It’s the most wonderful time of the year. It’s beginning to look a lot like the holidays, toys in ev’ry store. There’ll be parties for hosting, marshmallows for toasting, and carolling out in the snow. But the prettiest sight to see is a full appointment schedule!

After all the chaos and restrictions during the last two years, it’s most likely going to be a very busy and active social season. There are going to be get-togethers with friends and family and all the people who haven’t seen each other in a long time will be getting together. For those in the health and beauty industry, that should result in a very busy time of year!

When you haven’t seen anyone for a long time, appearance is going to be a priority. From hair to makeup to aesthetic services, we all want to look our best. All the demands of this time will also result in additional stress which is going to result in the need for paramedical services such as massage, physio, and chiropractic to loosen those tense muscles.

To add another level of complexity, communication methods have changed and small businesses are expected to adapt to these changes without the same budget as the big businesses.  Thankfully there’s some good news: online scheduling software! If you’re looking to successfully navigate the holiday rush, Bookedin might just be the perfect solution. How you ask? Let us tell you.

Timely Appointment Scheduling

If you run a service-orientated business, handling all the calls and email can become overwhelming and affect your ability to manage your business. With Bookedin scheduling, customers can schedule appointments themselves without tying up your time. You can customize the system to work the way that you do, by allowing appointments to be scheduled within real-time open slots and around set vacation hours, holidays, and company meetings.

Handle Overflow & Increased Demand

Based on the scenarios outlined above, you can bet a record number of customers are going to be hitting your site this season. In a customer service-based industry, you know that results in questions and concerns which need to be addressed quickly before they appear online. Bad news becomes public so much faster than good news which is why you need to respond quickly. Bookedin helps keep track of customers’ needs ensuring no one falls through the cracks.

Celebrate

Whether you’re looking to save time, increase appointments, or simply impress your clients, Bookedin’s got you covered. Join our award-winning platform today! Once you’re set up, it’s time to deck the halls with boughs of holly, fa la la la la, la la la la. Remember, tis the season to be jolly!

Has it been weeks since you last talked to your mom? A month since you last spent quality time with your partner? Are you worried that Captain Hook might be turning your son against you?

If so, you may be suffering from out of skew work-life balance! And, in keeping with the drug commercial vibe of this intro, we’ve got the prescription to help you spend more time with your family.

*Please note: it is unlikely that more cowbell will increase time with your family.

Unlike a drug commercial, however, our cure isn’t a one-size-fits-all miracle pill. We’re going to level with you. This is going to take some effort – the payoff, though? So worth it!

There is no perfect work-life balance

Let’s get something out of the way – in the same way that there’s no magic pill to give you more time in your day, there’s no way to strike a perfect balance between time at work and time with your family.

Some days, you’ll work more. Some days, you’ll spend more time with your family. It’s about balancing those two priorities over time, rather than only over the course of a day.

#1: Set goals and priorities

Setting work goals is simple enough: you can use KPIs, individual tasks you have to complete, or a whole whack of other metrics to figure out what’s most important to accomplish and get at it.

It can be a bit more difficult to set goals regarding your family. Let’s be honest – most people don’t even schedule time with their family. Instead, family time is seen as a given. That’s why it’s so easy to lose balance – you’re setting goals and scheduling your work, but not your family time.

Change that. Decide how much time you want to spend with your family, what that quality time will look like, and when you’re going to schedule it. Put it in your calendar.

#2: Let little things go so you can make big things happen

There’s a great quote from productivity guru, Tim Ferris: “Do not work more to fix overwhelm. Prioritize. Define the single most important task for each day. Let small bad things happen to get the big important things done. Define the few things that can really fundamentally change your biz/life. If you don’t have time, the truth is – you don’t have priorities.”

Sometimes, the single most important task in your day will be finishing a work project. Other times, it will be attending your child’s baseball game or school play. Generic examples, I know, but they illustrate the point.

*Hopefully the school play is as…interesting as this one.

You might not get everything you want to get done at work done – but if you leave a little work behind in order to spend time with your family, that’s okay. Don’t beat yourself up about it – you’re only human, and you only have so much time in the day.

#3: Communicate your needs

Whether you’re talking to your partner or you’re talking to your team at work, you need to let them know what’s going on in your life. Sometimes, you need a bit of time scheduled away from work to spend with your family. Sometimes, (sadly), you’ll need a bit of time away from your family to get work done.

Again, it’s not about finding a perfect balance each day – it’s about finding the right balance for you, over time. Your friends, family, and co-workers can only accommodate your needs if they know about them. Communication is key to any relationship, and if you want to find the right balance, you’re going to need to talk about it.

#4: Automate mundane tasks

One way you can increase the amount of time you spend with your family is by decreasing the amount of time you spend at work.

That’s the dream, but how do you do it?

Automation is the key. You can outsource a number of your tasks to software, from appointment booking softwares like Bookedin, to consolidating all of your office communications on a platform like Slack.

You can even automate answering emails by hiring virtual office assistants. You want to direct all of your time and energy to the important stuff, so if you can hire virtual assistants to take care of the more mundane things while still making a profit, do it.

#5: Hire more staff

Some things, of course, can’t be done easily with virtual staff. A lot of business owners handle everything on their own – the scheduling, the accounting, the programming, the customer service – and that can leave you with basically zero time to spend with your family.

I understand this mentality – you want to put everything into your business to make it the best it can be. You’ve got to be careful, though; if you pour so much of yourself into your business that you have no time left for other people, you might end up like this guy:

Obviously, that’s not where you want to be (though it might be fun to have ghosts visit you with moralistic messaging).

#6: Prioritize your health

If you’re not healthy, you’re going to find you don’t have time to do the things you want to at work or with your family. You need to prioritize your health above all else. It’s like you’ll always hear on an airline – you’ve got to put your mask on before putting anyone else’s mask on.

You need oxygen.

Taking care of your health doesn’t just mean your physical health – you need to take care of your mental, spiritual, and emotional health too. That means that leaving work aside and spending time with your family can actually supercharge you to work better when you get back to it – you’ll be mentally and emotionally revitalized.

#7: Schedule time with your family

We’ve already touched on this, but the point is so important that it’s worth making a whole section about it.

Scheduling time with your family is, in some cases, as complex as scheduling meetings with your co-workers. You need to know their schedules and your schedule, and you all need to agree on a time when you can get together and do things. It can be helpful to get a family Google Calendar going so you know exactly when your family members are busy, and when they’re free.

You might also benefit from putting important dates like birthdays and anniversaries in your calendar. There are things in life that are more important than work – if you’re reminded of them well in advance, it’s that much easier to plan for them.

#8: Take a vacation

Taking a vacation isn’t always easy – you have to find the time to schedule it, and trust that your team will be able to manage things until you get back.

You deserve it. Your family deserves it. Put that trust in your team, and live the good life for a bit.

We’ve talked about how important it is to take care of your health – a vacation is a great way of taking care of yourself. It’s also an amazing way to have carefree, quality time with your family.

A word of advice – leave a couple days off when you’re back from your vacation so you can get back into the swing of things gradually. Going from tropical paradise to paperwork in the overly air conditioned office within a 24 hour period can be stressful.

#9: Unplug

“I’ve just got to check my email” becomes “I have to take care of this”. “I just have to check my Slack” becomes “I’m going to be late for dinner”. When you’re constantly plugged in, you’re constantly reminded of the work you have to do. Soon enough, you’re looking like this:

You need to unplug. There’s always more work to do, just like there’s always more time you could be spending with your family. When you’re too focused on how you’re not doing one, you won’t be able to fully enjoy the other. Take a break from your screen. You might even set “no screen” hours, where you’re away from your phone or computer entirely, simply enjoying quality time with your family.

#10: Set boundaries

You need time to yourself, and time with your family. You can use scheduled lunches to spend an hour with your partner, and use breaks to get on a call with your kids.

That is, if you’re firm that you need to be left to your own devices on your breaks.

There can be a lot of schedule bleed in some workplaces – you might have a scheduled break or lunch, but your work starts to bleed into your “you” time. You then have to schedule your lunch or break later, throwing off your routine, and making it more difficult to spend quality time with your family.

When you need to, be firm about your break and lunch time. Obviously, there will be some days when schedule bleed is inevitable, but these should be the exception, not the rule.

You might not be able to use all of these techniques to make family time, but even using some of them should let you find ways of being with the ones you love the most. You know what’s important to you – prioritize it, and you’ll find the time.

Do you ever feel overwhelmed? How about stressed, busy, and overworked? If you own a service-based business, the answer is probably something like “Yes… All. The. Time.”

We feel ya! Work-life balance is tough to achieve. It’s also slippery: as soon as you think you’ve got this whole be-an-entrepreneur-without-killing-myself thing down, something happens and you’re back at square one wondering where the time went.

It doesn’t help that countless TV shows and Instagram posts make owning a business seem like a cakewalk. In fact, it’s enough to give anyone a serious case of imposter syndrome.

But what if we told you that a balanced life was possible. Better yet, what if we actually showed you how to balance work and life using practical tips and strategies that *anyone* can implement? Would you be interested?

Keep reading to learn everything you need to know about bringing balance to your life so that you can quit stressing and start living again. Let’s do this!

What is work-life balance?

First things first, let’s start with a definition:

Work-life balance happens when one’s professional responsibilities exist in perfect harmony with one’s personal life. Neither is given priority over the other; both work and play are equal.

Sounds great, doesn’t it?

Imagine *not* rushing out the door at 6:30am, spilling hot coffee on your hands, and wondering why in the world you scheduled an appointment for so early in the morning.

Or *not* running the day’s numbers at midnight because you were booked up until 9:00pm and still had to pick up dinner, help your kids with their homework, and spend time with your significant other who you haven’t seen in… wait, how long’s it been?… before slamming your nose back on the ol’ grindstone.

For many small business owners, living a balanced life seems like a pipedream. We’re here to tell you it’s not. By making a few important changes, you can find harmony between the demands of your chosen career and your personal life.

The benefits of better time management for business

You shouldn’t have to wrack your brain to pinpoint the benefits of better time management for business. Work-life balance is clearly helpful because it leads to:

Greater happiness

You’ve heard the saying, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” It may be totally cliche at this point, but that’s only because it’s totally true.

If all you ever do is work, you’ll become both bored and boring, neither of which is ideal. But learn how to balance work and life and you’ll become happier. This is because social interaction is one of the biggest predictors of happiness. A well-balanced life makes time for personal relationships, which studies prove are intimately connected to feelings of joy.

Better health

Can’t kick the stress? Seem to catch the sniffles (or worse) more often than your friends? Experienced a serious health scare in recent months? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, there’s a good chance your work-life balance is off.

Achieving equilibrium between your career and your personal life can be super beneficial to your physical and mental wellbeing.

Total freedom!

We’re going to go out on a limb here and say you didn’t start your own business to feel *more* stressed, deal with health issues, and have zero free time. The opposite is probably true.

Unfortunately, you took a wrong turn somewhere along the way. But that doesn’t mean those benefits aren’t still out there waiting for you.

Proper work-life balance leads to total freedom — freedom to do what you love and be well-compensated for it. To achieve the kind of lifestyle you’ve always dreamed about. And to spend more time with the people and activities you care most about.

The perils of an unbalanced life

If learning how to balance work and life has benefits, it stands to reason that *not* balancing them has consequences. Unfortunately, in this instance, the consequences are serious…

Burnout

“Burnout” has become a popular term in recent years. But it’s actually pretty misunderstood — or worse, seen as an excuse for low enthusiasm and/or shoddy work. The truth is, burnout is very, very real, but *not* the sudden avalanche of negative feelings that many believe it to be.

According to Sherrie Bourg Carter, Psy.D, burnout is a state of chronic stress that leads to:

• Physical and emotional exhaustion
• Cynicism and detachment, and
• Feelings of ineffectiveness

Burnout is often caused by working long hours, dealing with unrealistic client expectations, and being connected 24/7, among other things. Hmmm… definitely sounds like a lack of work-life balance is a leading cause of this malady, doesn’t it?

Poor health

When your work becomes your life, your health suffers. A recent study by UCL found that working 3+ extra hours per day causes a 60% increase in heart-related problems.

