Categories
Entrepreneurship

Balance and Boundaries Equal Freedom When Running a Business

Here’s something that no one tells you when you go into business for yourself and that no one who DOESN’T go into business for themselves can even comprehend:

Balance and boundaries are not luxuries; they’re necessities.

Entrepreneurs can build businesses that either serve or enslave them. If you’ve started your own business and have been run ragged by all the things you felt you had to do to accommodate clients, you’re not alone. When just starting out, most people are willing to do just about anything to get the proverbial ball rolling.

Spoiler alert: This is not sustainable. No one can keep up such a rigorous pace forever. You need time to rest and cultivate clarity and balance.

What’s more, as your business grows and the details of your life bloom, it becomes absolutely impossible. Do you remember being in your 20s and actually having extra time when you had nothing to do? Blank space on your calendar?

If you own your own business, chances are those days are gone. When you grow as a person, so does your capacity. What doesn’t change is the number of hours on any given day.

So how can you find blank space on your calendar now? The secret is balance and boundaries, and here’s how you can get started being less busy and enjoying some much-needed free time.

Tips for Finding Balance and Setting Boundaries

Chances are, if you’re a business owner—especially a new one—you’re thinking there’s absolutely no way you can set boundaries with people. After all, you’re trying to get business. You need to be everything to everyone, right?

This statement isn’t only false, but will land you in hot water when you experience burnout after a few months or years of doing this. Get started setting those boundaries by taking the following steps:

1. Identify tasks you can delegate to others.

These may be customer service and sales-related tasks, among others, so you can focus on big-picture business development. Pro tip: you can even automate tasks!

2. Audit the relationships in your life.

If anyone—a client, a team member, a sibling, a neighbor—is eating up all of your energy or time, they have to go. It sounds harsh and we’re certainly not suggesting a Tony-Soprano-style “gotta go”, but if you want to change what you attract and accept in your life, you need business boundaries and life balance. 

3. Remember that you are not obligated to help everyone.

Of course you’re trying to start a business, get clients, and be successful. But doing all of these things doesn’t mean bending over backwards for people. It means choosing your clients carefully and referring out the ones that aren’t a good fit for you.

So where do you lack boundaries? Where do you feel off-balance? We all struggle to maintain the right balance in our business and personal lives sometimes. 

If this philosophy resonates with you, you’re not alone. So many others have come to realize that balance and boundaries are necessary to have freedom when running a business.

That’s why we started the Facebook group Get More Clients (You Love). We keep it real. We believe in real connections without people sucking energy from other people, and no BS. If all of that works for you, then we’ll see you in the group!

Categories
Entrepreneurship

3 Ways to Shift Your Mindset and Get Out of Survival Mode So Your Business Can Flourish

Making a mindset shift from survival mode to moving your business forward is imperative for your growth. Staying in survival mode isn’t sustainable, and it won’t help your business evolve and flourish.

When running a business, focusing on your survival should be a last resort, not a permanent mindset. Of course, our current times have made focusing on anything other than survival feel like a luxury. But it isn’t.

How Does Survival Mode Hurt Your Growth?

Survival mode, when not fully necessary, is actually really wasteful. You waste time, energy, and money. You don’t move forward. You don’t enjoy your time. You don’t truly live, you survive. It’s accepting crackers when life’s buffet is still available.

Survival mode is an absolute trap designed to keep you small.

It’s true: thousands of businesses go under every year. Maybe you feel like you’re in a place where you can’t focus on anything other than survival. Isn’t it insensitive at best, and reckless at worst, to tell you to get out of survival mode?

Your mindset dictates your behavior. It’s not your fault that bad things happen in life. It’s not your fault that the pandemic happened or that the market need shifted and your business took a hit. It really isn’t your fault at all. 

That said, it is 100% your responsibility to move forward and that WILL require a different way of looking at your situation.

So How Can You Get Out of It?

