Your Business Growth
received an email from one of our readers recently. It was awesome. I love hearing from the community, not only when they share their praise, but especially when they’re generous in sharing about their lives. This woman was open enough to divulge one of her biggest fears in starting her own business, one that is totally legitimate. She told me, “Gina, it’s not that I’m afraid I won’t make enough money…it’s that I’m worried I’ll end up stuck at home, chained to my laptop 24/7!”
Ahh yes…how quickly the #girlboss becomes the digital slave when not set up properly. Nobody really wants to be chained to a laptop, yet most of us are guilty to even admit that. After all, we’ve been trained to think you have to work really, really hard to get anywhere in life. Why should we be the exception? That’s only for celebrities and trust fund babies, right?
Look—here at Divine Living, we feel you. You are a human, and you deserve not only a great career, but an amazing social life, a healthy body and the freedom of choice. And we know that when many women go into business, they can easily fall into a work-work-work mode that spirals into burnout (or the mundane realization that you can’t remember the last time you went out and had a fabulous time with girlfriends). The good news is that instead of just relying on your default mode, you can intentionally design your business to provide for the lifestyle you desire.
With the holidays coming up, I wanted to talk about this question with those of you who have handed yourselves a to-do list so long you plan on working straight through December 31st. Don’t do this to yourselves! I know it can be stressful, but as it’s not yet halfway through December, you still have time to set yourself up for some time off this season. And seriously, I’ve seen women at every income bracket try to tell me there’s not enough time or money—in almost every case, it’s a myth!
To help you all take the time you so deserve to be present with your friends and family, as well as for personal reflection and relaxation, I’ve put together a little holiday edition of my best tips for how the smart woman entrepreneur goes unplugged, without sending her business into winter hibernation.
Okay, so the first step here is to do a little math. We cover this in module one of the Divine Living Academy. Every woman customizes a business model designed around how much money she desires to bring in, and what her ideal programs and products are. Hopefully, you already have something like this going, so when it comes to the holidays, ask yourself: how much do I need to bring in this month to earn myself 3 days off? 5 days off? 7 days off? Whatever you feel you can swing. Maybe you fully unplug for 2 days (or 2 weeks), and you mix in some 2-hour check in days, a session or two. Then, ask the right questions: how can you bring in that money? What can you pre-sell for next month? What info-product can you create this weekend that you can be selling? What special holiday one-day intensive can you offer for the final week of the year? The possibilities are limitless!
Maybe you don’t actually need any additional money right now. Perhaps all you need is to be growing your list and engaging with your people, so that your community is still active when you launch your next program in January. If that is the case, it’s time to automate everything you can. Sit down, craft and schedule social media posts for the whole month using a tool like Edgar. Spruce up the squeeze page for your list, move the opt-in front and center on your website, offer a new piece of freebie content, and write some solo mailers. When you get all of this work done in advance, you should be able to simply check back in and follow up on feedback here and there, rather than being chained to your laptop. While growing your list, you may also be pre-selling a program that starts next month or a product, and directing all your automated marketing toward the purchase page. Either way, I always tell my clients: you don’t always have to be working on your business, but somebody or something does.
Maybe your business is in full-motion fabulous, and what’s really stressing you out right now is all those meals you have to cook, those gifts you need to buy, and the outfits you should really go pick up from the dry cleaner. Don’t be afraid to get some support, even if you don’t think you need it year-round. Before I had a full time personal assistant I often hired a freelance PA during the holidays and believe me there are plenty of great people out there looking for temporary work who can support you for a few weeks. So if your do-to list is heavy on things that someone else can do, don’t hesitate to delegate. Sometimes crossing off just a few big to-dos makes all the difference. And that applies to not only your personal chores, but your business. Could a virtual assistant who handles customer service, payment processing and marketing management be the key to your freedom? Hire one for two weeks and see what happens! You might find the extra support is actually something you’ll want to invest in come 2017.
