Running a Business with Wonder
Season 2: Episode 006
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*Note: The transcription has been edited for readability and will stray from the original audio recording.
Hello, welcome to the Plan for Wonder podcast. I'm Crystal, the founder and creator of my life planners. In these moments together, we will explore and understand struggles to find focus, bring clarity, live with intention, and ultimately plan for wonder. We're back today with Robin Joy, our online business manager specialist.
Working to pay our bills can be a smooth process. So, Robin, what advice do you have to ensure someone runs a business? And how can they plan for wonder?
That's an excellent question. I also have a thing where someone says that's a very good question and is just buying time.
If you are listening, maybe think about that yourself and see if you come up with the same answers that Robin does.
So, I've always done this. I've always felt that my work and the work that I do need to be enjoyable. And that might be partly because I have ADHD, and I just won't do things if they're not enjoyable, interesting, or exciting to me, but also because you have a dopamine set that you have to meet.
Yeah, exactly. Jobs have never been aligned for me. They just, I'll go, but I have such a sense of justice that if my boss is excellent, it's not going to go well. I wonder if I do have ADHD myself. I lean into it because I love flipping. My day-to-day job is design work, and I have clients. I love the short periods.
So we all need to determine whether it's paid or unpaid work, volunteering, or something that we do as a hobby. I think we all need to find these things that get us out of bed, allow us to be creative, and allow us to think differently than we usually do day after day; it gives us something, a challenge for our brains.
I've been just really lucky to have paid work. Is that for me? I acknowledge that it's a huge privilege that I have. So, for me, planning for wonder is, how can I be creative?
In my work, I emphasize that for every entrepreneur, it's essential to give yourself the opportunity and space for creativity, so content creation is a great example.
How often do we consider Content creation a chore, another job, or something we must do when this is your space to plan for wonder? This is your space for creativity.
It's a place to play.
You're curious what I would think about that, but I, in that sense. I look at work as just another avenue of experiencing life.
So, it's just a grim path. And I just want to make sure I find joy and awe in that as well. Going in and data entry can be very like that; it doesn't really do much for me, but there can still be awe and joy associated with it.
So, we have some notes on the online business sector and managing things. I want to go down this rabbit hole.
Like I said, when it comes to the business, we want to make sure we're enjoying it, and it can be onerous. So, what kind of foundations or advice do you have to manage overwhelm?
We've discussed consistency as one of those, but does anything else come to mind?
Overwhelming is the reason why so much of my work exists and so much of what I've created in my business in terms of programming and coaching support exists. I'm working with a client because I've spoken to many overwhelmed business owners. After all, there are many moving parts, such as a launch or a simple webinar. We're setting up a system whereby she can teach a webinar, send all the emails concerning teaching that webinar or workshop, follow up, and sell.
And she said to me today, "I just didn't realize how much there would be. There would be to this." But the thing is, with the support that I've been able to offer her and getting the system in place, now it's there. Now, she has the foundation. Now she has the SOP. It's going to be easy to do the next time.
Another explanation is that you're eliminating the need to make daily decisions. Exactly. Process. You don't have to sit, or what do I have to do next? It's just, "Oh, that's what I do next." There's no; it's so that you can focus on the energy of what you need to bring into that moment.
Exactly. It's about setting up systems and structure and creating a foundation for repeatable tasks. The work inside that is really about refinement, which is everything. It is also about creativity, which is fun. When creating a business, there are many categories: financial, marketing, operations, customer, CRM, and that kind of thing.
And it can be overwhelming because you feel like you have to do everything at once.
There is obviously value to creating these standard operating procedures, but sometimes, you're just in it and have to get it done. Part of me is thinking along that line. There is a way to start even without having it all setup.
Sometimes, if you're thrown into the fire, does it work, like even just documenting what you're doing and creating instead of sending it out but documenting it? So, at least you have something to look back on the next time you have to do it. And that's a great way. Let's start.
Building your operating procedures, especially if this is the first time you have done it.
