 Are you in small business overwhelm? You have so much to do it's hard to focus on just one thing? You spend your time switching from task to task without getting the results you dream of? In this case study Yvonne from The Business Boutique shares with us how she escaped from that very problem, what life is like for her now and we talk about some tools you can use to improve your own productivity. Contributed by Yvonne Morrison
The Business Boutique Life before planning in one word was chaos! Whenever I chose to work ‘on’ my business I would be fighting fires to stay on top of my to-do list. That to-do list was like a physical symbol of me not being able to be in charge. Grrrr!! It was so overwhelming and I had a very scattergun approach. While I had goals such as consistently blogging, creating online products and of course having a stunning website there was no effortless flow. I’d look at the list and my calendar and hope that between client commitments I’d find time to get something done. ‘Oh gosh, I’ve got to do a weekly blog. What will I write about? I have 24 hours!’ The inner perfectionist would either want to give up or be annoyed at doing a shoddy job. I got to a point where I just wasn’t having fun anymore. I was tired- you know that whole-body-drained-exhausted- feeling which retrospectively might have been that I was either approaching or already burned out. But the entrepreneurial spirit in me wanted to keep going so I knew things had to change. Let me start with a funny story because the only way I could change was to obviously learn from others. I invested in a 90 day planning workshop. I was given pre-workshop homework (which didn’t make sense but I tried my best) and then attended the workshop. A number of clients from the facilitator stood up and sang her praises which was very motivating and then….then…we were told to go to it! What? Pardon? I’m here to learn. (I a way I guess I did. Not everything is what it seems. Ha ha ha). To plan more effectively and get out of the chaos, I had a major being realisation. I couldn’t do it all at once so I gave myself permission to tackle one goal at a time. One was to blog consistently. I lurvvvvv (and yes it has to be illustrated that way) sticky notes. Armed with sticky notes I wrote down everything I needed to do to be able to blog consistently. I researched via google how to set goals and used only the tips and guidance that was in line with how I want to run my business. From there I decided to look at what I loved doing and where I needed help. I don’t enjoy spending time creating images so I outsourced that. Then I blocked out time to write several blogs at once rather than try and write a topic each week. This works for me and it is an action I still follow. Blogging is set as an appointment with myself in my online calendar. [As a side note I do this with a lot of things in my business – I block out time and only focus on that activity]. Ironically it was through a ‘how to use Pinterest’ mini ecourse (for personal use) that I learned how to construct effective blogs! The ‘sticky note process’ has been transferred, along with other processes in my business, to Asana. Breaking each goal down into do-able tasks did create a new version of a to do list but with processes, support and goals in mind, planning is now so much easier. I’m focused. I’m confident. I’m relaxed. I always know which direction I’m going in and I have a map to take me there. Planning is such a dull word and the last thing you want to think about when you are in a state of chaos. I wish there were some funkier words for planning to encourage everyone to make this part of their businesses. This way we can all have effortless and joyful success. Yvonne If you need help with your business planning or strategy, Yvonne specialises in helping women in business and can be contacted through The Business Boutique.
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