The Four Seasons Your Business Will Go Through

Hey! It’s June. Which means I’m back from my writing ‘sabbatical’ (which really just means, I didn’t produce content during the month of May). I’m talking about the personal reasons I took some time away in my newsletter that’s going out today, but in short: I was just really freakin’ busy with client work, moving, and life. Phew.

I felt a little guilty at first, I mean here I am touting all about how great business is since I made The Switch (should I refer to 2016 TheCrownFox as PRE-TS?) and how motivated I am and excited I am… and then I just disappear? But, friends, I’m still super pumped… I just had a lot of work to do for clients. Which I am very happy about it! Blogging, or not blogging, didn’t affect that bottom line so I put my time where the money was last month.

Which led me to being a little at a loss for what to start writing about as May drew to a close. I knew that I wanted to re-introduce blogging into my weekly schedule, but what to write about? Per usual, decided to go with what was on the forefront of my mind – the seasons of business.

What’s that? Well, for me, it’s this:

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THE EXCITEMENT SEASON

First comes the excitement. This was probably when you decided to start a business and everything was super, super, super exciting. You stayed up until 2am regularly reading Pinterest posts and making to do lists. You probably built out an entire year of content in an editorial calendar, planned the 4+ launches you wanted to accomplish, and knew that it was only a matter of time before you were getting featured on The Huffington Post or some awesome podcast.

I love The Excitement Season. It’s FUN to plan, day-dream, and let your brain go wild with the possibilities. It’s not exclusive to just the birth of your business, either. I had an Excitement Season in December/January, when I knew I was shifting my business and was running rampant with ideas of what all the ‘newness’ could look like.

For a lot of entrepreneurs the Excitement Season might come in late Fall, when things are slowing down for the holidays and you can begin to think about the following year and all that you will do or accomplish.

There’s not a right or wrong time to have one of these seasons, but I will say in experience it’s good to take the season for what it is: excitement. Yes, follow through on your ideas, see what is actually possible, make it happen… but don’t let yourself get too discouraged if everything you dreamt of can’t exactly happen in that super idealistic, I-can-do-#allthethings timeline. The Excitement Season is good for brainstorming, ideation, and getting creative – but eventually you have to shift into the next season or nothing will ever actually get done.

Action steps for this season: write down all of your ideas, but don't get too attached or caught up in elaborating on any particular idea too much yet. In the next season you'll start actually seeing what is possible, what you can and want to do take the time to do, etc. This season should be more about being in a flow of just being creative and brainstorming. Creative brainstorm sessions are essential here!

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THE BUILDING BLOCKS SEASON

So, when it’s time to get #allthethings done, you move into the Building Blocks season. For me, this was this past February/March. It’s when you are taking those ideas and dreams from earlier and starting to flesh out exactly what is possible, when it would be possible, and how it would be possible.

This season is still fun – you’re still riding the idea-high and putting real actionable steps to your plan. You might focus on connecting with others that can help your plans come to fruition, in the forms of joint venture collaborations, adding team members, etc. This is when you start to really develop a timeline, SMART goals, and a plan (for whatever it is that you are doing).

During my last Building Blocks season I had developed 3 solid ideas for things I want to happen this year. Personally my biggest struggle lies in this season ending and the next one starting.

Action steps for this season: Be sure to go through each idea from The Excitement Season and work out exactly how much work/time is necessary to bring that to life. Be honest with yourself, is that amount of time/work something you'll actually want to do in the next season? If yes, then put a plan and a timeline to it. If no, put it aside for a later date (or discard it completely).

"Will you actually put in the time/work necessary to move out of the idea phase?" (tweet that!)

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THE DOING-THE-WORK SEASON

The next season is the hardest one. This is when you actually put your nose down and do the work for everything you dreamt up and planned out. April and May became ‘doing the work’ season as far as client work goes – I had filled my open spots and now needed to do impressive, high-quality work to make clients happy, stick around, and refer me to their peers.

