As the month of LOVE comes to a close – I was thinking – what one thing could you do to show yourself some love? After all, your major relationship, all through your life, regardless of what else is going on, is always with yourself!
Most of us are masterful at supporting others, our families, our spouses, our communities, bake sales, Girl Scout cookies, class snacks, sure, no problem, consider it done… so what do YOU do to get support for yourself?
I speak to people everyday about getting support for their businesses, website tweaks, tech solutions, better scheduling, app recommendations, newsletter templates, whatever it takes to keep things moving forward, with more ease, but when it comes to asking for support for ourselves, most of us get stuck… what does that look like?
I’ve been asking myself that lately… I know that taking better care of myself means I have more to give to my family, to my business and my clients…But who has the time?! lol!
Maybe the change begins with simply asking a new question… What one thing can I do to give myself more support, today? At least it did for me. Taking a look around your life and seeing the places where things are not working, or where you feel less than joyful is a great place to start… so, what one thing can I do today, to support myself in making a change I want to make? What one thing can I do to fill up MY cup?
Perhaps it’s as simple as putting a dish in the dishwasher straightaway and not letting them pile up… maybe it’s a commitment to a 10 minute stretch break or an early night… maybe it’s making a 2:30pm date with yourself and an upbeat tune, to beat the after lunch energy dip… 🙂
Maybe it’s that conscious choice to change something small that we make today, that will build the muscle and the habit of regularly doing little things to make it easier for us, to support ourselves every day?
So, I invite you, what one thing could you choose today, to support yourself having more ease? After all, it’s still February, show yourself a little love!
What’s at the heart of your business?
Like most online businesses, I was under the impression that the heart of my business would be my website. That’s the natural place prospective clients would go to learn more about my business, how I serve my clients, what my ‘flavor’ of service is and learn more about my experience, why they can trust me to do the things I say I can, to read testimonials of how others have found working with me and to experience a taste by signing up for my Free Offer – either my Organization Tips, or more recently My Content Planner…
As an entrepreneur, obviously we are at the heart of our business, without us – there would be no business… but even still – plenty of people are ‘in business’ and not progressing or moving in the direction they want – lots of great ideas, some momentum, sometimes, but not the sustained growth, or full-practices, or increase in income they might desire…what’s at the heart?
I was challenged recently to look at my calendar differently and to schedule my time in a new way; to more clearly define the time I spend with clients and the time I spend working on things for my business, not with actual clients and to actually schedule time where I am not working on my business, in any way at all. The idea seemed ludicrous at first, I’m an entrepreneur, with a home-based business and a two-year old – I’m always working!!! What does time off look like for me????
As I had such a strong reaction to the idea, I knew there was something in here for me, so I began considering new places and ways to look at this whole scheduling thing with a fresh perspective… First I automated clients scheduling time with me – which meant I had to define the times I was actually available and in the office, ready to meet with clients, which means more clarity for me and support from my family and more commitment to specific availability for clients. Yay!
Next, I have to then schedule time with myself on my calendar when I need to be away from my office – such as a DMV visit I have to do next week… the time has to be blocked off on my calendar, so that I am not available for clients to schedule anything – so obvious – but again, the clarity for me, knowing a week ahead of time that I will be unavailable, is huge! I’m PLANNING to do something responsibly, rather than reacting and squeezing it in wherever I can, amidst a huge to-do list and rushing back for an appointment. Such a relief!
So as I experience this change in my perspective, I’m realizing that when I am now in the office – I am more present and more productive and when I am with my daughter, I can really be there and enjoy that time and not be checking email. This little shift in perspective is really helping me to be better at whatever I am doing in the moment, as I know I have scheduled time later to read email or cook dinner… I know it will be handled. It is a little bit of extra planning upfront, but as the self-appointed systems and structure queen, much more suited to my natural style! Admittedly, I am still working on exactly which routine will work best for me, but I am committed to continue this exploration, as I am discovering that for me, the heart of my business is becoming my schedule and what I choose to ACTUALLY commit to on those pages…
I would love to hear your thoughts on anything I have said here, on my website or on Facebook – please feel free to share your thoughts or comments.
It’s always the little things
So, you’ve heard it said, slow and steady wins the race and lately I’ve been feeling like that – not that running a business is a race to the finish line, but just the idea of continual progress… At the beginning of a new year, there’s always that external sort of noise and pressure of “It’s the New Year!!! It’s time to change everything!!!” and about a month later, the massive changes have run out of steam, or been put on the back-burner or swept under the carpet…right? How many gyms were packed the first week of January and then back to the dedicated few just weeks later?
So, something I’ve always said, is that ‘it’s always the little things’ and I meant in terms of making someone’s day, a little compliment, holding a door open, small kindnesses, but now from a business perspective, I’ve re-discovered this little gem… it’s the little things you do to keep moving forward, even when you don’t feel like it, when no-one is going to make you, or is watching or waiting for it and you do it anyway… the small things like the work you do inside your business, to create a better first impression, or the little details like making sure your contact information is clear on all your communication and consistent across business cards and email signatures and websites, or to make sure your clients know exactly when and how to contact you, or to send reminders for things, or follow up with people and check progress, even if they’re not a paying client, but a fellow business owner who is in the same boat… I’m noticing it more, it’s always the little things that keep things moving forward, consistently, not necessarily the radical or big changes that count… it’s the little details that need to be handled every day to stay on top of things and keep it all continually moving forwards.
Excited!
So I’ve been working on various things behind the scenes in my business and am really excited to be spending a few days next week with my mentor and coach – Heather Dominick to learn a bunch of new stuff, get inspired and no doubt – change and upgrade more stuff in my business when I get back. 🙂
So – why do you care?
Because I am getting clearer about what I am able to offer and as I do that, I get clearer about the type of clients I can really best help and that to me is EXCITING!
As I find out more about what problems my clients need solutions to and what kinds of business headaches they face, I am learning more about how my clients think and what is actually a problem to them…some things I would never consider a problem, can be major headaches to other people and some of the natural things I do, like add structures and planners and schedule things, or just chunking things down into manageable pieces can sometimes seem overwhelming if that subject isn’t your strength.
More clarity, is always a good thing and certainly in this case, reason to be excited!
Do you have a plan to fail?
It’s a New Year, optimism and the desire to do it differently this time… letting go of what’s not worked in the past, in favor of the blank slate of a new everything… sound familiar? 🙂
So how do you do it differently this year?
One of the things I noticed about myself as I looked over the last year, is that I got completely thrown off track at the end of October by Hurricane Sandy… now we were fortunate, only lost power and moved out of the house for 8 days and still, I was completely thrown off my routine… My business still young and evolving, when we returned home, it wasn’t nearly over, schools were still closed and there was so much to deal with… and then the holidays were approaching and I had some ideas for things, but who has time to maintain a blog in the midst of all that?
Someone said to me a long time ago, if you don’t have a plan to succeed, you have a plan to fail… and as I did not have a real plan (just a nice idea) for my blog content and newsletter launch, when push came to shove, I failed to deliver. Anything!
One of the things I do for my clients is help them to put in systems or structure, to help them stay consistent with whatever their plans call for and I realized… if I need a plan for my newsletter and blog content, chances are, someone else does too! So I made one and am offering it here as a free download, just put your name and email address in the box on the Right, so I know where to send it. I’m hoping that as you use it, it helps you get more consistent with your content writing and delivery and just maybe, it can help me get more consistent with mine? 🙂
Would love to hear your feedback, or experiences with your content planning, or lack thereof! Feel free to post a comment below.
to your growing success in 2013!