Almost all of us are striving to achieve some kind of work/life balance. This can be particularly challenging for business owners: juggling business administration, important work and client communication can be difficult enough before you add in personal relationships, childcare, housework, social events and ‘me’ time!
If you haven’t given much thought to the health of your work/life balance recently, it may be time to think about giving it a bit of TLC.
Here are seven signs that attention is needed:
1. You can’t remember the last time you spent time on your own
During busy periods of life, solo ‘me’ time is often the first thing we sacrifice. If you’re spending your time rushing straight from work into family commitments with no breathing space in between, you may want to reassess how you can find time for yourself.
2. You feel anxious, depressed or irritable at work
Are you enjoying running your business as much as you have in the past? Be honest! If the answer is no it doesn’t make you a bad business owner. It may just mean that your work/life balance has tipped to an unhealthy point. Being more intentional about spending time away from your business is likely to give you the headspace to fall back in love with it when you are there.
3. You’re struggling to communicate effectively with loved ones
Communication problems can be so frustrating, especially when we experience them with loved ones. If you’ve been finding it difficult to talk with your spouse, partner or children, it could be because your business has been monopolising too much of your mental energy.
4. You constantly think about work… even when you’re not there
Even the most passionate business owner needs mental space away from work! If you think about your next professional steps all the time, it’s likely to lead to exhaustion. A good way to deal with this can be to dedicate specific non-working time periods. Find time in your routine when you don’t have to think about work at all.
5. You haven’t been able to fit in any exercise for weeks
Exercise is an important part of both our physical and metal well-being. Whether you like to hit the gym, take a yoga class once a week or get your exercise by taking the dog for long relaxed walks, skipping this will have a real impact over time.
6. You feel guilty and you’re not sure why
Unfortunately it’s common for busy people to have a lingering feeling of guilt. This can often be due to feeling like they should be working when they’re with family and conversely that they should be with family when they’re working! However, just because a lot of us suffer from this: it doesn’t mean it’s normal. If you’re feeling this way, it could help to take some time out to reassess where you are in life and what your priorities are.
7. You’re feeling run down and burnt out
Our bodies are very clever and usually find a way to let us know when all is not well. If you’ve been feeling generally run down for a while now, it may be time to listen to those symptoms.
Think you need to give your lifestyle choices some attention? It might not be as hard as you think. Addressing an out-of-sync work/life balance could be as simple as taking a week off. Often even the smallest changes can have a big impact. If you’re unsure about what the next steps are for you, I might be able to offer some guidance. Why not get in touch?
Mid-November may still seem a little bit early to start talking about the festive season, but it’s certainly not too early to start thinking about preparing your business for the end of the year.
Most business owners won’t be ending the fiscal year till March or April, but the end of the calendar year can still feel very significant. I think that the end of one year and the start of another is an excellent time to review how things are going and decide where you want to go next.
Here are some thoughts from me on how to make sure your business is prepared for the end of the year.
Decide on holiday time off and let your customers know
We all deserve some time off over the festive season! If you haven’t already, now is the time to choose your dates and let your customers and staff know.
If you have a retail premises you’ll need to publicise any seasonal closures in branch and on your website. If you sell products you will need to let buyers know about potential delays in shipping. If you are a consultant you will want to block the days out in your diary and let your retainer clients know that you won’t be available during that time.
Set ‘last order’ dates
The run up to Christmas can be a very busy time. This is definitely true in the retail and hospitality sectors where it can be the most profitable time of the year. December can also be manic for service providers and consultants as many customers will want to get their projects ‘done’ in time for the new year.
Make sure you don’t spend the last few days before Christmas in a panic by setting non-negotiable last order dates now. This may mean last dates for shipping out products, or it may mean the last dates where you’ll accept work to be done for a 2015 deadline.
