112. The Real Reason You Can't Have Slow Mornings in Your Service Business

I left my nursing career specifically for slow mornings. I'm not a morning person, I wanted to wake up naturally, sip tea on my balcony, meditate, take long dog walks, and ease into my workday feeling centered.

That lasted for about a week. Then I had 8 clients, then 10, then 12. I was waking up to Slack notifications before I'd even opened my eyes. Working through breakfast. Responding to clients on Saturdays because I wanted to keep them.

 In this episode, I'm breaking down why slow mornings don't happen by accident, how I built my business backwards (and you probably did too), and the four questions that reveal what's actually blocking your slow mornings.

Because slow mornings aren't a luxury you earn after you "make it." They're strategic. And you have to design them.

Ready to see what's blocking your slow mornings? I'm offering free 45-minute business audit calls. 

For VAs & OBMs turning expertise into a signature method and a business that pays for outcomes, not hours.

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Andrea Elibero: Andrea here, your host and passionate business coach and scaling strategist for soulful service providers and coaches. Welcome to another episode of Solepreneur Scaling Stories. Have you ever wanted to look behind the curtain of your fellow entrepreneur's business to see what actually went into scaling it?

[00:00:22] Andrea Elibero: Well, you are in for a treat 'cause that's exactly what we are doing here. In each episode, we will be uncovering the truth of the lessons and the stories behind what it truly takes for sold entrepreneurs to scale their businesses intentionally. I'm hoping that their stories will help you to unlock the true potential of your business so you can create your own soulful, abundant, and aligned laptop lifestyle through intentional scaling.

[00:00:46] Andrea Elibero: So whether you're just starting out on your scaling journey or you're a seasoned entrepreneur seeking inspiration, this episode has something incredible in store for you. Are you ready to rise, grow, and create a business that fully supports your dream life? Well, let's dive in. [00:01:00] Before we begin, make sure to hit that subscribe buttons.

[00:01:03] Andrea Elibero: You never miss an empowering episode filled with real stories and soulful insights.

[00:01:10] Andrea Elibero: Welcome back to Soul Entrepreneur Scaling Stories. I am Andrea, and today we're going to talk about Slow Mornings. So if you've been around for a minute, you know that this podcast is all about the behind the scenes of building a VA or OBM or done for you business that does not burn you out. And I talk all the things about what works, what doesn't.

[00:01:34] Andrea Elibero: I pull from my own story, my own journeys. That way You can have the freedom that you created your business for in the first place. So, okay, here's the thing. Slow mornings, right? This is what I promised we were talking about. So. I'm gonna tell you my story.

[00:01:49] Andrea Elibero: The first six months or so, as a VA 2019, I had left my nursing career in clinical trials research [00:02:00] specifically for slow mornings. I am not a morning girl. I do not enjoy waking up early, jumping into things, so I was so excited to have my own business where I get to make my own schedule, be my own boss, not have to report to anybody else.

[00:02:20] Andrea Elibero: Like something that felt like mine, right? Like I had this whole vision. This was my dream. Wake up naturally, sip some tea on my balcony, do some meditation, yoga, exercise, play with my dogs, take them on a nice long walk, do some journaling. You know, take an everything shower instead of this like panic, three minute shower, and really ease into my workday and be centered.

[00:02:45] Andrea Elibero: Amazing. Right? Yeah, that lasted for like a week and then, you know, I got more VA clients, more VA clients, and then a few more. And then I was juggling so much that I was waking up to Slack [00:03:00] notifications in the morning. You know, I was checking messages in bed before I'd even opened my eyes. I was working through breakfast.

[00:03:06] Andrea Elibero: Forget the yoga and meditation, right? 'cause somebody needed something, there was always this emergency. And I wanted to be professional. I wanted to not seem unavailable. even sometimes I was responding to clients on Saturdays because I wanted to keep them. I wanted to be like the good service provider, and I didn't want to lose them.

[00:03:25] Andrea Elibero: I had eight clients, I had 10 clients. I had 12. I don't know, I had a lot of clients, right? I was making decent money. And I didn't have a single slow morning to show for it, and I was like, okay, like maybe I just need to manage my time better. Maybe I need to wake up earlier, even though that's like the whole reason that I started my business.

[00:03:45] Andrea Elibero: One of them was to not have to do that. You know, join the 5:00 AM club, get more. I don't know. I tried. I tried so many different things, time blocking, being a little bit more strict with my clients, different morning routines. Nothing [00:04:00] worked. I did not have those slow mornings, and eventually I figured out that the problem was not my lack of time blocking.

[00:04:09] Andrea Elibero: It was because I built my business backwards, and I'm going to tell you what that means because when I talk to my clients, when I talk to you guys, this is what I find over and over again. And I did it too when I started out, right? I built my business based on. Oh, what people are asking me for what people, you know, what I think I should offer.

[00:04:31] Andrea Elibero: What is marketable, right? What I see other people doing. And that's how I thought a successful business was built. And then because I was doing that and then I tried to squeeze my life, you know, fit into what little time is left over. That's actually the backwards way to create and build and grow your business.

[00:04:52] Andrea Elibero: Slow mornings don't happen by accident. They don't happen because you finally get organized enough or productive enough or successful enough. [00:05:00] They happen when you design your business from the inside out, starting with the life you actually want, and then building offers that support that life.

[00:05:12] Andrea Elibero: So I'm going to say that again because it's really important. If you want slow mornings or really any other goal in your life, you need to start with that goal with a life you want, and then build offers that are structured in a way that support that life vision. So when I was waking up to Slack messages going off, it was because I'd created a business model that required me to be constantly available.