Even if your work-heavy schedule doesn’t hurt your ticker, it can still create unnecessary stress and emotional exhaustion. And who wants to live like that? Learn how to balance your work and life instead. (Don’t worry, we’ll show you how in the next section.)

Broken relationships

An unbalanced life can also lead to broken relationships. Hard evidence of this is, admittedly, tricky to pin down. But informal research does suggest that entrepreneurs experienced failed marriages more often than traditionally employed folks.

It makes sense when you think about it…

Solid relationships take effort to build and maintain. If your busy work schedule keeps you away from your friends and family — or preoccupies your brain so you’re never present, even when you are around them — your relationships will suffer.

Now, we’re not trying to put a damper on your day — promise! We simply want you to realize the consequences of an imbalance. Thankfully, there are plenty of things you can do to prioritize your shop and your personal life in equal measure.

How to achieve work-life balance

The benefits of work-life balance, as well as the consequences for failing to achieve it, are clear. Now the question is, how to balance work and life?

If it were easy, you’d already be doing it. But it’s definitely not impossible. You just need to make a few changes. Implement a few of the tips below and you’ll begin to find equilibrium between the demands of your business and personal life.

1. Know thyself

Let’s start with the one thing in life you can actually control: YOU. To achieve greater work-life balance, look within and ask yourself, “What works best for me?”

For example, are you a morning bird or a night owl? Use online appointment scheduling software to plan your routine around the times you operate best. What kind of work do you enjoy doing most? Try to book more of those jobs/clients/sessions. Are there specific times of day that are completely off limits for business? Respect these times. (More on this below.)

The point is, you’ll never find the right balance in life until you understand what you want and need out of your career and personal time.

2. Set boundaries

You started your own shop because the normal 9-5 workday wasn’t for you. But if you’re not careful, 9-5 can easily become 24/7 and the benefits of being self-employed — i.e. happiness, health, and freedom — are lost. No bueno.

The key is to set hard and fast boundaries for yourself, and by extension, your business, that revolve around the things you value most in life. Because of this, only you can decide what boundaries to set, but here are a few ideas:

• I won’t book appointments after the kids get home from school.
• I’ll turn my phone off between 8:00pm and 7:00am.
• I’ll always have breakfast with my family before starting work.

While setting boundaries can be difficult, especially at first, they’ll empower you to choose yourself, teach others to respect you, and enable you to say “yes” to new and exciting opportunities that otherwise would have passed you by.

3. Build your oasis

True work-life balance is about enjoyment, not just spending an equal amount of time at work and at home. With this in mind, It’s important to create a working atmosphere that you like being in. An oasis that you’re psyched to go to every day.

Maybe this means investing in weird art to hang on your shop walls, or a mini fridge stocked with La Croix, or comfy furniture that feels like a vacation for your backside.

As an added bonus, the vibe you create in your shop can boost employee and customer satisfaction, too, which will help you put more money in the bank…

Which might enable you to take more time off of work…

Which could help you enjoy your job more…

Take some time to think about your work environment and how you can improve it. Then work to build your own oasis and work-life balance will be much easier to achieve.

4. Invest in online appointment scheduling

What’s the main reasons you struggle to balance work and personal responsibilities? If you said, “Because my phone constantly pings me with text, email, and calendar notifications,” you’re in good company.

Great news: an online appointment scheduling app can help!

Give your clients the chance to book appointments online at their own convenience. That way they don’t have to contact you to schedule a service. This simple thing will give you SO MUCH more freedom, while providing a better experience to each of your customers. Trust us, they’d rather book on their own terms than play telephone tag with you, too.

Do what many other independent service providers do and use online appointment scheduling software like Bookedin to achieve a balanced life and business.

5. Prioritize family time

Life is beautiful because we get to share it with amazing people. So sappy, but we bet your eyes are totally misting over right now. Know why? Because it’s true. So do yourself a favor and prioritize time with your loved ones.

For many small business owners, that means spending time with family on a regular basis. But if you don’t live near blood relatives, friends definitely count.

The time you spend with them will give you a chance to relax and take your mind off of your career. It will also remind you why you work so hard in the first place, re-energize you to continue growing your business, and, honestly, fill you with joy.

6. Learn to say no

Hate to break it to you, but you can’t be everything to everybody. Not possible, friend. But guess what — that’s fine!

Learning to say no is SO DIFFICULT for many people in the service industry because most of us are non-confrontational and we don’t want to let anyone down. Plus, “no thank you” often means “no money”. Or at least not as much money as you could have made.

But saying “yes” all the time will rarely (if ever) help you achieve proper work-life balance.

Instead of saying “yes” to every opportunity, learn to say “no” to anything that doesn’t fit the vision you have for your business, is bad for your health (mental and physical), or crosses the boundaries you’ve put in place.

Oh, and about the money…

Warren Buffet once said, “The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything.”
In other words, you won’t achieve everything you could by saying “yes” to every low-level task, job, and client that comes your way. Take it from one of the richest dudes ever, “No” is your ticket to a better business and life.

7. Develop personal rules

Better time management for business purposes is hard. So to help you achieve it, we suggest developing personal rules. Or, if you’re a rebel and hate the word “rules”, feel free to call them guidelines, regulations, ordinances… whatever floats your boat.

Here are a few rules that may prove beneficial to you:

• No laptops in bed: If there’s one place in the world that should be a work-free zone, it’s your bed. This is where you rest and rejuvenate. Keep it that way by banning your laptop from your king-size. While you’re at it, ditch your phone, too.
• Never skip lunch: If you’re a hustler, you might view your lunch break as a wasted opportunity. After all, if you booked a client during that time you could make more money. But, as it turns out, the human body needs food to function properly. Fuel yourself so you can better enjoy your work and reach peak performance.
• Make time to pee: You know what’s not fun? Working for 16 hours straight while your bladder threatens to explode. Make sure you schedule enough break time between client sessions to use the bathroom and take care of normal bodily functions.

Making rules is easy. Following rules? Much more difficult. If you hope to succeed in this area, you’ll probably have to amp up your self-discipline.

8. Take care of your body

Building a business is hard. Building one when your mind and body aren’t in tip-top shape is even harder. That’s why physical exercise and a healthy diet are so important.

Think about it this way, a Porsche 911 and a Volkswagen Beetle will both get you from San Francisco to New York. But one will get you there in style and at a top speed of 182 miles per hour. (Hint: it’s not the Volkswagen.)

It’s the same with your business. Nobody is saying you have to be a fitness model to build a successful shop. But regular exercise and healthy eating habits will boost your energy and productivity levels, which have obvious benefits for service professionals.

So make sure you get enough sleep at night, take time to move your body on a regular basis, and eat a salad every now and then. If you really want to prioritize your physical and mental health, try meditating for a few minutes each morning.

If you do these things, you’ll feel better and have a higher chance of achieving quality work-life balance.

9. Delegate when possible

As we’ve already discussed, achieving an acceptable work-life balance is a constant battle — one that many of us lose Over. And. Over. Again.

Fortunately, there’s an easy way to up your chances of success: delegate.

Delegation will keep you from answering emails while attending your kid’s soccer game. Or posting on Instagram while out for drinks with friends. Or losing sleep because you have to balance the books after a 12 hour shift at the shop.

You should look to delegate when you either don’t have time to do a job, or don’t have the skill set to do it well. Here’s how:

1. Be clear on the goal you’re trying to achieve.
2. Clarify the due date for each delegated task.
3. State the main do’s and don’ts of the project.
4. Schedule follow-up meetings to review progress.
5. Always keep the lines of communication open.

Whether you’re swamped with website or social media management tasks, bookkeeping duties, or something else, delegation could be the key to regaining balance in your life.

10. Ditch your phone

Technology is an incredible tool that allows you to manage and market your entire service business. It’s also a drug that knows how to reel you in and completely control your time.

Tristan Harris, the founder of HumaneTech.com and the Time Well Spent movement, says:

“Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Google have produced amazing products that have benefited the world enormously. But these companies are also caught in a zero-sum race for our finite attention, which they need to make money.”

Your phone is a direct line to the services that Harris mentions and it’s killing your balance.

So commit to turning your phone off for specific periods of the day, like when you’re at home and away from work. If turning off your phone is too much to ask, silence notifications instead. That way your attention isn’t constantly drawn to the supercomputer in your pocket.

11. Take the 80/20 rule to heart

The 80/20 rule, also known as the Pareto Principle, says that 80% of outcomes result from 20% of causes. In other words, most of the progress you make in your shop can be traced back to a few select actions.

“Cool,” you’re thinking, “But how does this relate to work-life balance?” Easy: better time management for business can be achieved by focusing on the 20% of things that really matter to the success of your entrepreneurial journey.

Here are a few ways to use the 80/20 rule:

•  Offer more expensive services so that you make more money in less time.
• Provide a wider variety of services so that customers return more often.
• Work with fewer, high-value customers rather than many, low-value ones. (Just to clarify, a high-value customer is one that spends a lot and returns often. They probably even refer their friends. A low-value customer doesn’t do any of these things.)

By implementing these ideas (and similar ones) you’ll be able to maintain, or even increase your revenue without working a ridiculous amount of hours. Thus achieving a happy work-life balance and preserving your sanity. Win!

12. Forget about multitasking

You’ve heard the news and read the studies: multitasking doesn’t work for human brains. It kills productivity, causes subpar results, and even makes you less intelligent because it teaches your brain to *not* focus on specific tasks.

But what’s the alternative? Single-tasking.

By focusing on just one (gasp!) task at a time, you’ll become less stressed, have less anxiety, and experience more happiness. You’ll also become more productive and creative — two essential traits for small business owners.

But single-tasking after you’ve spent a lifetime multitasking isn’t easy. To help, we suggest baby steps. For example, instead of cooking dinner, listening to music, and texting a friend, focus on *only* preparing a delicious meal to feast upon.

13. Analyze your efforts

Finally, it’s important to track your work-life balance efforts. Which of the tips above work best for you. Which don’t? How can you adjust your approach to better manage your work-related responsibilities and personal life?

Learning how to balance work and life is a never-ending process. You never fully achieve it, but you *can* teach yourself to find it on a regular basis.

The goal: work-life integration

Here’s the deal, for service business owners such as yourself, work-life balance really isn’t the goal. Weird statement since we just spent 3,000 words telling you why balance is so important, right?

In all honesty, true balance is impossible to find, especially for entrepreneurs. Life is messy, things don’t always go according to plan, and there are a million different tasks vying for your attention at. Every. Single. Moment.

Rather than trying to spend equal time at work and on your personal life, look to integrate the two. Work-life integration is the process of fitting all of your responsibilities into a custom schedule that allows you to find fulfillment in each aspect of your life.

Just remember that only YOU can determine what the right “balance” of everything is. Decide what’s most important to you. Then discover ways to fit them into your routine so that they work for you, your loved ones, and your goals.

Take control of your life

Perfect work-life balance is impossible to achieve…

Fortunately, work-life integration is both perfectly attainable and preferred. Once you learn how to simplify your business and prioritize the things that really matter, your stress levels will plummet and you’ll be happier, healthier, and FREE.

How about a little reader participation? Let us know in the comments what your favorite work-life balance tip from this article is and how you plan to implement it in your business.

When you started your business, you were probably thrilled the moment your first client walked in the door. For most, that’s when all of the groundwork you painstakingly laid out over months or even years starts to feel like it’s paying off.

Flash forward, and you find yourself inundated with clients. You’re booked months or even years in advance, and you’re not sure if you should start to raise prices through the roof just to scare some people off.

Don’t go there just yet. We have a lot of suggestions to help you remember your roots and keep your balance when business is suddenly booming. Don’t worry – we’ve got you.

Remember your roots

When you’re growing at a rapid pace, you’re inevitably going to come across bottlenecks. The rest of this article will help you address those bottlenecks, but you won’t be able to implement all of the suggestions we bring up at once.

So, how do you decide what to focus on?

Go back to your mission statement. Think about why you started your business. For many people reading this, that answer is service. You wanted to find ways to make your clients’ lives better – you love people, and you want to make them happy.

Keep your mission in mind, whatever it is. Whenever you’re automating a process, or finding new suppliers, or hiring new staff, ask yourself, “is doing this the best way to serve my mission?” From there, it should be easy to prioritize spending.

