There’s something special about Spring. After the long and dark winter months, seeing the shoots of new flowers spring from the ground, noticing the birds getting active in the trees and building nests and feeling that gentle warmth start to stir again, it’s difficult not to feel enthusiastic about the sunshine-filled months ahead.
One area where we may feel less than enthusiastic however is our business. Unlike the changing seasons and the effects they bring, running our businesses can feel a little like we’re trapped on a hamster wheel. We seem to be running around doing the same thing day after day and sometimes, we may feel that we’re never really getting anywhere with it all.
If you’re finding that you’re really having to dig deep to relight that spark of passion you used to have for your business and that you’re struggling to find the energy and drive you used to have, you’re not alone. But there are ways that you can get the zest back into your business and one of the best ways is by hiring a Virtual Administrator.
In this blog, I want to share with you a few tips on how to regain some energy, drive and motivation in your business, so it feels just as fresh and alive as the nature outside this Spring.
Setting boundaries can help you be a better business owner
Have you ever had an appointment that was meant to be for an hour but it somehow ends up going way over because your client comes up with a “just one more thing” every time you try to draw the session to a close?
Maybe you’ve agreed to take on a project but somehow, the client keeps on adding more and more work to do than was agreed. Known as “scope creep” this can quickly zap away your time and motivation!
Or maybe, you’re the one that decides to spend “just one more hour” on a task than you really should be, so you’re late home for dinner more often than not.
There are so many examples like these of what can seem like quite small and innocuous events but when you take a closer look at them you can see how they really do eat away at your time and resources. The overall effects on your work-life balance can be difficult to manage, not just for you but your family too.
The best way to stop this is to be strict with yourself and with your clients by setting boundaries. Here are just a few examples:
- Be clear with yourself on when your working hours are and stick to them!
- If offering time-based appointments, don’t allow them to go over. Turn up the lights, snuff out the candles, turn off the music, etc are all good ways to draw the session to a close and alert the client that their time is through until the next session
- Use contracts with an agreed scope of work and stick to it. If your client wants to add more, quote them accordingly!
A Virtual Administrator can help you to avoid burnout
One of the problems with running a business, especially when you don’t have clear boundaries in place, is knowing when you can get off that hamster wheel. It can feel that if you jump away for some much needed “me time” too soon that you end up multiplying your to-do list and ending up with twice as much work when you need to jump back on again.
However, on the other hand, if you’re constantly working on or in your business and you never take any quality time away to spend with your family or doing what you love, that wheel can start slowing down as you lose the momentum and energy to keep it going.
Avoiding burnout is crucial and managing your time and resources carefully to ensure a healthy balance of “work time” and “personal time” is key. A Virtual Administrator can help you with that by:
- Taking on those tasks you really don’t enjoy so that you can focus your time on what you do like to do
- Help with those day-to-day functions like diary management, email management, website maintenance, social media post scheduling, etc that can suck up hours a week without you even realising
- Set up processes and systems to help you streamline your work, like booking apps, online client intake forms, etc
- Can help on an ad-hoc basis to shift that backlog when it gets too much
A VA can help you put the zest back into your business
We will all go through phases in our business when we lose that spark, it’s all part and parcel of being a business owner. By hiring a VA to help you take away the pain and stress of those back-office functions and enable you to stick to your boundaries more easily, you’ll find you have more time, more energy and more zest in your business.
If you’d like to discuss how I can help you get off the hamster wheel and enjoy being a business owner again, get in touch for a free and friendly chat.