Yeah, it's a lot of trial and error.
That's my suggestion based on your experience. But how do you go about it without losing your mind or failing less?
You may lose your mind.
I've had conversations over the past couple of days about how our businesses are, in many ways, some of the most deep personal development work that we'll do. And so we do get. We are often pushed right to the very brink of our capacity, and then we need to learn how to manage ourselves at that brink.
So, there are multiple ways to look at what happens in this space. The first is you've got, again. I'll say this: Yeah, I think it's just over and over again, like having systems in place, but also, I talk a lot about being well-resourced as a business owner, and so well-resourced means yes, having systems in place, having a way to generate income.
So that you are financially stable because not being financially stable creates a lot of overwhelm, stress, grasping, and needing to do more than you probably need to do. You, and then the other pieces, being well resourced emotionally and spiritually, and those are practices, and those are things like going to your yoga class.
Or you are learning about your nervous system, triggers, and taking care of your nervous system. And there are so many great tools out there to do that. And that's all part and parcel of managing overwhelm and running your business, not failing less and feeling like you're feeling less suitable, and having realistic expectations of yourself.
I hear so much about the grind, and people are working 16- 20-hour days, and no one talks about yoga, some activity, or taking a day off, like you said. One of my clients designs clients; he goes, I'm a workaholic, but the only thing that has saved me and my family is Shabbat. He's Jewish. So he gets that 24-hour break in a week, which has kept him sane and his family happy. So that as well, like just understanding that there is a time to work, but then there is a value in disconnecting from the work because then you find energy To get back into it and just a little bit of perspective, because sometimes when you're in, a problem, you can't see a resolution until you step away from it.
Exactly. And there are seasons, too, right? There will be seasons when we know if you have a business goal. Over the summer, I had a pretty significant business goal to have a certain income so that we could reshingle our house, and we didn't want to take on debt, so I was like, "I'm going to just do this."
We're going to; I'm just going to work my butt off. And I worked a lot. And my goal for fall is to stabilize at that point where I'm at in my business and then bring in more embodiment cause it's like, Oh, now I need to, now I need to reconnect. And it's, again, seasons. We must acknowledge that we can have hectic and more restful seasons.
And it's all about. Trying to remain, trying to maintain some harmony, but if we go up and down and yeah, and if we kind of circle back to the original, question, one thing that I, that came up for me as you were, And the reason why we were asking it was, often we just, if we're creative types, we throw ourselves into okay, I'm going to have a business. I'm going to do this, and I'm excited to do this thing.
The idea is, okay, we'll have to promote this thing. Oh, I better go on social media and promote this thing. That's where we immediately go. And. That is, I think, maybe not the best place to start because there's no ground, like no landing place for folks to land when they discover you like social media is just inconsistent, and it's a guarantee, and it's, yeah,
So even if you do have a lot of success, maybe you go viral and attract a lot of attention. Now what? I don't know.
Are you ready?
How are you going to harness that? Then you're just overwhelmed because you've got all this attention, and now you have to create the systems, the structure, the behind-the-scenes, and the opt-in.
Do all of that first. Get the foundation, opt-in, newsletter, and project management system in place, and then Move on to the marketing. And I think there's a little bit of a flip, and it's you're that's where the overwhelm comes. It's not truly like understanding that there's a process here that you can follow.
That's more logical.
One of the things I was really excited about from our last episode was how you touched on technology. I think that's one of the things that we all lean into sometimes, especially as solo business owners. All of those digital apps are out there.
So, out of the scheme of things, what is the bare minimum when we look at the categories? And, on the business, what are the basics? If someone at least has at least one, two or three tasks or apps or whatever in your, what's the basics just to maybe to get set up before and to at least manage so that you can manage and start to market yourself to at least start to get your word out there so they have something to look at something to reference.
I would say that. You don't need a website. So we think a website is the bare minimum, but you don't need one. It's friendly and nice, but it's optional. I would say some way to send emails, like an email marketing platform, would be where I would start because If you want to make money, you should send emails.