Create a framework for scaling

The end goal for most service-oriented businesses is simple – you want to be able to take on more clients while maintaining the same level of service you had when you were smaller.

That’s trickier than it might seem at first blush. Take, for example, a tattoo parlor. As a sole practitioner, you have complete control over the quality of tattoos your clients get. As you start adding more artists to your parlor, you need to:

• Purchase more equipment.
• Find the right artists.
• Ensure they’re meeting your standards.
• Add them to your accounting/payroll system.
• Adjust your insurance.
• Promote your new artists.
• Coordinate your schedules.

That’s just off the top of my head – and it’s just the tip of the iceberg. While your end goal is to take on more clients with the same level of care, getting there looks a bit like this:

That’s why it’s essential to plan everything out before making a move. Any lever you pull in a business is going to create cascading effects. Plan out best, average, and worst-case scenarios. Determine all the steps you’ll need to take to implement a decision well in advance of actually making the decision – sometimes, the Goldberg machine is too complex, and you’ll need to take a simpler route.

Get help

When you find your business is growing too quickly, it’s possible you’ll need professional help.

*Though hopefully not this kind of help.

Fortunately, business growth usually means you’ll have some cash to spend – re-investing in your own business is the best way to keep your growth sustainable. There are two kinds of help you might look at: day-to-day help and strategic help.

Day-to-day help

Day-to-day help is the type we described when the tattoo parlor hired a second artist – in a similar vein, a barbershop could hire a second barber, a mental health clinic could hire a second therapist – you get the idea.

This type of help can also include people who can assist you with administrative tasks – secretaries, receptionists, and the like. For places that aren’t quite big enough to hire a full-time administrative assistant, virtual assistants can be a boon – they’re less expensive to hire, and can fulfill many daily tasks, from scheduling to sorting through your emails.

You can “hire” software, too – it’s often much cheaper than hiring a person. Better yet, it can free up time for you and your staff. What you do with that time is up to you – work, play, whatever makes you happy. Bookedin can save you hours – we have a great quote from tattoo artist Russell McCabe that makes our hearts warm

“This software has given me peace of mind by allowing me to spend more time where the work is truly needed instead of behind the keyboard manually entering each and every appointment… so wonderful! This booking software gave me almost ¹/3 of my time back and it also made scheduling for my client’s way easier! It’s exceeded my expectations ten fold!”

Comments like that are why we got in this business – helping people is what we love to do.

Strategic help

Rapid business growth can feel a bit like this:

As excited as you might be to “feed the beast”, so to speak, it can also be pretty scary. Having experts on your team who have already dealt with giant carnivorous plants – I mean, rapid business growth – can be a huge asset.

Hiring consultants with proven track records will help you navigate the mystifying quagmire of legal, economic, and social ramifications of increasing your capacity to take on new clients. Accounting firms can help you get the most out of tax incentives. A legal team can help you avoid lawsuits. You won’t need to pay these professionals 40 hours a week, but creating those connections and meeting with them regularly can help you chart a course for your business.

Automate the repetitive stuff

We’re way past the days when Luddites would destroy textile factories because of automation – we’re nearing the stage of meta-automation, where automations automate automating (say that three times fast).

Every business has automated to a certain extent, even if it’s just an automated voice messaging system or Google automatically sorting through your emails.

What to automate

When looking for automations to help smooth out business growth, it’s important to keep certain principles in mind:

You can’t automate everything. Creativity, face-to-face interaction, things that require a lot of manual dexterity, and a whole host of other human-centric activities can’t be automated. Perhaps they will be one day, but not today.

There are no robots that account for fashion trends and your personal style and comfort when helping you choose a hairstyle. A computer with Microsoft Sam’s voice will never replace face-to-face interaction with a therapist. Some things are meant to be done by humans.

What you can automate are repetitive activities that are prone to human error:

Factory work is a great example of this type of automation. For service-based businesses, automation usually happens on the digital side of things – you can automate appointment scheduling, accounting, bill payments, and a bunch of other activities that basically come down to number crunching and data management.

Basically, automation is great for everything that happens before and after an appointment. Use it to manage all the things that would take time away from the most important thing – building a relationship between you and your clients.

Work-life balance

We’ve talked a lot about how to keep business growth sustainable so far, but there’s something important we’ve yet to discuss – how to keep business growth sustainable for you.

When you’re growing faster than dust grows on a Blu-Ray player, you might find you have less time. Less time to yourself, less time for your family, less time to do all the things you love. Your work-life balance might be getting out of whack.

That’s where automation comes in.

Chances are, you’re doing a lot of things manually that you don’t have to. Are you looking through messages clients sent you at 3 in the morning? Get a chatbot to answer frequently asked questions. Are you manually typing expenditures into spreadsheets? Get bookkeeping software. Are you trying to schedule your hundreds of new clients, and find yourself unable to keep up with all the appointments you have booked? Get an automated appointment scheduling software like Bookedin.

Remember, you have business goals, and you have personal goals. Reaching your business goals is a personal goal, though it’s one that’s shared with other members of your team. Shirking all of your other personal goals to achieve business goals, though? That can hurt. A lot. Always remember to leave time for yourself. Encourage your team to do the same.

Focus on customer retention

There are a few reasons you should focus on customer retention. You may have heard that it costs 5 times as much to acquire a new client than it does to retain a client you already have.

Our focus on retention goes deeper than that, though!

Think about it like this: do you really want to lose the people who made your business boom in the first place? These are the people who had faith in your business. They came back again and again. They told their friends about you! When you lose these people, it’s likely you’ve lost sight of your initial mission.

Create customer personas

You can use customer lists and data to create customer personas – idealized versions of the clients you want the most. Focus your energy on those clients. Try to make room for them.

Obviously, when you’re booked up 2 years in advance and constantly getting notices on Instagram from new clients who want to book with you (Bookedin can help with this), you might not have room for all of your old clients. Try to send them something personal – let them know you still care. Focus, in particular, on personalizing messages to the people who fall into the customer personas you’ve created – you want them to come back! They’re probably your most loyal clients, and they probably net you the best ROI.

Be flexible

This is the last piece of advice, and – bonus – it works really well on a metaphorical basis. In yoga, you learn that balance and flexibility are intimately linked.

You need stability – you’ll find that by keeping your mission statement at your core. From that stability, you need flexibility – the ability to adapt and change to different poses. That’s balance – the ability to stay grounded while moving.

In business, that means being ready to roll with the punches. It means accepting negative experiences as opportunities for growth, and viewing positive experiences in the same light. It means having an abundance mindset.

Most industries change rapidly as new technologies and new trends arise. As long as those technologies and trends don’t run contrary to your mission, incorporate them. Adapt. Growth is change, and to flow with change, you need mental flexibility.

In practical terms, that means constantly tweaking your business plans. It means talking with your clients and your team, and collecting new ideas. It means not holding onto anything too tightly if it’s not a matter of absolute moral conviction. It means being excited to try new things.

Business growth doesn’t just mean more money. Your team will grow with your business – so will your clients. So will you. By keeping all of this in mind, and implementing some of the tactics we’ve just gone over, your business will grow in ways you never expected. Get excited!

It’s easy to believe *some* people have discovered the secret to successfully growing their business while neatly keeping their personal life intact. No hiccups.

Have you ever had thoughts like that?

While *they* are out in the world pulling in the big bucks barely breaking a sweat, you’re:

• Taking two steps forward, and running four steps back

• Finding yourself cross-eyed with messages coming in from clients — all hours of the night

• Forgetting what your family looks like {when was the last time you saw them?}

It can feel like *everyone* else has it figured out.

Well, it’s time to level the playing field. We’re ripping back the cover on the 16 most effective ways to grow your business… without losing your balance.

1. *Drop the mic* with your client service
2. Take care of your OG clients
3. Become a beacon for new clients
4. Spread the word via your biggest fans
5. Establish Fierce-Cat Loyalty
6. Avoid *this* to stay sane on social media
7. Show your face at networking events
8. Hosting {virtual} events
9. Become a pillar of your community
10. Wanna grow your business? Keep it simple
11. Pump the brakes on the hiring process
12. You are not a party of one {repeat after me}
13. It’s all about the boundaries, baby
14. The secret of your success? Defining it
15. Burnout doesn’t do a body good
16. Move it or lose it

1. *Drop the mic* with your client service

Showing you care about your clients is a *must-do* if you want to grow your small business. When your shop shows a personal interest in repeat clientele, you’re going to make a lasting impression. Whether it’s sending a thank-you email for visiting the shop or an enticing loyalty program, these *how-did-I-not-think-of-that* standards make you stand out.

Peek your competition. What are they doing? Take notes and come up with ways you can top them in ways that focus on removing friction for your clients.

One way that’ll blow their minds?

Appointments that can be scheduled & changed at their convenience using an appointment scheduling app. Add on automatic reminders sent out by email/text and they won’t even need to tie a string around their finger to show up on time. #clientwin

2. Take care of your OG clients

Think wayyyy back to when the doors swung open on your shop. Those special clients who were willing to look past the *just dried* paint, not-quite-finished set-ups & whirlwind of manic energy going on around them — that’s your original crew.

And they deserve to be rewarded. But how? Well, that all depends on your business & clients, but here are a few ideas to get you started:

• Send out a personalized birthday gift to your *been-there-since-day-one* clients (ex. a gift card to a local coffee shop)

• Write an IG post filled with love & gratitude to that special client

• Offer a discounted service for every “10th” one your client books

• Deliver personalized notes to your clients thanking them for their visit to your shop

• Donate to a charity in their name

3. Become a beacon for new clients

If you want to grow your business… you need to stand out. Your industry of small business owners is jam-packed with carbon copies hoping to snag your potential clients before you have a chance to impress them. It’s time to be a flamingo in a flock of seagulls. The simplest way to do that is by defining who you are as a business. And be specific — AKA find your niche.

What’s unique about your business?

• Maybe you’re a makeup artist who specializes in boudoir photo-shoots.

• Perhaps you’re a fitness trainer who focuses on women over 40 who want to train for fitness competitions.

• Or you’re the most expensive tattoo shop in town because your artists have the experience, credentials & portfolios to blow any other shop out of the water.

Whatever your differentiator is, you need to talk about it… on your website, social media, and to your clients. People see a bajillion* different images, ads & businesses a day — they only remember what stands out to them. You need to land on what makes you different.

*bajillion is not a researched number, but it’s pretty darn close.

Related → How to Build a Business That Stands Out (and Thrives)

4. Spread the word via your biggest fans

Getting reviews is simple. All you need to do is ask. { ← OK, I can feel you rolling your eyes }

Look, it’s not as difficult as you think. And the reality is, if you want to drive new appointments to grow your business, stellar reviews are a fab way to do it.

Here’s how (in two easy steps):

1. Send your clients a thank you email after their appointment with a link to review (you may send Facebook or Google)
2. To sweeten the deal, offer a discount on your clients’ next service.

Depending on your business (ex. tattoo shop vs. marriage therapist) the type of review will differ. For example, the likelihood of your therapy client praising you for getting her husband to finally admit he was wrong is low. You may get a *star* rating on Facebook or Google. Whereas, that gorgeous new half-sleeve is bound to get shared in full-color Facebook.

5. Establish *fierce-cat* loyalty

What does the culture look like in your shop? Hmmm. Have you thought about it? There’s so much to consider as you grow your business it’s not a shock if the *vibe* hasn’t been front and center.

Now’s the time to start poking around. Work from within to create a culture your team is genuinely excited to be part of. Your clients will pick up on your shop vibe the moment they walk through the door… positive or negative.

Plus, a happy team outperforms, is willing to go above and beyond (for you & your clients) & is more likely to take personal responsibility.

• Ask yourself: What can I do to make this shop a place that doesn’t evoke the *Sunday Scaries* every weekend? (or *Tuesday Terrors* -depending on your schedule)
• How can I make life more balanced for my team outside & inside of work? (ex. Online scheduling, up-front payments)
• Does my team always come first? Do they feel safe coming to me with problems/concerns?

The more touch-points you have, the easier it is to check in with your team. Problems are identified sooner and quashed before they have time to fester.

BONUS: Your *this-place-is-the-bomb-dot-com* vibe will also be felt by your clients, increasing the chances they’ll tell their friends & family allllll about you… Good karma all around!

