Tricks to Balancing Work & a Small Business
Updated: Aug 28, 2019
Posted on August 19, 2019 by dragonspitapothecary
There are many reasons for starting your own direct sales business. I tend to believe with the amount of people with multiple side jobs there is an underlying need for financial security we are not getting from our regular 8 to 5 jobs. Seriously, we are not really wanting to work 100 hours a week are we? Yet, many of us put in a lot of hours ever day between multiple jobs to bring in extra money for our families, pay off a debt, secure our future or simply have something we’re wanting like a dream vacation.
The problem is most of us do realize our regular job is the one that is paying the bulk of our bills, pays for the insurance coverage our family needs and has to be the priority focus. As lovely as it sounds some days we cannot tell our boss where to put a report that’s due and go enjoy an afternoon on a private jet headed towards our private island. It just doesn’t work that way for the majority of us. Yet we still dream of the day we have everything paid off, our financial future is set and we can focus on things we enjoy, including running our own small business.
I’ve written before of how I would love to achieve the day my small business earns more than my salary at my regular job. That’s a lofty goal when I factor in the insurance, paid vacation, retirement matching funds and other benefits but it’s still a goal I have written. Some days it seems this is going to happen and be a reality and others I can’t spare two seconds to focus on my small business because of the demands of my regular job. However, I still dream it. I still want it and I still try to find ways to make it happen.
You Still Have to Take Care of You
It’s ok to rest.
It’s ok to take a day off and enjoy your family.
Just because this goal is super important and you’re working tirelessly at it day in and day out it’s ok to say not today. We cannot burn the candle at both ends all the time and expect to perform our best. Rest, sleep in, go to bed early. Be sure you are taking care of you and having enough time to recharge and rest. Your regular job and your small business are super important work but you can’t give it your best if you’re dragging from exhaustion all the time.
Regular time out so that you are resting, recharging and stepping away from work is critical for your physical and emotional health. What I find is that I get into a motion of working non-stop, flipping from one thing to the next between my regular job and my small business. I become so focused on my work that I have a hard time stepping away and shifting focus but I need to do it.
Put your phone on do not disturb, leave your tablet alone and remember why you’re really doing this. Enjoy that reason right in front of you and take a breath. I promise it’s not going anywhere for a few hours That’s hard to do I know but ever so worth it.
Calendar is Still Your BFF
Schedule your time that you focus on your small business. That may be an hour here or there or it may be a sizable chunk of time once or twice a week. Keeping a schedule makes you feel like you have control of your life and a plan for how to accomplish it all.
It may sound silly in this day of phones that do everything but keeping a schedule written out on a piece of a paper is how I still keep my week laid out. As a family we use Cozi to maintain our schedules and I will usually print out the month and plug in my small business appointments, blog plans and other details I need to track. Equally non-techie is that I also use a pencil so that I can modify it where I need when things come up unexpectedly. Physically writing it down helps me have that sense of control and moving things on that paper lets me easily shift where I need. It also let’s me see against the family obligations how to work it all together while remembering birthdays that are coming up.
Pick a tool that works for you and use it all the time. Plan your day from your regular job and your small business so that you can see where you have time you can shift focus and when. Account for travel time too when setting appointments! Your ability to get to events and appointments on time sets a positive precedent for your business and honors yourself by controlling the chaos that can come up because of shifting needs or just simple unexpected traffic jams.
Weekly Themes and Goals
When you work a regular 40 hours plus job a week and have a small business you quickly learn you have to be realistic about what you’re going to be able to achieve each week. The guides in your direct sales company will tell you it takes 10-30 hours a week when you’re first starting out to make your business grow. They also tell you to talk to someone, potential or existing customer every day. I don’t dispute that but let’s face it some weeks we’re lucky to have 10 -30 minutes free.
I find it’s much more fruitful when I lay out 3 things I want to accomplish in the week. What’s important for my business that week and are they things I can accomplish balanced against the family and work calendars? Sometimes for me it’s just trying to write 3 to 5 blog posts, other weeks it’s strategies to meet new potential customers or scheduling a class. I have found 3 is the magical number for me. Anymore than that and I’m feeling chaotic and stressed in trying to get too much done in a week. If I do have extra time and can get more done that’s fantastic but that’s a bonus.
You’re supposed to be showing people this is fun right? You really can’t do that if you’re running around crazy, disorganized and stressed out because you’re overbooked trying to fit in the optimal 10-30 hours a week with new contacts every day.
Whether you have a time goal, action items to achieve or a mix of both, set a weekly tone for what you want to accomplish and how. The 10-30 hours a week didn’t work for me but I find I’m very successful in checking off action items and hitting 3 goals that I can fit in and still have an impact to my business. You have to figure out what works best for you.
The Customer Black Book
One of the biggest actions in direct sales is in following up with people. The right timing and method for following up comes when you are organized and prepared. Opportunities come up all the time and if you’re prepared and ready for it then it’s likely you’ll achieve the sale but if you don’t have your act together then these chances are going to walk on.
I keep a notebook of all my customers, potential customers and everyone I’ve ever met in my direct sales business. I write down the time, date, place, things we talked about, what we were doing, what their pain points and interests were and anything I know about that person. I then write down my next action step and when that needs to happen. For my customers I also write down their anniversary date of becoming my customer, their birthdays, wedding anniversary and other personal information to help me be of good service to them.
This book is your key to being organized and prepared. You need to know the contents of this book very well to the point the pages are rubbed thin form going through it so often. This is your tick to knowing when to follow up with who and how you should do it. Again, paper or technology for this will work but you need to set it up and use it all the time! This is the key to your business success and you need to have it accessible all the time for when you meet someone or a customer calls you up in the middle of your work day with a question.
Too often in this business, direct sales representatives are tagged as being inexperienced annoying pushers. Hey look I get it, we are all not natural sales people. I sure am not and by reading some of the negativity on social media I’m guessing you’re not either. The beauty is though we don’t need to be experts. Yes we need to sell but there’s ways to learn to do that without being pushy.
We need to be organized and thoughtful in our approach. Make it intention, purpose filled and focused on them. Learn all you can about them, learn how they like to communicate and then use that information to work with them. Once you’re connected with them, it’s a matter of forming the next follow up with them to keep the conversation about them going.
Interested in more?
Running a small business is supposed to be fun, fulfilling and a dream that builds into a larger dream. You can work full time and have a small business that is thriving but it takes some planning, organization and commitment.
If you have questions or would like information about starting your small business with doTERRA please reach out! I’m happy to help.
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