by Amy | Jul 9, 2017 | mama work, struggle
I’m coming to the table today with nothin’. Nothin’ but commiseration, that is. Summer hit and my momentum went out the door along with spilled milk all over my already dirty floors, chaos and clutter to clean up EVERYWHERE, cutting up watermelon into the perfect, bite-sized cubes, making lemonade by the gallon, fighting off my children’s tendency toward t.v. and tablets in lieu of water guns, bubbles and bike rides…and of course, family trips to the beach. I’m trying to savor this time with my children since I love summer and I love having them home. Well, sort of. 🙂 No, I really do. And I keep thinking, “This is the reason why I’m doing all this, right? This is why I’m working my butt off and trying to make this work: For my family!” But finding time to work and think and create and build momentum in my business has quickly become a notion that has way too easily slipped out of my unmoisturized fingers and into the long-forgotten crevices behind my couch cushions. No matter how much I’ve tried to plan ahead and how much I’ve tried to prepare for this moment, I apparently just didn’t plan enough and prepare myself (and my children) for the fact that things have changed in our family, and Mommy is now a Working Mommy. It’s that simple. I didn’t plan for my work time. I’ve been so busy keeping my 3 children busy and out of trouble and tending to all their constant (and many) needs that I didn’t actively plan to have down time where someone else was taking care of them, and I was working and continuing to create and keep this business thing going. It’s OK. Lesson learned. There’s still time to recuperate and regain momentum and pick myself back up again (off the sandy beaches and sticky, milk-laden kitchen floors). But, note to self: This is hard to do once the momentum’s been lost!
I write this, not because it’s some epic post that lays out all the wisdom and all the steps to overcome obstacles and small business hurdles. But I write it out of a special empathetic place in my heart that wishes to relate to my readers who are also struggling to build and keep momentum in their businesses in the face of summer and crazy, chaotic households. They say the first year of any business is the hardest to get started and to keep going. The money isn’t really flowing in just yet. The creativity and drive are there, but the structure and honed skills and exact niche isn’t quite put together yet. That’s where I am. Right in the center of it. I don’t exactly have customers who are expecting my work to be done and paying me. Yet. So now is the time when I need to produce anyway — even when I feel that no one is noticing. Even when I don’t have the time I had while all the kids were in school. Now is the time to get my proverbial $h!t together and get ‘er done in the face of a loud house and a silent, rather inactive customer base. Now is the time to build the framework and foundation, despite the uncertainty that it will ever produce anything.
I knew this would be hard. I knew there would be challenges. But I didn’t know that I would actually be the biggest challenge. My mind. My inner dialogue. My own lack of planning. My own uncertainty about what it is I’m trying to accomplish. My own self-defeat. My own self-doubt.
I had a conversation with one of my Mommy friends while our kids were playing alongside us at the pool the other day. She and I hadn’t seen each other or caught up in a while, and I was trying to explain to her what I have been doing after I quit my desk job at Apple. Usually, I make it a rule not to go into much detail about what I’m doing because I personally don’t handle other people’s uncertainty or genuine concern very well. I feel it’s better kept under wraps until I’m a little further along and producing something that is tangible in my business. But her comments, while innocent and supportive, really got to me. She said, “Wow. It sounds like you’re still in the phase of self-discovery and figuring this all out. That’s so awesome what you’re trying to do.” What she said was really sweet and from a good place. But how I took it threw me off. “Self discovery?” “What I’m trying to do???” Those phrases made me question everything! Funny how a 5 minute conversation can conger up so many insecurities. It was good. Don’t get me wrong. And in a way, she’s right. I’m not there yet. I am trying to do something. I’m doing the work. I’m learning. But I haven’t quite figured out what my exact niche is just yet here. I know it will come. But this questioning phase that I’m going through is real. It is hard. It is causing me to second guess everything. Is this the right path? Am I really passionate about this? So what if I spent a pretty good-sized portion of my life learning how to sing and teach voice lessons. Is this REALLY what I want to do? And bigger yet, is this something I can REALLY earn money doing online? Do I know enough? Am I known enough for people to want to learn from me? Who really cares what little ol’ me has to say? Who in the world will pay attention and actually buy my product? My service? My course? What if I spend countless hours and a great deal of money working on this and don’t get anywhere with it? What if no one shows up to buy?
