Last week I sat down for a date with my monthly calendar to pencil in changes, client scheduling, and to generally take a peek at my capacity for this month. We talk about planning quite a bit in the Motorcycle Club and the nuances of figuring out a system that works for you and your brain.
This is what works for me:
- Plan the big goals for the quarter then every month.
- Go through my monthly calendar to see how those goals look on a day-to-day basis.
- THEN every week I update my calendar so that it includes the minutia.
This system allows for flexibility because if I don’t include flex time, my inner rebel will try to burn everything down.
With some of my clients, we create time blocks. With others, we do themes for the day. It’s all about what works for you.
I digress…sort of.
When I was looking at my monthly view, I could see that US Thanksgiving is coming up in a couple of weeks. Because most of my clients are US-based, that means for my business: fewer emails, fewer client engagements, and…the pressure to offer something for Black Friday / Small Business Saturday / Cyber Monday.
Are you feeling that pressure too?
Sometimes this pressure looks like anxiety (what should I offer? I should offer something, right? if I offer something, how should I price it?). Sometimes this pressure looks like guilt (I never offer anything and –this person– always does. I don’t have anything of value anyway. I should’ve finished that course I started to create). Sometimes this pressure looks like nothing…until the other sales start coming through your inbox and then…”crapola…I should’ve“.
So hi. Let’s talk about all that for a second, shall we?
These annual sales get a lot of attention and some business owners (with the right systems in place) gain followers and revenue from them.
If you’ve been thinking about offering a sale on one of your mini-courses or products…or now you’re thinking about it (gee thanks, Helen), the questions I would ask you are:
- What will you gain from a BF/CM sale?
- What will it take to make it happen?
- Do you have the capacity to get it done?
- Based on the answers to the above, is it worth it for you right now?
Because it’s okay if it isn’t worth it right now. It’s okay if you don’t have the capacity. It’s okay if the list of what it takes is too long. It’s okay if you aren’t sure what you’ll gain from it.
If any of those statements are true, it’s okay to let this go.
And once you know it wasn’t your time, it’s far easier to see all that noise as noise. It wasn’t a party you wanted to go to anyway.
AND IF…you have the capacity to get it all done. If you’re sure it’s going to be worth it, then GREAT! Now you know. And you can plan your next couple weeks making it happen. Then report back because I want to celebrate the heck out of that.
The fact is, so much of running your own business is noticing whether this is idea is the right one for you. There’s so much noise, so much pressure, so many SHOULDS…it’s your job to sort through and say nah to the ones that make you want to burn it down (or feel bad about yourself).
In the meantime, step into this week knowing that you’re on your right path…and it’s so so good.