Mindset madness: Squirrel! Shiny objects and how to create boundaries that support a burnout proof work life balance
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Transcript
One of the interesting things about fit pros is that a lot of them are very creative people. Most of the fit pro’s that I know also have some kind of artistic hobby. Music, art, graphic design, I consider myself to be a maker. My craft centers around upcycling antiques these days but I also enjoy cake decorating, jewelry design, painting and sewing. Kind of a jack of all trades, master of none but it means I have supplies for just about anything and a good working knowledge of power tools. I call my craft room The Room of Requirement because at this point whatever I need to make whatever I’m making is most likely in there somewhere. That room is a big part of why we actually UPSIZed in our last move.
Anyway, It’s also a result of shiny object syndrome. I have it bad. When there’s something new to learn I’m all over it. I’m energized and focused. I’ll sit there for hours until I figure it out. The same thing happened when I started my online studio. I was equal parts terrified and obsessed with learning all the back end tech and software that I needed including building not one but 2 websites and connecting every automation I could find. I realized that I love the creative aspects of online business. I could spend hours on Canva creating images for websites and social media, arranging web pages and setting up email marketing automations.
The problem is that while all that stuff is important for my new business, it doesn’t actually bring in money by itself. Because that’s not what I’m selling. Although maybe it should be. That’s last week's podcast all about what you should be doing. That dreaded should.
Entrepreneurs in any business but especially bootstrappers like so many of us are in the fitness industry, need to be careful of falling down the rabbit holes of distraction (like shiny objects) that are secretly procrastination in disguise. First let’s define a rabbit hole in the context or shiny object syndrome and procrastination.
In my mind a rabbit hole is anything that looks like it’s necessary to the overall life and health of your business but doesn’t necessarily bring in income and leads you backwards. It steals your focus from doing the thing that actually brings in money. (your thing) YOU don’t have to be the one to do it. In other words, you could pay someone else to do it.
What do some of those rabbit holes look like?
Here are some big ones…
Social media content creation - Canva - Facebook - Instagram - Reels
Social media marketing/Metrics and testing - Facebook ads, google ads
Website design/updating/editing/copywriting
Audio/video/editing
The thing about rabbit holes is that in the beginning you might need to go down them in the discovery phase of your business to figure out if they’re necessary for you. But you don’t want to get stuck there, or let them trip you up, hold you back when you’re trying to grow. For example it might take a lot of your time in the beginning to figure out how to schedule facebook/IG posts. But it should get easier, faster. Not longer and more complicated. Social media changes quickly in order to keep us all hooked on it and most of us have better things to do with our time than trying to keep up. So ask yourself if it's worth it. For me the answer was no so I found a way to streamline and set boundaries around my exposure to social media.
Everything you do in life and business has a cost. That cost is in either time & energy or money. The question is what are you willing to pay.
One of the things I hear a lot in the wellness business space from creatives is that they don’t want to give up control of their brand and how important their authentic voice is.
100% I agree it is definitely important to know who you are and what you stand for but once you have crafted your brand and your voice you should be able to let it speak for itself.
Social media content creation and marketing can be the life blood of your business when it’s done efficiently and well. But it can just as easily become a soul sucking time drain.
What is more important to your business? Getting the template colors just right on your next Instagram post or booking your next client?
If your business is online then tech is a big thing. Sometimes there’s a big learning curve. The right tech software can make everything you do and offer feel easy. But there’s nothing worse than a tech rabbit hole that takes hours or days to resolve. Can you figure it out? Probably, yes. But what is it worth to you?
This is where we get into prioritizing your time and energy. This is tricky because sometimes it seems like everything is equally important.
How do you do that in a way that actually free’s up your time to work in your business rather than on your business.
When I first opened my online studio I was trying to do everything everyday. Posting on IG and facebook everyday, updating list building opt-ins, email nurture sequences, web pages and recording classes and later editing the podcast. What I found was that I was spending hours on social media content creation every day, hours writing emails to my list, and (fixing things) I really had nothing to show for it. None of that was IPA (not the beer, income producing activity).
Part of the problem was I didn’t hate it. I like doing all that stuff. I'm a creator at heart so it took me longer I think to realize that it wasn’t the most efficient way to do it.
There are about as many ways to do things as there are people out there. And for me part of my shiny object syndrome is thinking that just because something is new to me doesn’t necessarily mean it’s better FOR ME. Might be great for you, but not a great fit for me. So I started asking myself what exactly I needed to make things easier as far as social media presence, email newsletters and creating my body of work. Some of those questions included:
How can I be more intentional with my social media presence? (Facebook Instagram,LinkedIN, Youtube)
How can I batch content so it takes less time to share?
How can I streamline work processes so I don’t get overwhelmed or burned out?
How can I leverage my activities IRL in order to bring in more exposure and income?
What’s worked well for me recently is blocking off days for specific things. Instead of trying to post something everyday in real time I schedule anywhere from 5- 10 posts a week depending on what I have going on. I use Later as my social scheduler because it allows me to post on IG, FB and LinkedIN. My previous scheduler didn’t allow that. Then I try to post a couple of personal things a couple times a week for fun. I found in the beginning that I was trying too hard to be professional and serious and I was starting to dread it. So If I let my hair down a bit it’s better for me.
I take one day, usually monday to write. That includes a weekly newsletter, plus any upcoming podcasts. Lately I’ve been batching those into groups of 5 or 6 if they’re not interviews. Then I’ll pick another day to record them all in one day. I do minimal editing and upload and schedule those out.
Then one morning a week I use those scripts to create social posts. I can then upload them all to Later and schedule them out into the future to line up with the podcast release.
I use those scripts as a transcript and as a blog post on my website to take advantage of the seo.
So in 2- 3 days I can have 4-6 weeks of podcast content done and my website updated. It took time to figure this standard operating procedure out and if I do interviews it takes longer. But it is so worth it to set yourself free from social media.
I blocked 2 days for teaching in person. (1 whole day is devoted to yoga both teaching and training) And I still teach online. But the commute is negligible
The biggest benefit here is that I have very clear work boundaries and these procedures let me be fully present when I’m at work and fully present when I’m not at work. Now I’ll say here that I’m at a point in my business where I want to hire someone to help me. The first person I hire will be someone to clean my house for me. Seemingly something totally unrelated to my business but it will free up the most valuable resource I have, TIME. Then I may move on to marketing and promotion so I can leverage my voice and grow my audience. Whatever that ends up looking like it will be very intentional.
And this is the whole issue with distractions and rabbit holes they entice you away from your purpose, stealing your attention with things that lack intention. If you find yourself being distracted with the latest greatest thing, take a moment, a productive pause and really ask yourself what this new thing will do for you? Will it save you time, energy, money? Or is it just a way to procrastinate and hide from doing things that scare you? Like stepping out into that arena and being seen as your most authentic self. As Brene brown says “daring greatly”. Something to think about.
Thanks for joining me for this week's Work IN. Next time we’re going to extend our rabbit hole discussion into How to use mastermind & networking communities to leverage knowledge, support and success without getting overwhelmed by all the possibilities. If you like what you heard and are curious to see some of these things in action you can follow me on Instagram at @realsavagegrace or on Facebook @savagegracecoaching And I would be forever grateful if you would give The Work IN a like and share or a 5 star review on Apple or spotify. You can find links to everything we talk about on this podcast in the show notes and the easiest way to get to those is to visit savagegracecoaching.com/theworkin
Thanks everyone and I’ll see you next time!
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