And then, if your email marketing platform can build landing pages, some of them have that capacity, and then you have more to send people to capture their email. In the beginning, I remember telling some of my clients, even if they have a Facebook page or LinkedIn page, to use social media to help reach them, what their services are, and what they need at that point.
Somewhere, if you talk to someone and tell them what you do, there's somewhere they can go and find out a little bit more. About you, you could start with a profile. Then, regarding organization, it would depend on whether or not you want to do project management or any planning. If you eventually plan to work with others, you must have an online project management system.
Okay. I've been running my business for almost 30 years and am finally getting a system set up. Before that, my system was literally paper and in my head.
But it's a system. And you know what? Paper is fine if you're the only person in your business. But if you're trying to communicate with a VA or an OBM and everything you've done in your business is written in notebooks, it's going to take a lot of work to communicate that to someone.
So, setting docs and then having a project management system. Something like Asana or Notion. Those are the bare minimums, along with your email marketing platform. You can have a pretty good, maybe, even if you have a Google, I think you can book,
They're scheduling; you can do the scheduling you can on Google now. With Google Workspace, a project management plan, form and email market, and ting, you're off.
Awesome. So one of the things, like maybe I choose to choose a tool, but sometimes there are some red flags, I think, out there with certain apps because they say that they could solve all of your problems.
Some of them have a free trial for two weeks, but you're like, I have to learn it. When is the best way to test something out in a short time?
So, first off, I am looking for a unicorn system that solves all my problems.
There's, even as you're like, okay, I want the perfect project management system or the ideal email marketing system, and I can usually get close enough. Still, there's just that one thing: I wish it had this one thing that this other one had, and if I could mush them together, I'm in. The reality is there is no one size. All there isn't.
And there's never a perfect system. So that's like kind of the, like if you're out there looking for the ideal system that will solve all of my problems, you probably won't find it because there's usually one weird thing. They're like, Oh, it's only a matter of having a list of actual outcomes out of the base minimum.
And then the other way, a free trial is great, but if you actually get, say, you are trialing a new course platform, how are you really going to know how well that works without actually setting up courses, selling courses, marketing courses, and going through the whole process of onboarding people into the courses?
Yeah. You could use it as a period to go in and play around. You can look and see if you're comfortable in the space. Is it easy and intuitive? Can you figure it out? That's maybe more of what you'll be able to do in the free trial. And I think, even then, you won't necessarily.
Get a true sense of the system until you're using it and applying it like your people are using it. Cause again, like you may love it. The backend might be great, but if the user interface could be more straightforward for your clients or those who are, yeah. Like you just, it's, The way I feel like the best way to decide is to work with people who know all of the systems, know all the ins and outs of the systems and can say actually, I think this one is the best one or these two, here's, what's good about this one.
Here's what's good about this one. This is what I suggest you do. And so many people are contacting people with similar businesses and asking.
When people come into my space, they'll have worked with a coach who suggested terrible systems for them that weren't aligned and didn't work.
It's just because it worked for them. But it didn't work. And so then, it's me like, actually, this would be better for you, and we just transitioned over to new systems, and it's really taken me a long time to really settle into systems that I like.
So I think that's, you find the one. It's got to have that balance of working well for your clients and also being something that you enjoy using. If you open up your email marketing platform and every time you're like, "This is so confusing." I don't know what's going on here.
I am frustrated. Chances are, you're not going to send emails. And feel free to feel free of commitment. Especially with an email marketing system, you can download your list, make a copy of your campaigns, and move on to someone else. And then it's easy enough to start up somewhere else.
So yeah, content creation and email marketing are giant, ugly frogs. That weighs heavily on our minds, but we'll dive into that next week. Awesome. So remember to bookmark mylifeplanners.ca/RobinJoy, where I will include the links for these episodes.
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So, thank you for spending time listening to Plan for Wonder. Remember, the space you take up in the world matters to me, but even more importantly, you matter the most in your own life.
