Wildly Intentional
Bold talks. Big breakthroughs. No apologies.
We're two business owners who are passionate about helping people to grow in business and in life, and we talk about all the things you need to hear when running your own business (or thinking of doing it).
Wildly Intentional
5. Honouring Your Energy as a Business Owner
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In this episode, we talk about working to your strengths, managing capacity and experimenting with flow. Both Flick and Verity share some very real and recent experiences of when they have (and haven't) done exactly this.
We also receive a very important update from Verity about her business, after Flick distracts her as they are recording. We don't edit out the mistakes, and we don't apologise for them!
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Welcome to Wildly Intentional, the podcast for business owners who refuse to play small.
SPEAKER_02This is where we have bold talk, honest conversations and dig into what it really takes to create big breakthroughs in business and life.
SPEAKER_00We're click and variety, two business owners who've built, broken, rebuilt and grown businesses in our own ways.
SPEAKER_01And we're here to share the lessons, the mindset chips, and the unapologetic decisions that helped us to level up.
SPEAKER_00So if you're ambitious, growth focused, and ready to do business on your own terms. Let's get wildly intentional.
SPEAKER_02Hello. Hello, how are you?
SPEAKER_00Well, my hello is a lot more energetic than yours.
SPEAKER_02It was, it was. Yeah. Coming off the back of a manic week. Um, which is ironic, really, since what we're going to talk about today.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Do you mind I say it? I had that the week before, which is why it was like, it seems just so right for us to be talking about this today. So we're going to be talking a little bit about honouring your energy as a business owner. So how we can work in our strengths, manage our capacity, and experiment with flow.
SPEAKER_02Um which you say while I'm yawning.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, the past few weeks have been yeah, I don't think I've been doing doing the best of it.
SPEAKER_02No, no, I can't. To be fair, I thought, you know, this is a really good topic because I thought I got to a stage where I was managing things really well. I was managing my health, I was managing my energy, and it's I could take time out if I needed to. And then last week hit, and it was like, nope, nope. We had like crisis after crisis last week, so it was just yeah, Monday morning this week, and I'm like, Can I go to bed now?
SPEAKER_00You're ready for bed on a Monday morning. I am so just for those of you who are listening, yes, we do uh record these in advance. These these are not live recordings, these are um, you know, we like to make sure the fact that because our lives are busy and our lives are chaotic, that we've got a few in the bank for you guys so that you can always hear us and catch up with us, um, and we'll never miss a Wednesday.
SPEAKER_02Which is a good job because if we did it live, we would definitely miss we we would never keep on top of it.
SPEAKER_00No, no, we're we're committed to making sure the fact that we have these um these episodes every week. But yeah, I see I had it two weeks ago. Yeah, it wasn't last week, the week before. Um, and you know, those people who are listening to this who know me, who were who saw me that week, um, they know I was very, very ill. And I just pushed through and I still went to networking events that I'd booked on to, that I paid for, that you know, uh or events where I was on the committee, I was on the organizing committee, and I was like, I can't let people down, you know, a feeling of guilt as a business owner of um and then it got to a certain point and I just went, Do you know what? I can't keep this up, this is not sustainable. And it's actually damaging to my reputation for people to see me in that kind of state when you're that uh unenergized.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, absolutely. And I think that's really key because as a business owner, you have to be energized, you have to bring the energy, especially in networking events, because that's what people want. They want people who are really passionate and excited, and if you can't bring that, it does damage you. But there is also another aspect to this, and this is a lesson I learned because I think we talked about it last week when I had long COVID that turned into fibromyalgia, and yeah, you know, that's never gone away, and it probably won't ever go away. So I've had to learn to manage things and understand when to stop because the biggest lesson for me, um, and I am being a hypocrite because I did not learn this lesson last week, but mainly the big lesson for me is, and what I would say to everybody is if you go down, your whole business goes down with you. Yeah, you have to protect your energy, you have to protect your health, you have to protect yourself. We see it all the time, don't we, about like self-care. And I think business owners are the worst at self-care. We really do not know how to look after ourselves because we're on it 24-7, and it's it's dangerous.
SPEAKER_00It was one of those things. I remember having the thought of like, oh, but if I cancel, I'll be letting people down. Like, surely it shows better like fortitude if I like push through and people see my dedication to to work and networking and making those new connections if I just keep going powering through. And I think at one point, one networking event, um, I actually you turned it into sort of like my 60-second introduction kind of thing of like, so I can keep your social media marketing going even when you feel like death and you just want to go to bed like I do right now. Um, and like, you know, I got a few laughs from the people who know me and know the fact that that's not like normally my my sort of way of introducing myself. But yeah, it was it, yeah. In hindsight, I probably should have said, I'm really sorry guys, I'm ill. I'm I'm just gonna go to bed. And I I did eventually do that, and then I had to I had to postpone a couple of things, a couple of meetings with people just saying, Look, I I can't even talk in full sentences.
