Boss up
If there is anything I can tell you is most important to success as a business woman, it’s boundaries. In fact, the more boundaries I set, the more clear the direction of my business and my own feeling about it is. There is something powerful that happens when you get clear on your boundaries.
We are always learning. I am always learning. I employ people in my business and I love sharing the wealth by asking others to do work with me. Also in that process I’ve learned a lot about boundaries. I’ve learned that the more unclear I am about my vision, someone else will not be able to see or execute what I want to do. I also have learned that if someone is not a self-starter, they are not a good match for me. How did I find this out? By employing people who were not the right match for my business. So even something that doesn’t work is great material to hire better next time.
I am an understanding person and I get that people have lives and it doesn’t include my business taking up 100% of it. I find the more flexible I am though, the more I can sometimes be seen as a pushover. I’ve discovered that through the experiences, the clearer I am about goals and expectations as well as a timeline of what I want to accomplish by a certain time, the more I actually get what I want. WOW, isn’t that a novel idea?!?!
So what are my recommendations to you if you decide to hire someone to support you in your business?
Make a goal and give measures and “done by” dates. For example, lets say that you want to build a mailing list and need help….. Be specific. List outcome and go over steps with your support hired staff and think about what needs to be done and by when. So if you want to build your mailing list some of the goals might be to pick a program to organize and create your list. You might want to say how many posts you will create a week and how many times your support will post them. A good support will brainstorm with you a process to hold you and them accountable. You might even set goals to how many people you would like to join a week and some ideas of how to find those people.
Let your support know that you will increase their role when the work they are doing increases your sales. If you do better, they do too. I often start support at an entry rate and agree to increase it if their progress is good. So if they get the number of people on your mailing list that you hoped for or created social media posts that drew a lot of attention, reward them! If you can’t reward with money, be creative about other ways to reward them. This will always motivate your team to better support you and they will know what you want. A win-win.
A job description is so important. As you start to notice the support you need or the ish that you just don’t like doing and want to hand over to someone else (hello, house cleaning!!!), make a clear list of everything you want and how will you measure the progress? My cleaning support will get a bigger tip if they spent a lot of time scrubbing the counters but if they forget the trash, I will remind them and maybe not give an extra to the tip. But don’t just not give the tip and not let them know what it is where they fell short. When people know, they can do better. And you get to practice boundaries,
Boundaries with clients:
Have contracts and enforce them. Not going to stick to your cancellation policy? Why do you have one then? If you have the rule either totally stick to it or don’t. It is very confusing to a client if they have been able to skip out on therapy a handful of times and not be charged and one day you decide to start to enforce. It is awkward and unnecessary, so follow your rules or don’t have them!
Don’t want to be available after hours that you spend providing therapy? Don’t take on clients who will need to see you or have access to you at all hours. Set you and them up for success.
Only work with ideal clients. If you have a feeling that a client is not going to be ideal, trust your instinct. Make another therapist’s day who loves that type of client and give them a referral. I love spreading the wealth. You are not giving away business, you are creating a space for your ideal client to come, and they WILL!
I really hope this is helpful to you. Please ask for help if you need it!
