Maybe these things are universal, or perhaps they are just me. But I thought, maybe it would be fun to talk about the things you should know about working for yourself. I’m a veteran now, basically. I’ve been back full-time working for myself for a year. And in some way or another, I’ve been doing my own thing since I was 21 years old.
Though, at 21, I SUCKED at it, just quietly.
But now, let’s have some fun. I’m here to shed some light on what it looks like to work for yourself. Hopefully, you should know about working for yourself that will make the transition or life as you know it easier. Working for myself includes working at home. And even though I have a designated and slightly separate from my house office, it comes with its own distractions. Lord help me, if I were working inside my house or in the lounge where I sued to work, it would be free for all. This brings me to ‘thing’ number one;
You should know that you’ll get really into doing the dishes.
If you work from home, like me, all of a sudden, every dish to be washed and every pile of laundry to be folded will suddenly become irresistible. Your home will become the procrastination station, and this includes those tasks or chores you haven’t done in five years but are now suddenly essential! By the way, did you see my new outdoor area and recycling sorting bins? (see, exactly). While it can be easy to resist these things and call them out for what they are, I find now that it’s easier to do them. Want to do the dishes and put on a load of washing? Go ahead. In the end, it might cost you 10 minutes or so, but resisting will cost you longer. But make sure you call a spade a spade; what you’re doing here is procrastinating. Maybe ask yourself why THAT is. You know, while you’re loading those dishes…
You should know that motivation is a flighty bitch.
Let me tell you, you can’t wait on motivation to show up when you work for yourself. Know that motivation won’t show up when needed but instead will visit at THE most inopportune times. Think middle of the night, in the coffee line or just as that Netflix series you’ve been waiting all week to sit down and watch gets good. To some degree, you have to go with it. But on the other hand, you have to set boundaries around your work time and have ways to bottle that motivation for you to use later. The most important thing is not to be too hard on yourself. It’s hard to work on command when you’re the only one giving orders. It’ll take time; give yourself space.
You should know that you’ll never really feel like you’ve got it all together.
My business is pretty impressive when you look at it on paper. We work with some big companies and have great success with the regular clients we work with (life update blogged here). I still love the work, and the small team of people I have around me (not literally, digitally) are so fun and easy to work with. But even then, I have a hard time feeling like I’ve got it all together. Maybe that’s one of those goals that you never officially realise (or should stop chasing), but it’s true. Good as it gets, and as impressively smoothly it operates from the outside looking in, expect to feel (at times) that you have no idea what you’re doing or how it even works. But just get dressed and show up; no one has it all together, so you’re in good company.
You should know that not everyone will pay on time.
I hate to be Debbie Downer on this one, but you should allow for the people who pay late when you’re estimating your income. Make some allowance for those who won’t pay you at all. I’ve had this happen before – when I could least afford it too. It happens, and we do what we can to prepare for it. Sound practices are a start; don’t be afraid to ask people to pay when they said they would, get deposits for larger projects or have service agreements drawn up and signed (a leg to stand on if you have to sue them). But also, save a little more than you need to as a buffer. Be prepared for less income than expected to account for longer payment terms or to have to shake the tree. While people will pay you on time in a perfect world, it just doesn’t work that way. Be prepared; no one wants to come up short and cannot pay those who do work or supply to you.
You should get good advice and know enough to take it!
When I started my first business, the best thing I did was go to an accountant that specialised in small businesses. The stupidest thing I ever did was ignore his advice (on and off) for over a decade. I mean, young and dumb doesn’t cover that. I thought he didn’t understand MY business or what MY goals were, but really, I was a brat. Business is business and when you find someone who has proven themselves with experiences to be worthy of listening to, do yourself a favour a try to do it. I should have been saving 20%-30% of my income for taxes etc. But did I? Of course not. Did I keep my business and personal expenses separate? Pfffft, who has time for that. Not doing these small things (in the past, I learned THAT lesson) led to a whole heap of problems that could have been avoided if I just listened to the expert I was paying to advise me. Find good people and ask for their advice, and then, take it! Trusting your gut will only take you so far, and usually to places you’ve already been before.
You should know that you are not alone, even when it feels like you are.