And the answer to all these questions is simply: I’m not sure.
And you know why I’m most likely not sure? I haven’t been working on my business diligently for a few weeks. I’m not really in the game, so to speak. I haven’t been investing my heart, mind and soul in this and giving it my all. These circumstances haven’t been completely out of my hands, but somehow, I don’t feel like I can really control them. I mean, how do you justify hiring a babysitter to watch your kids while you work when you’re not really earning anything? This is their summer too. I need to be there for them, right?
So, sure I’m going to feel some amount of uncertainty! And sure I’m going to question myself and everything I’ve been working hard at doing prior to this summer whirlwind! It’s just not where my heart is right now.
Even while writing this post, I’ve had kids interrupting me asking me questions. I’ve had my 3-year-old little girl pushing buttons on my computer about to delete the whole post and I’ve tried to move her hand and caused her to cry and have a complete meltdown that I needed to calm her down from.
The list is long, but the time I truly have to knock it out is so short.
Exhaustion.
Frustration.
Defeat.
Those are all words that come to mind here lately when it comes to my business. And I’m just being honest.
Because, yes, I’d love to savor my children’s youth and play with them and do all the summer things and make memories. But I also need to create an income that I can do from my computer and a few pieces of purchased equipment so I can be home with them and do these things. I’ve felt the pain of working full time away from them. I don’t ever want to go back there again. But if I don’t get disciplined and figure this work from home thing out, I may soon have to. That’s a lot of pressure!
So, today I’m brushing off the blowing off. I’m coming out of vacation mode and getting serious again. I’m finding my groove and not just making time for this business — this newborn baby that needs to be fed, changed, held carefully and loved — but I’m fighting for it with all my gusto. And today…this post, is my new beginning. Clean slate. I’ve got to make this work. And if you’re still reading this, I have a feeling you do too!
I want to encourage you today, whether you’ve fallen off a bit or taken your vacation time a little too loosely: Don’t give up! Make time. Cultivate and create. Dream. Plan ahead. Create the space. And get back to work!
You can do it, and so can I!
xoxo,
Your Fellow Unleasher
What are some ways you personally feel like you’ve fallen off and lost momentum?
Let me know in the comments below…
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by Amy | Jun 7, 2017 | business organization, mama work
You don’t have to spend too much time in your business to realize that you need to define who your ideal customer is. In online business, the prominent term for this is referred to as an avatar, and it refers to an all-encompassing term that includes several factors we need to consider when we are focusing on targeting and speaking directly to our ideal customer. Even though we might also reach beyond our ideal customer, and we may even eventually have multiple avatars for different segments of our business, it is crucial that we begin with one central avatar for our business and heavily focus our advertising campaigns on reaching that ideal customer with all our might.
There are a number of questions you will want to get super specific about when creating your avatar, but for the sake of simplicity and ease, I want to focus on the first two questions I personally feel are the most important when determining and creating your avatar. 1. Who are we? and 2. For Whom?
Who Are We?
As in, who is my business? What are we about? What do we look like? Feel like? Smell like? Talk like? What is our motto? What are we known for? What do we want to be known for? This may seem obvious, but it also may not be something that comes easy for us initially. When I think of who I am as a business, I think a lot about the first and lasting impression I want people to have when they see my brand. I also think about things like the kind of vibe I want to give off, the style of my website and logo and the unspoken and spoken authority my business has in its industry. This causes me to need to do a little research, and find out what I like to look at online and what the brands inspire and leave a lasting impression on me. And I’ve realized more and more that I need to do this often to stay current and see what others are doing in terms of demonstrating characteristics that I want my company to have. It may seem silly, but even font and graphic choices go a long way in terms of impression and demonstrating a specific idea in our minds. Sometimes it’s obvious and other times it’s very subtle. For instance, some fonts appear more authoritative, elite and chic while others may be crafty, cutesy or whimsical. Also, is the font too small or too busy to read easily? I don’t want to spend too long on this topic, but it begs a little bit of our care and attention, and I know personally what I think about as soon as I see the fonts on a website and read the copy in an ad. And so should you! To help me with this process, I’ve installed an app on my browser called “Font Ninja”. If I’m on a website and just really like the look of it and feel, I can turn on Font Ninja and it allows me to see which font they used. I love it!! I’m nerdy like that. 😉 Graphics are very similar. If I see an out-of-date graphic on a website, it causes me to question if the business is really serious and forward thinking or behind the times.