Evaluate this year’s business resolutions and your progress
Most business owners set business resolutions for the new year. What were your plans at the start of 2015? Even if you haven’t actively been working towards them for the last few months, the end of the year is the ideal time to take a look at how you fared. You may discover that you did more work towards your yearly goals than you thought… or you may find that outside forces meant other areas of your business had to take priority.
Whatever your findings, taking the time to sit down and do a yearly review will help you to better understand how to move forward.
Start to develop SMART targets for the year ahead
Once you’ve completed your yearly review for 2015, you’ll be in an excellent position to begin to develop SMART targets for 2016. If you’re not familiar with the term, SMART is an acronym that stands for:
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Realistic
Time-related
My clients and I find this model really helpful when setting targets. If you use this you’ll be able to ensure you come up with goals that you’ll be able to stick to.
Remind yourself what you have to celebrate
Finally, I’d like to take this opportunity to remind you just how important it is to celebrate your business achievements. Your successes for 2015 might have been big… or they might have been small. Either way, remind yourself what has been great about your business this year and set some time aside to celebrate! Being a business owner is rarely easy and we all deserve a special acknowledgement of how hard we’ve worked.
How will you be effectively preparing your business for the end of the year? If you have any tips that haven’t been mentioned here, I’d be keen to hear them. Why not share them on the Green Shoots Coaching Facebook page?
Here’s a question: how much do you value the people who work in your company? The answer to this might seem obvious: without them it’s possible your business would grind to a halt. And yet, many of the business owners I encounter aren’t showing that appreciation in any real terms.
The reality is that your business is only as good as the people in your team. Your ideas could be spot on, but if the people on the ground aren’t implementing them in the right way then those ideas are unlikely to succeed. This could be a key reason why your business is failing to thrive and grow.
Personally, I believe that business owners should think of themselves not just as employers but as potential-optimisers. When we choose to employ someone, we typically do so because we like something about what they have to offer. Often this spark is due to potential rather than the finished product. Someone who has never worked in your business before is unlikely to give you exactly what you need on their first day.
Even the most qualified employees need to be nurtured. The most effective employers are the ones who are able to identify and grow the potential of their staff.
Are you just employing staff or are you actively working to build their potential? Here are a few questions to ask yourself:
When was the last time you evaluated your staff?
Staff evaluations and progress reports can be a generic administration exercise… or they can be a brilliant opportunity to assess areas for learning and improvement. Which are they for you? If it’s the former, you may want to think about setting some time aside to genuinely consider how your staff are performing and what might be standing in the way of their development.
Have you invested financially in training your team?
Staff training can be expensive, but that doesn’t mean you should shy away from it. There can be a huge amount to gain from good quality training. Training investment could save you from having to employ a new person, as you may be able to train an existing employee to take on new responsibility.
Do you ever block out work time for professional development?
Potential-optimisation isn’t just about paying course fees. Professional development also happens in the workplace. This can be in the form of evaluation meetings, mentoring, team building sessions and staff forums.
Do you accept what is or do you set out to improve?
When your employees aren’t performing to the standard you expect them to, you have a number of options. You could seek to replace them, you could ignore your disappointment and accept the status quo… or you could support them to improve.
How confident are you when it comes to recognising potential?
Being able to recognise true potential in other people is a very useful skill. Not all of us have it, and you may need to be honest with yourself about whether you do. If you don’t, there are ways around it. You may want to develop your own skills in this area, or you could choose to work with a trusted professional to help assess your team.
Do you value one-to-one coaching with your team members?
When was the last time you sat down with each member of staff in turn and had a one-on-one conversation? This kind of communication can have a lot of value, and not just for staff development. You could also learn a lot from your employees! If this kind of relationship building isn’t your strength, there is plenty of professional coaching help available.
Are you building your own potential?
This last point is an important one. Are you working to optimise your own potential? If the answer is no, ask yourself why. All of us are works-in-progress and none of us should stand still when it comes to professional development. If you find it difficult to value your own potential, it’s likely that you’ll feel the same way about that of your employees.
