Why You Lose Control In Your Business

Surprise! My first ever all text blog post. It’s a surprise to me also because I didn’t expect to be writing it, but you’re about to hear all about why I am. Let’s talk about what to do when you feel like you are loosing control of your business.

So as some of you may know I officially “started” my business earlier this year at the beginning of 2015. Things had been pretty steady for a while and then this summer they sort of “exploded”. I booked many possibly too many clients at once because I thought that would be the best thing to do to get my business to full time faster. Well I was wrong, it was super overwhelming and definitely something I don’t recommend. I was left this weekend playing major catch-up, completely behind schedule on all of my content. And when it came down to it, getting work back to a client was a lot more important than making a video (which takes a tons of time). So as I sit here at one-o-clock in the morning writing you a blog post instead of making a video, I wanted to share with you what to do when you feel like your business starts running you.

 

PRIORITIZE

When things got so backed up this last week I knew I had to make a tough decision.  What was I going to sacrifice?  Creating a video or being late on returning a client their work.  While I love my audience and followers and do not want to disappoint them I had to make the tough call of not making a video.  I could not be late on a paying client’s job.  When it come’s to prioritizing I always suggest thinking about 1 – What is going to bring in money? and 2 – What is going to make the biggest impact?  Using those two questions will really help you when making a decision.

STOP & REGROUP

Once I finish up with the majority of clients I am working with right now I am going to take a step back and regroup.  While going through this crazy busy summer I have noticed that there are a lot of systems I need to implement.  As well as work I want to have done ahead of time. & New services & packages I want to create.  So when things get really crazy for you don’t let them stay crazy.  Take a step back and make time for adjusting things in a way that you can handle and have full control of.  This is your business, you get to make the rules and make the decisions.  You should never feel like you are overwhelmed or playing catch-up.  So stop and take control!

SCHEDULE

If it’s not scheduled it’s not real!  Make a schedule and stick to it! Honor it and follow it, it will make your life easier!  With a strict schedule you will be able to know how many clients you can take on.  What you actually have time for and what you need to make time for.  Literally make it a habit to write down every single task that you need to do and get it in your schedule!

PLAN AHEAD & FOR THE UNEXPECTED

Plan as far ahead as you can when you have the time to do so and always have backups or a plan B.  You may not be able to plan ahead for everything but there are certainly some things that you can plan ahead for that don’t change too much.  Such as your content.  You can have your blogs, and social media post planned far in advance.  If you batch your writing meaning doing most of it in one day and then using that writing to post throughout the month, then you will rarely be overwhelmed with keeping up with your content if client work gets too busy.  This will also allow you to plan for the unexpected.  If you get sick or if there is a family emergency you have that content stored up and ready so you won’t have to worry about it.  I would even think about going as far as having an emergency template email ready.  So if it does ever happen you can quickly send it out to current clients or just put it up as your autoresponder.

DON’T BE TOO HARD ON YOURSELF

We are human.  We get caught up, work gets piled up, and we get overwhelmed.  Something I say a lot to my friends & family when they get dramatic about things is that “it’s never that serious”.  Unless something is a life or death situation let’s be real, it’s not that serious.  So relax.  Take this as a lesson (like I am)  and do what you have to do to change it!

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Have you ever felt like you were loosing control of your business?  What did you do to get control back?  I would love to know in the comments below!