5 Hacks for Balancing a Full Roster of Clients
As a business owner, solopreneur, or leader, you’ve got to stay sharp. We juggle lots of hats — marketing, business development, sales, and more! Do not underestimate the power of a “hack” and how much time (and mental energy) it can save you in a workday. Here are the top five hacks that I’ve learned in my first five years of being self-employed.
Google Voice Typing
In digital marketing, you’ve got to be good a cranking out content. You can only type so fast. As I began writing more long-form emails, blogs, and web pages for clients (and myself), I discovered this wonderful trick — Google Voice Typing.
In an open Google Doc, click on “Tools,” then click on “Voice Typing.” Turn it on and give your fingers a break! You can dictate whole articles, quotes, white papers, and more. I find that I do my best work by literally “brain dumping” onto a Google Doc via voice typing. Then I take a second pass through and organize the thoughts, add the headings/titles, and voila!
This is how I write all my blog posts (for clients and my own website!).
Audible
I’ve doubled my reading since subscribing to Audible. I seriously love this app. If you have a long list of books you’re wanting to read but can’t find the time to get to them, Audible is for you. When I’m doing long drives, I listen to books via Audible. Here’s just a taste of the subjects I’ve learned:
Sacred Rest
Atomic Habits
The Secret
Stories that Stick
You can speed through books and gain more knowledge by using non-productive time like driving, laundry, and cleaning to listen to books. I will say I miss about 30% of the content by listening to the book instead of reading it. However, it’s still 70% of the knowledge from the book that I’ve gained!
Stay sharp, and continue to fill your mind with new information. Audible is a great way to do this for only $14.95 per month. You get a free book credit each month, so it’s basically the equivalent of purchasing one new book a month.
SOPs… for real!
SOPs = standard operating procedures. If you’re a solopreneur, you may not recognize the value of setting up SOPs for yourself. If you’re naturally a highly organized person, you likely already have SOPs in place for yourself and don’t even know it.
I call them “cheat sheets.” Basically, it’s a document that outlines how a task should be performed. In my opinion, the best SOPs do all the thinking for you. So when you go to do a task, you follow your “cheat sheet” and can complete the task quickly and efficiently.
For example, say you manage an inbox where you get a lot of inquiries about your client's product and services. You should have form responses ready to copy and paste for every inquiry. That way, you don’t have to spend mental energy writing a response each time. Copy and paste the response into the email, click send, and move on.
Another example is, say you compose and publish case studies for a client. You can build out an SOP board in Asana to ensure each assigned case study moves through the process and is invoiced appropriately.
Tip: there’s now an AI app that can help you with this called Scribe. Check it out.
Invest in your EDU
Again, as an entrepreneur, you need to stay sharp! You’ve got to keep learning, keep pushing yourself, keep growing. Be better tomorrow than you were today. The key is to grow your business, not stay stagnant. You lead from the front by expanding your mindset, growing your skill set, and evolving as a leader.
Ensure you’re constantly growing by investing in your ongoing education. Sign up for a group coaching program. There are many options out there, and they are much more affordable than you think.
The first one I joined was $99 per month. At the time, that was a big expense for me. But I was lonely and isolated working by myself. It was the best investment I made. There were bi-monthly coaching calls where we could have open discussions with other entrepreneurs. Finally, I felt less lonely in my line of work! This is invaluable. As my business grew, I found other educational opportunities such as weekend-long conferences, specific training programs (I.e., how to launch an online product), and more. If you want to be in business for yourself and grow your empire, I highly recommend you find a system for growing your business mindset on a monthly basis. Here are a few ideas (and I have paid for all of these at various times):
BossBabe Society
CEO School
The Business Lounge
Take Real Breaks
For real, it’s OK to take breaks. In fact, taking breaks makes you better. You can’t pour from an empty tank. As solopreneurs, we often spend our days over-delivering for clients. Going above and beyond is the norm. But you can only do this for so long. Burnout is real. Don’t wait till you have to find out the hard way. Pace yourself.
During the COVID-19 Pandemic, work got REAL for me. I had my heaviest workload yet, and I had only brought on a few external contractors to help with the workload. I was deep underwater with work, and it was hard. In addition, all the turmoil in the US and the world surrounding the pandemic, the 2020 election, and civil unrest weighed me down (let’s not relive it).
I had to perform at a high level, and I had to be sharp mentally. It turns out the best way to do this is to take breaks. That Summer, I started to sign off for an hour and a half each day for lunch. Instead of eating, I went to the pool and read in the sunshine. It was amazing. I could return to my desk with a clear head and a lighter heart. That injection of vitamin D into my afternoon helped me expand my capacity. Somehow, I was able to do more work in fewer hours (plus I increased my reading that Summer)! If you don’t believe me, just try it for a week. You won’t go back to skipping lunch.
I hope these tips help you hack your workday!