If you’re planning something that is more like a launch (of a course or product), this is when you’re actually doing your launch sequence – hosting webinars, sending out email sequences, guest blogging, etc. This is when you are in the thick of it and probably feeling the most overwhelmed and stressed. Even the best thought up and laid out plans can’t account for weird hiccups – technical issues, getting sick, life circumstances, etc. that will appear seemingly at random during this season.

This is the season when I personally need to schedule and hold myself accountable for self-care, or face feeling completely burnt out and ~*over it*~ half way through. I recommend that to you, as well. If you’re currently in this season, or know it’s fast approaching, schedule yourself breaks to stretch, drink water, and go for a walk. Schedule a lunch date with a friend so that you can get away and let your mind rest. Don’t make this season any harder than it already is by not treating yourself with care and respect!

Action steps for this season: Make sure other elements and factors in your life are in sync for this season (i.e. don't be moving, don't have a ton of travel planned, etc.). This is when your business will need the most of your time, so plan ahead to be able to give that time (or plan to outsource more during this time, so you can focus on exactly what needs YOUR attention).

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THE CELEBRATION SEASON

Once you’ve finished launching or getting through whatever you were focusing on in the ‘doing-the-work’ season, Ihighly, highly, highly recommend giving yourself a celebration season (before you jump back into The Excitement Season). The Celebration Season should be filled with good things – sharing your journey and successes with others, treating yourself to something you’ve been wanting or needing for yourself or your business, and connecting with others. I’m entering a Celebration Season right now and can’t wait to start scheduling more coffee chats and decorating my new office.

The Celebration Season shouldn’t be overlooked. It’s important to acknowledge what you’ve accomplished and been working hard at lately. I know the pull to get right back into the Excitement Season and start planning your next venture is strong, but without a brief time of relaxation and rejuvenation, it’ll be hard to get those ideas flowing organically and freely.

Action steps for this season: Share your success! Post content that reviews what you've done and your successes. Share on social media, or in Facebook groups. Your Celebration Season will encourage others out there, so share things that you've learned and accomplished. This will also be good research for your next Excitement Season (you'll be able to see what people respond to, want to learn from you/your experience, etc.).

So, with that being said… I’d love to know what season you are currently in and how it is going for you. Leave a comment below and let me know what’s going on in your business currently (and how we can support one another)!

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5 Unexpected Benefits of Outsourcing In Your Business

When you think about what outsourcing can do for your business, it might seem really obvious. But before you say, “duh Kaitlyn!” let me remind you of something – yes, you might intrinsically “know” what outsourcing can do for your business, but are you really digesting that and applying it to YOUR life and YOUR business? Because if you’re not outsourcing anything yet, then I’m venturing to say the answer is “no!”

So I’m asking you to continue reading on, but stop and apply these ideas to YOU personally and thinking about what it could mean for you and your business.

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MORE TIME

This might be the most obvious answer – yes outsourcing work will give you more time. More time to work ON your business, more time to spend with family, more time for exercise, sleep, watching HGTV marathons (yas!), learning to cook, drinking fancy cocktails, and so on.

Why does that matter? Well, because being happy matters first and foremost. You didn’t jump into this crazy entrepreneurial world to get no sleep, be angry, and hate everything. So giving more time to activities outside of your business that bring you joy is definitely important. Also, more time to be ON your business working means more launches, more products, more sales, more connections, etc. (but more on that later).

Outsourcing has allowed me to take care of the things I love doing in my business. I get to create content that matters to me and taking care of my family and better care of myself.
– Reina Pomeroy

I think perhaps the most important thing that more time can bring you is the ability to step back and really evaluate and look at things in your business and your life. We get caught up in this #hustle mentality and do the same thing day after day after day without ever checking or evaluating what is working, what isn’t working, what is growing our business, what is bringing in customers or clients, etc. As creatives we need time to sit, ponder, reflect, think, wonder, and grow. We can’t have our noses to the grind constantly and not expect a big traumatic burn out.

"Avoid the constant #hustle in your business - outsource work and take back your time!" [tweet that!]