6. Avoid *this* to stay sane on social media

Social media can be a dangerous place when you’re trying to grow your business. Why? Two words — the comparison game {OK, that’s three}. I’m sure you know it well. When you’re working in a competitive industry it’s difficult to keep your eyes on your own page. Your direct competition *appears* to be THRIVING as seen through the curated lens of IG, making your feel disheartened at best and *i’m-a-failure-at-life* at worst.

So, while social media may be a necessity on the road to growing your business in 2020, use it wisely. First and foremost, choose a platform you enjoy. If you’re going to be in and out of there every day, you’ll need to dig being on there. Then, make sure your clients are hanging out there. If you’ve checked both those boxes, it’s time for some golden rules:

1. Set limits
2. Play fast & loose with the mute, block and unfollow button
3. Engage with your community daily (it’s a *social* app that requires you to communicate like a human for you to reap the rewards)
4. Mix up your media. Images, videos, short & long copy
5. Show off your personality. Your clients, potential clients & industry buds want to see who you are so they can connect with you on a personal level

Sidenote: If you have the budget, look at hiring a personal assistant (or VA) to take over social media if it’s not something you LOVE. For a few hours a week they can post, comment, follow, and engage on your behalf.

7. Show your face at networking events

Raise your hand if you love networking . No one?

Well, thanks to COVID, in-person networking events are on-hold for the foreseeable future… but online events? Still very much a thing. So, if the thought of being with a group of strangers gives you clammy palms and sends you running for the closest bathroom, 2020 has a silver lining just for you.

Networking remains one of the best ways to forge connections for yourself and your growing business. Here are 5 reasons that prove it:

1. It helps you understand the ins and outs & ups and downs of your business from others in your industry
2. It can provide new opportunities for growth
3. You build a community of mentors, *in-the-biz* friends, and potential clients
4. It’s a great way to increase your word-of-mouth referrals
5. You build authority by demonstrating your expertise

It’s always a good time to invest in your network and start building offline {and, now *online*} connections. Growing a business is hard work, and the best way to find the support and skills you need to do it is by putting yourself in the path of those who’ve already made mistakes, taken risks, and lived to tell the tale.

8. Pivot to hosting {virtual} events

Sure, it may be strange *out there* right now, and filling up your shop with clients isn’t possible — but you’re an entrepreneur — pivoting is what you do. Look way back to 2019… what events were you hosting? Can you make a few tweaks to make those do profitable online?

Here are a couple of  examples:

Hair → Workshops, Tutorials, Lessons (depending on where you live your clients may need your help with everything from root touch-ups from home to interview looks. Use your ideal client as a guide and come up with ways you can keep your team, and yourself, busy and engaged until the world goes back to *normal*).

Fitness → If there’s one industry that has made a full 180 since the pandemic started it’s the fitness industry. Even with many places allowing gyms & classes to resume, clients have found comfort & convenience online. If you’re not ready to completely pivot your business online, consider ways you can implement a few special *events* to entice potential clients to your gym or boutique fitness center. It may be a virtual *meet & greet* giving them insiders access on how you’ve updated all safety protocol.  Include a behind-the-scenes tour, followed by a Q&A. Or, a short series of online classes that leads to your in-person offers.

Related → How to Balance Work & Life: The Ultimate Guide

Depending on your clientele, you can also offer a free event or a mix of paid/free. Use your platforms (website, social) to promote and encourage your current audience to share far and wide. This is a dynamic way to grow your business. Not only are you demonstrating the skills of your team, but you’re also showing how flexible you are as a business during the dumpster fire that is 2020. #winnerwinnerchickendinner.

9. Become a pillar of your community

Watch the video here.

It’s impossible to succeed as a small business without the support of your local community. If you’ve made it this far, it’s time to look at ways to give back to those who helped get your shop off the ground.

Becoming active, whether it’s through sponsoring local events, making donations, or partnering with a charity is without a downside. It gets your face out into the community, builds trust, and demonstrates your expertise. Not to mention it feels incredible to give back.

Another way to incorporate community into your business model is by holding online workshops. This is your chance to experiment outside the confines of a more structured business and contribute at the same time.

You can offer a free online workshop teaching *easy interview makeup looks for Zoom* or hold an information workshop about *how to deal with anxiety* during COVID. Keep your workshops affordable and focus on encouraging clients of all backgrounds and affluence to attend.

10. Wanna grow your business? Keep it simple

There’s a lot of talk about automation taking over the world. Robots flippin’ burgers. Driver-less cars. Hell, the majority of people are talking to *Alexa* instead of looking outside to check if it’s sunny or raining.

And sure, that’s a bit *Ex-Machina* for my liking. But what about your business?

There are processes you slog over day in and day out that could be automated — it’s a matter of knowing what they are, and how to do it.

Here’s a tidy little list to get you started:

1. Online appointment booking: stop spending hours sending out appointment notifications and reminders, worrying about no-shows & last-minute cancellations. With an appointment app, you can automate your client booking confirmations, require up-front deposits, and say good-bye to the back & forth with clients over dinner thanks to your online booking (available 24/7).
2. Social media posting: use a scheduler like Planoly to create, schedule, and post to Instagram and Facebook. You can batch content ahead of time, add hashtags, and have the app post it for you.
3. IFTTT // if this, then that: a free web service that lets you create “recipes” to put the internet to work for you. Each recipe you create triggers IFTTT to do something automatically for you.
4. Email marketing: ask clients to give reviews by sending an automated email. To encourage them to take action, you might offer a small gift or coupon as a token of your appreciation.
5. Recurring bookings: who has the bandwidth to remember if their botox injection was 5 weeks ago or 7? Not your clients. Keep them looking their best by booking recurring appointments through online appointment scheduling. A reminder email/text will be sent out days & hours in advance to ensure they arrive on time (and have the option to reschedule/cancel).

11. Pump the brakes on the hiring process

There comes a tipping point when you realize if you want to keep growing you’re gonna need a bigger boat, *cough* I mean team. Oh boy, it’s thrilling and terrifying all at the same time. After learning the idiosyncrasies of this team, how will you find the perfect additions??!

Rather than look at these changes through a lens of dread, view it as an exciting opportunity to hire only the best. You’ll be creating a team that’ll grow your business to new heights.

That being said. If it’s taking longer than expected to find *the perfect fit.* Don’t jump the gun so you can wash your hands of the process. Waiting for a good candidate is ALWAYS worth it.

12. You are not a party of one {repeat after me}

When you’re growing your business, it’s natural to become (over)protective. Do these phrases sound familiar:

I want to do everything myself, after all… I know exactly how I like to have it done.

If I oversee everything, don’t make any big changes… nothing MAJOR can go wrong. 

You know what happens when you try to do everything on your own… #burnout. As a small business owner, it’s important to take a complete inventory of your strengths and weaknesses before you get into the weeds. Ask yourself — am I the right person to take on this task (am I the expert)? If the answer is a resounding YES! Move forward with learning the new skill. If it’s a no, let it go and hire the right person.

NOTE: if you can’t be unbiased in your judgment, go over this with a trusted mentor or colleague. Try to figure out how you can optimize your strengths (business + creative) and build up your team to compensate for your *weaknesses.*

13. It’s all about the boundaries, baby

Ah, dinner with the fam-jam. After a wild 12-hour day, you plop yourself in front of a steaming hot plate of cacio e pepe and a nice glass of red… when the inevitable begins. Your phone starts buzzing. The husband shoots you daggers, and your kiddo doesn’t look super impressed either.

As your business steamrolls along you’re getting messages from your inbox, Instagram DMs, Facebook messages, and now via text. SO. MANY. TEXTS.

Unless you’re in a place where you can hire a personal assistant to *handle it* — the time has come to set boundaries. You want to love your clients {you really do}, and solid boundaries are the only way.

Say hello to online appointment scheduling.

A one-stop-shop that houses all your appointment booking requests TOGETHER. Yep, you heard that right. As a growing business, you need to put systems in place that are going to save you time and reduce stress. Burnout does not equal a business you love.

And the fun doesn’t stop there. 

Your clients can book online 24/7 without you needing to do anything at all. After booking, they’ll automatically receive a confirmation notice by text/email, while you enjoy time with your much happier family. Oh, and major bonus. You won’t need to hand over your personal cell phone number anymore.

14. The secret of your success? Defining it

What does success look like to you? Is it having a 100-ft yacht off the South of France? Or maybe it’s a ranch and some land in Montana?

If you’ve never stopped to consider what success feels like to you, how are you gonna know when you’ve made it? Shocking, right. All those memes on IG hollering about what success is, the listicles telling you *exactly* how to get there… irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

What if you’re already successful by your own standards and you don’t even know it .

Whoa. If you’ve never sat down to examine what success looks & feels like to you — it’s time. You can dive in by answering these two questions:

1. How will a *successful* business make me feel? (happy, overwhelmed, accomplished, complete)
2. What would make my business a success? (financial freedom, waking up to a calendar full of appointments)?

Then look ahead to what your life will look like once you’ve become *successful.* (Where will you live, what will you be doing)

Are you already there… or do you still have work to do?

Related → The 10 Commandments of Creating a Business You Love

15. Burnout doesn’t do a body good

A vacation (or in the time of ‘Rona #stayvacation) recharges your battery away from the hustle of day-to-day business. If you find yourself on the verge of burnout, it’s time to get the heck of the dodge.

When all you do is work, work, work, work… you and your growing business will suffer the consequences.

Take some time for yourself, with a *no-work-no-tech-allowed* holiday. Stay away from all devices, and yes, that includes scrolling through IG while you binge-watch Netflix or laze about in the garden {I see you}.

Before you jet away (or head to your backyard), set up an “out of office” message on your voicemail & email auto-responder. And I cannot stress this enough. ONLY take calls if a real emergency arises. Tell your team to call when the biz is on fire {JK, but for real, emergency only} and give your clients plenty of notice that you’ll be MIA.

16. Move it or lose it

Here’s the thing. The body & mind you have? They’re the only ones you get. EVER. So, whether you choose to treat them like a Porsche 911 or a 78 Cadillac Sedan DeVille is up to you — but you only get one go-round.

No one is saying growing a business is easy. It’s not. But when you shove your mental & physical well-being to the back-burner the effects are felt within your shop as well. Try and stick with a simple daily routine that keeps your body active and your mind sharp:

1. Keep a regular sleep schedule
2. Move your body
3. Meditate (even for five minutes)
4. Try breathing exercises to reduce stress & anxiety {I mean, not that we have anything to be anxious about this year, amirite??}
5. Practice gratitude

Don’t put pressure on yourself to keep your daily routine the same as you (& your business grow). If it feels like forcing a square peg into a round hole – make a change — sub in another activity that makes you feel empowered and stoked to get into your day.

Your best daily routine for a healthy life is personal. Don’t be thrown off course by the latest trends or well-meaning *barf* celebrity advice. Cultivate your daily rituals and use them to live your best life.

How do you find your balance?

Now that we’ve explored how to keep you *right-side-up* — hiccups and all — is there anything you’d like to add?

We’d love to know the lessons you’ve learned so far on your business-building journey. We can guarantee there’s another small business owner out there who’s struggling to find the answer to a problem YOU’VE already solved.

Drop your *how to* in the comments below . We can’t wait to hear from you.

You hear it like clockwork: It’s time to set goals for the new year!

This year, in particular, is brutal. We’re nearing the end of the decade so the countdown is starting to reach fever pitch. Setting goals for yourself and your business is fab—but it can also be crazy stressful.

So, how can you slide into 2020 feeling like you’ve finally got a handle on it all?

You likely already know the answer to this one: Simplify. It’s time to reflect on the parts of your personal life and business that could use a little pruning back.

Sure, it might seem trendy {the meteoric rise of Marie Kondo anyone}, but this stuff works. Let’s dive into the many ways you can simplify your business (and life) in 2020.

1. Make *no* a complete sentence in your life

As the adage goes, “If it’s not a hell yes, it’s a hell no.” When you struggle to say no, you end up taking on too much and getting yourself into situations you’d rather avoid {<== like that Superbowl party you promised to throw—even though you hate Football }

Peek into your business and think back to the things you’ve said *yes* to over the past 12 months. Check yourself: Did taking this on make me happy? Was the stress worth it? If you’re shaking your head it’s time to start introducing *no* into your everyday vocabulary. It’s a quick way to simplify your business (and your life).