[00:05:37] Andrea Elibero: I had too many clients at, too low of rates doing too many different things, and I'll say this was true whether I was VA or OBM, because it still was the same problem for me and my dream life vision. So of course I was drowning, right? I had all these clients. I'm the one who puts out the fires. I'm the one that handles everything, so obviously they're gonna come to me.

[00:05:58] Andrea Elibero: I made it that way. [00:06:00] So, like it's not, wasn't a surprise that I did not have slow mornings. The business that I had built could not physically give it them to me. I could not have slow mornings with the business model that I had created, even if I was the most productive person on the planet. Slow mornings are not a luxury that you earn after you make it.

[00:06:23] Andrea Elibero: They are strategic. You have to make them yourself. So, like I said, I was successful. I had all these clients. I made the money as a BA and an OBM, and that still didn't give me the life. That was the reason that I had started my business in the first place. And then what happens when you actually have these slow mornings?

[00:06:45] Andrea Elibero: So when you actually create this business that supports this life that you want, when you wake up calm instead of panicked, you show up better for your clients, you make better decisions, you catch things that you would've otherwise missed, you stop [00:07:00] reacting and you start leading. Your clients respect you more and not less.

[00:07:04] Andrea Elibero: The VAs and ODMs with these slow warnings. They're not less dedicated. They are better at protecting their energy and they charge accordingly, and they have the business model that supports that. So if you're thinking like, okay, like cool story, you know, but like, what do I do about it? Right? I'm, I'm feeling this, I want these mornings, and so what do I do?

[00:07:25] Andrea Elibero: Now, you cannot fix this with a new morning routine or better time management. That's the surface level. You need to look at the root problem. And the root problem is your actual business model. So look at your business model and ask yourself, are you charging enough to work part-time hours or are you stuck in a way where in order to hit your income goals, you're working at least 40 client hours per week.

[00:07:51] Andrea Elibero: Ask yourself. Number two, do you have a repeatable process or are you reinventing everything with every client? So [00:08:00] basically, are you proactive? Are you in a reactive business? Number three, are your boundaries built into your offers or are they things that you are constantly having to enforce? And number four, is your business designed around your dream life vision, your dream day?

[00:08:21] Andrea Elibero: Or did you just start saying yes to all of the things? So, are you charging enough? Do you have a repeatable process? Are boundaries built into your offers? And is your business designed to support your dream life vision? Most of my clients, my VAs, OBMs, done for you service providers that I work with in either my one-on-one and expansion, or in my group foundations to flow,

[00:08:45] Andrea Elibero: core offer design intensive. They have been operating for months and sometimes even years without ever asking themselves these questions. They're surviving, they're reacting, they're hoping it gets easier, but the chaos doesn't fix [00:09:00] itself. It just becomes familiar to you, and I desperately want you to not live that life that I have lived.

[00:09:09] Andrea Elibero: So here's the thing. You can't see your own business clearly when you're standing inside of it. It's like that thing where they say like, you're inside the fishbowl, you can't see. Right. So when I was doing this, right, working the 40, 50 hour weeks, waking up to the Slack notifications, I thought that's just how it was, right?

[00:09:25] Andrea Elibero: That's what I signed up for. I couldn't see that. I had built a business model that was designed to steal these mornings away from me. I needed help from the outside, somebody to look at. All of my things, my clients, when I'm doing my pricing, my boundaries and say, oh yes, okay, here's the thing going on.

[00:09:41] Andrea Elibero: Right? And so that's what really helped me in order to evolve past that and. Now, and for a while, these slow mornings, they're not special, right? They're just my Tuesdays, and that's what I want for you, and that's what I do for other VAs and OBMs. So if [00:10:00] you are still waking up without slow mornings, even though that's the whole reason you started your business, I want to invite you to book a free, literal, free business audit with me.

[00:10:10] Andrea Elibero: 45 minutes. We look at your business together, I show you exactly what's blocking these slow mornings, not in a theoretical. Like someday, you know, when you make more money, you can hire out whatever, like, not like that, right? Actual tactical things that you can do right now that are preventing your slow mornings from being possible.

[00:10:28] Andrea Elibero: Look at your clients, your structures, your boundaries, your offers, all the things. And I'll give you two to three specific things that you can change right now. So also your slow mornings can just become your normal Tuesday instead of a distant dream. So you can book these. There is a link in the show notes.

[00:10:46] 

[00:10:46] Andrea Elibero: free business audit, dancing leaf solutions.com/business-audit. the link is below. Okay. So remember that slow mornings are not something that you earn after you have quote unquote made it. They are the [00:11:00] foundation that makes everything else in your business possible.

[00:11:03] Andrea Elibero: So if you love this episode. Let me know. DM me on Instagram. My link is below as well. I would love to hear what resonated for you. And if you haven't already, please subscribe so you don't miss the next episode and leave me a review. That would be super fun. It makes my day to get those. 

[00:11:20] Andrea Elibero: I'll see you guys next week for the next one. Bye. 

[00:11:24] Andrea Elibero: Thank you so much for joining us today. I really hope you found inspiration and insights from today's episode. You know, scaling your business intentionally and from the inside out is a transformational process, but I'm here to support you every step of the way. Head on over to dancing leaf solutions.com/resources for free tools to help you do just that.

[00:11:50] Andrea Elibero: And thank you again for being a part of the Solepreneur Scaling Stories community. Your presence and dedication to growth inspiring me every [00:12:00] day.