The Savvy Seller with Kristen Doyle

162. How to Slow Down Without Losing Momentum When Life Gets Busy

• Kristen Doyle, web designer and business coach

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This summer I found myself racing toward burnout, and it made me stop and ask, “What if I slowed down instead of keeping up this crazy pace?” That question led me to what I call minimum viable marketing, focusing only on the few essentials that truly move your business forward and giving yourself permission to let go of the rest during busy seasons. In this episode, I’m sharing what that looks like in my own business, why I’m taking September off from podcasting, and how you can create a plan that keeps your business sustainable without burning yourself out.

01:28 - Recognizing the signs of burnout and why slowing down is actually smart business

03:00 - What “minimum viable marketing” really means and how to identify the essentials that move your business forward

05:25 -  The difference between scaling back vs. needing a true break and my plan for September

07:40 - Tools and strategies for sustaining minimum viable marketing

09:23 - Giving yourself permission to step back and why it’s smart for long-term business health

Links & Resources:

Show Notes: https://kristendoyle.co/episode162 

Feeling overwhelmed by all the things you think you need to do to grow your digital product business? Take the Savvy Seller Quiz and find out exactly what to focus on right now to actually move your business forward. 

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Check out my Everything Page at https://kristendoyle.co/everything

Unknown:

Hey, y'all. Can I be honest with you about something today? I have been running non stop all summer, and it hit me a couple weeks ago that I was headed straight for burnout city. Yes me, the girl who teaches you not to do that in your business. So I had to ask myself, What if I just slowed down instead of trying to keep up this pace? Today, I am talking about what I call minimum viable marketing. Basically, what are the essentials that you need to keep going when life gets busy, and what can you just let go of for a while? I'll share my minimum viable marketing plan, and I'll tell you why I'm actually taking September off from podcasting after this episode.

Kristen:

Are you a digital product or course creator, selling on platforms like Teachers Pay Teachers, Etsy, or your own website? Ready to grow your business, but not into the kind of constant hustle that leads straight to burnout? Then you're in the right place. Welcome to The Savvy Seller. I'm Kristen Doyle, and I'm here to give you no-fluff tools and strategies that move the needle for your business without burning you out in the process—things like SEO, no stress marketing, email list building, automations and so much more. Let's get started, y'all.

Unknown:

You know, there are a lot of reasons to need to take a little bit of a break and to need to slow down. Sometimes it's just life. Life just kind of happens. Right now we are headed into baseball season again with my son, he's playing fall ball this year, I have a retreat to attend, and then I am hosting a retreat, and we've got some personal travel coming up as well. Life just gets busy. And while all of these things we're doing are great and they do fill me up, they also mean that I don't have as much time for my business. And if I continue trying to squeeze in all the things I normally do, I am going to burn myself out, just like I'd started to do over this summer. You know, as human beings, we have to rest. Our bodies need rest, our minds need rest, and that time to just recharge and refresh. And if you think about it, taking those rest periods, giving yourself permission to do it, it's actually smart business, because you can't continue to grow in your business if you're completely burnt out from going too hard for too long without giving yourself rest. The goal of owning your own business, of putting in all the work to grow this thing, isn't to continue constantly hustling, it is to have a sustainable business that actually fits into your life.

Kristen:

So what does this look like from a very practical standpoint? Minimum viable marketing isn't about doing less for forever. It's about identifying the one or two, maybe three things that really drive your business forward, and when you need to take a step back, when you need a period of rest, you only continue doing those things, and you put other things on the back burner for a little while. My typical minimum viable marketing plan is a non-negotiable weekly podcast episode. This is what connects me with my audience. I love doing it, and it gives me things to talk about in all of the rest of my marketing. So my podcast episode is usually a non-negotiable. I also do one weekly email at minimum, usually that is sharing the recent podcast episode or something else that's important that's going on right at that time. Beyond those two things, I might post quick Instagram stories instead of spending tons of time creating reels. That's a me thing. I spend a lot of time when I'm making a reel, but I can post a story in just a couple of minutes without having to think about it too much. So I might post stories instead of reels during that time. I might also recycle old content on social media using something like smarterqueue or even just reposting it manually, and that is totally fine, too, if you want to keep showing up without having to come up with a bunch of new things. Now, keep in mind my minimum viable marketing looks different from yours because my business is different from yours. We all have our own businesses and our own things that really drive the needle for us. Those things that are essential for me, the podcast and the weekly email, are essential because those are the things that drive my business forward. That is where I get new clients and customers. So you'll have to figure out what actually moves the needle forward in your business, and choose the things that you need to keep doing during that slower season when you need to move into your minimum viable marketing plan. Maybe for you, you need to keep doing Pinterest marketing, or you need to keep putting out blog posts or a YouTube video, whatever it is that moves the needle for your business, keep doing that and pull back on the other things.