So, think about what you like to see. What leaves an impression on you that you want your customers to have when they see your brand? Get as specific as possible. Nothing you write down is stupid or irrelevant if it is truly what you want your impression to be.
For Whom?
This one may take you a little more time to figure out. I’ve found that my ideal client and who my clients actually tend to be are sometimes different people. Sometimes, we may start out with a broad idea about who are clients are (everyone), and then realize over time, with savvy advertising strategies, that we are able to niche down into something more specific (women in their 30s and 40s who live in rural towns). Play around with it. Create ads on Facebook or Instagram and start broad and narrow down after you see your statistics and who is responding. But the bigger and more helpful questions might be, “Who do I want my customer to be?” and “Who is like me?” or “Who can I help the most?” This is a great place to start, and testing out your ads and noticing who responds to your posts are great ways of identifying who you are speaking to. Businesses who take the time to carefully define their ideal client are more likely to become crystal clear with how they advertise and what they achieve with their advertising efforts.
More and more lately, I’ve been hearing and reading about business owners who identify their specific clients and even give them names. I heard a podcast the other day where a business owner was describing this woman in her mid-thirties who lived on a farm in California and raised goats. This woman made goat milk soap and sold it at her local farmers’ market. Anthropologie associates just happened to be walking through that farmers’ market one Saturday afternoon and they were interested in carrying her soap in their stores. She has to find out how to mass produce the soap and package it in a way that would sell to Anthropologie customers. This was her ideal client. That’s pretty specific right? That’s how specific we need to be. We need to tell our client’s story from start to finish, so we can begin to answer their questions and address their pain points from the gate.
When we ask these questions, we really get the ball rolling with our business and find out what we’re actually about. It helps us begin the process of fine tuning our business and understanding who we want to be as a business brand and who we are marketing to. And, truth be told, this is my favorite part of the whole process!
So, get to work, my friend! To make it easier for you, I’ve created a printable sheet you can download and fill out for your own business. And ideally, I’d love for you to print out this sheet and put it and the ones that will follow about your avatar at the very beginning of your business notebook. It really helps to think these things through! So enjoy! And if you get the chance, share with me what you found out by doing this simple exercise. If you’ve done it before, it’s OK. You can always do it again.
As always, please feel free to share this with someone else who may need it. And tell me how you liked it! 🙂
Grab your worksheet here!
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by Amy | Apr 12, 2017 | business organization, mama work
My goal over the past month has been to chronicle the steps I’m taking to get my online courses off the ground. Each day I work on my online courses, I’m writing down what it is I’m doing, how I’m feeling, what I’m getting stuck on and all the bells and whistles that go into making this happen. My point in doing this is to show you, my dear readers, all of the necessary (and unnecessary) steps that go into creating a (hopefully) successful online business.
To spare you from having to read post after post of each little step I’m taking, I wanted to just share with you an excerpt of an online journal I’m using to track my progress in Google Docs.
This is what I have so far:
Thursday, March 30th, 2017 –
Spent wayyyy too much time messing around on social media and wasting time, but was able to get cracking on this course “Unveil” so I feel pretty good about where it’s going. Module 1 which is the intro module that sets the tone for the entire course is nearly complete as far as content that will go into it. That feels good and gives me a strong vision for what I will hopefully accomplish when I work on this course again in the near future. When? I will work on this course on Tuesday, April 4th.
Tuesday, April 4th, 2017 –
Today I’m working at Cuppa Austin. Have a headache due to sinus pressure. Don’t feel rested and feel restless with all that I need to do to catch up. Need to focus on one task and just see it through to the end. Need to get Convert Kit opt-in set up and schedule content for Reveal. Please Lord, let me get focused so I can start making money at this business soon. I need desperately to get focused and produce something.
I’m ending today’s work feeling very excited. I finished the practicing module. I need to go back tomorrow and read through it and tweak it and add detail and refine the modules and lessons I’ve written out so far, but for now, I feel good about its progress. I was focused today, despite my initial headache and distracting disposition. I am hoping to keep flowing like this throughout the week and be ready to actually develop the slides and video content the week after next. It is really crucial that I get this content written out, so I can start taking snippets of it and using it in mini tutorials, blog posts, podcasts, and freebies. I have to have this content done before I can begin creating this community and getting followers. So this is good progress.