Related: 5 Reasons “No” is the Most Important Word You’ll Learn

2. Put the kibosh on 24/7 notifications

Ding, ding, ding! I dunno about you but it’s a chorus of notifications up in here. If it’s not email, it’s a text …and don’t even get me started on the eleventy thousand settings you need to adjust to not see @jane01357 commented on my Insta post {<== if I had $1 every time the world’s greatest graphic designer was here to help…}.

Your life is already jam-packed; adding unlimited availability online means you’re at a high risk of never getting anything done. Put boundaries on your connections. Limit phone calls, texts, and emails to certain times in your day. The same goes for your online *social* life. Set a schedule and stick with it.

3. Set down your iPhone and go outside

Quick, how many times have you picked up your phone and scrolled through the same Twitter feed today? Being plugged in is so natural to us there’s a good chance you don’t even realize you’re doing it. #addictedtosocial

Do you find yourself daydreaming about taking an art class, reading a new book, or getting to the gym—but feel too busy? For 2020, let’s do a little experiment. What if for a week you removed your social apps from your phone? Too scary. How about putting a limit on the time you’re allowed to spend?

Taking a break from the constant chatter of the online landscape can help you remember what’s important. It can be uncomfortable not being connected, but you’ll be shocked how much free time you gain by laying off the ‘gram.

4. Don’t be a Negative Nellie

The client who wasn’t stoked about their new cut, the downpour you got stuck in on the way to work, or your fave pants that ripped when bent over to pick up a pen. We all have situations that happen to turn our good day to bad in a heartbeat. It’s natural to be bummed in any of these circumstances but do you need to let it ruin your day? Absolutely not. You’re wasting energy when you stew on minute details—and more importantly, you’re losing time.

Find ways to redirect your energy to get through your day. Maybe it’s meditating for 5 minutes after you’ve spent an hour stuck in traffic, or buying a latte as a *got through it* reward. Being more positive and finding new ways to move past negative situations isn’t easy but it can improve your life and simplify your business.

5. Have a singular focus

Here’s where the anticipation of a new year can throw your hopes for a simplified life off track. You begin with a long list of goals meant to “inspire” you over the next 12 months. Instead, you feel stressed, overwhelmed, and unclear about where or how to start.

For 2020, set one goal for yourself and then break it down so you can visualize exactly how you’ll reach it. Having a singular goal up’s your chances of nailing it since you’ll focus clear energy in one direction.

6. Say good-bye to the myth of multitasking

Ah, multi-tasking. What once was revered as a key strength for most careers has been revealed as a myth. The reality is, going from one task to the next then back again is more stressful, and less productive. Show some love for single-tasking when it comes to simplifying your business.

Build up your ability to focus on one task at a time. When you’re able to check things off your list rather than stare frazzled at what lay ahead, you’ll feel more relaxed and accomplished.

Related: Productivity Showdown: Single-Tasking vs. Multitasking

7. Get your nightly routine down to a science

The temptation to keep hitting that snooze button {especially as the days get shorter & darker} can be hard to ignore. The downside to giving in is the “oh, crap I gotta go, NOW!” feeling that follows. Try getting a few things done before you go to bed: figure out what you’re going to wear, make your lunch and put your keys in the right spot {<== mega time-saver }. Set your alarm for a time that lets you fit in everything you need to do without panicking…and then, get up.

8. It’s time to make a date for #fallcleaning

Does it feel like your home or workspace is slowly getting smaller by the day? It might not be your imagination. The majority of us tend to collect items or struggle to toss things we have no use for. Make a date to start decluttering and begin with three piles:

• Donate
• Sell
• Trash

You’ll be surprised how many items you’re holding onto. I know it seems harmless to horde your old cell phones {<= sooo guilty over here} or those gas bills from 2001, but if you can live without it, give it away.

9. Release yourself from toxic relationships

Let it go, let it go! Frozen lyrics aside, this is serious business. Relationships, whether they be at work or home can be complex. If you want to form long-lasting bonds you need to put in the effort. That being said, if both parties are coming to the table with open hearts and minds, you’re ahead of the game.

Relationships shouldn’t add negativity to your life or drain your energy. If this starts to happen you’ll need to evaluate. While it’s never easy to break up toxic relationships {that’s why they’re dangerous}, it can be done. Put your foot down and make a clean break with complete disconnection. If that’s not possible try going with a time out so you can establish boundaries. Fill your life with relationships built on mutual respect and empathy. The reward: a drama-free, simplified life.

10. Ask yourself: What’s the rush?

It’s exciting to think about the future, where your business will be, how it’ll feel to buy your first place or what your dream vacay feels like. But what would happen if you stopped to look around at where you’re at right now? Where you are, might just blow your mind.

If you slow down and try to live for now, instead of tomorrow or ten years from today you’ll be able to revel in the calm of not future pacing. You can’t continue to run from place to place, without stopping to take it in. Don’t look up one day and wonder where your life has gone.

11. Embrace the power of automation

We love how awesome it feels to pay our bills online or never worry Netflix is going to flake out the day season three of Stranger Things gets released. But could you simplify your business (and life) by automating other tasks?

How about:

• Automatic reorders {<= you need needles and ink, how great would it be to have it show up on the regular?}
• Online appointment booking: why spend hours sending out appointments notifications and reminders. With an appointment scheduling software, you can automate not only your online booking but the follow-up {<= no more back & forth with your clients over dinner}

Related: Real Customers Reveal the Benefits of Online Appointment Booking

12. Maximize your efforts

It’s easy to believe when you go all-in at 100%, the results you see are a reflection of your resolve. After all, why else would you drive so hard to succeed? The truth is, approximately 80 percent of the results may come from just 20 percent of our efforts. *cue mind-melt*

You need to hone in on the 20 percent that really matters (ex. Your one big hairy goal). You’ll simplify your business focusing on what direction makes you happy—and map out a plan on how to get there. And remember, using the software will give you a lot of leverage to accomplish more. On the booking part using an appointment scheduling tool or on the legal part using Prospero legal templates.

13. Be like Steve, Mark & Dr. Dre

What do the former CEO of Apple, a tech geek, and a rapper all have in common? They simplified their look to limit their choices and simplify their lives. The average person makes 35,000 choices every day—no wonder you’re overwhelmed.

Take back some control by limiting options where you can. For example: eat the same breakfast every day or adopt a work “uniform” that fits your personality {<== no more freak outs when you have nothing to wear}. You’ll find when you eliminate options for simple things, you can save your real brainpower for major decisions.

14. Treat your body like the Maserati it is

You wouldn’t fill your car up with diesel if good ol’ gas was unavailable—right? The result would not be pretty, and yet, many of us throw down a Big Mac or shrug off-spin class with the only vehicle we get. Your body and mind are primed for regular movement and thrive on non-fast-food chain options. Knuckle down to eating well and getting off your butt as part of your *normal* life—it’s as simple as that.

15. Go old school: Make a list

If automating your life seems out in left field, or you’ve gone soooo far in the opposite direction it’s starting to slow you down—take it old school. When you’re feeling stressed about the number of things you need to do to keep the shop afloat today, shut down social (email included) and pull out a piece of paper. Set a timer for 30 minutes and start making a list of everything that’s freaking you out. Once you’re finished, go back over the details, break out the tasks, and prioritize what needs to get done first.

Depending on the length of your list, you may need to delegate to a staff member or aim to hit your top three. Either way, the practice of getting your thoughts out of your mind and onto paper can have a surprising effect on your happiness and productivity.

16. Be open to change

What does the culture look like in your shop? If it doesn’t embody your vision there are many ways you can start changing direction:

• Ask yourself: Does the staff know what’s expected of them without question?
• Hold a staff meeting to openly discuss how everyone feels being there (or if needed, ask for feedback anonymously)
• Look at your retention rate for staff. If it’s crazy high, it’s time to start poking around.

Open up the lines of communication within your team, so they can speak freely and feel like they’re being heard. The more you listen to your team, the better your work environment will be.

17. Silence your inner perfectionist

Eff perfect. Use this as a mantra if you need to. But keep in mind, it doesn’t matter how badly you want it, perfection is a myth. One of the real keys to success is putting yourself out there, whether at a networking event or showing up daily in your Insta stories. You’ll need to come to grips with the fact you may never feel ready enough to get your face out there. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it anyway.

Shift your focus to progress over perfection. Successful folks view *mistakes* as learning tools that help them grow, not failures. The thing is, if you never try, you lose your shot—and that is worse than the biggest flop.

Did you spot a key that could simplify your business (and life) in 2020?

Using these 17 ways to simplify your business (and life) you can feel confident that when midnight strikes on December 31st you’ll have a firm grasp on more than just your champagne glass.

To get started, do a deep dive into the parts of your life that make you feel twitchy just thinking about them. Once you’ve identified what needs to change, all it takes is a bit of elbow grease and you’ll be on your way to serenity now.

Do you have a favorite way you simplify your business? Let us know in the comments below .

Nothing in life is worthwhile unless you take risks. As Nelson Mandela said:

“There is no passion to be found playing small and settling for a life that’s less than the one you’re capable of living.”

But how do you get to a point where you have enough command over your mind to choose what’s in your own best interest? To push forward, push through and take those risks?

The answer is both simple and complex. It’s self-discipline.

It’s self-discipline that helps you get things done. Allows you to forgo the immediate pleasure in exchange for long-term success.

It’s what gets you to show up—even when every fiber of your being doesn’t want to. You do it anyway.

After all, you can’t win the battle against the world if you can’t win the war against your own mind. So we’re going to explore what it takes to dig deep and extract the self-discipline that lies within each of you, and how to stay motivated once you find it.

“The Resistance” {Aka → your biggest obstacle to self-discipline}

“Resistance cannot be seen, touched, heard, or smelled. But it can be felt. We experience it as an energy field radiating from a work-in-potential. It’s a repelling force. It’s negative. It aims to shove us away, distract us, prevent us from doing our work.”

—Stephen Pressfield, The War of Art

Resistance lives within you. No one (not your boss, parents, spouse or co-workers) inflicts it on you from the outside. You’re born with it and the moment you give yourself over to a dream of a creative occupation, The Resistance rears its ugly head. It keeps you from doing your best work by telling you:

• I’m not good enough
• I don’t have time for this
• I’m a failure
• What if this is a huge success?
• Who do I think I am?

And any other number of negative self-talk strategies to keep you inside your head and inactive. You’ll never overcome your Resistance if you don’t change your mindset. What will happen is self-sabotage, self-doubt, procrastination and the inevitable burn out.

When you decided to transition your passion into a career, personal responsibility comes along with that. You’ve now labeled yourself a pro.

What does that mean exactly?

It means when The Resistance comes {and it will} you no longer have the luxury of bending to its will. You need to consciously choose to sit down each day and grind it out. You’re a pro and you go to work. You have pride in it. Out of the hard work you put in, gems will eventually blossom. Some days will be terrible {a LOT of days}. But after you continue to put in the work, and build the momentum, magic will happen.

To develop your potential, you have to show up. You need to execute the patterns that while imperceptible to you, are there. And they’re slowly building towards your success.

This is the only way to overcome The Resistance.

Related: How to Create a Daily Routine That Sticks

The secret to personal success? Taking personal responsibility.

In life, there’s only one person responsible for how things turn out – and that person is you.

Once you make peace with this, it no longer matters whose fault it is when something goes wrong…it’s your job to fix it. It’s your responsibility to figure out how you’re going to overcome it and find happiness.

It might be hard to hear, and even more difficult to accept, but fault and responsibility don’t go together. Your heart and your happiness is your responsibility and your responsibility alone. As long as you’re stuck in fault you’re trapped in victim mode and no amount of self-discipline will allow you to achieve success.

Unfortunately, you can’t shield yourself from the hardness of life. But if you look into the past, the greatest leaders have faced difficulty and struggles and it’s only made them more interesting. When you persevere through adversity and accomplish your goals you find out things about yourself you wouldn’t have gotten to know otherwise.

Let’s look at 8 ways you can liberate the self-discipline inside you, and how happiness helps you stay motivated once you find it.

