How a Global Pandemic Taught Me to Establish Business Boundaries
And How You Can Do the Same
There’s no denying that 2020 was a challenge in so many ways and that those challenges presented themselves differently for everyone.
Because my business is not only completely online but also helps others up-level their online presence, I was lucky enough to continue to find myself with ample work this past year.
And while I’m beyond grateful for all the incredible entrepreneurs and small business owners who trusted me to make word magic with them, in the early days of the pandemic I quickly found myself completely depleted. I wasn’t enjoying the process of the work that has always lit my fire, instead, my flame was fading and I was burning out.
Trying to balance a growing business, my husband’s work schedule and homeschooling/entertaining our two young kids was an impossible juggling act and I always felt like a ball was about to drop at any moment.
I knew I couldn’t keep it up much longer and it forced me to finally create, communicate and commit to some boundaries, and I can honestly say it was the best thing I did for myself and my business in 2020.
Creating Your Business Boundaries
I started by asking myself some questions:
What are your working hours going to be right now?
How often will you check/respond to emails?
Will you accept other forms of communication?
How much time can you devote to project work each week/how many projects can you reasonably complete in a week?
Will you pick up the phone if someone calls you out of the blue?
Will you take on urgent requests?
How often will you post to social media?
I had to get very clear with what I could reasonably manage in a week, set a list of priorities and then stick to them. It’s amazing how much you can accomplish when you shrink your to-do list down to only the essentials.
Communicating Your Business Boundaries
Making clients aware of your business boundaries is important, but it doesn’t have to always be done by directly stating them outright (though that is important too). Here are a few ways I communicated mine:
Through a New Client Welcome Package that includes:
typical office hours (a global pandemic may cause those to change every now and again, that’s why I say typical)
vacation policy - how much notice will be given before I take a vacation
communication - what channels will be used and what response turnaround time will be
billing information - how and when billing will occur
Only answering emails during my set office hours. Clients will come to realize that you won’t respond to every email right away and they will get used to it, trust me.
Bringing the conversation out of any other forms and into email (my preferred communication method).
Regularly communicating project statuses. Generally, clients won’t care if things are slightly delayed, especially now, as long as you keep the communication going and they don’t feel like you’ve forgotten about them.
Not answering the phone if someone calls. Sorry, not sorry. I screen all calls and only pick up the phone if we have a meeting time set. Especially because a part of my daily work involves time when I’m in deep writing flow, you better believe I’m not letting you creatively cockblock me with some random phone call LOL
Committing to Your Business Boundaries
This is probably the hardest part because now you have to keep promises to yourself and practice what you preach. I am ever so aware of how tempting it is when you see an email pop up to just “quickly” respond, to handle that one last-minute client task, to stay up way too late trying to cross yet another thing off the never-ending to-do list. But you have to stop. For your own mental, and perhaps physical, health you need to set and stick to your boundaries. I promise you your future self will thank you.
And guess what? Nobody even gave it a second thought. Not one client cared that email responses might take 24-48 hours, that I didn’t respond to messages at night, that my deliverable time on tasks could be up to one week (or more depending on the project) or that I required meetings to be scheduled in my calendar. And I felt the pressure slowly start to release each time I stuck to my boundaries.
Want to know the best thing that came out of this whole process? Having to stick to a strict working schedule with reduced available hours, I very quickly realized what services I was offering that I no longer enjoyed doing and I slowly made changes to cut them. I’ve niched down and my business is more focused and successful than ever and in turn, I am so much happier and my fire has been re-ignited.
So go ahead, it’s time for you to go and set your business boundaries. Let me know when you do so I can cheer you on for taking this huge step towards your more balanced life.