And as one formerly burnt out creative, let me tell you – you don’t get ANYTHING done when you’re burnt out. Besides maybe a few pints of “The Tonight Dough” Ben & Jerry’s (WHICH HAVE YOU HAD THAT? IT’S THE BEST THING OF ALL TIME).

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MORE LAUNCHES (MO’ MONEY)

Here’s the exciting thing that outsourcing can bring you – the ability to LAUNCH MORE THINGS. I’m talking more workbooks, more retreats, more eBooks, more courses, more products, more services, more meet-ups, more group masterminds… that really means MORE MONEY.

What?! Spending money to make money?! Huh?

Just kidding, I’m not going to act like that is my original idea. But it’s a true. Seriously.

Since I've been able to hand all of my blog, YouTube, newsletter, and social media content editing and scheduling off to others, I've had the time to take on more clients, hit my biggest income month yet, launch a separate business, and start a podcast. There's no way I'd be able to do all those things if I didn't have an amazing team behind me.
– Krista Miller

The thing with having a multi-faceted business (and multiple income streams) is that they take time to think of, develop, and launch. If you’re currently so busy in your business that you barely can write a blog post, how on earth are you supposed to also launch these new exciting (lucrative) things?

Even freeing up the hour a day you spend on social media or the hour per week you spend formatting and uploading your blog post can mean an hour devoted to developing these new moves in your business. Part of the reason I used to get overwhelmed in my business is because there was SO MUCH I wanted to do and I couldn’t understand how I’d possibly have enough time to do any of it. Outsourcing literally gives you back time to DO the things you want.

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MORE FOCUS

Another benefit of outsourcing in your business is that when you do sit down to work on what you love to do or are very good at – you can do it. Uninterrupted. For hours. You know why? Because other things in your business will just be working and going on without you! Efficiently!

Back to the previous point of more launches – those launches can happen even quicker than you might be used to, because you will have more focused time in your schedule to actually devote to it. So an eBook being written in 15-minute chunks a day might take a while – by the time you get into your groove it’ll be onto a new task, right? But what if you had enough time in your schedule that you could devote 3-4 hours a day to it? That eBook would be done and launched in no time!

This doesn’t only apply to ‘new’ things in your business either – but more focus on what you started out to do in the first place. You wanted to be the best coach, or copyeditor, or writer, or whatever it is that you do – not the best social media scheduler or email answer-er. Outsourcing those things gives you time to focus on what you LOVE to do and WANT to do.

Outsourcing everything design-related and social media scheduling has allowed me not only to work in a more streamlined manner, but it's also freed up more time for client work, which is exactly how I prefer to spend my time.
– Jodi Brandon

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MORE CONNECTIONS + REFERRALS

Something a bit more unexpected that comes with outsourcing work is the growth of your reach and impact, which inevitably includes more referrals for your business.

What I mean by this is the minute I start working with someone I see how they work, how good they are at their job, how much they help others, etc. Then, I’m scrolling through Facebook and someone in a group needs a coach, or a lawyer, or a copyeditor and I know just who to recommend! The person who I’ve seen inside their business and know they are AWESOME and legit and helpful.

Not only that, but just the general connection with others can grow exponentially. You might start working with a tech VA who also works for two or three other amazing bosses, and suddenly you have something in common with them and a way to be introduced/meet them.

Basically, my point here is that when you start working with more people your circle expands exponentially. You’re no longer stuck in your little corner of the internet, alone.

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MORE SUPPORT + LOVE

Building off of that, besides the actual connections with clients or peers and referrals, you also suddenly have a team that, if you focus on building it in this way, will support your business, your ideas, and you. I know for every team that I am on, I’m fully invested in their success and want to spread their message and their word across my audience and more.

Outsourcing can be tricky and I think focusing on building a team that does support your vision and want to see your success is essential. They’ll be the first one to share your tweet, like your Facebook post, and refer you to their peers. Outsourcing is efficient yes, but it’s also good for you on a deeper level – connection, friendship, support, a sounding board… all of that is so necessary in growing your business (and you definitely DO NOT have to do it alone).

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