Tomorrow I will go back and tweak a bit, but then begin the hardest and longest module which is the 10 Rs of Successful Singing. My goal is to be done with the bulk of the content by end of week. If I do this, I can begin to break it down and create content based upon it.
Yay!!!
Tuesday and Wednesday, April 11 & 12, 2017 –
Yesterday (Tuesday) I woke right up and was ready to hit the ground running with working on my course. I completed the first module and started immediately with the module “10 Rs of Successful Singing”. I got through the first two lessons and it felt like it really flowed out of me. I enjoyed it and felt like I had a new spark lit under me in doing so. Today (Wednesday) was a bit of a different story. I struggled to get out of bed after a night of being kicked by Georgia in bed. She was super restless from about 1:30am onward (I think), so I finally took her hot fleece pajama bottoms off and she settled down a little. I got up at 5:15 and dragged myself to the coffee maker and got out the door by about 6:15. When I got here, I got caught up looking at pictures of my friend, Camilla, who just passed away from breast cancer and feeling sad and side-tracked thinking of her and how quickly her life vanished away. but then I just snapped out of it and jumped in. Funny how you can think that you are not inspired or motivated, but the actual DOING OF THE THING can make you motivated. Your flow sometimes comes regardless of the right circumstances and feelings. I love that about creating. We never know what we can make of something, even in a less than optimal situation. For instance, sometimes my best workouts are those that I didn’t feel like doing, but I got my sports bra on and workout clothes and put on my shoes and got on that treadmill anyway, and I ended up feeling amazing and exhilarated afterwards. Some of my best days are days when I didn’t want to get up, but I did it anyway, and I ended up having a special encounter with a close friend or was inspired in a way I didn’t think was possible. Some of my best singing days are days where my voice started out raw and raspy, but I warmed up and worked through it and began making some absolutely glorious sounds. Some of my best teaching has been on days when I dreaded that first student arriving at my house, but the student came and we worked and made amazing progress that got both of us fired up and energized. And some of my very best creative days are the ones where I thought I had everything in me BUT creativity, but I started working and things started pouring out of me like a never-ending, creative fountain.
This morning, I spent a good deal of time just chasing my tail, but I still managed to get quite a bit written out in my online course, nevertheless. That inspires me. That propels me to get up early again tomorrow and get back at it. It feels like such SLOWWWWW progress, but it’s progress, and I’m proud of it.
Since my kids will be out of school for Good Friday this week, tomorrow (Thursday) is the last day I really have to get some things done in my business. And guess what? I have a hair appointment and a therapy session. I know! Go me!!! But I do plan on allowing myself some space in the wee early morning hours to wrap some things up so I can hit the ground running like a champ next Tuesday!
Tomorrow, I’m going to continue playing around with customizing my Convertkit opt-in box for both sites and create an email sequence for both sites. After I create the email sequence, I will then create my freebies to entice people to opt in. At that point, I will need to go ahead and set up LeadPages, I think, in order to get more email subscribers.
One of the biggest things that keeps tripping me up here is what to do first. I really think I need to create an email sequence first, and then create my freebies from there. But I’m not sure. I plan to host my pdf files on amazon.
So much to learn! Right?
The other thing I need to do, in addition to getting set up with my email sequence on Convertkit, is go ahead and bite the bullet with some big purchases. Right now, I need a good lav mic, and I already have one in my shopping cart with Amazon. I also need a Blue Yeti mic to start podcasting soon. And I need to get a good computer camera to do live video on my computer. I also need a desk top tripod for my iphone and a ring light. Let’s see, what else? So much I need to figure out!!
Lord, help me prioritize all this and get it down soon. I feel like I’m treading through quick sand right now, but I know, at some point, this will all come together and I will know what I need to do!
over and out…
Nothing crazy, out-of-the-ordinary, but this is where my head currently is.
Thoughts?
I’d love to hear your stories as you journey through your online business and figure things out along the way.