If your answers to the above questions suggest that you’re not doing much potential-optimisation at the moment, it might be time to think about starting. When you support your team to develop their skills, you will indirectly be working to tend the future of your business. Once again: your business is only as good as the people in your team.
In the past few years I’ve noticed a real shift in how we perceive our schedules. Many of us only seem to think we’re being productive if we feel rushed off our feet all the time. This phenomenon has been dubbed the ‘glorification of busy’ and is something that’s been reported a great deal in the media. I’ve read thoughtful articles dealing with this on The Huffington Post, Yahoo News and Becoming Minimalist.
There are many reasons why this attitude to busy isn’t necessarily a helpful one;
It can stop us from focusing on the now
It can lead us to overwork ourselves
It can prevent us from having meaningful connections with other people
It can skew our perception of our value
It can make us forget to make time for R&R
It can drive us to fill our time with ‘busy work’ just to feel effective
It’s this last point that I really want to focus on here. When you run your own business, it’s natural to experience troughs and peaks in your workload. If you are glorifying ‘busyness’, it’s likely that you will be expecting to be in a peak at all times… and you may feel you’re failing when you hit a trough.
I’ve come across a lot of business owners who deal with troughs by making themselves feel busy by other means. In fact, I’m pretty sure we’re all guilty of this! How often do you spend work time constantly checking emails, spending hours connecting with new people on social media, researching business events, organising paperwork or doing other non-essential admin tasks?
The problem with this kind of busy-work is that it makes us feel like we’re busy and effective… when we’re not actually moving forwards at all.
If you find yourself facing a quiet period in your business, whether it’s an afternoon, a week or a month, why not admit it? Accepting that you have some space in your schedule is much healthier than fooling yourself into feeling rushed off your feet with endless busy work.
Allow yourself to admit that you’re in a quiet period, and you could put that time to far better use. You could consider:
Revisiting your business plan
Business plans aren’t supposed to be static documents. If you have some breathing space, why not sit down with a fresh cup of coffee and review yours? You might be reminded of targets you’d forgotten about and the process could even spark some big new ideas.
Working on a ‘one day’ project
Do you often find yourself thinking you’ll work on a project ‘one day’ when you have time? Why not make today that ‘one day’?! Quiet time can be really valuable in business as it allows you to do things like develop products and services, create marketing campaigns, write new content and explore strategy ideas.
Setting some new targets
It’s difficult to find time to set achievable new targets when your diary is packed full all the time. If you do have a bit of downtime, think about putting some of it aside to set some really intentional new targets.
Connecting with a mentor
Being a business owner can be lonely! If you feel you would benefit from a new perspective, why not consider connecting with a mentor? You could use social media to reach out to someone in your industry you look up to, or you could consider partnering up with another business owner in a similar position to you. Think you’d benefit from some more structured support? Business coaching might be a great step forward for you. Here’s how you could benefit.
Enjoying some time off
We all need a proper rest from time to time! If you have some quiet time, don’t be afraid to use it to recuperate. Time spent recharging your batteries is never wasted: you’ll be able to return to work energised and ready to be productive again.
When was the last time someone asked you how business was going? Business owners hear this question a lot, from friends, family members and other business owners. The issue is that we don’t often answer as honestly as we should.
Most of us are guilty of this. All of us want to portray our business as positively as possible, so we’re likely to answer ‘great!’ without really considering the question.
But what about when things aren’t great? It can be lonely and isolating to pretend that things are wonderful when they’re actually quite challenging.
I recently re-watched Brené Brown’s TED talk on The Power of Vulnerability. It’s a fascinating talk and I’d really recommend it. During the talk Brown muses on the humanity of shame and vulnerability. She says:
“Vulnerability is the core of shame and fear and our struggle for worthiness, but it appears that it’s also the birthplace of joy, of creativity, of belonging, of love.”