Oh man, some days when I look at my computer screen, steaming coffee in hand and emails piled up, I feel like I haven’t spoken to anyone in days. And sometimes, that literally happens. But you should know that you aren’t alone. Others are doing what you do, and the internet is an amazing place to meet them. I feel like some one-on-one interaction (I call it using up my word count!) take a fitness class, do a workshop or head to a cafe to work and say hi to strangers. Ask a friend for coffee or lunch, call a family member or do whatever it takes to feel connected again. Do the things in my how to lift your mood post, whatever it takes. Working for yourself, especially at home, can be like living in a bubble. So, get out more.
You should know that the perfect schedule doesn’t exist.
Trust me; I’ve tried to find it. Haha. I’ve got a pretty good daily routine at the moment, but if I’ve learnt one thing in the past year, it’s that best-laid plans ALWAYS go to shit. Haha. This means that I never leave things until the last minute (because Murphy’s Law says that when things will go wrong), and I always leave space in my schedule for other things to pop up. I love working for myself. After all, it means I can be available to my family when they need me and take naps in the afternoon because it makes me feel good. Don’t get too focused on having ‘the perfect day that you forget why you do this in the first place. Maybe your perfect schedule is a five-point to-do list that you get done when you feel like it? Sound okay? Good news, you get to decide.
And most of all, you should know that your best is good enough.
If you’ve made a mistake or tried and failed, I want you to know that your best WAS good enough. I come across this concern so often working with businesses and on my own business. You can’t always get it right, and worrying about getting it wrong has stopped many people from doing anything at all. Done is better than perfect. And in my books, saying you’re sorry, you made a mistake, or you’ll do better next time is more effective than never having tried. The right people will support you in developing and growing yourself and will never ask for more than your best effort. This doesn’t mean you should be slacking off and doing things half-assed – I would never give you permission to do that. But as the old saying goes, when you know better, you can do better, and I work to that all the time. Always improving and getting better, but learning (after all this time!) that part of that is not knowing or sometimes falling short. If you tried, and especially if you gave it your best, that’s enough. (FOR NOW, haha).
And that’s my list!
Allow me to finish by saying, you, my friend, are fantastic. If you’ve made this leap or are planning it, you’re already a rock star in my books. I know the freedom and joy that doing your own thing can bring. I’m so proud of you for giving it a shot. But, the flipside of that is that we adventurous types can be hard to please. We tend to beat ourselves up or expect way more than someone else would ever expect from us. Try not to do that, okay? Yes, there are plenty of serious things you should know or do, like taxes or metrics or reporting, but in the end, the most important thing is how you’re doing. Check-in with yourself, and I guarantee the rest will fall into place.
Images by Renee Shae Photography for her Big & Boss brand – Renee is a Brisbane based photographer specialising in branding photography and headshots.
I’m probably the last person you should be listening to on the topic of building a healthy email list right now. My newsletters have been infrequent and uninteresting, to say the least. But, take this as a do what I say, not as I do kind of thing, okay? If you’ve got that firmly in mind, let’s move on.
You see, I’ve managed lists from a few hundred subscribers all the way up to ten thousand, and the secret is? They’re all the same. Big lists or small, established or brand new. You grow them the same way. You maintain them the same way. And in the end, if you don’t take care of it, people unsubscribe the same way.
Let’s get started, shall we? Email list building 101.
When building an email list, you have to offer people a decent reason for them to be there. Your offer must have genuine value to the subscriber. And no, as fun as it seems to you, subscribing to buy stuff from you one day is not a good enough reason.
That said, side note, make sure you are collecting email addresses, with consent, from people who ARE buying from you. At least you know those people already like you. Right? Do this by asking existing customers and clients to join the list, give them the opportunity at every stage of the transaction and more often than not, they’ll take it. Now back to a decent offer thing.
A decent offer to subscribe is the reason you see so many offerings of content upgrades and freebies on websites. Things such as how-to guides, sample product (especially popular with stock photos), checklists, webinars or eBooks. The subscriber is offered the ‘thing’ for free in exchange for your email address. These are great. I highly recommend having an offering or five because they work. People love a bargain and something that’s free, well even better.
BUT.
And that’s a BIG BUT.