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by Amy | Feb 25, 2017 | business organization, mama work
I had an epiphany this week about how my wheels have literally been SPINNING since I quit my full time job on February 4th of this year. I knew it would be difficult at first to get things rolling, but I didn’t know how difficult it would be to actually GET ORGANIZED. I tried with all my might to focus and get things done, but as I looked around me, everything was utter chaos. Some might think that’s just how I am. I am a creative type. They may think I like disorder. But for me, that’s not the case. I actually CRAVE order. And even though my life doesn’t always reflect that in how I organize my pantry or do my laundry, I still want to have some sense of what I am supposed to be doing, where I’m supposed to be, and how I’m supposed to be doing it. And friends, this was NOT happening those first few days of being a solo entrepreneur. To say I was spinning my wheels was an understatement of the year. I was flailing and walking in circles. I was so determined NOT to waste time, that I was, in fact, wasting it by not getting super clear and super organized in my business and personal life. Does that sound at all familiar to you?
So I literally pressed pause on everything I was trying to do and decided to dedicate the month of February to GETTING ORGANIZED. It started with sitting down and writing on a blank piece of paper (I love blank paper!!) what I needed to accomplish in my business. At this point, it wasn’t in any particular order. It was more of a brainstorm of all the things, processes and ideas about what I wanted to do written out in front of me.
- Get my domain registered
- Get my domain hosted
- Pick a website theme
- Create logos and graphics
- Find out about course creation platforms
- Set up my social media accounts for my business
- Year Plan
- Month Plan
- Daily Plan
- Budget personal expenses (aka Family Budget)
- Budget business expenses
- business schedule
- family schedule
- grand schedule (combination of two schedules)
- studio (office) cleaned up and organized so I can think clearly and get things done
After I did this, I began taking these steps and putting them in order of importance. In other words, what needs to happen before this happens. Now, as you can see, there was a LOT to be put into place BEFORE I could actually BEGIN the steps of creating my business and working on it. And like you may be thinking, I was admittedly a bit overwhelmed by the thought of having to put all these things in place. But I also knew that I needed to set myself up for success and these steps were super important in order to do that. For instance, if I didn’t have my family budget in place, how could I do my business budget? And if I didn’t know what I wanted to accomplish this YEAR, how could I get crystal clear on what I wanted to accomplish this MONTH, this WEEK and ultimately TODAY???
After I wrote that all out, I made myself another cup of coffee and started to get really excited! I pulled out my Erin Condren calendar/planner to the month and day I was in and began to map out what days I would spend working. At this point, I’m not thinking about specific tasks, but rather, what TIMES of what DAYS will I allot to my business. I made a decision that I would be working on my business from Tuesday to Friday, 5am to 1:30pm. That may seem random to you, but that is the same schedule I had at my full-time job at Apple, so I was already used to this schedule and so was my family. After I made that decision, I opened up my Google Sheets (have I mentioned how much I love love love Google Sheets??) and began to make columns for MONTHS horizontally like this: January (already over but still)…February…March…April…(got it?) Good. I then took my business checklist I had just written and organized on a piece of paper and wrote the checklist items under each month with things that needed to be done in THAT month. So under February, I put: Develop Yearly Plan, Monthly Plan, Daily Plan, Get budget in order, register and host website. Then in March, I wrote some of the other things I knew I wouldn’t be able to fit in February. Now, this step was super important because it gave me GOALS to reach and it forced me to be realistic what I could and could NOT accomplish in each given month. And can I just emphasize that BEING REALISTIC is half the battle for us as business owners–or maybe even more like 98.2%. For instance, I was already IN February when I began to write out this schedule, so I needed to realize that I would have a shorter time frame in the month of February to get certain things done. I also knew that, in March, I would have an entire week of not working over spring break, so I had to factor that in as well. But right now, all I was doing was taking one column per month and writing out an ESTIMATE of what I wanted to do in that month. Realize that it may change and that’s ok. This is not a time to be perfect. (is there ever a time for that?) This is a time to just start the infant phases of getting a skeletal framework in place and give yourself a visual picture of what you are going to achieve in your business. Before you do that, you are just spinning. Does that make sense? So we’re not even talking about DAYS or WEEKS yet to be clear. At this point, I was simply just writing out what needed to be done under each month.
