I'm Val! Coach for creatives
like you who are ready to be healthier, happier and more empowered women who love the business you run, the people you serve and the life you live!
Client Success Stories: How Josie is literally working less and making more
Meet Josie. A sweet, creative and friendly face with a “can-do” attitude and some serious experience in digital marketing. The metrics this girl has clocked for her clients are amazing and those clients admit they can’t imagine their business without her! She feels strongly about running your business authentically, caring about sustainability and making an impact as women in business. Needless to say, she’s the kind of woman you want on your team!
Before working together, Josie said her business felt chaotic and lacked direction. She was working 55+ hour weeks and had a hard time finding a healthy work-life balance even as a full time entrepreneur. She wasn’t lacking clients or work, but she was so ready to get some clarity, balance, and boundaries. And that’s exactly what we did.
I find it essential to get up close and personal right from the start so I really know my clients. I don’t do surface, because true, deep growth doesn’t happen at the surface. To help get there, I always start my one-on-one clients with a 3-hour intensive. This gives us an opportunity to really get to know each other, dive deep into their business, and get a clear picture of areas that need some improvement. During Josie’s 3-hour intensive, we talked about her vision, direction, and what she REALLY wanted to do. This is a really important question, because so. many. entrepreneurs are weighing themselves down with what they think they should do or what they’ve always done, even if it’s not something they actually want to be doing.
I asked Josie where she wanted her business to be in five years (which is a great question to ask yourself if you’re feeling like you need some clarity). I asked her what she wants her life to look like, not just her work hours. Your business is a part of your life and when thinking about the future, you need to think about the full picture! You just can’t ignore one or the other. For Josie, she didn’t want to be working at night, she wanted to take a work-free vacation, specifically a 2 week honeymoon (which she did btw!), and wanted to be able to work ahead of deadlines on projects she actually enjoyed.
She felt she had completely maxed out her capacity. Josie and I looked at each of her offerings and talked about why she was offering each one. I helped her dive deep by asking lots of questions like…. Do you actually enjoy the work required to offer that? Which parts do you enjoy? How much time does it take? We realized she was doing too many things and needed to niche down. After niching, I knew I needed to work with her to create workflows and systems that simplified the process for her offerings, while still serving her clients well.
I also asked Josie how she wanted her ideal work week to look. It’s so important to describe what your ideal work week actually looks like, so you can start working toward that now! We don’t start where you think you need to be, but where you want to be and then work our way backwards to figure out what needs to change to make that possible.
One of my goals for Josie was to help her create a seamless process from inquiry to the end of the project that didn’t take too much of her time and energy and set both herself and her client up for success. I had Josie write out her existing workflow for every offering. We looked at it critically by asking things like: Where are the pain points? Where are you taking too much time? Where is it not working? By doing this, we were able to pinpoint the hiccups in her current systems and found ways to resolve them. We tweaked her onboarding emails, added a question to contact form to help her decide if someone was a good fit for her, and clarified what was included in each offering.
One workflow that we really focused on was her client experience. This meant creating boundaries and setting correct expectations from the start. Josie was sometimes stressed with last minute rushed requests from clients. To help resolve this, we made a list of boundaries. It included things like what’s her turnaround time, what’s considered a ‘rush request’, what is she willing and not willing to do for her clients (timeframe). Once she was clear on her boundaries, we included that information in her contracts and pricing guide. When you set up rules and boundaries, it is so important to communicate them well to your clients and follow through. This can be a tough conversation when you make the switch, but I helped Josie craft the wording to communicate the changes to her current clients and it honestly went over really well!
Now Josie says, “I finally feel like I have a professional “business.” Val helped me put systems into place so that when I receive a lead or onboard a new client, the process is seamless and also “wows” the new person in the process. These systems make the business side of things less of a headache for me, and they also give me more time that I can devote to moving forward in my business.” Proud Mama Bear moment over here…. #winning! 😀
Josie had a steady stream of inquiries from new potential clients and wasn’t having any problems booking clients. This said to me there was likely room for her to raise her prices. To help her confidently do that, we looked at what she actually needed to reach her goals.
First, I had her look at her personal budget and talk with her fiancé to figure out how much she needed to bring home as a salary each month. Then, she ran the numbers to find out how much her business needed to keep running every month (overhead/cost of doing business). Then, we went back to our 3-hour intensive conversation and factored in her ideal work week hours. We based her pricing off of how much time she actually wanted to work and how many clients she could take during that time. We also made sure to factor in the time she would spend working on her business. Finally, using the Profit First percentage system, we found her ideal pricing. Now she knows how many clients she needs at any time to pay herself what she needs.
After doing all the work to figure out your ideal pricing, it’s important to stay on top of your finances. To help Josie do this, I gave her a spreadsheet that she can easily edit on a weekly or monthly basis. If you haven’t looked at your pricing in this way, I 10/10 recommend! 😉 When you actually build your pricing based on what you need, you can be confident in what you’re charging and have a good reason to stand your ground if that price is questioned. It’s not random, it’s not some arbitrary number with no backing. Knowing your numbers, defining what you need and charging accordingly also actually allows you to have better work-life balance.
The first step to work-life balance is recognizing and believing that your life is going to be better if you don’t work on the weekend and every weeknight. If you don’t believe it, you’re not going to work for it, and you’ll just wind up more exhausted than you already are. So much of business starts with your mindset. We need to start in the heart to make real change before we get to the practical, actionable steps.
Speaking of practical…it turns out time blocking can actually give you the peace of mind you need to take time off. When you lay all your to-do’s out in your blocked work time, you know everything is covered. You have the mental security to take the weekend off because you know you will get everything done next week.
Implementing workflows and systems took some time and stress off Josie’s plate, which led to her gaining time back to both rest and work on her business, rather than just in it. She was able to take a step back and figure out her niche. She’s pivoting her business to focus on what she really wants to do and narrowing her offerings. She’s taking time off for herself and her business keeps running.
Now Josie has a healthy business that serves her well. She went from working stressful, unaligned 55+ hour weeks with 6 clients and paying herself $1,500/month, to now having 9 ideal clients, working 40 hour weeks and consistently paying herself $2,000/month. I know this sounds cliche, but Josie is literally working less and making more. YAS, friend!!!
Regardless of where you’re coming from or what your own story and struggles are, there is HOPE for you, my friend! I KNOW you’re capable of building a business that looks good on paper, feels good in your heart, AND serves you in all areas of life. And I’m here to help make it happen for you!
Are you feeling me, friend? Are you ready to make this happen for your life? Message me! There will never be any pressure, just a friendly face who cares more about your heart than my own bank account. I truly just want the absolute best for your life and it’s my calling to help you make it happen.
I'm Val! Coach for creatives
like you who are ready to be healthier, happier and more empowered women who love the business you run, the people you serve and the life you live!
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