Make sure what you offer for an incentive is actually worth the trouble of subscribing, confirming and waiting for that download to appear. Because if it’s a page or two made in Word and half of it is your bio, then you’re not offering actual value there. I once subscribed to receive a checklist for creating a YouTube video. The document I received was very schmick and professionally done, but the content was a single page long. I mean, hardly worth the effort and I was immediately a little put off the list.
Then you have to consider if it’s something your audience really wants. I offered a Suger Drinks cocktail ebook once, not a great lure at all. People just weren’t that into it and so they didn’t see the point of signing up to get it. No problem, moving on to the next idea. Start by testing it with your existing audience. If they’re not that into it, back to the drawing board for you. This item, this discount or free download or offering, MUST be worth the effort.
Bring the value, not the sales pitch.
Think creatively, this part of the journey isn’t about making a sale. Put that out of your head. You’re not selling your wares right now. You’re selling value. This offering has one purpose. And that is to be of value enough to the person who sees it that they subscribe immediately.
When you have an offer (or five) that are performing reasonably well when promoted to your existing customers, clients or audience, you can move on. That last part, it can take a while and an investment in developing something great. But rest assured, when you get something that works, it will keep working for a long time afterwards.
Widen the net.
Next, you need to widen your net to promote your list. If your offer is performing well enough with your existing audience, they’ve signed up already. But how do we reach more people, right? Short version, with ads. Facebook and Instagram ads.
Stop. Don’t eye roll at me that Facebook and Instagram are over. That’s not even close. What is even close to being over is the free ride we’ve been enjoying up until now. Chalk the freebies up to good luck and implement a genuine Ad strategy to grow your list.
Not sure what you’re doing? There’s SO much free information online. Google it my friend. Spend smaller amounts to test the performance of your ads. Find something that works, then and only then, put more money behind it. Have a look at brands like Showpo and Wish, they out pretty much 100% of their marketing budgets into content creation and Facebook ads. You can’t argue with that kind of growth!
And finally, make it idiot proof.
If you want people to subscribe, you need to mention it, make it easy and generally talk about your list whenever the opportunity arises. For the first year of my newsletter, I posted the link to Twitter and Facebook every single week. I’d talk about what great content was coming and the freebies for subscribers. It was a whole thing. People felt part of it and being on the list was worth it.
This section is called make it idiot proof for a reason. Mentioning it, telling people to subscribe is one thing, but making it easy is the real key. Have multiple subscribe buttons and options, even word the ‘subscribe now’ differently to make sure it’s clear. Include a link to your sign up form whenever you can. Add it to your website’s menu bar for goodness sake.
The last thing you want to do is have someone land on your business page or website, and NOT be able to figure out how to subscribe. Make their life easier and your list fatter. Make it EASY. Not sure if you’ve made it obvious enough, ask a friend to head to your site and subscribe. If they can’t find it, no one will. Move it!
And that, my friends, is my post about making your email list MORE subscribe-able.
This was a question sent to me by Carly, who is looking to grow her audience for an upcoming book release. Hopefully, that helped, Carly. But the tips will work for anyone. Keep it simple, offer people value, and really consider what’s in it for THEM when they subscribe. We’re all clear what’s in it for us. Before you take the first step, know what’s in it for them. No arguments.
Have a question for me about blogs, business or branding? Let me know, I’m happy to help.
Last week, when we talked about life, Danielle wanted to know what happened with the pancake shop about being more open with my story. Did you know I had a pancake shop? Haha. I wonder if you did.
Its name was Whispers, and it was a pancake and crepe cafe. I purchased the existing business and settled on it weeks after my twenty-first birthday, refurbished and updated equipment, and went for it. That cafe was where I first cut my teeth on what it was like to work for myself.
It was hard – short version.
But not for the reasons you might think. Cafes have notorious schedules, and you have to be there the majority of the time. And that’s just opening hours. There is also cooking, ordering, marketing, catering, book work and staffing. Plenty to do to keep you busy. I flipped more pancakes in those years than most people will in ten lifetimes. Haha.
I loved it. The coming and going of people. The new ideas and changing the scenery of a cafe. There was never a day that looked the same as the one before. And I love coffee… I pretty much drank enough coffee for a small country in those few years.
It was the best.