SPEAKER_02How was that sort of and did you did your business fall down when you did that?
SPEAKER_00No, of course it didn't. Of course it didn't. Everybody just sent me a message going, Oh, I hope you feel better soon, and yeah, let's rearrange when you when you're back to 100%. Like, because people are absolutely they're understanding, but you know, when you're a business owner, you think, oh gosh, no, I've got to keep going.
SPEAKER_02I've got to it comes back to that word again, doesn't it? It's all fear. It is fear of what will happen if you don't do it. And actually, if I'd met you at a networking event last week, I'd have told you to get the hell out of my space because my immune system is so dodgy, it's like I avoid ill people like the plague. So it would for me, you'd have really annoyed me turning up at that networking event. Sorry.
SPEAKER_00Well, that was the thing, is that most people who know me, and and you you included Verity, like they know the fact that I love hugging, and I was like, say hello to people, and I'll like give them a hug and be like, Hey, how are you doing? And I had to be like, No, go like stay away from me because I'm not very well. Like, I've I don't want to hug. And there were some people who were lovingly and they still gave me a hug and they were like, I don't care. Like, I want to hug you because like I like you and and stuff like that. But yeah, there was there was just that I needed to manage my capacity, I needed to just take that break because I did, you know, when you feel better, you do better work.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, absolutely. But how do you manage it though? Because I know like I was really lucky with Blue Giraffe in the fact that I'd learnt so many lessons from having the agency that when I set up Blue Giraffe, I deliberately did it in the way every business owner wants, you know, they want that home work-life balance, they want um the kind of residual income to come in when you're not at work. So I I managed to do that, but prior to that, it just felt impossible. It felt really impossible. Um actually, let's address this. Let's address it. Sorry, Flick has just put a message in the chat because she said I thought you didn't want to mention blue giraffe. So I am going. Flick, I'm really blindsiding you ear. Sorry. I have put some thought into this, and I I'm not sure I'm ready to say this yet, but um I can talk about blue giraffe because blue giraffe still exists, it's still going, and I haven't closed the doors to it at all. But I did make a really big decision a couple of weeks ago. Um, and it was huge for me because an opportunity came my way that was just too good to turn down. And it was basically, you know how passionate I am in my business about training and the neurodiversity side of things and getting that message out there. And I was doing some freelance work for an organization, and they basically offered me a full-time job. And the job was amazing. It was, I could, you know, push the agenda I wanted to push. I could, it was very the um the autonomy was, you know, really good, it's really flexible. So I made a really tough decision and decided that I was going to take the job. I haven't closed Blue Giraffe because I can't bring myself to do it, and I think there is still, you know, we've had discussions about you know what to do, and there is still things that I want to do there. Um, but right now my my focus is on the job, and only because my thought process around it, apart from the incentives that they gave me to come on board, which were just I would have been insane to turn down.
SPEAKER_00Oh, you would have been when you were talking to me about them. I was like, and why are you even debating this?
SPEAKER_02Like I know, I couldn't turn it down. But the biggest thing for me was that I get to deliver my message to a much wider audience. That was the biggest consideration because I'm so passionate about working with neurodivergent people, changing people's perspectives on it, leaders, um, you know, seeing how neurodivergent employees work best, stopping the old school leaderships, you know, that doesn't work, neurodivergent employees don't fit in the box. And I thought I can either do this on my own where the work is really tough, or I can go into an organization where I've got huge backup and deliver that message to so many more people. So I did make the decision to take the job. I couldn't have not taken the job. It was it's literally a dream, dream job. So on this podcast, you know, it's still very relevant because I'm still a business owner, I've been a business owner for the last 13 years. I've still got a huge amount of advice to give. Um, but yes, I have officially gone into full-time employment. So the narrative has changed slightly, but I'm still me.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely, you are still you, and and that's the thing is I've I don't know whether I can actually wrap my brain around the fact that you're you're now employed by somebody.
SPEAKER_02I'm having trouble with it.