1. Always sweat the small stuff

Happiness doesn’t come from big pieces of success but from the small pieces hammered out day by day. It happens in the present moment. You need to stop saying; “I’ll be happy when I just…” You’ll be as happy as you make up your mind to be now. Right now.

Being happy on the way doesn’t mean you can’t do great things. But instead, it means you need to enjoy the journey. Take pride in small accomplishments. Take pride in yourself. If you truly want to create a more fulfilling life you need to highlight your progress along the way. Breaking down your goals into small pieces increases your ability to stay disciplined. The more you celebrate the small wins, the easier it is to stay focused on the big picture.

2. You need to suffocate your bullsh*t

Gary Vee gave a talk to a room full of entrepreneurs, successful business owners, and up and comers—and he called them on their excuses. You see, for most of us, it feels far more comfortable to call out someone else on their shortcomings than to reflect on our own. We get into a habit of complaining that there’s too much to learn, things are changing too fast, or that we’re too busy. You need to find out what’s holding you back and put a stop to it. Once you take ownership of yourself, take a look around cause guess what—misery loves company.

You need to surround yourself with people who both nourish and inspire you. This isn’t optional, it’s a prerequisite. They say you’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with…are those people feeding your fire?

3. Change your mindset, then take action

To sit back and list all the reasons you can’t …is, well, crap. Anyone can do it. It’s all about your mindset. The moment you have a losing mindset, you’ve already lost. I’m not talking about hanging out on your couch playing video games and asking the universe to send you better clients, “secret style.” But, if you’re optimistic and you’re actions back that up…you position yourself somewhere close to the goals you want to achieve.

This isn’t just about talking a big game, you need to become a practitioner. Put in the hard work day after day. When you have the self-discipline and ambition you can figure out what you want your life to be. Build the momentum by setting small goals that you can meet daily, this will get the ball rolling in the right direction.

Related: How to Balance Work and Life: The Ultimate Guide

4. Find your mission

You need a personal mission. Now that we have all our basic needs met (food, water, shelter) we’re aimless without some sort of a purpose. It doesn’t need to be grandiose in scale if you have a direction it helps you rise above the negative noise that comes with owning a business or simply interacting our in the world. It’s easy to get bogged down in negativity, we’re oddly attracted to it as humans.

When you have a mission, whether that’s to hire two new staff by the end of the year, or open your very first shop—the criticism you face or the stumbles you have along the way are in proportion to reality.

5. Feed your {healthy} ego

You need pride and a healthy ego to get good at things. You have to have a strong belief in yourself and your ego drives you to be successful. But you need to balance it out. After all, there’s a dichotomy in everything. You don’t want to go too far. We’ve all witnessed the bodybuilder who starts to see results but doesn’t stop until he has 22-inch biceps or the artist-driven to madness by perfectionism…you need to recognize when *good* is enough.

6. Kill your fear

People tend to avoid anything uncomfortable. Why is that? Experience tells us anything worth having in life connects to discomfort. Success. Adventure. Growth. Being uncomfortable is amazing at facilitating change.

Well, the simple answer is fear.

Fear of judgment from others. Fear of change. Fear of failure. Fear of success. You’re letting fear dictate your only life.

What if instead, you could find fear motivating. Start to attack the things you’re scared of. You can learn to see that feeling of anxiety in the pit of your stomach as excitement. It’s all about re-framing. The best things in life are just on the other side of terror, but you need to take that first step.

7. Live without regret

Regret should scare the bejeezus out of you. In Bronnie Ware’s book, “The Top Five Regrets of the Dying” she recounts her time with terminal patients. They each express deep regret for the same few things:

1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
2. I wish I hadn’t worked so much.
3. I wish I’d dared to express my feelings.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

We each only get one shot so you should be living your life the way you want. Whether that means traveling to guest spot in shops you’ve always dreamed of visiting or leveling up your skills so you can start working on clients who value your time.

It takes self-discipline to say no when friends are going out after work but you need to save money for a drawing class you’ve always wanted to take. Or saying yes to the opportunity that terrifies you—but will change your life. Don’t wait to take those chances.

8. Always fall forward

Denzel Washington gave an inspiring commencement speech at Dillard where he spoke about the concept of falling forward. He said:

“ I never understood the concept of having something to fall back on. I want to fall forward so I can see what I’m going to hit. Do something you feel passionate about, take chances, don’t be afraid to fail. Without consistency, you’ll never finish. Reggie Jackson struck out 2600 times in his career, the most in the history of baseball…but you never heard about that, people remember the home runs. Fall forward. Thomas Edison conducted 1000 failed experiments. 1001 was the light bulb. Fall forward.”

I love this concept.

Growing up you’re told to have a “backup” dream, especially in the so-called “creative” fields. But to become successful you need to take risks. It requires the self-discipline of a person who knows that you will fail, you will lose. But you accept those challenges and embrace the stumbles as part of the adventure. You look at people who are better than you and know before they were great…they sucked. So you know there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.

Are you ready to take responsibility for your self-discipline?

Self-discipline is 90% showing up. After that, you just need to push through. You’re going to have days {oh, so many days} when you want to give up and quit but you keep doing it…because you’re strong. It’s that self-discipline that helps you move forward. Become successful. Stay motivated. Achieve happiness.

Let me ask you this: One day soon when you find yourself sitting in the dark are you going to stay there and wait for the light to come, or are going to pick yourself up and realize the only way out is to face your fears and become your own light?

It begins with doubting yourself privately, and because no one else gives voice to their darkest fears, you start to believe you’re all alone.

Everywhere you look for silent support you’re instead being sold an unattainable idea of success.

When you begin to falter or you’re unable to accomplish as much as your idols splashed across the inter-webs you begin to second-guess yourself. But here are the facts: 70% of successful people have experienced the feelings associated with Impostor Syndrome. Feelings such as fear of failure, perfectionism and self-doubt.

And though it tends to hit women and underrepresented groups the hardest – anyone can be touched by this angel.

Impostor syndrome is one of the dark sides of entrepreneurship we all need to talk about more openly. So today we’re going to take the crappy best friend living inside your head who says mean things about you and call them out for who they really are. Once you can hear and recognize that voice, you’ll be able to do something about it.

What is impostor syndrome?

Impostor syndrome is a psychological pattern in which an individual doubts their accomplishments and has a persistent internalized fear of being exposed as a “fraud”. Despite external evidence of their competence, those experiencing this phenomenon remain convinced that they are frauds, and do not deserve all they have achieved.

When was the last time you heard a little voice in your head saying:

• Why am I here? This must be some sort of a mistake.
• If I can do it…how hard can it be.
• Oh, it’s no big deal. I was in the right place at the right time.
• I’m not as talented as these people.
• Any minute now…someone is going to point at me and say—what are YOU doing here.

You see, impostor syndrome leaves you with a feeling like you snuck in the back door of life’s theater. As if you’ve slithered up on stage and now you’re constantly having to look over your shoulder. You’re convinced the bouncer will be arriving any moment to toss your fraudulent butt out into the alley.

When you feel like a phony, someone who doesn’t believe that the credit they’re getting is really their due, it can have devastating consequences. Unchecked, impostor syndrome can cause: depression, anxiety, addiction, stalled projects, workaholism, severe procrastination, painful perfectionism, and an unhappy life.

Now, for some, impostor syndrome is due in part to a difficult childhood. Witnessing violence, abuse, serious conflict, constant criticism; alcoholic parents. After years of being criticized for not measuring up, you devote your life to being competent in everything you do. But not all of us had terrible childhoods. After all, 70% of people will experience impostor syndrome at some time or another in their lifetime.

Yet, those who suffer from impostor syndrome all share the same belief that if someone really knew them, they’d realize they have no right to be where they are.

For such an epidemic to be at play today there must be some overarching themes each of us sees throughout our lives that confirm our feeling of not being enough, feeling afraid of failing and our fear of not being able to “get out” of situations.

Related: Burnout: Are We on the Road to Ruin?

Let’s examine the lies we’re told today:

Lie #1: We must measure ourselves against someone else’s success.

Lie #2: A successful career leads to a successful life.

Lie #3: You should never air your dirty laundry. (spoiler: your secrets are not dirty)

Lie #4: Extroverts rule the world. (People who succeed in life are out there spreading their story.)

Lie # 5: Women’s worth is directly correlated to their appearance.

Lie #6: There is a level of successful people who just “get it.” (Aka. The Genius)

Lie #7: You can and should always want to be and do more. {<== this is the *best* version of yourself)

You’re sold a warped idea of success over and over again, via social media, magazines and the news. Through these examples, you begin to build a framework for what you need to do to become successful—anything less becomes failure. But, these examples are flawed.

Let’s use the “genius” as an example. Elon Musk and Steve Jobs are held up as entrepreneurs who just get it, men who never once second guess themselves and because of that have reached intangible heights within their industries.

We now take that false “framework” and use it as a measuring stick for ourselves. It’s time for the truth to set us free. We need to live, fail, learn, ask for help and set boundaries.

Here are nine strategies for working through your impostor syndrome:

1. Build an impostor posse

Everyone needs a community they can reach out to when they’re feeling afraid, like a fraud or when they need reminding that they don’t suck. You need other voices that aren’t the ones inside of your own head that can bring you back to reality. Friends and family who give you solid reasons why you deserve the accolades, the promotion or tell you why you’re going to nail that next gig. Make sure you’re there for your group when they need you too.

2. Shine your light out, not in

It’s time to get outside your head as much as possible. Marie Forleo suggests that rather than focusing on your feelings of insecurity, shame, and lack of ability, you need to shine your light (attention) outward and focus on your clients.

What do they need? What do they want? And how can serve and help them? Forcing yourself to focus on your clients will interrupt your internal dialogue and move you to action.

3. Keep a working document of your successes and missteps

It’s important you keep a physical list of both including what you’ve learned. This forces you to look at what really happened and can put things into perspective. Look at it this way. Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn. Either way, it’s going to make a great story.

Think about those you admire. They’re not perfect. We love vulnerable people. After all, we trust those that make mistakes. Learn to allow yourself to live and learn.

4. Think your way out

Talking about impostor syndrome is great. But it’s only going to get us so far. To escape the hold it has on us we need to think our way out.

Dr. Valerie Young (author, “The Secret Thoughts of Successful Women), explains: “The only difference between those who have impostor syndrome and those who don’t are different thoughts. You need to think differently.” Easier said than done? Maybe. But no one likes to fail, make mistakes, have an off day, or struggle to master something…the difference here is people with impostor syndrome experience shame when they go through these things.

You need to pay attention to the conversation going on in your head so you can re-frame it. For example:

You’re with a group of artists who are discussing different techniques they’ve used over the years on their clients and they’re comparing images on their phones. Some are showing black + grey work, others color and still other portraits. The person with impostor syndrome says; “My black + grey work is terrible, I need to improve my color and I’ve never done a portrait. I don’t deserve to be here”

It doesn’t help to tell her; “Oh, but you’re so talented! You deserve to be here” You need to say, “It’s OK if you’re not the best at everything.” No one else in that group worries about being amazing at everything.

In reality, feelings are the last thing to change. You need to stop thinking like an impostor to stop feeling like one. Once you’re able to harness your feelings you’ll have impostor *moments* instead of an impostor life.

Related: Why Is “Busy” a Badge of Honor?

5. Share your secret, aka the lie

Why do you think you’re an “impostor?” According to Phil McKinney, retired Chief Technology Officer for Hewlett-Packard and currently CEO at CableLabs it’s because you’re harboring a secret that’s telling you that you’re not good enough.

Once you say it out loud (to yourself or a trusted friend) your future will begin to unfold. It could be that you never graduated from college (Phil’s secret) or your books are full of clients but you’ve only been in the industry for a year so you feel like a fraud.

Whatever your secret (lie) is you think it disqualifies you, so you’ll do anything to protect it. You panic about what the repercussions will be if this “lie” gets out into the public. When in reality, nothing is going to happen. The sooner you can free yourself from the grip of this fantasy, the happier you’ll be.

6. Become a world-class cheerleader

It’s important that you verbalize how awesome those around you are whenever you see them doing well. Become an encourager. Tell your staff or co-workers how great they are—out loud. This simple act of telling them how talented they are will change how they feel about themselves. If you’re looking for an easy way to stop impostor syndrome in its tracks—this is a great place to start.

