fires in your business and dropping the ball, then this is just what you need. Busyness has become a badge of honor and my mission is to break the cycle of the “hustle mentality” by helping you be more intentional with your time.
You don’t have to be busy all the time to be successful. If you’re always busy, you’re not getting the best results from all of the energy you are expending. And I’m pretty sure you aren’t getting the things done that will help your business grow which is making you feel overwhelmed and frustrated.
So let’s talk about how you can be more intentional with your time and get the right things done that will help you achieve business growth without the overwhelm and frustration.
The word “Hustle” is a word you either like or you don’t. Personally, I’m anti-hustle because it is not sustainable.
But there seems to be an increase in the number of people who feel this is the only way to succeed as a business owner. Being in hustle mode usually means you are overworked, stressed out, burning the candle at both ends, and doing everything you can trying to get ahead.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve been in hustle mode for the past several months when this episode airs. But it was for a specific period of time and it’s because I was implementing a detailed plan. The results…I launched a new audio freebie, refreshed my website, relaunched this podcast and launched a membership.
So obviously there are moments in our lives as business owners when you have to step up the pace to get things done. But that “busy period” has an end date.
The problem is that most business owners stay in this state and it just isn’t healthy. This happens for a number of reasons. There are three main reasons I see this happening over and over again.
– Your business has no boundaries so it has taken control of your life.
– There is no growth strategy in place so you don’t know where you should be directing your resources.
– You have no business systems in place so you are running your business by the seat of your pants
Now if you’ve read my blog post about planning for more success in 2023, then you’ve heard me talk about why you need to be very intentional with your time.
I talked about how being intentional means you take calculated steps. Being intentional means you are choosing to do something on purpose. In order for that to happen you need to have a detailed plan to follow. Your goal, your purpose, and your aim is your intention. It’s something you mean to do, whether you pull it off or not.
Yes, this is a very strategic approach that requires you to invest time and attention. It also requires self-discipline. But I promise you it’s worth the effort!
So let’s talk about how you can make the shift and direct your resources (your time, your energy and your money) and achieve your business goals. I’m going to start by doing some myth busting. As I talk about each myth, I’m going to talk all about how you can make a change by being more intentional.
Myth #1 – You Have to Be Available All the Time
Social media makes us think we need to operate like a 7-11; being available all the time. This will only will lead to burnout. And what I’ve found is many people think that “always being available” means you are serving your clients well. The reality is you are not. It’s actually a disservice to your clients.
Why? It’s because you are not giving your clients the best version of yourself. When you’re always available you don’t have to exercise, eat right, rest and you probably aren’t spending quality time with your family and friends either. Eventually you will be mad at your clients because they will always be demanding your attention. But you trained them to be that way.
So before I get into the specifics of boundaries, let’s talk about why you need them. Boundaries, are an invisible barrier that you need to create to identify a reasonable way for people to interact with you if they want your undivided attention. Always remember this, the only people that get mad at you for having boundaries and sticking to them are the ones that benefit the most by you not having them.
Why did you start your business? I’m sure it wasn’t so you would work 60 hours a week and have little to no time for yourself or your family. Now that may be your current reality, but you’re listening to this episode which means you want to change that.
“Either you run the day, or the day runs you.”
Jim Rohn
I am giving you permission to decide where you are going to spend your time. No one else can tell you how to manage your time because no one else lives your life. And honestly, I don’t know one single person that doesn’t struggle with this.
So here are three basic boundaries you can put in place so you can stop putting your business ahead of the things you need to spend your time on and people you need to spending your time with.
1. Set office hours. If you worked for someone else you would have set hours. That shouldn’t change just because you work for yourself. This is very important whether you work from home or you have an outside office. Otherwise you will find that you are ALWAYS working and that should not be the case.
2. Designate specific times to respond to messages, emails and to be on social media daily. Create a schedule for checking and responding to email and social media throughout the day. Then determine how long those scheduled check-ins will be. Otherwise you will go down the rabbit hole and lose track of time.
3. Designate specific days and times for business calls. Don’t waste time playing email tag trying to get a call set up. That makes appointment setting easy for everybody! Not to mention a scheduling system helps you maximize the windows of time you have available so you get tasks completed without interruption.
These three boundaries will help you to be more focused on specific tasks which means you’re more productive and less distracted. You have to shift the way you operate your business and be more intentional with your time so put these boundaries in place and stick to them.
Myth #2 – You Need to Create Residual Income
I need you to hear me out on this one. Let’s start by talking about residual income. The word residual means money that is left after other things are taken care of. So that means it’s extra money that may/may not have a purpose. Now I don’t know abut you, but every dollar I make has a very specific purpose when I get it. That’s why I don’t use that term.
I talk to my clients about creating intentional income. Whatever they are focused on in their business is so that they can achieve a very specific goal that leads to business growth and allows them to live their legacy. Remember, when we’re being intentional you are focused on something you mean to do, whether it works out the way you want it to or not.