After I clarified what it was I needed to do in each month, I then backtracked a bit and wrote out what was compromisable and uncompromisable for me in my life, or, a grand checklist of everything in my life if you will. Now this step is SUPER important, so please don’t skip this step. If we don’t take the time to write out what we will and what we won’t compromise, we will be unclear as we go along and make necessary sacrifices in our lives. This is vital in getting clear as to our understanding of what we’re doing so we can make CONSCIOUS SACRIFICES and not feel GUILTY when we do what we need to do. I remember, when I had my son, I would get really upset when I would have to go to the bathroom and he would start crying. It would make me so crazy that I would end up bringing him to the bathroom with me and holding him while trying to go. Great mental image, I know. So, my wise sister, seeing how miserable I was said to me, “You need to make a decision about what you will and won’t do as a new Mommy, and stick to it. Give yourself some groundrules right from the gate.” This was the best advice I ever got. From that point on, I decided that I would not be carrying him to the bathroom with me. If he was upset about my leaving the room, I could put him in front of the open door, but he would not be held while I was going to the bathroom. It was such a simple decision, but it made such a huge difference and it freed me up and eventually trained him, too. Miraculous!! I said all that to say, making a decision on what you will and will not do is necessary for every part of our lives, and our business and family life are no exception. So, to break this down, here’s what your compromisable and uncompromisable list might look like:
COMPROMISABLE
Sleeping a full 8 hours.
Spending time with friends.
Getting my kids dressed and fed in the morning and kissing them goodbye.
Decorating my house.
Shopping.
Calling people to “chat”.
Spending time on Facebook that doesn’t involve business.
Extracurricular Activities with school, church and community.
Couponing or bargain hunting.
UNCOMPROMISABLE
Picking my kids up from school.
Cooking and eating a healthy, satisfying dinner with my family.
Helping bathe my children and putting them to bed.
Having quiet time in the morning that is just for myself and spending time with God.
Spending quality time with my husband.
Working out every day.
Reaching out to people in need.
Keeping my house picked up and clean.
Paying close attention to and adhering to our family budget.
The important part of making these lists is to get really specific here. That way, you can always come back to this list and say, “Oh, yeah…I said I wouldn’t compromise that, and it looks like I am. Time to change gears!” It’s a guide. And that guide is based on who you are and what you are about. It is the heart of what you do and how you do it! Don’t skip this!
So…moving on! After I had created my business checklist of all the things I needed to do, I knew what days and times of the week I’d be working on that and I knew what was important to me and what I would and would not compromise to make it happen, THEN and ONLY then could I get clear on how I was going to go about all of it. And that meant some really explicit and detailed scheduling — sometimes down to the MINUTE — so that I could make sure it all happened according to the plans I had laid out. I began the scheduling with a GRAND SCHEDULE which I will provide. This schedule literally maps out my entire week and it includes my family and personal commitments. I have half-hour times in the first column and then, I have the days of the week horizontally on top: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday…, and then I have half-hour time slots for each activity. This looks a lot like a calendar or a day planner. But the difference between this and your day planner is that it is specifically laid out in time slots. My biggest piece of advice on this is to get really specific about how you are breaking it all down in terms of when you’ll do what. Now, this is not the schedule to get super specific about work tasks, but it is merely a framework and screenshot of what your week will look like. Here’s why this is important: If you can have a mental image of what your week needs to look like, you won’t be pulled in 10 different directions and you can easily go back to that GRAND SCHEDULE and say, “Nope…I committed to this at this time on this day and it’s happening come hell or high water.” I have included a downloadable sample of my GRAND SCHEDULE for you to customize and personalize for yourself in this post.
Now, (are you still with me??? please don’t check out YET) after I’ve done all of those steps and made my GRAND SCHEDULE, I then start breaking up tasks and determining when I will do what in my business. Again, this is not hard and fast. You can always go back and tweak things and change them as you need to, but it is awesome to have it in writing. Something about having it in writing keeps you on track and helps you focus on what is important. The BUSINESS SCHEDULE looks almost identical to the GRAND SCHEDULE except for the fact that I’ve left out the personal details. This is the schedule to get REALLY specific about how I will break down my business tasks that I had laid out for each month earlier on. I will still have the time slots in the first column and the days of the week on top, but I will break down my tasks into slots that include specific tasks I will perform on those days at that time. OH. MY. GOSH. you guys! Doing this has CHANGED MY LIFE FOREVER!! Knowing what I’m supposed to be doing and when has made my life so much easier. When someone sends me a text and says, “Hey, you wanna meet for coffee?” I can look at my schedule and say, “You know what? I’d love to do that, but I have this to do at that time.” or “You know what? I would love to! I have from 11am to 11:45am and then I have to get back to work!” Talk about DERAIL PREVENTION!! That’s what this is. It is DERAIL PREVENTION. We are preventing ourselves from getting derailed in our dreams and pursuits and we’re planning for our success.
