Make Your Business Fit In With Your Life
I coached an owner of a Beauty Salon last year. She came to me because she wanted to find a full time job as her passion had become a job that she now hated. She was working 50/60 hours a week providing treatments to clients, marketing to attract new clients, paying bills, filing her accounts, cleaning the salon, etc.
What do you do, exactly?
We wrote down all the things she does in a day, a week, a month, a year. Looking at the list I asked her what does she like to do and what does she really hate to do? I then asked, what is contributing to your life and business goals. Ahh that's where we came unstuck! She didn't have a clear goal of what she wanted her life to look like, feel like, sound like.
What's your perfect vision
We spent an hour going through her vision of her perfect life. She wanted to help clients and spend good quality time with clients. She wanted to own her own business so she could choose how to surprise and delight her clients. She could work when she wanted and how she wanted. She wanted to work 9-5 Monday to Thursday, work one late evening a week and ever other Saturday. She had a financial goal in mind that would allow her to spend time dining out with friends and her partner, pay for her ideal home, and have exotic holidays. All of which she wouldn't be able to afford if she worked for someone else.
Reality Check
Unfortunately the reality of her life was quite different to the one outlined above. She was working long days 5 days a week and every Saturday. She then had to stay late to complete the back office activities and come in early to clean the salon. She felt rushed between clients so didn't pamper them as much as she would have liked. She was exhausted when she went home so didn't want to go out with her partner and friends and she didn't have enough money to go on holidays as she was just about breaking even with the business.
Wow - based on that you would feel like jacking it all in and getting a full time paid job wouldn't you. But let's not forget the following points:
- She wouldn't earn as much as she would like as a full time employee in her line of business
- She couldn't easily pick and choose her hours of work as an employee
- She wouldn't necessarily be able to decide how she was going to surprise and delight her clients
- She wouldn't be her own boss - she would have to take order from someone else
What needs to change and how?
I asked her the question "What could you start doing today to make sure your business fitted in with your vision and the life style you want" We worked through her answer and here are just a few of the changes she made over a 6 month period:
I asked her the question "What could you start doing today to make sure your business fitted in with your vision and the life style you want" We worked through her answer and here are just a few of the changes she made over a 6 month period:
- Halved her rent by moving to new premises
- Moved premises with more treatment room
- Employed two members of staff
- Struck out times in her diary so she worked when she wanted to work
- Outsourced her marketing and finance
- Had more energy due to working less hours
- Made more time for her partner and friends
- Booked an exotic holiday
Within just 6 months she made her business fit in with her lifestyle.
Making your business fit your life goal is simple
It really is easy to do if you ask two simple questions:
- What do I want my life to look like, feel like, sound like?
- How can my business fit into my life style?
Wishing you much success
Leanne Flower
Founder of Like Minded Women