The Saturday morning’s when the cafe felt like having many people over for breakfast was my favourite. Kel and I would often handle these morning’s ourselves, him madly flipping and filling pancakes while I took orders and made coffee. Writing this now makes me smile at the hustle-bustle memory of that.
At night we would do private events and parties. Dusting off the banquet type servery and offering a private and fun space for people to come and celebrate. That cafe was my first experience of creating community in business, a lesson I’ve taken with me always.
So, where did it go wrong?
In a lot of ways, it didn’t. It did OKAY in the most average of ways. It supported Kel and me when we needed it to. We managed to keep our heads above water, the staff paid and pay most of our bills (me and the tax department, that’s a story for another day).
When I sold the business, I knew that it would support the new owner and that there was enough in the sale to settle any outstanding bills. That said, I didn’t recoup the money I spent in the beginning. I was okay with that; it felt like the money I paid for my education in business. Worth every penny, even if today I would do things a little differently.
I’d had a crash course and survived. I was proud of that.
When I went into it, however, fine wasn’t what I was looking for. I was going to make it THE BEST. I had ideas about how to market the business, build up the catering side and make it a unique offering in the town. I did some of that. But I also did a lot of not that.
Being responsible for yourself and your output is difficult to master. Or, it has been for me anyway. I found that sometimes I just couldn’t be bothered or didn’t want to, and when that mood struck, it was impossible to motivate me. It’s hard to learn that about yourself, trust me.
I also learned that I was a know-it-all. Try not to be surprised. Haha. I’d watched my parents in their businesses and done a few semesters of a marketing degree. I thought I knew everything. My family would try to have their input (based on tested industry experience), and I thought I knew better.
Easily the biggest downfall as a young business owner.
It’s a lesson I only really learned in the decade that followed. Knowing when to trust my gut and listening to others was hard for me. I had it all tied up in being independent and standing on my own two feet. I’ve always been called spoiled or entitled because of my parent’s success, and this was a reaction to that.
But it doesn’t work. Sure, I had to follow my instincts about some things, but some fundamentals, had I not been so stubborn about doing it myself, wouldn’t have been the hard-fought lessons they were. I could have been better, done better, had I just been patient and spent a little more time listening than speaking.
Heck, 35-year-old me still needs that advice sometimes.
So, there you go. That was my first ever experience as a business owner. I loved it. Business has always fascinated me, and I knew with absolute certainty that working for myself was my ‘thing’ since forever. Do you have a business or blog? Was it like that for you too?
I added this prompt to the Hashtag Plus Blogger challenge myself. I’d been watching some YouTube {yeah, I know, same old same old} and came across a movie by Casey Neistat titled ‘Do What You Can’t’. Watch it if you haven’t seen it and have no idea what I’m on about. I knew it would be an interesting prompt. A prompt open to all kinds of interpretation. Outfits you ‘can’t’ wear. People who told us we can’t. Anything that has ever stood in your way.
So, here we are.
For my post this week, it’s a little of all of them. My outfit is very much one people have told me I shouldn’t be wearing. One that ‘requires’ shapewear. One that I should reconsider. For a moment after I saw the photos I thought maybe I should too. Too round in the stomach. Heck, too round everywhere. Maybe if I reconsidered the neckline or the fit of the skirt, or something to turn me into a sucked in sausage person, I could. But, I probably can’t.
But I’m wiser than that now. I’d say smarter, but it’s not that kind of wise. I’ve been in the trenches of being at war with my body, with allowing others to be at war with it, and I’m done. As I enter conversations with women, like I did in Melbourne this past week, I hear the same thing time and time again. Oh, I can’t. Not, I don’t want to or I’m choosing not to. No. They say, I can’t. Like there is a force out there making them.
But is there?
When you hear the voice that says you can’t, who is that!? It’s not the law, in Australia at least, there is very little restrictions on what you can and can’t wear. Sure, it could be magazines or style blogs. But meh, who listens to those people anyway. Maybe it’s the voice of your mother or grandmother, installing their idea of what it is to be appropriate so you can be safe. Maybe that voice, after it is all said and done. Or maybe it’s just you.