7. Create an “I’m amazing” file

There’s nothing better than a compliment, as awkward as it can be to accept, it makes you feel incredible and does wonders for your confidence. Why not start a file that’s jam-packed with all the compliments, comments and nice things your clients have said about you? Each time you get an email thanking you for the work you did or a DM saying how nice it was to meet you—save it into a file or print it out so you can refer to it when you’re feeling lost.

8. Don’t let the fear eat you alive

Knowledge is power.

Using that logic, once you acknowledge your *impostor thoughts* you can start to become less afraid of them. Recognize they’re fleeting ideas and try to dig deeper and discover the “what” behind them.

Begin with “What do I feel unqualified for?”

Next step, break it down. What or which parts are you unqualified to do? Look at it and be realistic. You need to get honest. Is it because you have no experience {<== not because you’re impostoring but because you actually don’t have the experience}? Once you’ve made a factual list of what disqualifies you from what you’re fearful of you’ll feel better because the list is never that long.

If, after you’ve gone through this exercise you realize you want to head towards qualification for the new role, task or skill you need to figure out your path by:

• Starting to learn more about what’s required to get to the next level
• Get educated (find resources to help you gain new skills)
• Take it one step at a time (make a plan)

During his TEDx talk in Sydney, Mike Cannon-Brookes, co-founder of software company Atlassian explained real growth and success for yourself are about always questioning your ideas and your knowledge. He stressed that you need to remember:

• It’s OK if you can’t push the eject button. There’s no need to panic. Plan.
• Don’t get paralyzed. Impostor syndrome is only toxic within inaction.
• It’s not about overcoming, it’s about harnessing

You can check out his inspiring 2017 TEDxSydney here.

9. Ask yourself. What advice would I give a friend?

Would you tell your best friend they landed their gig as a stylist at their dream salon out of dumb luck? Not likely. In all honesty, that thought wouldn’t even cross your mind. So why do you insist on telling yourself these lies?

Rather than filling your brain with toxic self-talk, write down the version of the conversation you’d have with your sister—or your husband. The way you talk to others is how you should talk to yourself. You’re far less critical on someone else. Use that as a guide on how to re-frame your inner dialogue.

The unfortunate truth is impostor syndrome doesn’t magically disappear once you reach any peak level of success – most indicators demonstrate it gets worse.

However, if you work hard using the nine strategies outlined above, it’s possible to live a thriving existence with impostor syndrome humming along in the background. As someone who fights the good fight daily, Meredith Peebles (COO, Lobeck Taylor Family Foundation) says you have three advantages:

Intellectual humility. You understand the limits of your own knowledge. Though this may be frustrating until you learn to embrace this, humility will become a superpower when you learn to lean on those around you, building community and partnerships.

You look at situations like an amateur. You’re unafraid to ask questions, so you’ll never stop learning and growing.

Impostor syndrome can push you to action. It’s up to you to do the work.

The problem with destructive or toxic impostor syndrome is it can force you to live inside your mind. Using these strategies you can break free, adapt to the condition and motivate yourself forward into action. You can rest easy knowing that no one will ever point at you and say— you don’t belong here.

Do you struggle with impostor syndrome?

We want to keep the conversation going. Let us what strategies you’ve found helpful in the comments .

Allow me to paint a picture for you.

It’s 4:45 am, the sun is barely at the horizon, birds are just beginning to sing, and the air is crisp. Before the alarm goes off, another keener springs out of their bed, a look of determination and vigor mixed on their face.

They’re convinced a few hours of “rising and grinding” before their competition wakes up will be the key to total domination.

Sound familiar? It should. Every time you listen to a business podcast, read up on your favorite entrepreneur or scroll through Instagram, you’re bombarded with this exact morning routine for success.

But is this really the way you want to live?

For the majority of you, an alarm blaring in your ear before the crack of dawn is the polar opposite of motivational – it’s enraging. Forcing yourself to see the sunrise won’t create a daily routine that lights you up, enhances productivity, or develops the sticky habits needed to transform random rituals into daily practice.

What will create a daily routine that sticks? It’s all about creating the right habits.

The key to a daily routine that sticks is pretty simple

I don’t know about you, but my history with strong willpower isn’t exemplary. So, when I first went about creating a daily ritual, I wasn’t holding my breath it would stick.

Then I discovered the extraordinary power of habits.

“If you believe you can change – if you make it a habit – the change becomes real.”
― Charles Duhigg

When you establish positive habits, you no longer have to rely on willpower and motivation alone. You can build a structure that creates momentum to carry you forward – even on days when you’d rather stay under the covers.

Following a daily routine of your own creation can also help you narrow in on what matters, minimize procrastination, and improve your health.

The first step is to focus on activities that’ll work for you. It can be tempting to mimic how Tim Ferriss starts his morning, or how Sarah Blakely finishes her day – but these routines might not work for your life. Think about what activities resonate most with you – the ones that’ll push you to become the best version of yourself – and focus on them.

As an example, if you work Tuesday – Saturday with a start time of 1 pm, it’s unlikely a 6 am date with your trainer is priority one. Look at your lifestyle first and then continue forward. The key to creating a daily routine that sticks is getting into regular and consistent patterns to form habits.

The best daily routine for success is YOUR OWN

Here are the four questions you should ask when setting up your daily system:

1. Are you prepared for the rest of your day?
2. Does it get you closer to a value or goal that’s important to you?
3. Is this something that makes you happy?
4. Can this activity be sustained?

An effective daily routine can be found in the answers to these questions. Ideally, you’ll combine all four to create the ultimate day.

Related Post: How to Balance Work and Life: The Ultimate Guide

Why I gave up my membership in the #5amclub (and never looked back)

Before we dig into the essential parts of a daily routine, let’s put an old debate to bed. Over the past few years, word on the street has been that early risers are the “disciplined ones.” Bounding out of bed each day at 5 am to go for an eight-mile jog (#chasingsunrise), high-fiving passersby with joy and motivation.

Night owls and late(r) risers, on the other hand, filter through a different lens. Lazy, directionless, and disorganized are just a few of the gems thrown around. However, getting enough sleep and waking up according to your body’s natural rhythm can ignite a far more productive day than forcing yourself out of bed hours before your brain is ready. That there’s a recipe for burnout.

It also sets the stage for disappointment. A night owl can’t force themselves to wake up before the sun regularly without backlash from their body. To give yourself the highest chance at building a habit, you want to work with your natural rhythms, not against them.

If you’ve always been more productive in the evening, stop fighting that impulse and instead adjust your routine to take advantage of your most creative hours. Set aside time to work on your drawing, diversify your skill set, or spend time on a hobby.

The epic rise of the night owl

Late risers can find comfort in the productivity of Reddit’s founder Alexis Ohanian. Not getting to bed before 2 am most nights, he’s rarely up before 10 am. In spite of that, Ohanian made it to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list two years in a row, and at last check, Reddit valuation is $1.4 Billion (not too shabby).

If that’s not enough reason to embrace your night owl tendencies, recent studies have found we’re:

• More intelligent
• Hyper-creative
• Wealthier

So, the next time a friend asks what time you got up in this morning don’t be ashamed if it’s after 5 am – you’re doing just fine on your own rhythm.

Time to get your mind on the right track

“The mind is just like a muscle – the more you exercise it, the stronger it gets, and the more it can expand.” ― Idowu Koyenikan

If you analyze productivity experts’ daily routines, you’ll find a few things in common. Almost all have an element of focus on the big picture: goals, gratitude, and targeted planning.

Without clarity of mind, it’s challenging to focus on even the smallest task. Let’s look at three ways you can narrow in your laser with these daily routine examples:

The reason a tech-free morning will set you up for success

Picture this: The sun is shining in, you’ve just woken up, and for a moment you’re basking in the quiet peace of the morning. You reach over to grab your iPhone, and the spell breaks – emails, texts, DM’s – you’re thrust into someone else’s schedule. When the first thing you do after you wake up is reach for your phone, you become reactive – and what we’re striving for is proactive.

Begin your day focused on yourself by staying unplugged from the online booking that came in overnight, the drama playing out in your text messages and the world according to Twitter (it’s never good news anyway). At the very least, wait until after you’ve gone through your morning routine.

Related: Are You Letting Big Tech Control Your Time?

Close your eyes and let your mind run wild.

There’s no better way to start your day than visualizing how you’d like it to unfold. Be as detailed in your mind as possible and stay positive. If you struggle to picture how you want your day to turn out, whip out a notebook, and write everything down instead.

Visualization works alongside your subconscious mind, a powerful connection that’s eager to soak up your vibe (good or bad). The more often you focus through this practice, the easier it becomes for your mind and body to align on your goals.

Your new daily routine maker is in your junk drawer right now.

Pull out that $1.29 BIC pen you tossed into the drawer and dig out the journal you bought intending to write in (someday). Taking the time to write every day improves your skills as a communicator makes you more creative and can increase happiness. Whether you want to list five things you’re grateful for, knock out ten big ideas or free flow, the goal’s getting into the habit of putting words on the page.

Let’s prepare your body for battle (ahem, work)

“The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus.”

— Bruce Lee

You might not see your daily workout as an essential habit to create. The struggle to pull yourself out of bed can feel like an uphill battle, let alone having the first person you interact with be an overly enthusiastic spin instructor.

Know that you’re not limited to the bass-filled Soul Cycle room or action-packed Muay Thai class to see benefits – you simply need to move. After a night of sleep, you’ve been inactive for hours, and it’s time to get the blood coursing through those veins. Send a shock-wave to your brain to signal hibernation is over.

Here are two ways to get your body in fighting form that doesn’t involve the home gym:

Breathe the air in, breathe the stress out

Your body (and brain) cannot function without your breath, and the more you can train yourself to control its rate, the easier it’ll be to:

• Reduce stress
• Recover from a hard workout
• Sleep better
• Improve your focus and clarity

There are several breathing exercises you can choose from, one of the most popular being the Win Hof Method. Practicing the following sequence helps to release more energy, influence your nervous system, and change various physiological responses.

According to Win Hof, “You are inducing voluntarily a short stress response which ultimately will lead to more resilience towards everyday stress, mentally and physiology and feeling more in control.“

Here are the steps:

1. Get comfortable
2. 30 Power Breaths
3. Retention after exhalation
4. Recovery Breath

For full details, you can check out the Win Hof Method breathing exercises here.

To wake up refreshed you need to stick to a nightly ritual

Your key to a rewarding daily routine that sticks begins the night before. While there’s no “perfect” amount of sleep (everyone is different), the National Sleep Foundation has recommended a window of 7-9 hours sleep for those between the ages of 26-64.

Many indicators will let you know which side of the scale you fall on – are you happy and productive after seven hours, or do you nod off on the way home from the shop? Either way, to get the optimal amount of shut-eye for your body, you need to practice good sleep hygiene (and I don’t mean having a shower and brushing your teeth before you go to bed).

Let’s look at what you should do to set yourself up for a smooth transition to dreamland:

• Try to stick to a sleep schedule, even on weekends (at the very least get up at the same time daily, bedtimes can vary).
• Practice a chill-out bedtime ritual that doesn’t involve Netflix.
• Exercise daily.
• Make sure your bedroom is cool, dark and quiet (no sleeping to the calming sounds of Law & Order).
• No lumpy mattresses and ten-year-old pillows.
• Nix the alcohol and caffeine well before bedtime.
• Ban electronics one hour before you turn out the lights.

Round out your daily routine by taking a walk on the spiritual side

Before you skip this section (We see you rolling your eyes over there). We’re going to cover your spirit in the broadest possible sense, no mention of religion or discussion of the afterlife. Instead, we’ll look at three ways to live in the moment and find focus before you take on the day.

Do some bicep curls for your brain

“When you have one foot in the future and the other in the past, you piss on the present.”

– Dan Harris

It can be terrifying to begin a meditation practice. The idea of sitting quietly with your thoughts for even five minutes is intimidating. Your mind can go to places you didn’t even know existed.

One moment your thinking about when the “big one” might hit and the next, you’re wondering what level of Mario Kart you beat in seventh grade. Keep in mind this is just in minutes one through four. However, if you persevere with meditating, it can lower your anxiety, help you become less reactionary, and give you time to be still.

