Onboarding Boundaries
“Nature does not hurry. Yet everything is accomplished.” -Lao Tzu
I am a woman of many boundaries, but when my brain goes into “panic spin” mode, my boundaries disappear feel like they disappear.
April was a little “panic spin” mode for me. The economy shocked everyone, clients pulled back, which meant my firm’s cash flow pulled back. I started to spiral, scrambling for new clients, and my brain created a sense of urgency that wasn’t real.
I’ll admit, it was my ego (unwilling to accept a revenue dip) taking over.
How many clients could I onboard in May…1? 2? How about June? 2? Should I onboard in July?
This might sound like a normal onboarding cadence to a growing firm, but here’s the catch. These are boundaries I already have in place:
One onboarding per month
No onboarding in the summer months
I’m not recommending that for you. Those are just boundaries that help keep me mentally healthy and having fun with the kids in the summer.
But as I was in my panic spin, I forgot the boundaries. I forgot the deal I had already made with myself: 1 onboarding per month…no summer onboardings.
Luckily, our family had a camping trip planned for this past weekend. And for me, clarity always comes from being outside.
It was perfectly timed.
When I came back to my office on Monday, I had a new, calmer, boundary-respecting plan.
I already had a discovery call scheduled for Tuesday morning, for a hopeful May or June onboarding.
I emailed the prospect and, in full disclosure, let him know that I no longer had any onboarding slots available for June. My next available slot would be at the end of August. If that timing didn’t work out for him, there would be no hard feelings if he wanted to cancel the meeting.
His response was short and quick (verbatim):
Thanks for the transparency here! That timing would work for me so I’m happy to keep our call on the calendar if that time still works for you.
Win-win.
I’m grateful to have built a cash reserve in my business so that when the unexpected revenue dips happen, my monthly salary + owner distributions and, more importantly, my boundaries can stay the same while I live the life I want to live with my family.
For me, I needed to get outside my office to remember that.
How about you? What boundaries keep you mentally healthy and living the life you want while running a small firm? You might just need to remind yourself of them. (Or you might need to get outside too.)
Talk soon,
Erica
What’s Happening in Aligned
What’s Happening in Aligned
Wed, May 14th (12-12:30pm MST): Aligned Speed Networking
Wed, Jun 4th (11am-12pm MST): MeetUp: Niching with Geraldine Carter
Available Course: Time Tracking for Higher Profit
Discussions on: password management apps, what’s included in “CFO services”, what conferences people are attending, feedback on pricing package tiers, and more
Money back guarantee, if you get in there and don’t see the value. No questions asked.
More details in the link above.