“Don’t get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life.”
That is one of my favourite quotes by the wonderful Dolly Parton. I love it because it’s so true for most solopreneurs. We can get so caught up in pleasing our clients that we start to blur the line between work and personal time and suddenly find ourselves working at 9pm on a Friday night, or telling our husbands to take the kids out on Saturday because we’re too busy with work.
In this episode, I’m talking about 4 ways you can set boundaries with your clients so you never feel expected to put your work above your family or your free time again. You’ll also learn why setting boundaries is not strict, how to do it in a respectful and kind way, and how to make sure your clients stick to them!
I wanna ask you a question -
Do you control your business or does your business control you?
Ever had this happen —
Your client is emailing you at 11pm expecting a reply ASAP?
They’re also emailing you on weekends.
Adding more and more to the project but expecting not to pay extra.
What happens because of this?
You feel stressed out and burned out.
You have no time or space to work on growing your own business because all your time is spent on clients.
You feel undervalued & under-appreciated
You lose the joy you once had for your business
You want to wake up every morning excited to work, right?
No solopreneur left their soul sucking day job to create a soul sucking business.
Believe it not, it’s possible to have incredible relationships with your clients - relationships that don’t involve midnight emails, weekend work, evening work, or anything else we just talked about. You can encourage your clients to treat you and your time with respect by setting boundaries with them! Here are 4 ways to do that today:
State your boundaries & expectations clearly
Clients are not mind readers. Don’t expect your clients to know your boundaries unless you state them.
If other entrepreneurs your client has worked with have not established boundaries with your client, they may just think you all work that way. So it’s up to you to kindly educate them.
And here’s the thing: your clients want the best possible work from you. Solopreneurs often get scared setting boundaries and expectations upfront but if they help you do your best work possible for your client, the client really won’t mind.
Don’t be scared of setting boundaries because you think you’re being strict. You’re being professional. And if you state your boundaries and expectations in a kind and respectful way, no way will the client see you as strict. They will most likely respect your professionalism.
2. Don’t just state them once
It’s not enough.You gotta repeat your boundaries on your contact page, in your email autoresponder, contract, on your welcome page/packet, and in your project management tool (if you use one with your clients.)
The best place to state boundaries:
Your welcome packet or page.
This is a page you send to your client when they book your service, outlining your boundaries, what you need from your client, training them to use your project management tool, and more. This sets up your projects for a higher chance of success by getting really clear on what you need and expect from your clients in order to do your best work.
More From This Episode
Want to learn two more ways to set boundaries with your clients? Click play on the podcast player below to listen to the full podcast episode!
More From Nesha
Hey there! I’m Nesha, the host of The Simple Business Show. I teach solopreneurs how to organize and simplify their business so they can do less and earn more. When I’m not podcasting or helping my course students, you’ll find me sipping caramel lattes in Starbucks, binge-watching This Is Us or traveling the world with my backpack and my laptop!
Looking for more ways I can help you? Here they are:
Organize & Automate - Use my premium course to organize your entire service-based business in just two weeks (on the side of your regular routine!) so you can stop stressing and fall back in love with your business.
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