Are You Prioritizing Yourself Within Your Business?
As a small business owner, your well-being directly impacts your business's success.
For example, if you’ve ever flown you’ve probably heard them say, “If the oxygen masks are needed please put your mask on before your child.”
At first, the thought seems wild, what? Not save my child?
Well, if you put your kid's mask on and you don’t get yours on in time…you get the point….
Let’s exit the plane and step into your business.
This came from a convo between a good friend (and business owner) and me the other day.
As a business owner are you putting on your oxygen mask first or are you possibly putting it on your customer or employee?
You know I love examples so here we go….
Signs you're giving your mask away:
You keep your prices low so that you’re able to help those who wouldn’t be able to afford you. You know they need the help…you especially feel bad for them and are so kind and generous and want to help
You’re not holding your employees accountable. You avoid delegating tasks to employees because it seems easier to do them yourself, but this adds to your workload.
You’re not assigning your VA as many items as you could because “you feel bad”. They’re fielding your email or creating templates and you “should” be able to do them.
You compromise admin time for client meetings. Not just any client, but ones that have before shown they don’t appreciate your time and they’re going to be a pain in the ass {again}
Did any of these hit? Some may have come from personal experiences and some from previous clients.
Let’s dig in….
Pricing:
You’re really freaking good at what you do. Because of that, you’ve been able to raise your prices. With raising your prices, some people are not going to be able to afford your services, which can sometimes be a sucky feeling. You know they need it, they would appreciate it, and benefit from it.
Because of this feeling, you keep your prices low, so you accommodate (I see your heart, I truly do). BUT, because of this, you may have to take on more clients than you can manage because your income is barely covering your expenses. With that workload, you’re working later than you want. You’re running at max mental capacity and your creative side is not getting the space it needs to recharge.
What if you raised your prices to match the value you offer and are in line with the competition? This could allow you to take on fewer clients while making the same if not MORE money. Fewer clients {potentially} means fewer late-night work sessions. Fewer late-night sessions could allow for more creative time.
AND making more money and having more time could allow you to offer a scholarship to a business that needs the help but doesn’t have the funds. And maybe not going through the steps of the scholarship, but simply discounting your prices.
Let’s just touch on the fact {most} of the time the clients who pay in full without any hesitation appreciate you as the expert and are not a pain and won’t nickel and dime you.
AND let’s talk about how if you are making more money there’s an opportunity to hire out some tasks.
How does that land?
Employees:
You have employees you are paying to perform tasks, but you feel bad for having them do said tasks.
Friend, you’re paying them with real money. They agreed to do the tasks. They’re there TO DO the tasks.
You have someone who works at the front desk. They were hired to do cleaning tasks, check people in, set up new clients, and keep up with inventory. You constantly see that the cleaning is not done correctly. You take inventory because they haven’t done it the right way and both of those are just easier for you to do because you’re already running late/behind so it just seems easier.
BUT you’re also stressed out because you have financials to run and a marketing strategy to create.
In no way am I minimizing these tasks or the admin role. These help make a customer experience what it can be, so they are very important and valuable.
What if you slowed down and looked at your training procedures? What if you looked at your training checklist? What if you took the time and energy to make sure all the steps are clear and each employee is trained to do these things how you do them? AND you implemented a checklist for them to follow?
Imagine walking into a clean office, updated inventory sheet, and well-trained employees handling tasks efficiently, allowing you to focus on growth. OR knowing you can not come in one day a week and do whatever you want with that time {gasp!}.
How does that land?
I’m not going to sit here and say this is easy to do. It’s actually not.
Why?
Because what I’ve found is that these tendencies are because of a lack of something. Typically, it’s around us not being deserving of this. Or we’re worth the help or the higher price. Or we’re worth the ease {helllllo!}.
As business owners, we can really benefit from seeing the value of ourselves. We have to put on our masks first. If not, you’re more likely to burn out. If your goal is to grow (even just a little bit) and sustain that growth you have to see that you deserve help and you deserve to charge what you’re worth.
You didn’t start your business to continuously run yourself ragged. If you feel like you’re in one of these scenarios, let’s talk. Let’s pull apart the necessary parts of your business that are causing these and put them back together in a sustainable way.
You talk, I listen.
You talk, I create an action plan.
And I’m also going to hype you up to help you see your worth and that doesn’t cost any extra 💕