This really struck a chord with me. We often think of vulnerability as a bad thing. If we’re vulnerable we’re admitting that our business isn’t doing as well as we’d like, or that we’re not sure about which step to take next, or that we need help.
As a business owner, I can understand the thought behind all of these worries. But as a coach… I see the other side. Many of my clients come to me in a place of vulnerability, but when they do so we’re able to work together to do excellent work. On a daily basis I work with clients to facilitate growth, exciting decisions, creative strategies, new ideas and more. If those clients had been too afraid to admit that they needed my help, these positive things wouldn’t have happened.
Our perception of leadership is changing and it’s now a common school of thought that good leaders do not need to be perceived as all powerful all the time. Being confident enough in your role to show some vulnerability can be a good thing! Not only can it give you space to create relationships with the people around you, it can also enable you to call in help when needed.
After all, even solopreneurs need assistance sometimes. If you never show vulnerability it can be hard to bring in the help and expertise that you and your business need. When you’re honest about the issues you’re coming up against, you may discover that the people around you have access to the expertise you need.
Next time you hear the question: how’s business? Why not think about answering it more fully? By all means tell the asker about all the great things you’re working on, but don’t be afraid to share any challenges you’re currently dealing with too. Their response may be a pleasant surprise!
Comfort zones are very pleasant places to be. Of course they are: they’re filled with things we know, things we like and things we’re good at. Most of us have spent a lot of time creating these zones and it can be very hard to make the decision to step out of them.
Unfortunately, not everything works for us forever. An office you loved in the past might not be right for you now. A product that’s been very popular might not always be a best-seller. A client you once worked excellently with might suddenly become a poor fit. One of the ways to ensure your business continues to grow and change is to have the confidence to let go of what you know when it stops working.
Could you benefit from some advice on how to do this? I’ve shared 10 signs that it may be time to let go of what you know and move forwards.
1/ You feel totally 100% stress-free
Stress isn’t always a bad thing. A small amount can actually help us to be productive and innovate. If you feel 100% stress-free, maybe it’s time to take a risk on something new.
2/ Your clients aren’t excited about what you’re offering
Business is about providing a service that your customers will be thrilled with. No matter how much you love what you’re offering, if your clients aren’t excited about it it’s probably time to make a change.
3/ You’re bored
Boredom is a dangerous emotion. It can very quickly become frustration, dissatisfaction and even unhappiness. If you’re bored of what you know, try moving on to something you don’t.
4/ You don’t feel challenged
If running your business has become too easy, it’s likely to be time to give yourself a new challenge. Perhaps it’s time to grow your business, introduce a new service or expand your product line?
5/ It’s been a while since your last success
Think back to your last moment of success. If the last thing you can think of is well in the past, it could be time for a little innovation.
6/ Problem-solving isn’t working
If you’ve put extra effort, new ideas and different tactics into solving a problem in your business and none of it has worked, it might be time to admit defeat. Could it be time to let go of whatever it is that’s causing the problem?
7/ You’ve started to feel lazy
Laziness is often a symptom of boredom and a lack of personal challenges. If you’ve started to feel lazy: don’t beat yourself up about it. Try giving yourself something new to focus on instead.
8/ Enquiries have dropped
Is your inbox bizarrely quiet? This might be because your current marketing efforts aren’t making an impact.
9/ You’re struggling to be creative
Spending too much time in your comfort zone can sometimes lead to getting caught in a creative rut. The best way to kick start your imagination again is usually to try something new.
10/ Something just isn’t selling
You may love a certain product or service, but if it just isn’t selling it’s clear your clients don’t feel the same way.
No matter how long something hasn’t been working, it can still be difficult to make the decision to let it go. This is especially tricky for solo business owners who don’t have anyone to discuss these issues with. Does this sound like you? If so, you might find this helpful: is business coaching right for small business and solopreneurs?
