Building Your Business Around Your Life (Not Vice Versa!)
Have you found that your business is slowly taking over your life? Are you saying no to social invitations or missing out on important events?
When you're a new practitioner or you finally get some traction in your clinic, it's really easy to get caught up in making absolutely everything about your business. We forget sometimes that our business is not actually there to run our lives, but to support what we want to do with our lives.
I am exactly the same - I have done it time and time again! But I keep on coming back to the same lessons of how to build my business around my life, not vice versa. And so you don't have to make the same mistakes that I have, I’ve gathered some tips for you.
How To Build A Practitioner Biz To Suit Your Life
Set strong boundaries - and stick to them!
What you allow and don’t allow in your business is key for making your biz work for you!
This is going to look different for everyone, but some examples might include:
When you answer emails (days and times, how frequently)
When you’re on social media, including private groups
How you respond to private messages and at which stage you tell people to book a consult with you
If you have a phone specifically for your business and when it is on
Having a VA or receptionist to be the ‘gatekeeper’ of contact with you
It can even be your own boundaries - such as when you work and what you do when working.
For example, I work weekends a fair bit because my partner has regular work shifts on weekends. But I won’t answer emails on weekends (or if I do, I send using Boomerang so it sends to them on a weekday morning). That way, I’m not accidentally giving my clients permission to contact me on weekends and expect a response straight away.
Having strong boundaries from the get-go prevents your business from bleeding into your life.
Choose your business structure and style
If I could teach every new health practitioner one thing, it would be this:
Pick a way of doing business that works for you, your health and your life.
This is exactly what I have done with my business over the past few years. Currently, I am building even more service options that allow me to prioritise my health and set aside time for self-care.
This may look like:
Only seeing clients on set days every week to reduce stress and the risk of being ‘drained’ - especially if you work via Zoom!
Creating more passive income options such as ebooks, courses, self-paced programs
Offering energy-intense events and in-person options, but only for a set handful of weeks per year
Ask yourself - what feels like a good way for you to serve? When do you feel more energised and excited? Whatever that is, bring more of that into your business. There is nothing that says you must see people in person, see people 1:1, or offer any specific form of service. This is your biz, so you get to dictate the terms!
Bring in people who complement your skills
When you first start out as a new prac, you realise how crazy it is to wear ALL OF THE HATS in a business! So as soon as possible, you want to enlist the help of people who complement you and your skills.
This frees up your time to build your biz the way you want it - and you spend more time in your zone of genius!
Recently, I’ve been focusing on handballing as much as possible when it comes to my weaknesses - or even just things I don’t enjoy! For example, I have:
Shonelle from Tech For Pracs to sort out the tech things that stress me out (she also created all of my social media templates!)
Ash, my new VA, to create some of my images and keep on top of my admin (especially my email backlog!)
Michelle Whitehead for legals - including DIY templates
The great thing about outsourcing is that you can bring them in as an ongoing contractor or employee, or it could just be per project.
You can also build it up slowly - I have plans to hand more over to Ash as my biz thrives, with the ultimate goal of her working 4-5x the hours she’s starting off with!
I also have worked with a variety of business and mindset coaches in different capacities, including:
Just because your business is your own doesn’t mean you can’t call in people to support that dream!
Is content and marketing on your list to outsource or get some guidance with?
I’m here to help you do just that. Check out my services here, or get in contact here.