Did you set the rules based on something that happened once? Something you heard or the way somebody treated you. I get that. Seriously. I get that in so many ways. Hear me when I say I’ve been there. You heard me share above, and some of you might very well have agreed with it, but that voice isn’t the boss of you. That voice isn’t the one in charge and you can stop blaming it on you can’t.
Don’t want to? That’s different.
Saying you can’t. That makes it someone else’s problem. Someone else’s decision. It takes the power of who you are {and what you’re wearing, as the case may be} right out of your hands and dumps it in someone else’s lap. And that, my friends, is no way to live. Change your language and stop handing over your power to other people. Because sure, maybe you can’t, but most of the time I put to you, it’s you that’s getting in your way.
Wearing Boohoo Duster Jacket, Atmos + Here Skirt and ASOS Tank and City Chic heels {similar}. Sorry guys, most are from my wardrobe or sold out.
Link your post or photo below!
Thanks for playing along, team. I can’t wait to hear your take on ‘You Can’t’. Are you giving us some rules to play by or breaking them? Challenging someone who told you ‘you can’t or praising someone who was the voice that said you could. I want to hear all about it. See you on your blog soon!
Office tour, here we go! I took an Instagram poll {which is a remarkably awkward thing to do} and it came back that 88% of those who voted wanted to see it. I’m not going to spend my days wondering WHY some people voted no. Really. I’m not. *sobs*
But the yes vote has it {please let that be a sign for all things marriage equality} so today, let’s take a look inside my office. As I mentioned in the Instagram story, there really isn’t much to see, so I shared some of the books I’m reading. Let’s get started.
Want to see more from my house? Check out the Suger’s Place tag for everything I’ve shared on the blog so far.
Where should we take a look next? I was thinking our bedroom, but it needs a lot of work. We didn’t want to do too much up there as we are hoping to put in an ensuite ONE DAY, but well, that could be a little while away yet. But I’m happy to show you where it’s at now if you’d be into it. Otherwise, I was thinking I’d make Mr Suger clean up the yard and show you around the outside? Let me know. Don’t make me do another Insta poll. Clearly, they annoy some people. {wink wink}
You’d be forgiven for thinking this was about Taylor Swift. It’s not. I just stole her line. Sorry, Taylor, I’m sure you’ll cope. This is about giving up control of your life to someone else. Handing it over and letting them run you, run it, in whatever way they see fit.
Saying, look what you made me do.
So, maybe it is a little bit about Taylor. But not really. I was 21 when I opened my first business. It was a cafe that specialised in pancakes and crepes. That cafe was everything I’d dreamed of doing in the sense that I always wanted to work for myself. The hours were reasonable and I learned a lot there.
What I didn’t learn was how to manage my responsibilities in terms of tax and reporting. Real talk. I was always short, rarely lodged my BAS on time and often found myself avoiding anything to do with the accounting side of the business.
When I sold that business, and all was said and done, I owed the tax department money. Not heaps, but enough to be a lesson in not avoiding situations. But do you think I blamed myself for this situation? My Aunt, however, did an excellent job of reminding me that it was my fault and that I should have done what I needed to do. Full stop.
But nope. Not me. I blamed the ATO. Look what you made me do.
Time went on and I worked for myself at various stages in life. Kel started full time in his business and things were comfortably rolling along. Well, except for one thing. One thing that I had seen before. I hadn’t lodged my tax returns for a number of years. And I had no idea if our businesses even qualified to charge GST.
My head was very much in the sand. Someone else’s problem, right? Money, bookkeeping and meeting my obligations were things I did my best to ignore. It got to the point that my accountant, a lovely man with the patience of a saint, finally issued an ultimatum. Lodge my returns, adult, or find a new accountant.
So, finally pushed to do what I didn’t want to do, I did my books. I put together the paperwork I needed and sent them over. What’s the worst that could happen, right? It’s not like we’re rolling in it. I can’t owe that much.
Wrong.
I hadn’t learned my lesson last time and the universe had a new, bigger lesson for me to learn. Don’t you find that that’s the way it goes? When you ignore something or unlearn something you should have learned by now, you get a kick in the bum reminder. That’s what this was and there was no ignoring it. It was a reshuffle your life, shake the house down, make some changes, level kick in the butt.
