How do you spend your days? Are you enjoying your life and living as you dreamed you would or just going from work to home unfulfilled? When will you decide you’ve had enough and make a decision to change?
Are You Experiencing Business Burn Out?
Are you exhausted, working too much and having little time for life? I remember when I started Rivera Business Development. I was so happy to start a business, share my passion for entrepreneurship and be in control. I could live life as I envisioned it, until one day it wasn’t fun anymore.
It’s business, and not fun every day. Get over it. That’s what I said to myself and what you may be thinking right now. Why not? I went into to business to have fun doing what I love. Why did you go into business? Didn’t you want to start a business so you could be in control of your life and make money doing something you enjoy? I certainly did. So what do you do when you start asking yourself if you made the right decision? If you want to redesign your business to fit your life, keep reading. [Read more…] about Are You Experiencing Business Burn Out?
Coaching in the Country Business Retreat
What Does A Trip to See My Parents in Puerto Rico Have to Do with Business?
Written by Dinette Rivera
Why am I writing this blog about traveling to Puerto Rico to see my parents? Does it have anything to do with business? I’m writing this blog about my trip to Puerto Rico because I think, at times, we forget why we do what we do in life. We forget what drives us to do our work. And so I wanted to share something I became very aware of during my visit to my parents. To give you a little bit of background, my parents are not in great health. I lost both my siblings and I’m now an only child. If you have parents living somewhere far away and you care about them, you probably have a good idea of what I am feeling knowing that my parents really need my help and I’m an ocean away.
My father is losing his capacity for mobility. He’s losing his ability to walk. For a man that played softball until the age of 63, this is a really difficult time for him and he’s not taking it well. My parents love their home in Puerto Rico, they love the weather, and don’t want to leave the island. So why does this really matter when it comes to business? It matters because it made me realize the goals I have set for 2015 and the reasons for those goals don’t really matter to me as much as I thought they did. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still striving to reach the goals that I have set for my company. They are still important to me, yet I realized what I really want, more than anything, is the ability to travel to Puerto Rico much more often so that I can really be of help to my parents. I want the ability to do my business from wherever I am. I want to know when my parents need me I can get on a plane and be there within a few hours.
I share a bit of my personal struggles between what is right for my business and what is right for my family in hopes you’ll revisit your goals for 2015 and find out what would really drive you to achieve them this year. This is more for those of us that find ourselves achieving many of the goals we have set for ourselves but knowing there are so many other things we could have done. So many things we could have made happen in our business and, for whatever reason, we reached the end of the year and wonder what happened. It didn’t really have anything to do with time. We had a year.
I believe we often get distracted by the goals other people suggest we should be setting. Perhaps we establish financial goals without taking the time to understand how they will helps us reach our vision for our life.
For me this year is about two things: Ensuring my business is positioned where I can work from anywhere in the world. Most importantly, I want the opportunity to be there for my parents because they have dedicated their life to being there for me. My personal and business goals are interconnected, they are not separate.
I hope 2015 will bring you everything you desire for your business and your personal life. I hope your goals are based on what truly matters to you.
I leave you with a simple question. When you set your goals for 2015 and embarked on them, what were the real reasons for those goals?”
5 Ways to Get the Job Done Without Working Yourself to Burnout for Solopreneurs
By Dinette Rivera
Ever wonder how on earth you’re going to get everything done without working 16 hour days? Are you experiencing business paralysis? You have so much to do, you’re paralyzed at the thought of trying to get everything done? Your business has grown but you don’t have the steady cash flow to hire a team? How to get the job done without working yourself to burn out is a common problem among solopreneurs (businesses owned and operated by one person).
After working with hundreds of solopreneurs and starting out as one in my business, getting to the point of burnout and business paralysis can take the joy out of being an entrepreneur. Knowing I chose to become an entrepreneur to have greater freedom over my time, I had to understand how I was going to manage everything I needed to do. Instinctively I looked at time management first. Maximizing productivity starts before you even look at how you spend your time. Getting the job done, while avoiding burnout, will take the following 5 steps:
1. Get clear on what you have to do every day?
Make the time to create a list, in no particular order, of everything you must do to run your business. On my board of sticky notes, there are 24 categories. Each category has its own sub-set of categories. Categories include things like:
- Policies and Procedures
- Marketing
- Research and Development
- Accounting & Finance
- And so much more!