What are the three key mindset shifts you can use to get out of survival mode? These are truly challenging and go deeper than the “look on the bright side” state of mind!

Mindset Shift #1: Seek Constructive Criticism, Not Praise

This transition can be one of the most humbling and the most profound. The praise-seeking mindset can be extremely limiting.

Instead, try to see criticism as a window into where you may want to improve. Criticism is the fuel to greatness. Praise alone makes us soft. Seek out improvement, not abatement. 

“Why waste time proving over and over how great you are, when you could be getting better?” – Dr. Carol S. Dweck

Mindset Shift #2: Be Intentional, but Like, for Real

“Be intentional” is a pretty typical mindset catch-all phrase, so let’s break this one down so you can see how it can work out in real life. 

Survival mode often makes us anxious and reactive. Many of us, especially those who provide a service to our clients, are taught to always anticipate the needs of our clients. This mindset is exhausting and often leads to meltdowns when something goes wrong.

Even though you may have survived these mindsets and situations, this isn’t you living your best life or being the person you want to be. And maintaining this mindset isn’t going to help your business get better.

Instead, try to be proactive in your business endeavors and, wait for it… wait for it still… respond.

  • Put small amounts of money away in a savings account for when bumps (or global pandemics) come along. Be proactive. 
  • Organize your offerings by profit margin. Wide profit margin offerings require the lowest investment from you (usually). Knowing which offerings require less from you, but still turn a profit, can help you figure out how to move forward when things get tough. Again, this is being proactive in a healthy way.

When you get in the practice of being intentional about running your business and your life, you give yourself space to not freak out.

Mindset Shift #3: Confidence Is a Muscle, Not a Birthright

Confidence is not a personality trait. No one gets off this planet without moments of doubt and fear. Recognizing that discomfort is not the same as danger is an absolutely critical mindset shift.

Being nervous is not a reason to avoid a challenge. In fact, it’s a cue to try it. Confident people are not fearless people. Bravery and confidence do not exist without fear. Confident people acknowledge the fear, and rather than withdraw, they prepare. This is the ticket.

The moment you realize that thoughts and emotions are not actually facts, but rather interpretations of stimuli and, more than that, your thoughts are within your control, you’ll realize that confidence is something you can build within yourself.

It changes the game!

There are other mindset shifts, but these three are especially important for business owners and stepping into the next iteration of the life you’re creating. Mindset shifts can come gradually or can flip like a switch. Recognizing the need for the shift is the first step. For everything.

Let Us Help You Shift Your Mindset

At GoBeyond SEO, we know just how important it is to be proactive and have the right mindset when it comes to your business. Let us help you shift your mindset and get out of survival mode so your business can flourish—book a free strategy session with us today!

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Kristy is an Assistant & Coordinator of Awesome. She has worked extensively in academic administration and brings a varied wealth of knowledge. As a self-starter, she is ready to take on news projects and see them through to completion. Always curious, Kristy is an avid researcher and delights in the challenge of learning new skills.

When Kristy isn’t organizing or researching something, you can find her listening to a true crime podcast, re-watching How I Met Your Mother or The Big Bang Theory and coming up with some crazy shenanigan for her family’s next adventure.

5 INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT KRISTY

  1. Kristy prefers the Harry Potter books over the movies. Her favorite book is The Prisoner of Azkaban and her favorite character is Luna Lovegood. Ravenclaw house. She just started her 8-year-old son on listening to the books.
  2. Kristy has a nail technician license, esthetician license, medical assisting certification, associate degree, and bachelor’s degree. She didn’t get her full cosmetology license because she can barely do her own hair, she shouldn’t be trusted with someone else’s.
  3. She doesn’t know how to gamble but is originally from Las Vegas, Nevada. She moved to Colorado three months before her 21st birthday.
  4. Her high school graduating class consisted of only 20 people.
  5. Kristy loves gift giving. One of her great joys in life is finding the “perfect” gift.
Kristy Elias