I felt like I’d learned my lesson. In a lot of ways, I have. But I have this feeling, this mouse in a wheel type feeling, that I’m missing something. Am I someone I would consider in control of my business and the associated finances? Yes, I would say so. I’m meeting my obligations and doing what I need to know to what’s happening one month to the next. But…
It’s lonely out on this limb. That’s the problem with giving up saying ‘look what you made me do’. There’s only you to blame. It’s all on you. If I miss something, it’s on me. It’s powerful too. Because if I fail, if I stuff up and something happens, I know there is only one person who can change it. Trying to remember that has been important for carrying on. I’m responsible for me, and I’m going to take that very seriously.
Before we talk work style outfits and stripes, double stripes and mega stripes, I’ve got some news. This, ladies and gentleman, will be my last post featuring my half and half hair. I held out as long as I could, but summer blonde was calling me. I had to go. So next time you see me I’ll be a dirty sort of blonde that will be super easy for me to maintain over summer. Because the beach awaits and hair dye is going to be the least of my troubles.
But you want to talk about this work style outfit, yeah?
A bit of stripe and stripe action. Which we all know I’m a huge fan of. for this outfit I paired a top and skirt from the last season release from 17 Sundays and I tucked the top into the ruched skirt that I wore with black over here. The mishmash of the stripes is my favourite thing. Some this way, some that way, they go all over the place and it makes sure a super interesting outfit without having to try to hard. Perfect when you’re dashing out the door to work.
You guys have seen me wear work style stripes like this before. For me, it’s such a chic and cheerful workplace addition. I find myself falling into a bit of a rut at work when it comes to black shift dresses, black skirts, black tops (I am a shocker in the mornings, I need to plan better at night to avoid the last-minute grab). So stripes are a great alternative for me. But continue to black theme. Do you fall back on stripes for your work or casual style?
Still looking at stripes and wondering if they are for you? Check out my post titled ‘are horizontal stripes REALLY making you look fat‘ and maybe you’ll have some of your concerns answered. Because let’s face it, being Team Stripes is a lifestyle choice around here. I even wrote a post once about how to wear stripes LIKE A BOSS if you think that’s your kind of thing. Anyway, enough old post-flogging and a little more outfit photo’ing, right? Let the (pinnable if you like) photos roll…
Wearing all 17 Sundays (all the time, what can I say, I find something I like I flog it to death). Both pieces are last season but keep your eyes peeled in your local MYER, otherwise check out the new season stripes and make your own version. Try this top and this skirt.
My niece, Arleigh loves the swing. The higher, the better and as the wind rushes through her hair she’ll shriek higher, higher! Then when maximum height had been achieved the swing would start to wobble. The good old speed wobbles. And as it shuddered and she held on tighter, she’d laugh and say “it’s a bit wobby”.
A bit wobby indeed kid.
It’s like that when you are out there living the life you love and something gives you a nudge, sets you off course. You find yourself off-balance, out of step… A bit wobby. So what then? How do you firm up your footing and move forward when facing challenges?
There have been some key points in my life where things got off track and I had to pull them back on. The most recent example of this is the changes to our house and the way we manage our businesses due to some epic level tax procrastination coming home to roost. We got a nudge, it almost shoved me over the edge if I’m honest, but we held firm, rode it out and have come out the other side better for it.
Believe me there was a lot of course correcting to do, new systems to put in place, new deadlines and goals. Bit by bit we developed our systems so that we were in a stronger position in the end. Ready and prepared to meet the same challenge the following year. Wobbles can be a bit like that, they show up when you’re on the fast track to something that if you’re honest, you may be a little unprepared to face.
Take some time to seek out expert opinions, grow your knowledge and learn something you didn’t know about your area of focus. If it’s business, then read a book on business, take an eCourse. Do something to increase your knowledge and expand the base where you can draw ideas from. Expand yourself, a wobble is a perfect time to grow and use that growth to steady yourself.
Talk about your problems and see what solutions people come up with. The old adage holds true, ask and you shall receive. I like to tell people about my stuff ups regularly, you’d be surprised how efficiently this provides me with the answer to correcting my gaff. It’s held true for me my entire life that when I got over myself enough to stop be embarrassed for not being perfect and ask for help, that I always receive the guidance I need. You will too.
