The Strategy to “Having it All”

The Strategy to “Having it All”

I felt cheated.

I had that tight feeling pulling from my chest to my throat – like I was going to cry. But I knew that this was not the place to shed a tear. I had to keep my game face.
I was sitting across the table from a really great guy.

He had everything I was looking for – in a job.

It was a fresh start up company that was gaining some traction. They were looking for someone experienced and adaptable, who could think on their feet and grow with the business. It was exciting and new and everything I had dreamed of in a job.
I felt confident, I had on my ‘killer heels’ and I was there for my second interview. This guy loved me – I knew I had the job in the bag …

… BUT there was one thing.

He said yes he was a family guy – kids of his own and his lovely wife was at home looking after them.

He knew I had kids but he wanted to be sure I understood this job demanded early starts and late finishes. “There is always ‘before and after school care’ for your son”.

There was no scope for flexibility.

My little guy – my whole world – the love of my life – was about to head off to big school in a month or so and I knew in my heart I couldn’t drop him off at ‘before school care’ at 7am and be picking up from ‘after school care’ at 6pm to fit around the demands of my job. Even if it was a dream role.

I wanted to be there to reassure him in the mornings when he was walking into this new place ‘big school’ and I wanted to see his happy face as he walked out of the classroom chatting with his new friends. Was it selfish of me to aspire to these simple pleasures?

Sitting there at the interview looking across at this guy, who “had it all” – the fulfilling career, the kids at home who were being picked up in the afternoon by their mamma – I’ll be honest – I resented him.

Driving home I decided that I had no choice – I had to create my own income.

I didn’t want to be bound by what someone else expected I should or shouldn’t do with my son – I wanted to be an independent operator. And I had a fire in me to start helping other women do the same. Whether it be for the sake of their children, or the sake of being able to choose to travel, or just the sake of choice – I wanted to help women everywhere create an independent income.

Lately more and more women come to me who are pursuing these same values.

But they’re feeling stuck.

They are completely overwhelmed by messages telling them what their successful ‘work from home’ business should look like – for it to be a success.

So instead of moving forward from a space of clarity, self leadership and determination – they’re jammed in the day to day – stuck in the weeds.

They’re making money but somehow they don’t have more time.

They’re chasing passive income whilst working harder than ever before.

Overwhelm stops, when strategy kicks in.

Maybe you’re a bit like me, perhaps the idea of planning and being strategic seems like something for organised people.

Maybe like me, you get off on ‘flying by the seat of your pants’ – love a bit of drama do we?

Traditional business plans – even the phrase – ‘business plan’ makes me feel like I want to check-out of the conversation.

That’s why I had to do ‘business strategy’ a little differently.

I didn’t want to have a few pages with stuffy corporate headings like ‘executive summary’. That was no use to me as an independent operator and really had no place in my business.

‘Having it all’ – THAT was my executive summary.

So I had to create a picture of what that meant – which was hard because I didn’t really know what was possible for me at the time. Could I make $5k a month? Could I travel when I wanted? Could I be the sole breadwinner?

I knew it definitely meant that I didn’t want to be scrambling around like a crazy woman trying to find clients all the time and I knew I didn’t want to be just ‘throwing stuff out there’ to see what happened.

I needed to be making intelligent choices about what to do with my time and who I wanted to work with.

Time was my finite resource.

If time is also your finite resource – I invite you to think about your Business Strategy differently too.

• Start by reviewing your numbers from last year – I bet you’ll find some surprises – maybe there was more income from one of your offers than you realised – or perhaps that ‘thing’ that has been draining your energy all year has returned very little.

 

• Think about some of your favourite clients that you loved working with and how you can – firstly, continue to serve those people with new offers to foresee their next needs, secondly how can you work with more people like that.

 

• Next decide on one guiding goal that you want to achieve in the next 6 month.

 

• What are the mini steps or hurdles to get over to make that a reality? What needs to be in place in order for those to happen?

 

• Pencil in some costs – including what you want to pay yourself – then add up the numbers.

 

• Lay out your sales cycles in that time – when will campaigns begin? Who do you need to collaborate with.

 

• Now – you’ve got the base of your strategy.

Next time something bright and shiny lands in your inbox – hold it up against your strategy – is it relevant?

Let this strategy guide your decision making.

Overwhelm stops, when strategy kicks in.