Hitting Your “Ceiling of Control?”

When you first start your solo practice or business, you do everything yourself (hence the word “solo” . You work with the clients, create the marketing, answer all the emails, keep the books, and change the light bulbs. You are truly a “one person band” and for a while, you do pretty well at juggling all the aspects of your little business.

But at some point, if your business is growing, you realize you just can’t do everything yourself. And this almost always happens sooner than most business owners realize – usually when your reach about $75,000 to $100,000 in income. At that point, you cannot grow your business, increase your income, and still be an effective coach or consultant completely on your own.

This phenomenon, sometimes called the “Ceiling of Control,” is when the business owner is so essential to the daily logistics of the business that they become a bottleneck that stops things from getting done or moving forward quickly.

At that point, you simply must hire help in the form of a freelance Virtual Assistant, or some other part-time independent contractor.

Almost every solo business owner resists doing this at the start. They say, “But I can’t afford to pay someone to help me!” The catch 22, however, is that you really can’t afford not to. There are only so many hours in the day and each one of us has a finite amount of bandwidth and energy.

You may be able to keep all the plates spinning for a while, but once you hit that Ceiling of Control, either your business will stagnate, your level of service will suffer, or you will personally burn out – and usually all three!

So, what can you do? First of all, you must be clear on what exactly it takes to run your business AND your life.So, make a list of all the tasks you do in order to keep your business going and a separate list with all the other things you do to keep your life afloat.

Actually write these down and be as complete and detailed as you can: client appointments and marketing, scheduling those appointments, buying supplies, blog posting, follow up, newsletter formatting, answering email questions, social media, billing, bookkeeping, grocery shopping, house cleaning, childcare – everything.

Warning: It may surprise you just how long that list actually is and you might suddenly feel a little overwhelmed. So let’s start with something basic and easy.

Consider getting help with some of the more mundane life tasks. For example, hire a part-time helper to do the grocery shopping, run to the post office, and do other simple errands for you. It’s amazing how much time and energy just this alone can free up (hint: college students are always looking for a little extra cash!).

All right, now that you’ve freed up a little extra time, the next step is to create repeatable systems around the most crucial tasks that you do in your business.Don’t worry if you’ve never systematized your business. If there are steps that you take consistently and regularly in order to complete certain tasks, you’ve already started.

• A client attraction plan that might include your regular newsletter, your Facebook fan page, a free opt-in offer with auto-responders, etc.
• A system to turn interested prospects into paying clients that introduces them to you and your business in an effective way.
• A system to follow up with contacts you meet at networking events, conferences, speaker events, etc. (Hint: set a time limit of 48 after any event).
• Continuing touch points with your list of current and future clients where you serve them with valuable no-cost content.
• A “welcome” system for new, paying clients that not only takes care of logistics (contact info, contract, credit card info) but continues to build the relationship of trust and reassure them that they made the right decision in hiring you.

As you document these various systems,you will compile a sort of “Operating Manual” for your business. This is basically a document that lists the main areas involved in running your business, broken down into key steps. And these will be the instructions you will give to anyone you hire to help you.

And when you do, you’ll be surprised how much creative energy will show up for you and how your business will really take off!

Barb Wade, M.A. specializes in teaching Coaches to create thriving, 6-figure practices in under 20 hours a week!  For a FREE “How To Get Clients” BUSINESS BREAKTHROUGH KIT just for Coaches, visit http://www.BarbWade.com

And if you are not hitting your ceiling of control,  keep watching this space for more information about how you can jumpstart your practice and attract clients. I have partnered with Rosalind Sedacca of Child-Centered Divorce for a special 2012 client attraction course. Stay tuned. We are cooking up something very special to help you build your practice.