Sometimes these challenges, the wobbly times, are the final hurdle before you get what you want.
How do you tell the difference between when it’s time to learn and when it’s time to hold tight and wait it out? The way I do it is I do a bit of a check-in. Have I done all I know to do, am I on the path I want to be on, and would someone else agree there is nothing more to be done?
If everything looks good then you are just like Arleigh on the swing. You are breaking through and the wobbles are just the final shake down to see if you’re ready. If you are, you hold tight and wait to break through.
Sounds good, right? Yeeeeesss, winning.
I know, I know, I’m the last person in the world to be using the phrase winning. Hashtag winning would be worse, though. But it is. When you get the wobbles, some people quit. They throw in the towel and walk away. It’s nice to know that it doesn’t always have to be the case. There’s always something you can be doing even when it feels like the foundation you have built your dreams on is shaky.
So get out there team, tackle the wobbly times head on and watch your life expand like you wouldn’t believe. And if all else fails next time you hit a wobbly patch, just hear my voice in your head saying, it’s a bit wobbly. I’ve got your back.
Let’s talk working harder vs. working smarter and the way I had a tendency to work hard but not smart. Long hours, lots of running around like a headless chook and a massive failure to delegate. You see by sharing my experience as the headless chook poster girl for working hard, I’m hoping I’ll share with you what I’ve since learnt about working smart. So let’s get a wriggle on.
The year was 2005 and I was property manager extraordinaire. My shoes were bad and my attitude was if you ask those closest to me even worse. Long hours at a 6 day a week job had me close to the edge. Worse than close to the edge, I was dangling over the edge. Emotional, exhausted and in desperate need of relief I had a conversation that would change my life. A conversation about who I was being.
And the sad truth of the matter was that I was being a jerk and at the same time a big sooky-la-lah. When offered alternatives to the way I was working I felt that I was being personally attacked. I would cry and find it difficult to adopt any manner of change because, let’s face it, working hard is hard work and it wears a person OUT. The person in the conversation I was in suggested something had to give. It was time to make a change.
Even I knew something had to change. OR my head was going to explode. So I took their advice, their coaching, and I started to make small changes that would soon add up to a massive shift. I’ve outlined them below because that my friend is the point of this… To work smarter rather than harder and ultimately changed my whole way of being, I did the following;
I stopped taking everything so personally. I would train myself to pretend that people were talking about someone else when they were talking about me. It made having those ‘we need to talk’ style work conversations easier for everyone involved. It wasn’t personal anymore, it was just what was being said.
When the time came to work in teams I allowed myself to be myself. Instead of trying to hide my issues with Math or cover up my goofy personality and be ‘professional and polished’ I gave myself permission to be myself. Perhaps you’re pretending to be someone you aren’t to hide something you see as a shortfall in you. Stop doing that, it takes too much effort.
Plan first, then actually follow the plan. That 15 minutes you take at the start of the day to review what you did yesterday, make a plan for what to tackle today and your impending deadlines will mean there is less last-minute ‘what the hell, I forgot all about that’ panic and you can move from task to task without dramatics. Such a win.
Take the simplest route to the end results. I’ve seen it time and time again, people will run themselves ragged fetching and scraping and sourcing something that a simple Google (or document) search would’ve turned up in a second. As questions, research before you run and you’ll find the shortcut every time.
Take your breaks. It’s a bit of a thing among business, professional type people that it’s a badge of honour to rack up millions of hours of overtime, holiday leave and to never take a sick day. But if you are working smarter, then you need to let your body and mind recharge. Working through lunch will make you slower in the afternoon. Working non-stop for a month does nothing good for you. Rest and recharge and you’ll be more effective in your role while you’re doing it. Guaranteed.
And that my friends are the steps I took, when your powers combine, that meant (MOST) of the time I’m working smarter, not harder. I know my limits now. It certainly takes something monumental to make my cry. And I enjoy my time at work, keep a clearer head and can just DEAL with things better.
Strung out isn’t a good look for anybody. Take my advice. And yes, you can apply this outside the workplace too. Just shuffle the words around a little and you’ll see big changes in your life. Smarter, not harder team, that’s the aim. Now go get some rest, you’ve got some work ahead of you!
