Take the time!

When I first starting working for myself, I was working 7 days a week and as many hours I could cram into a day.  I worked hard to build my business BUT that was all that I was doing.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE working (some say I am a little crazy with it lol) BUT I realized that I wasn’t taking enough time for “me”.

We all have this belief that we NEED to work non-stop to keep our business growing, alive, BUT the reality is that you will eventually burn yourself out and your business will suffer.

About a year and half ago, I made a decision that it was time for me to take a step back and find the time for me, allowing me to rejuvenate, to clear my mind, to enjoy life.  At that time, I also relooked at what I was doing, understanding the value I was providing and revamped my whole business.  My new contracts with my clients incorporated me taking weekends (including long weekends) off and taking 2 weeks holidays each year.  I also increased my prices and added more elements to what I was providing my monthly clients.

This was a BIG step for me in my business and I knew that I was going to lose many of my monthly clients BUT it was time to really look at how I was growing my business, how I could better serve my clients and to start taking time for “me”.  Some may not agree with this, but it was important if I was going to continue to grow.

I will admit, I lost 95% of my monthly clients (YES, 95%) BUT I worked hard to rebuild my business to what it is today.  Understanding your true value in yourself and what you are providing your customers, is KEY!!  Taking time off is KEY!!  You can’t be successful if you don’t value yourself and your services, if you don’t take time to enjoy life.

Now, I have to be completely honest and tell you that I wrote this on Sunday because I had some free time and I decided to commit to working for a little bit.  So even though, I take the time off, I also will choose to work on weekends when my mind is wanting to be free of thoughts lol.  The key point on this, is that I CHOOSE to work, it wasn’t because I HAD to, it is because I decided that I had an hour of free time before I started the day, so I did do some work.

The BEST part is that I get to CHOOSE, I don’t feel pressured to work on weekends.  I fill my Monday – Friday with everything that I need to do for my business, keep myself structured so that I CAN take my weekends off.  Life is about enjoying, which means in both business and personal, so take some time and figure out how you are going to move forward in your life to make it better for both you and your clients.

Food for thought……..