Wouldn't we all just love to have more time to ourselves? Imagine being able to do what you want to do, when you want to do it, without taking a cut in income. When I made the decision to approach my business this way, I had a very strong motivation – I was determined to work only three days a week, so I could spend the other four being a mom to my little girl. But this was a very conscious effort, and I’m going to share with you three of the steps that it took to get me there, and the steps you can take to get yourself in the zone of peace and prosperity as well.
This is an article based on my recent virtual workshop, "Why Your Dream Business is Not Making BIG money (Yet) – 3 Steps to Build a Full-Time Business on Part Time Hours”. And wouldn't we all just love to have more time to ourselves? Imagine being able to do what you want to do, when you want to do it, without taking a cut in income. When I made the decision to approach my business this way, I had a very strong motivation – I was determined to work only three days a week, so I could spend the other four being a mom to my little girl. But this was a very conscious effort, and I’m going to share with you three of the steps that it took to get me there, and the steps you can take to get yourself in the zone of peace and prosperity as well.
Step 1 - Make your days count with high impact business-building activities. And this to me was the most important step. I had to ask myself, on a daily and sometimes hourly basis, “What am I doing now that should be delegated or dropped in order for me to work part-time?” What can go… what must go so that I can accomplish this?
First, figure out what days and hours would work best for you in order to have your ideal lifestyle. Once you decide the part-time hours you want, block that time off. These are your new, dedicated work hours, and your productivity becomes magnified during these hours. Get rid of all non-service delivery tasks, for example writing copy for ads, scheduling meetings, checking your emails, networking, working on your e-zine, even sales activity. And when you work from home, like I did, you have to resist the urge to start cleaning the house, make shopping lists, and start dinner.
You will need to develop what I call a “delegation consciousness”. In every moment of every day, ask yourself, “should I be doing this?” I’ll give you an example of how this worked for me, and it was life-changing. I have an e-zine that I send out to my list, and I decided to hire a virtual assistant team to take charge of the process for me, because I was spending way too much time on it. By delegating my e-zine maintenance, that put into place a circumstance that allowed me to have a team already in place when the floodgates opened and business started pouring in. I was ready for it. I needed to push against my fears that I should do it myself and that I couldn’t afford to outsource this. And it felt great when I let go of it.
Are you making proclamations that don't really apply to the person you are now? Maybe you’ve caught yourself being sucked into something you know isn’t the best use of your time, and you swear you’re not going to get caught up in it again. But the next time it comes up, there you go. We go to business events, read books, attend networking meetings, make cold calls… and this is ok to do once you’ve gotten your part-time hours under control. But for now, get rid of anything that is not essential to you right now. This is going to be extreme, you will be cutting back to bare minimums. But don’t just cut back, be very conscious of what you are bringing in to your business, as well.
Solutions only have the opportunity to present themselves when you make a decision. You’ll find many things that can wait if you really want to work part-time. What is the benefit of working part-time? Only you can answer that for yourself. For me, it re-energized me, and gave purpose to everything I did with my business, and allowed me to live the life I’d only dreamed of.
Read about Step 2 in the next article!
Entrepreneurship – The Road Less Traveled
I believe that life is a journey, and just like any journey, it has some bumps in the road along the way. For me, those “bumps” came in the form of three layoffs in two years. I thought, “This is my life. I need to create a way for it to support me and bring me freedom and joy.” So… I started on that journey of entrepreneurship.
What I Learned From A Glitch – And A Rabbit
How did I learn how vital it is to be conscious about your marketing? By working with entrepreneurs! In fact, it's the core strategy behind what I teach, and it’s why I named my business Conscious Marketing. But here's where my head got in the way of my heart: I had an extensive marketing background. I played hardball with some of the top advertising agencies. I thought I had it going on! I didn't think I needed any help from a coach or a mentor, because I already had all the answers. I was wrong.
Everyone Needs a Soapbox!
I was kicked out of corporate America. Literally. I was let go three times in two years! It was difficult at the time, but now I see - the struggle had a purpose. Because of that trial, I found my true calling: helping business owners find their voice, get on that soapbox, and attract in their ideal clients like moths to light.