Think like big business. What does it take to run a large retail operation or a large training company? As a former employee in any business, what had to happen every day? What systems did they have in place to get things done? Understand that your systems, as a solopreneur, may not be as complicated as a larger business, but there have to be some systems in place that work for you and prepare you to grow.
2. When you think about your business, ideally, how would you manage it and how many hours would you work per day/week/month?
Why did you set out to be an entrepreneur? What was the reason? Did it include working long hours every day to infinity? Being a business owner requires work, but I have come to understand that we seem to work more not less, inspite of the new technologies created every day to “simplify” our lives. That’s a topic for another day. At issue is the belief that you have to work hard to make a living. The truth is you have to know what you’re working for and then decide how your work fits into your life and not your life into your work.
I was working from 6:00am to 10:00pm, six days a week and spinning my wheels for years. I finally did what I am sharing here because I was starting to burnout and had little time for the rest of my life. I now work from 6am to 1pm, I am more productive and have more free time.
- Take a good, hard, and honest look at what you’re doing everyday in your business. Are you missing out on your most productive time? What are the constant interruptions and can they be managed differently?
- Are you a morning person or work best later in the day or evening? You are the boss. Make your schedule for tasks requiring undivided attention around the time of day when you are most alert, energized and focused.
- Can you schedule appointments, meetings and calls outside of your most productive time?
3. Organize each of the main categories into a simple, step by step system
Within the categories you’ve chosen for your business, how can you create simple systems to manage the day to day operations? At first, this may seem a daunting task and you’re already too busy to get the income-producing activities done. If you don’t implement a foundation of operations systems now and your business experiences sudden growth, you won’t be ready. Remember, we’re establishing systems for a solopreneur.
- Start small. Start with one category and ask yourself what it takes to do the tasks? Make a list of what you do and how you do it. Is your office organized? Can you find things easily? Would someone else know where to find things?
- How can you organize what you do into a simple, step by step process that you can do easily and could be turned over to someone else?
4. What are the income-producing activities?
- Of all the business operations, which are the most important for bringing in new revenue and maintaining positve realtionships with existing customers?
- Create your step by step list for the revenue categories.
5. Implement your operations systems and manual
Its time to put everything together. If you’ve taken the time to do steps 1 through 4, you have the foundation for an operations manual. Take the step by step systems information and put it into a digital file. If you don’t have the time or inclination, eventually you can hire someone to turn your digital file into a formal Operations Manual. The manual will be there to provide valuable information for any new hires. As you continue to grow your business, keep a record of how you manage the tasks and create your step by step list. Add them to your operations manual.
- From the list you’ve created for your business, which take priority?
- Which operations are important, but might be manageable using software, free online services or automating?
- Put systems to work
- Schedule your time around your vision, priorities and systems
No system is perfect and it must fit you and how you function. One thing for sure, without systems your business will manage you instead of the other way around. I didn’t become an entrepreneur to burnout and I’m certain you didn’t either. Follow these steps and watch your business grow and your personal life improve.
You Don’t Understand!
There’s much talk about what it’s like to have four generations in the workplace and how it affects communication. How does it affect your business? What exactly is the problem?
So people are of different age groups. They speak the same language, but may struggle reaching an understanding. This is nothing new. What is the big deal? The big deal is we didn’t experience this cross-generational problem in the past. This is the first time where four generations are working side by side. It’s one thing when your parents or grandparents sit at home and complain to you about how young people today don’t get it or that they want everything handed to them. If you pay attention at all, you brush it off. That’s just grandpa complaining as usual. I know I’ve been hearing similar comments from my parents and grandparents since I can remember. In the workplace, generational differences impact communication.