You may struggle with the idea of sitting down, closing your eyes, and trying to figure out how to start. What do you do when a thought pops up? Are you supposed to focus on your breath? Starting with a meditation app to guide you and take away some fear of “not doing it right” can be a helpful transition.

Here are a few popular apps:

1. Ten Percent Happier
2. Waking Up
3. Calm

Be thankful for the seemingly insignificant things

How often do you sit down and reflect on your life? It’s a practice many of you may not prioritize; however, writing five things you’re grateful for daily for will do a few things:

• It helps you appreciate those things in your life you may have been overlooking.
• You become a more positive, mindful, and attentive person.
• You realize how fortunate you are for what you have.
• It amplifies positivity in your life (the more parts of your life you’re thankful for, the more positivity you draw in).

You can choose to combine this practice with your meditation (here’s a good gratitude meditation), or with your writing if you’d like to reflect with a physical reference.

Amelia Boone is a corporate attorney, obstacle racer, and ultra runner who’s a certified badass. Amelia also posts her daily gratitude journal on her Instagram stories. Check out some of her posts for inspiration if you’re feeling stuck getting started.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Amelia Boone (@arboone11) on Dec 3, 2018 at 5:16pm PST

Shift your mindset on creativity

We all start with the same 24 hours in our day; it’s how we use them that’s the differentiating factor. If you spend your morning in a whirlwind; dashing from your bed to the car then to work without so much as a thought about yourself, you’re missing out on an opportunity for growth.

What inspires you? Music, art, a great novel? Carve out time in your routine to fill yourself up with your chosen medium. If you stop learning, you cease to grow, and no one wants that. Don’t look at creativity as an indulgence, but as the get-up and go that’ll inspire you to greatness.

Your best daily routine for success will be forever changing (roll with it)

“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.”
― Lao Tzu

You aren’t the same person you were last year. Heck, you might even be a different person than you were last week.

Don’t put pressure on yourself to keep your daily routine the same as you grow, take on new challenges, and uncover new goals. If your daily routine feels like forcing a square peg into a round hole – make a change — Sub in another activity that makes you feel empowered and stoked to get into your day.

Your best daily routine for a healthy life is personal to you. Don’t let yourself be tempted and thrown off course by the latest trends or well-meaning celebrity advice. Cultivate your own daily rituals and use them to live out your best life.

For you, a 9-5 workday was never the goal. You pursued an alternative lifestyle, knowing you’d be giving up the traditional cycle of a Monday – Friday grind, followed by letting loose on the weekend. What you didn’t bank on was how your work and home life started to blur together.

Client texts and phone calls after hours, bosses calling during your “vacation” asking you to cover shifts and the frequent back and forth to conventions that left you feeling jet-lagged and on the verge of burnout.

While the constant barrage of requests for your attention and time felt like a reflection of your success in the beginning, it’s devolved into feelings of resentment, loss of control, and overwhelm.

You’re ready to make a change.

If you want to set boundaries like a boss at work, you need to make well thought out decisions about how you spend your time. By using the eight steps below to uncover your limits, communicate them, and follow-through, you’ll be on your way to real transformation.

The reasoning behind setting boundaries in your life

Before you dive into how you picture your new balanced life, it’s essential to understand the reasons behind why you need to set boundaries. You may encounter some push back in the areas of your life where you start setting up new roadblocks. It can be difficult to stand your ground if you’re unsure why you made these new decisions in the first place.

Here are three powerful reasons to set boundaries:

You feel empowered to choose yourself

It’s easy to take on other people’s feelings, ideas, values, and thoughts without acknowledging your own.

Let’s say you have a client that continually calls outside of business hours. They tell you it’s because it’s the “only time that works for them.”  When you decide that your “out of shop” hours will now be spent offline, it can be an uncomfortable conversation to have. You’ll need to step outside the situation first and decide what’s in your best interest. The moment you let yourself get entangled in other people’s circumstances, it can become stressful, draining, and overwhelming.

When you set boundaries using your feelings as a starting point, you start to live for yourself. You’re more connected and more in control of your work. You’ll find that you’re able to be in relationships that are balanced and equal because you’re standing up for yourself.

You teach others how to treat you

When you set boundaries, you find the confidence to tell an unhealthy personality that you’ll no longer tolerate their behavior. Through your actions, you can also train those around you to treat you the way you deserve to be treated.

Here’s a scenario you might find familiar: you have a co-worker who’s always “borrowing” from your station when you’re not around. There are promises that they’ll “get you back next time” or “it won’t happen again”—but it always does. Instead of doing something to break the cycle (setting a boundary) you’ve just sat back and played the nice guy. For your co-worker to show you respect, you need to teach them how to treat you.

Finally, in the most dramatic situation, you’re able to leave a toxic environment that isn’t healthily serving you.

You can say “yes” to new opportunities

When you set boundaries, you’re able to say “no” to the client that’s continually showing up 30 minutes late to their appointment (if at all). This allows you to say “yes” to taking on new challenges (that guest spot you’ve been eyeing) without getting locked into feelings of guilt or just plain missing out.

Now that you have a better understanding of the “why” behind setting boundaries, let’s look at the “how.”

Every aspect of your life can benefit from setting boundaries; today, let’s explore how to set boundaries in the workplace.

Related: 5 Reasons “No” Is the Most Important Word You’ll Learn

Let’s have a peek at the most effective way to take back control over your life while you’re at work.

The first step to setting healthy boundaries is resetting the ones you may have already created.

If up to this point your clients have been able to call you at any hour, any day of the week – you need to train them to follow a schedule that feels right to you. Same goes for the boss who speaks to you with disrespect. However, it will be challenging to stroll into work one day and flip a switch for change with this person while avoiding a complete blow up. Instead, you need a plan that’ll get you from where you are now to where you’d like to be – with the lowest body count.

Here are a few pointers to make the transition a smooth one:

• Be consistent with your new boundaries

• Keep them clear & simple

• Stay calm when explaining your limits & when facing push-back

• Be flexible with compromise (as long as it still feels right)
  

Once you’ve established clear boundaries, your network will begin to give you more respect. In some situations this may be the first time you can be yourself, ask for what you want without the fear of judgment.

Now that you’ve laid the groundwork for how you’d like to be treated at work, it’s time to establish critical boundaries in those working relationships. This applies to how you interact with co-workers, clients, and bosses.

Eight ways you can set boundaries at work like a boss

1. How do you start to set personal boundaries? Uncover your core values

The first step to setting your boundaries is by uncovering your values. Once you’ve determined what they are, you’ll be able to outline the steps you need to take to ensure they meet your needs.

As an example, your family time may be priority number one to you. So, because you want time off to be with them, you’ll create strict boundaries around being available at all hours or picking up shifts on days off.

Don’t blow through this first step. It may have been a long time since you thought about what your core values are and how you’d like to integrate them into your life.

2. Take the time to establish your limits

Do you know your limits? Or are you caving to what people around you are doing?

It’s important to get super clear about what your limits are, whether that be emotional, physical, or mental. Pay attention to all of it.

What are you able to handle before you become stressed, overwhelmed, and drained of energy? All these feelings help you understand what your limits are.

A great example of this is taking on extra hours or more clients. Overtime is wonderful. It’s usually better pay, makes you look like a hard worker in the eyes of your boss and builds up your client list. But after a while (if you’re not careful) it can lead to burnout. You need to understand your limits and choose for yourself what the optimal work-life balance is for your healthiest life.

3. How do you set boundaries without being mean? Communicate clearly.

Setting healthy boundaries at work isn’t meant to be a punishment to your co-workers, clients, or your boss—they’re meant to be mutually beneficial. After all, you won’t be your best self if you’re exhausted, resentful, or burned out. When you start to communicate your boundaries, make sure you do it clearly and without aggression.

For example, if you’ve added an up-front deposit to your appointment scheduling software because you’re tired of losing money on no-show clients, make it a point to verbally tell your existing clients why they’ll see this change going forward.

If you receive push-back, don’t get defensive. It’s essential to understand the other person’s needs and perspective. Listen with an open mind and communicate the reason for your new boundary.

Related: Case Study: Jason Medina, Tattoo Artist – The Challenges and Rewards of Switching to Online Booking

4. Learn the value in saying ‘no’

The pressure to please exists throughout society—not just in the workplace. If you aim to please, it’s easy to find yourself in a situation when you feel like your only option is “yes.” You continue to add more and more to your plate, but maintaining this standard can only lead to unhappiness and regret.

Take the time to understand how saying “no” could impact you positively. Would you have more time to focus on the parts of your career you love the most? Or maybe it would open up new opportunities for you. One of the best reasons to say no, is getting the chance to say yes to something else.

Once you’ve determined your boundaries around your “hard-nos,” communicate them to everyone at your workplace. Maybe this means you’ll no longer be checking your Inbox on Monday because you’ll now be offline (give an alternate response time), or you’ll no longer be taking men’s haircuts because you’ve decided to specialize in women only (provide old clients with a new stylist referral).

5. Find the compromise in your set boundaries

You’ve all seen the screaming child in the checkout line after his mom told him “no”—well, it’s doubtful your workplace will mutate into a pack of tantrum-having toddlers—but no one loves hearing “no.”

If you’re not psyched about how your new boundaries will go over at work (or with clients), you can reposition your “no’s” as an opportunity to find a solution.

Keep an eye out for positive ways to compromise. For example, if your boss has scheduled a staff meeting on your day off—let them know you already have plans, but you’d be happy to come in first thing on you’re next working day, so you’re all caught up. Show you’re part of the team, but stick to your guns with your boundaries.

Related: A Positive Mindset In Business: 21 Tips for a Balanced Life

6. Reinforce your boundaries in the moment

Setting boundaries is simple—on paper. You can write them down or ponder on them, dreaming about the difference they’ll make in how confident you feel. Reinforcing them can feel like a whole other ballgame.

But without reinforcement in the moment, or close to it, your boundary loses all its power. So, as hard as it may be, you need to put the kibosh on the boundary-breaking situation immediately.

For instance, if you’re chatting with your coworker and the conversation devolves into gossip—and you’ve decided you want no part in a toxic workplace—you’re going to have to let them know, in the moment, that you’re out.

7. How do you set healthy boundaries with family? Put down the iPhone.

If you want to find out how to set healthy boundaries at home, you need to have a hard look at your tech and communication habits.

Work-life balance can appear out of reach when “work” is only ever a few inches away. Out of habit, the first thing you do when you wake up is reach for your phone. You check for any new appointment alerts and get going, but for the rest of the day (until your head hits that pillow) there’s no disconnection from the messages and communications.

So, ask yourself: What’s driving you to stay connected? If you disconnect, what are you afraid of missing out on? Or does being connected 24/7 make you feel successful?

Once you answer those questions, have a peek at your answers. What’s motivating you to stay plugged in? You can later use those motivations to set up boundaries that’ll allow you to replenish yourself when you’re at home.

Your ultimate goal: when you leave work, unplug.

To achieve a healthy work-life balance, you need to be as committed to the “life” part as you are to the “work.” This means that, just as you focus on work when you’re working, you need to focus on being present when you’re not at the shop—this could mean not checking your emails during dinner or letting client calls go to voicemail if you’re in the middle of your family/friend time.

8. Visualize the boundary-breakers

Change is scary, and for some, that means reacting negatively. After you’ve established healthy boundaries, you can expect there will be those who get angry when you have to set them straight for crossing them.

Don’t get frustrated or view push-back as setbacks, instead use these opportunities to see if you can improve on your communication, your boundary-setting or to reevaluate your relationships.

Take the time to anticipate any situations where a client, co-worker, or boss may cross your boundaries and imagine how you’d handle the situation. The more you’re able to visualize the scenario and walk-through the thoughts and feelings, the less likely you’ll be to over-react.

Are you ready to set boundaries in all parts of your life?

Your career may never revolve around a structured 9-5 workday, but that’s not the type of lifestyle you want anyway.

If you’re ready to make the change, it’s well within your power to achieve a healthy balance between work and life

To set boundaries like a boss, you need to make careful decisions about how you choose to spend your time. By using the eight above mentioned steps to find your limits you’ll be on your way to a harmonious life.

Do you struggle to set boundaries? Let us know in the comments.