Owning your own business comes with a lot of perks. You can work at your own pace and schedule, you can complete tasks the way you like them, and you don’t have to answer to anyone but yourself. On the flip side, however, it can be challenging to really get your business off the ground and in a good financial flow. Things like marketing, networking, and growing your client list all take time. Growing your business is the goal of just about every business owner. But how do you know when you’ve hit that sweet spot and need to think about getting some help? How can you be proactive and what are some things you can tackle right away to stay ahead of the curve?

Let’s talk templates. If you’re a service-based business in particular, templates are an incredible tool that can improve the efficiency of your business and save you so much time!

5 ways templates can help you:

What a journey this has been! I have learned and grown so much. My biggest takeaways were learning how to navigate social media and networking, and understanding how each of those play a role in growing my business.

If you're a service-based professional, spending time analyzing your client journey is a must! Since there are many parts to this process, we'll spend time breaking down each component separately.

So, let's start with your consultation. This is a prospective client's first impression of what it would be like to work with you.

Let’s talk about your client onboarding process. You’ve had the consult and they’ve said yes (awesome!); now you need to get them set up for success. So what does that mean for you?

Let’s talk about Expectations for a moment. When you’re starting a relationship with someone, whether you’re a coach, a consultant, a personal trainer, a bookkeeper, a travel agent, whatever; there are expectations for both parties. So what are those? And are they clearly outlined when you’re having your consultation and onboarding discussions?

Eventually, the relationship with your client will come to an end, for whatever reason. Maybe you’ve completed the work, maybe they need to take a break, maybe it’s just no longer the right fit. That’s all good!

So logistically, how do you wrap things up and bring them to a close? What happens next?

I’ve been thinking a lot about what Success looks like, these days. It seems like we’re told that success looks only a certain way and society promotes it to be only a certain thing. ‘You have to make tons of money.’ ‘You need to be making a dramatically large impact on society.’ ‘You need to work until burnout.’ But I don’t think this is accurate and I also don’t think it's fair. I think success is different for everyone. It’s personal. What success looks like to me, to you, to her, to them; it all varies.

Nowadays it’s so easy to get overwhelmed. Answering emails, answering phone calls, following up on leads, paying bills, networking, social media, trying to grow your business, trying to stay sane while growing your business, making changes to your procedures, adding new staff - all the things! It’s a lot. Thinking about everything that needs to get done can be stressful. Thinking about achieving your vision can be stressful. And in that stress, lives overwhelm. It’s so easy to get caught up in it. All the things you weren’t able to do. All the things you didn’t cross off that pesky checklist. All the things you feel like you should be doing but didn’t have the time, energy or bandwidth for. But don’t live in that space! It will drag you down and feel insurmountable to climb back up.

Yes I said it! Rest is important. Period. Our culture glorifies burn out and the go-go-go mentality, but that’s not actually healthy AND it doesn’t serve anyone well. There will always be things to do, things to get done and someone who needs something. But when you’re prepping for your week and looking at your schedule, consider how much time is already being demanded of you. What time is already being managed FOR you. How busy your schedule is already looking. Are there certain days where you can incorporate some down time? What about self-care? Can you try to include breaks throughout your day so you have time to rest and recharge?