Growth coaches can be very powerful resources. A good growth coach can help you to maximise profits and grow your business… but only if you’re really ready to take that step.
Not every business is ready to grow. Some businesses take on a growth coach programme only to discover that it isn’t working. Often this is because they have other issues in their business that need to be addressed.
It can be hard to accept that it isn’t the right time for your business to grow, but a difficult decision now could help you to get into a more productive mindset for the future.
Often this decision comes down to gut feeling. If you love what you’re doing and are excited about the prospect of doing more, growth coaching might be the way forward for you. Equally, if you feel like everything is working in your business except your finances, an experienced growth coach could help you translate your into a much healthier bottom line.
But what if your gut feeling isn’t quite so positive?
If you’re unsure which direction to move in…
If you’re finding it difficult to handle the stress of being a business owner…
If you suspect that your product or service offerings need work…
If you think your lack of confidence might be holding you back…
If you’re having communication problems with employees or colleagues…
If issues in your personal life are getting in the way of your business…
If you just have the sense that something isn’t working…
…then it probably isn’t your time to work with a growth coach yet.
This isn’t to say that you need to struggle through these issues yourself. A more holistic business coach could offer just the support you need. Coaches like myself are keen to help you build your confidence and get a handle on the emotional side of your business. We could help you to build better communication strategies, determine what’s right for the future of your business and equip you with practical tools for managing stress.
The best news is that these two types of coach don’t have to be mutually exclusive. You’re not making an either/or decision that could stop you from fulfilling your potential. If you and your business aren’t quite ready to work with a growth coach yet… a coach like myself could help you to get there.
Coaching is a valuable tool that can be used in a way that’s right for you. I believe in giving my clients the freedom to work with me in whatever capacity is best for them. Some clients choose to work with me on a long term basis as a trusted advisor. Others come to me because they have a specific issue they need to work through. For them the work we do together is a means to an end: we’re aiming to solve a problem and when we do they can return to handling things on their own.
In the past few years I’ve worked with many clients who were keen to grow their business but weren’t quite ready to take the next step. With my support these clients are able to address the outstanding issues in their business and get themselves into the best possible shape for growth. This helps them get ready to take on the structure of a growth coach programme. In fact, once we’ve come to the mutual decision that they’re ready to move on, I’m even able to recommend a suitable growth coach for the job!
We all want to do the best thing for our business, but sometimes it’s difficult to prioritise working on our business over working in our business. (In fact, I’ve blogged about this exact issue before). I often remind my coaching clients that even a small chunk of time can make a difference, especially a couple of times a month.
Almost all of us could commit to setting aside ninety minutes each fortnight to work on growing our business. Need convincing? Here are some ideas from me for productive things you could do for your business in that time.
Review your business plan
Business plans are really valuable tools, but when was the last time you looked at yours? You might want to review it to reflect on how well you’re meeting your objectives and whether you’re moving in the direction you expected.
Set some actionable targets
It can be difficult to move forward with your business when you don’t know exactly what you’re aiming for. An hour and a half putting together some actionable targets could help you to stay focused.
Put together a customer experience survey
If you want to know how well your business is doing, why not ask your customers? Surveying the people who use your products or services could give you some excellent insight on how to improve.
Give your accounts some attention
Many business owners don’t give the financial side of their business as much attention as it really needs. An hour and a half spent looking at where your money is coming from and where it’s going could help you to maximise your profits.
The internet can be an excellent storefront for your business, but only if you’ve invested the time to get your presence right. It’s important to set aside regular time to keep everything up to date and looking good on your website and social media profiles.
Develop a marketing plan
Most business owners would like to grow their business by gaining new customers. If this is true for you, taking the time to actively put together a marketing plan could be well worth it.
Research new product or service ideas
A new product or service could breathe some much-needed new energy into your business. Why not give yourself a bit of space to brainstorm new ideas and research how they could come together?
