Have you ever wondered where to start to take your business to the next level? To downsize overwhelm and stress and concentrate on growing your business instead of babysitting it? I've got something to share with you that will help with just that! It's the 31-Day Roadmap to Simply Good Business and it's all yours when you sign up for my email list.
Here are the first seven days as a sneak peek, you'll get the rest delivered in a series of emails once you sign up:
Day 1 ~ simple and easy are not the same thing ~ simple is the opposite of complicated. Complicated means stress and overwhelm in your business, and that's what we're working on in the next 31 days, so you and your business can be simply good. Today we start with awareness ~ write down when you're feeling overwhelmed and what you're doing when you're feeling that way. Let's call it the warm-up, ok?
This roadmap guides you through 5 topics with 5 prompts/tips each, and after each topic, we'll do a day of awareness. It's almost as if I have this all planned out {and I pretty much do ~ takes away the overwhelm 😉 }
Day 2 ~ First of five topics of the 31-Day Roadmap to Simply Good Business is Time Management {oh yeah, we're going there first}. Time is precious and non-renewable and I'm almost willing to bet that you sometimes feel you don't have enough of it throughout the day. The real issue is not time, it's expectations and scheduling. Because you need/want the project, don't want to disappoint the client, or underestimate how long a project {or meeting} will actually take.
When you schedule your day, commit to not planning out more than 2/3 of it. Leave time in the morning and in the afternoon that's unscheduled to account for unexpected emails/calls/meetings/projects. And if you ever end up with some extra time on your hands? Start working into your afternoon or next day schedule {getting stuff done ahead of time is glorious!}. Or ~ gasp ~ go for a walk, meet a friend for coffee, read a book. Worried that your clients and customers won't be on board with your new time management strategy? We'll talk about that next.
Day 3 ~ Simply Good Business in 31 Days ~ Day 2/5 of Time Management. A big part of time management is setting expectations. If you tell your customers or clients you're available for them 24/7, then they expect exactly that. And while for some trades it's necessary to have an emergency service available at all times, it doesn't mean it has to be you. Even if your business is likely to require availability at all times, you still have a choice whether you want to offer that service! For most entrepreneurs "regular" hours will do just fine. I used to promise impossible deadlines all the time. And then work weekends and nights to meet them. There may be times you have to do this temporarily, but if your business can only survive if you work yourself into a nervous breakdown, then it's time to reconsider your business model or strategy or both. When you take on the next project make sure you clearly communicate the expected time before you can start. You can even add something to your website/contact form/social channels like "now booking xx weeks ahead". One more expectation hack coming at you next!
Day 4 ~ Simply Good Business in 31 Days ~ Day 3/5 of Time Management. After talking about setting expectations with people you're already communicating with, let's talk about setting expectations with people who are trying to connect with you. I have seen notification badges on people's mail apps that have outrageous numbers like 1,472 on them, meaning they have that many unread emails. That makes me very uncomfortable and almost a little panicky. Not because I'm judging them, but because I imagine the amount of stress they must be under when they see that number. I don't even want to think about how many voicemails and text messages there could be! Does this sound familiar to you? Here's what I suggest: have a voicemail message that indicates how long it might take to hear back from you, and possibly offer another way of reaching out to you {if you'd rather not return phone calls}. For your emails, have an auto-responder. Make sure your business hours are clear on your website and let people know it might take a few days to hear back from you. We've talked about expectations and scheduling so far, now we're moving on to prioritizing.
Day 5 ~ Simply Good Business in 31 Days ~ Day 4/5 of Time Management. Do you ever get emails with a request that could easily wait but you tackle it right away because it won't take long and it ends up throwing off your whole schedule? Quit doing that. If it's useful, set up different email folders like "today", "tomorrow", "this week" etc. and drop the emails into the appropriate folders when they come in {plus, don't forget about the auto-reply we already talked about}.
Do the same with projects you're taking on. It's perfectly ok to ask your client how urgent it is, and you'll be surprised how many say that it can wait for 2, 3, 4, weeks. {And really, you cannot make it your problem if a client comes to you last minute, you can only do so much!} Schedule those projects for when they are due to be worked on, and forget about them until then.
Day 6 ~ Simply Good Business in 31 Days ~ Day 5/5 of Time Management. The last tip for simplifying your business in the time management category is an extension of setting expectations. It's simple: you don't always have to be ON. Set hours and expectations around your response and project times, but also know that you don't have to be tethered to your phone at all times. It's ok to leave your phone at home when you go out for dinner with your partner and friends. It's ok to not even look at your phone for a whole weekend! One part of time management is to not manage it, and give yourself unstructured time to reflect and reset. Be creative. Take a nap. Clear your mind. Own some of your time instead of managing it.
Day 7 ~ Simply Good Business in 31 Days ~ Awareness/Reflection. How did the last 5 days go for you? Did you discover anything useful you might be able to implement in your business? Pay some extra attention to your time and time management today and decide what will be useful for you. What will make your business life less complicated? Do that.
Curious about what comes next? Sign up below and you'll get my best tips for working *in* your business, working *on* your business, social media, and stress & workload delivered straight to your inbox. Let's be simply good, together.
