The 3 Biggest Time Wasters Holding Service Providers Back From Working Less Hours in Their Business
Episode 583: Show Notes
Time is our most valuable resource, because it is so limited, and yet is the thing that we see people giving away freely all the time. In today’s episode we’re going to talk about three giant time wasters that are really holding service providers back from working less in their business. It is possible to work less, and it is possible to make more by working less! Feeling frazzled and disconnected are such common experiences that people have started to think this is normal, so they keep doing it. We want you to know that this doesn’t have to be your reality. When we accepted that there are going to be different seasons and phases and iterations of our business, we were able to let go of the pressure of finding perfect solutions to our problems, and find peace in the fact that things are constantly evolving and that’s okay!
If you feel like you don’t have enough time, we’ve got a training course that is just for you. We’re going to teach you how to double your income by working less than 20 hours a week. This is something we’ve perfected, so we are speaking from experience, and trust us when we say this is something you don’t want to miss! Go to bossproject.com/incubator to sign up.
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The Belief That You Need To Let Go Of
You’re not that good at all the things you’re doing. Sorry if that sounds harsh, but it’s the truth. You’re not that good at all the things you’re doing but you keep doing them, manually, and repetitively. Our advice: Stop! Letting go of the belief that you have to have your finger on every single thing in your business and in your life is vital to being successful in business and maintaining good mental health. You can still keep things personalized and customized even when you introduce automation into your process. It’s possible to create automated systems around nearly everything; communications, delivery of your offer, lead generation, referrals, accepting payments, and everything else you can think of. Once you get good at automation you’re going to start implementing it in every aspect of your life, not just your business. At the end of the day, we’re all human, and there’s a million things that we have to worry about on a daily basis, and creating systems will save you so much time!
Our Take On "Getting Stuff Off Your Plate"
In the last 90 days we’re grown our Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) by 25%, we’ve brought on and trained four people (three of which are full time), and over the past year we’ve started really building out hybrid automated/manual systems way more intentionally than ever before. We’ve always had them in our business but because our team has grown and our departments were becoming more clear, we put a lot of effort into improving these systems. This might sound mind boggling to you but we’ve made our systems so specific that people don’t need to think about what they need to do next. In the last 30 days, our team of 7 has completed 24 000 tasks of 5 to 15 minutes each! Because we have divided our work into such micro-tasks, it has allowed us to completely free up that space in our brains that was reserved for thinking about, “What’s next?”
The Day We Did Everything Manually
There was a day where we literally did everything manually. It was excruciating. We were making new packages for every single client and creating new customized proposals for every single client! There’s nothing wrong with being the head of multiple departments of your business, but there is a way to organize those departments and run them all smoothly so that you don’t waste time on things you shouldn’t be focusing on in the first place. All of us started off where everything about every part of our lives was manual. But when you realize how much of a positive impact it makes, automating things gets kind of addictive. We used to think that onboarding a team was so difficult, but when we put automated systems in place, and subsequently freed up so much of our time, we started looking at hiring with a whole different mindset. There is a myth that the pain of the thing is as bad as you imagine it to be, but most of the time the anticipatory pain is worse than the actual experience: You just need to spend a little bit more time worrying, and a little bit more time implementing.
Setting Boundaries
Don’t let anyone else make you feel guilty about what you do and don’t want to do in your business (and your life). So many people push the boundaries that work for them onto other people, and although this is well meaning, it can actually be toxic. If something works for you, great. If it doesn’t, then don’t do it, and figure out what does. We’re not interested in having someone else tell us what time we should be getting up in the morning, or how we should limit our social media scrolling. There’s no blanket way of doing things that is going to have the same result for everyone. You have to be willing to let go of everyone else’s opinions about what your boundaries should be, and dig deep within yourself to uncover what is really important to you.
The Best Piece Of Advice We Ever Gave A Client
Sometimes people make a choice to start something new because they’re going through something emotional and are wanting to experiment. Experimentation is normal and okay and probably necessary at some points in your business, but the times when you’re doing it because of something that you are going through personally, or because of pressure that you’re putting on yourself because you’re comparing yourself to other people around you, that’s when it can become a problem. And that’s when we tell clients to slow down and take a step back. There’s an opportunity that service based business owners keep missing, and it’s about taking full advantage of what you have already put out into the world. We’ve helped clients realize that by perfecting the services they are already offering, rather than adding to, or changing their offerings, they can completely change their lives!
Quote This
There is a messy middle to every transition.
Highlights
The Belief That You Need To Let Go Of. [0:07:29]
Our Take On "Getting Stuff Off Your Plate.” [0:11:59]
The Day We Did Everything Manually. [0:16:04]
Setting Boundaries. [0:27:10]
The Best Piece Of Advice We Ever Gave A Client. [0:38:35]
ON TODAY’S SHOW
Abagail & Emylee
The Strategy Hour Podcast
We help overwhelmed and creative entrepreneurs break down their Oprah-sized dreams to create a functioning command center to tame the chaos of their business. Basically, we think you’re totally bomb diggity, we’re about to uplevel the shiz out of your business.
KEY TOPICS
Saving Time, Automation, Mindset Shifts, Boundaries, Transitions, Opportunities