Have a session with a business coach
What might you gain from discussing your business with an impartial experienced professional? An in-depth session with a coach would give you a whole new insight and help you to pinpoint what kind of growth is right for you.
If this last option sounds appealing, you might want to explore whether you’re ready for coaching. Why not take my questionnaire to find out?
When was the last time you were able to view your business from any perspective other than your own?
We often forget just how much our thoughts and opinions are informed by our own knowledge and experiences. In other words: the view you get of your business is coloured by all the things you know. Your customers will all have their own personal knowledge and experiences and that will make them see your business in a different way than you do.
This isn’t the only reason why a new perspective can be hugely valuable in business. Running your own business can be isolating (in fact, I’ve blogged about lonely entrepreneurship before) and this isolation can lead us business owners to feel very inverted. If your perspective has shifted inwards in this way it can become even harder to view your business impartially.
When we only look at our business from our own perspective it becomes difficult to make informed decisions about how to move forwards or on what aspects of our provision need more work. Sometimes our own perspective can be very narrow, and this can blind us to issues that need to be addressed.
There is good news here: running your own business doesn’t have to be something you do entirely without help! There are people around you who will be keen to offer support, whether that’s friends and family members or professional coaches and consultants.
Much of the important work I do as a business coach is opening up a new perspective. An experienced and qualified coach can help business owners to look at their business from another angle.
This means that you’ll be able to:
Find new solutions to ongoing challenges
Get a better sense of how customers see your business
Discover issues that have been going on under your radar
Be inspired to try new things
Benefit from different experience and expertise
Explore new ideas for moving forward
Consider opportunities that have been in your blind spot
Talk through options from a new angle
Understand how your actions as a business owner look from the outside
Get insight into the customer experience you’re providing
Correct any assumptions you’ve made about your target market
And all this just from opening up a new perspective on your business!
If you feel that your business is being held back, I think you would really benefit from getting some trusted outside opinions. To get started, why not have a conversation with a friend, family member or a coach like me? You might be surprised how much of a boost some fresh ideas could give your business.
I’ve said it many times before, but it’s important so I’ll say it again: it’s almost impossible to separate our ‘work’ selves from our ‘home’ or ‘family’ selves. We are all three dimensional people with various roles and responsibilities and when something is going wrong with one of those roles, it often has a knock on effect on the others.
Let’s take a look at a couple of scenarios.
What if you… had more work than you could handle on your own
Having too much work is definitely one of the better business problems to have(!) but that doesn’t mean it isn’t tricky to handle. If you’’re racing to stay on top of an unmanageable workload it’s likely that you’ll be arriving home late and leaving early. Any personal tasks are likely to get pushed to the end of your to do list, never mind actually spending quality time with those closest to you.
What if you… had a difficult business decision to make
There are a lot of decisions to make in business. Where to invest, who to work with, which direction to move in, which expenses to cut… the list is almost endless. If you have a tough choice to make you may find that it takes over all areas of your life. A decision like this can be hugely distracting and may stop you from being able to properly enjoy your much-needed downtime.
What if you… were worried about your business finances
Money worries are never pleasant. If you were trying to deal with stresses and strains associated with this, it would be very hard for you to avoid taking them home with you. Stress can be seriously incapacitating and you may find that your health goes downhill. You might also find it difficult to engage with your family as you usually do and your relationships may suffer as a result.
What if you… had a communication problem with an employee
Employer/employee relations can be hard to navigate. Even a small communication misunderstanding could snowball into a much bigger issue. We spend a great deal of our lives at work and the quality of our relationships with the people we see there can therefore have a big impact on how we feel about ourselves. If you have a communication problem with an employee it could make you feel self-conscious or anxious about how other people in your life see you.
These scenarios represent many of the worries and concerns that I frequently address with my business coaching clients. Do any of them sound familiar? If so, why not reach out? The right coach would be able to help you address problems at work and at home, and therefore empower you to be a more effective business owner.
Image by Brandon