Now that I’ve laid out for you how I got ORGANIZED ABOUT GETTING ORGANIZED in my life and in my business, I want to briefly (this post is already long enough) just talk about some of the fears and hesitation you may be having in even reading this.
…I’m not that organized…
You may be thinking, “Great for her, but I’m just not that organized!” Well, neither am I, truthfully. Yes, I have it in me. And I believe YOU do too. But it wasn’t until I began to get really serious about my goals for my business that I began to realize the importance of breaking all this down and making it doable for myself. And here’s the bonus of this: I did all the heavy lifting FOR YOU! I created the schedules and laid it out so that all you have to do is put your specific information in there.
…I don’t have that kind of time…
Another thing you may be thinking is, “I don’t have that kind of time! I work full time. or I have 3 kids that need me 24/7! or I am a single mom. or I have so much to do!” You know what? I get it. I may not be a single mom, but I am a mother of 3 young children. I don’t have any family members closeby who can help with the kids. I was working full-time up until now. I have quite a few responsibilities. But you know what? Nothing in this life is easy. I know that’s harsh, but it’s true. If you really want to achieve some goals and make some things happen, you HAVE TO GET ORGANIZED. Sacrifice is inevitable. Something will always have to be sacrificed. Whether it’s sleep…time with your kids…time with your husband…time with friends or extended family members…watching t.v…being on FB…SOMETHING has to give. And this is merely an exercise in figuring out what you can afford to sacrifice and making it happen intentionally. Again, I’ve laid out the groundwork for you to do this, so you don’t have to invent the process like I had to, AND I have to remind you that your schedule may look much much different than mine. You may have only 2 hours a day 4 days a week that you can dedicate to your business…or perhaps even LESS. The point is, make this YOURS!
…this is a lot of work…I’m not ready for this!
Another thought you might be thinking is, “Wow…this is more involved than I thought it would be! I’m not ready for this!” And you know what? That information is really good to know. If you aren’t in a position where you are ready to get all of this in order, then you can know that you’re not ready to go into business for yourself…right now. That doesn’t mean you won’t be ready a few months from now or sometime down the road. If this is you, don’t be discouraged. I beg you!! If you feel like this is just too intense, that is your call. And I will not hold it against you. I have had business ideas for YEARS, but I would be lying to you if I told you I was ready to do it before now. It just wasn’t a priority for me. But I’m going to be tough love on you again here. If you are saying this to yourself, you need to ask yourself if you’re just feeling afraid or you are just being lazy. I know…again…I don’t want to offend you here, but I want to lovingly say that you need to decide what is holding you back. If you truly don’t think you’re ready, that’s a legit feeling to have. But if you have an inner nudge that says you need to do this and it keeps coming up for you over and over again, FOR THE LOVE!!! Just do it!! And don’t resist this step in getting organized about HOW you do it!! It is so important for your success.
There’s so much more to say here, but I will leave you with this information for now. My sincere hope is that it is helpful for you, and I hope that you would share this post with people you know who are struggling with getting organized in their business. Also, take a moment if you will to subscribe to my email list so you can get more information like this. And lastly, please comment below. It helps me to know your feedback and how this has or has not helped you along your journey.
…here’s some FREE stuff for you!!
I’ve included a My Schedule printable download for you to customize to fit your business and schedule. Like I said, I use and cannot speak highly enough about Google Sheets to help me get really clear on what I need to be doing and when. Google sheets is great for creating spreadsheets, and if you have a Google account, it can be found in all the extras like docs and photos that you can use with Google. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s like Excel and it’s free. You can also share your google sheets with others if you are collaborating.
Enjoy!!!
(and don’t forget that feedback!)
xoxo,
Amy
Get your printable “My Schedule” download by signing up below!
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