So every quarter we review the answers to the same three questions so that we can build on the momentum they’ve achieved in their business and stay focused.
Why did you start your business?
How is this business supposed to serve you and your family now?
What is this business supposed to do for you in the long game?
The answers to these questions will help you build a business that supports your lifestyle. But if you have the hustle mentality, you are letting your business take over your life. And that means you aren’t not being intentional with how you spend your time.
Without a strategic plan you will end up chasing money and accepting opportunities that you should have passed on. A strategic plan guides your steps.You pick your goal based on the season your life is in and the plan helps you take the steps needed to make it happen. Without that, you will get easily distracted. Notice I said you will get easily distracted, not you could get easily distracted. When you have a strategic plan it helps you weigh those so called opportunities and decide if you should say yes, no, or maybe later.
All of this is related to your mission and vision which you need to keep in mind at every stage of your entrepreneurial journey. That’s why we spend a great deal of time on this during a back office assessment.
The Solo POWER Assessment is the first step in identifying the areas of your business operations that need to change so that your business can support your lifestyle. It’s a 2 hour recorded call on Zoom where we do a deep dive into your current operations so that I can get a better picture of what is/isn’t working in your business. More than likely you have some processes in place, but we need to identify what’s in your head (so we can get it out).
After the call, you get a customized action plan that is based on all of the things we discussed during your assessment. Then we reconnect on Zoom to go through the action plan together and we discuss the next steps and the ways I can work with you to get the plan implemented. I guarantee you will feel relieved after our call because you will have a better picture of your business operations. You will have a better idea of what you already have in place, what gaps you need to fill in, and I will be there to help you.
This is a great way to get access to my strategic brain without having to make a long-term commitment. And it’s definitely going to help you be more intentional with your time because you will know exactly what you need to be spending your time on. So if you’re ready to jumpstart the process and end the chaos you’re experiencing right now, then go to theshannonbaker.com/assessment and book your assessment today.
I made the next myth the last one on purpose. First you have to change your mindset about being busy and commit to slowing down to get your business operations in order to end the chaos. Then you need to create a detailed plan so that you are focused on the right things in your business. Once those two things are done, and definitely if you book an assessment, you will have a clear picture of what systems you need in place to bring it all together.
Myth #3 – You don’t need processes or systems, just hire a virtual assistant
Social media has convinced you that you can operate your business without systems by just outsourcing work to other people, starting with a virtual assistant. But you’re already working in chaos! So when you do this, it just creates more chaos and you’ve brought someone else into the mess and you’re making their lives miserable too. You need to create business systems before you outsource anything. And notice I said outsource, not delegate because there is a difference between the two.
When you delegate work, usually to an employee or someone on your team, you remain part of the process and can influence it directly to achieve the desired outcome. When you outsource work to another business owner to provide a specific product or service. You can specify the outcome you want, but you have limited control over how that outcome is delivered. For example, you outsource bookkeeping and accounting and you expect a certain outcome – tax compliance, financial reporting, etc. But you don’t have much say in how they deliver the outcome.
Now because of the surge in the number of online business that provide virtual support the definition of what constitutes a “team member” has become blurred. It no longer strictly applies to employees, but can include roles like virtual assistants, online business managers and other freelancers and consultants.
Redistributing your workload to others is a fundamental part of building a business that supports your lifestyle. Outsourcing and delegating are definitely viable options for shifting your tasks to someone else to free up time in your schedule, especially when they have skills that you don’t. But you cannot abdicate your responsibility. Whether you delegate or outsource, you have a responsibility to be involved because this is your business.
And it really shows our leadership qualities, because a true leader allows someone else to complete a task. But you still need to communicate with them to ensure that there are no issues, address issues when they arise and respond when you are needed. Don’t be the bottleneck.
That can only happen if you have documented processes in place BEFORE you start building a team. This is a strategic move that you have to prepare yourself for and you have to prepare your business for. Otherwise, you will just create more frustration for yourself.
So I think I’ve said enough for today and you get the point. You can’t do it all yourself and you don’t have to. It takes a lot to build a business that supports your lifestyle opposed to one that controls your life. To make sure your business isn’t running you, you have to put boundaries in place in your business and stick to them. You need to stop running your business by the seat of your pants and create and execute a strategic plan which I can help you with after a back office assessment. And you have to get your core systems in place with automation so that your business is operating like a well-oiled machine whether you are operating as a team of one or before you start to build a team.
This is your business! That means you have the POWER to decide how much you work. You just need to step into that power. When you do that by being more intentional with your time, you can achieve success on your own terms without adopting the hustle mentality.
Links Mentioned In This Episode
Book Your Back Office Assessment
Connect With Me On Instagram: @the_shannonbaker