Unknown:

Now, sometimes minimum viable isn't quite enough. Sometimes you need more of a real break. And if I'm being really honest and transparent with you guys, I kind of hit that point this summer. If you remember me sharing last summer that our plan was to summer hard, and we did. I pulled back to that minimum viable marketing plan, and I really summered hard with my kids. I only worked about a half a day while they were doing things inside, reading, chores, all of that stuff in the morning. Let's be honest, the teenager was sleeping in. I did my work in the morning so that in the afternoon we could go out and do fun things together, spend time at the pool, whatever it was. We actually also took quite a few little long weekend kind of trips and things like that, and it was wonderful.

Kristen:

But this year, I didn't do that. This year, I kept going all summer, just like I do during the school year. And what happened is by the end of the summer, I was feeling like I had just wasted my entire summer on work, and I was feeling so burnt out because I didn't give myself that time to rejuvenate, I didn't pull back and do my minimum viable marketing. And so what that did is it put me into a scenario where I needed a bigger break. So what I am doing for September is I am taking the entire month off from podcasting. I will still be sending out my weekly emails, but those are going to get scheduled ahead of time so that I don't have to do it during September, and I will be posting on social media only when I feel like it. Now, with that said, there are some parts of my business I will still be showing up for, like my membership and client projects that I have booked, but I'm pulling back a lot from the other things to give myself that time to really take a break and recharge. Keep in mind, slowing down, even a big slowdown like this is not the same thing as giving up. It's respecting yourself as a person, as a human who has needs, and giving yourself the time to do that refresh. I'll come back in October refreshed and ready to create better content than I would if I just kept pushing through when I'm tired. So here's what I want you to do. Figure out your essentials now. Don't wait until you're overwhelmed. Maybe you're overwhelmed already, and that's okay too, but try to figure out those essentials before you get to that overwhelm point. What are the one or two main marketing activities that actually bring you customers and sales? And then create a backup plan. What kind of tools can help you when you're in that minimum viable marketing mode? Canva templates are great, AI tools that you've trained, content recycling apps like smarterqueue is fantastic. All of those things can help you when you're in minimum viable mode, but they can also help you maybe avoid getting there, if you put in some time on getting used to using them and making them part of your system ongoing. And once you've kind of created your minimum viable marketing plan, look for the signs. Just keep your eyes open. Pay attention to the signs that you might be starting to feel that burnout and needing to shift into your minimum viable mode. Some of those signs for me are I am tired all day, maybe my sleep is suffering, I am waking up in the middle of the night with a to do list rolling around my head, feeling overwhelmed that I can't get it all done. Family stuff starts ramping up, we start getting into a busy season, like the one that we are headed into right now. Or you're feeling that early burnout. All of those are good signs that it's time to shift to that minimum viable marketing mode. And if you're feeling all of those like I have been for the last few weeks, that is what tells you you need to take a bigger break for a little bit. Take that break to recharge and get back to a good place where you can show up authentically in your business and be excited to do all of the marketing again. Building a business that fits your actual life really does mean that sometimes you have to scale back on some of the things that you're doing, like your marketing, and it's not just okay, like I said earlier, it is smart business because it's good for your long term health, for you and for the business. Whether you need that minimum viable marketing plan for just a busy season, or you need to take a bigger break, like I'm doing in September, I just want to give you full permission to do what you need to do, and I would encourage you to give yourself that permission too. Now, if you want to be around a group of people who support building a business that fits your life, one that is sustainable, that is already set up to allow you to take breaks when you need them, because you've got the systems in place. Then come join us in The Savvy Seller Collective. We are all about keeping your business sustainable so you actually love it long term. With that, I will be back in October with fresh episodes and some renewed energy. Until then, I'll talk to you soon.