The reason for all the talk among business people has to do with understanding how to communicate when each generation is very active in business. With technology and medicine, we are living longer, remain more active and are retiring much later in life. The Baby Boomers have been making or changing the rules about what aging looks like as they reach each new decade. The Gen X and Millennials have grown up in a world where rapid technological advances are commonplace. Those younger still are already impacting the business world like never before because they are tech babies and demand to be heard. The challenge is communicating in a way that resonates with each group and how to provide learning opportunities that appeal to cross-generational teams. Could it be the problem is not really about age? After all, two generations or four, if you are human you are interacting with people of all ages and finding ways to communicate. Effective communication starts within yourself. What are you trying to say and why?
Before you can communicate effectively with others, you must know why you want to communicate and what results you expect from the exchange. Every form of communication has a purpose. We think we’re communicating clearly.
Photo courtesy of Phaitoon/Freedigitalphotos.com
Why do you think the baby in the picture is crying? Ever had a crying baby in your life and couldn’t figure out why they were crying? Case in point. The baby thinks you are an expert at baby talk and you are wondering why on earth this baby won’t stop crying. Major communication breakdown.
We have more ways to communicate than ever before and we can’t seem to communicate effectively.
Most certainly, being of one generation or another can have an impact on how we communicate, but real communication is about much more than when we were born and social influence. Improving communication takes commitment. How do you communicate?
What steps can you follow to improve communication?
Understand yourself first. Take time to gain clarity on who you are, deep down inside. What do you stand for? What values do you possess? What do you believe in so strongly you are not willing to comprise on ever? If you don’t understand who you are, how can you expect people to understand what you mean? Communication allows people to get to know you. At every touch point of interaction you communicate something about yourself. Are you communicating who you are and what you expect clearly?
Understand your communication identity? A quick search on www.dictionary.com for identity returns this definition: “the condition of being oneself or itself, and not another”. Our identity impacts how we communicate. In the first step you gained clarity on what makes you uniquely you. Now it’s time to understand what is your communication identity?
When communicating, are you being true to yourself or is it based on what you believe the other person wants to hear? Do you really mean what you say and say what you mean? Are you concerned or afraid to speak your truth? Do you tend to agree with someone when you know you have a better solution?
Are you proficient in using the many methods of communication available? In a conversation, what form of communication will you be using and who will be receiving the communication?
Each method of communication and the tools used to communicate will have an impact on the other person’s response.
Determine the purpose for communication and consider possible outcomes. You’ve taken the time to understand your values, what you stand for and how it impacts communication. Before engaging in a conversation of substance or importance, determine what the reason for contact is and what you hope to accomplish as a result of the conversation? We give so little thought to why we communicate. Do you really know what you want to happen?
Perhaps your goal is to speak with an employee about their performance. The obvious goal is for the employee to improve performance. You consider this the desired outcome for the communication. However, what is the underlying reason for the meeting and what outcome? Are you meeting because you’re genuinely vested in the person’s development and know performance is an issue? Are you planning to fire the employee and are documenting the problems? Are you willing to give them a chance to improve? Each of the previous questions has a different objective for communicating and will impact what you say and how you say it. It will impact the words chosen, tone, and length of the conversation and how it is received.
Understand your purpose and consider outcomes, before engaging in communication.
Which method of communication or tool is best? I know people in my circle who will answer to a text immediately, but call them and they don’t answer the phone. Others are the opposite, they prefer a call. Their argument is they can get to the purpose for the call in a shorter amount of time than texting. I have other business people with whom I communicate via Skype or other apps. We are as individual in our communication preferences as we are as people. If I know the preferred communication method for a person or company, I can shorten the response time. The method for the communication should be considered for its impact. There are conversations where meeting face to face is the best option. Sharing something negative via text or email is like breaking up with someone via text. Can be seen as lack of courage. If you are in business, staying informed on advances in communication tools can improve how you communicate.
Understand who you are as a communicator, your true reason for the communication and find the best way to deliver your message so it is well received.