SPEAKER_00But you know, this goes back to you know, you're playing to your strengths, isn't it? That's what we're talking about. This this episode is actually, you know, this was what you wanted to do. This was this was your your dream. Um, and it is your strengths, you know. Both of us, we we come from a very um background where we want to help other people to grow and we want to nurture like other people's development and stuff like that. So it this job was absolutely right for you, but it doesn't change that you know you still have like experiences and lessons to be given in a podcast.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. And actually, one lesson I learned is when the opportunity comes your way, don't turn your back on it because if it's all for all the right reasons, then you'd be insane to do that. You know, we set up business because we're passionate about something and we want that work-life balance. And I am coming off the back of a 60-hour week, so this is a better logic. However, however, you know, I am sat here on a Monday morning doing a podcast, so you know, there is flexibility there, and I, you know, creating my own diary, so it's it's perfect for me. It's just perfect, it was just the right decision. So, you know, you have to know when to make those decisions, I think, in business.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_02Also, I think my husband would have killed me if I'd said no.
SPEAKER_00And that would have been the end of the podcast, you know. Like three episodes on then like there would have been no more.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. And it's weird, isn't it? We're going on track a little bit, but you know, I'd debated whether to mention this, and obviously you went into panic then. I'm like, I was sure, thought you weren't gonna mess it, mention blue giraffe, and you know.
SPEAKER_00I I'm fine with it, which whichever way you wanted to go. But I was just thinking the last conversation we had, you weren't gonna talk about it.
SPEAKER_02But again, it's fear and it's shame. And it's like you remember that conversation we had about getting a part-time job and how you feel the shame around it. And I've debated it for I mean, it was very quick. So I got offered the job and I literally started a week and a half later. It was really, really quick. So I'm still kind of running down um the stuff that I was doing in Blue Giraffe that was quite heavy um alongside the job. But you know, I the conversation I was having with myself is do I tell people is this like a failure thing? It's not a failure thing. I'm actually doing better in a full-time job doing what I was doing in Blue Giraffe only to a wider audience. So the shame just needs to like that. That's why I kind of made that snap decision. So, you know, there is no shame, I don't think. It was the right decision for me and my family and my life and my mission, really.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So yeah, that killed the conversation a little bit, didn't we? Yeah, like we always know.
SPEAKER_00I suppose we should get try and get back on topic, shouldn't we? Let's get back on topic. Bring it back around.
SPEAKER_02So, my question before that, then before you completely like spun me off track with that little chat message, don't do that again. You know I can't concentrate on two things at once.
SPEAKER_00Spot the neurodiversity in this chat. Let's do like something shiny, and it was like, oh, we'll talk about that for five minutes.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, absolutely. My question before that was you know, how do you deal with it? How do you get to a stage where you can step back? Because that is a challenge for a lot of business owners. You're in a more difficult situation with that than I um, because I'd set the business up deliberately, so it was on my schedule. But yours, I know because I've been there and done it with what you do, you're on everybody else's schedule. So that's really difficult. So, how do you manage it? Obviously, you didn't last week, but how you know what advice would you give?
SPEAKER_00Um, I think it comes back to what we were talking about the other week was um, you know, uh boundaries and enforcing those boundaries, and and boundaries are not a bad thing, you know, having boundaries and and holding them is not a bad thing. Um, you know, I've had a message this morning, um and you know, yes, okay, it was seven o'clock in the morning, and I responded to it quite politely for somebody messaging me work stuff at 7am. I'm not a morning person, as you well know. Um I had no iste. Basically, no, I don't function without three coffees in the morning before 9 a.m. Um, but yeah, I had a message from somebody today saying, like, you know, oh, can we squeeze in a chat today? Um, and they gave me a time and I was like, I've got something in my diary, but it's basically block booked out for work and working on my business, not in my business. And I was like, it's so easy, it was would have been so easy for me to have said, yeah, sure, I can I can do that and I'll just move some things around. But I was like, no, I I deserve this time. I've blocked out for my business and for me to work on my business and you know, sort out all my my marketing for the the upcoming week, or like whatever it is that I'm gonna do in that block time out. Um, and it's it's like, no, and I just went back, oh, I'm really sorry, I'm blocked booked out today. What's the rest of your week looking like? And it's that give and take, isn't it? It's that um, but it I just felt that that slight impulse to go, yeah, I can I can do that, I can move some things around. And I was like, no, this is this is you know, you've got to guard it, you've got to be precious with like you know what works for you and and for me, you know, we're recording this on a Monday, and Mondays for me are my time to work on my business, not in my business. And and I'm trying to try sort of safeguard that.
SPEAKER_02And that's amazing, and that is a lesson that I definitely did not learn because I was the panicker, I was the one that was like, yes, yes, that's fine, we can have a meeting, no problem. And actually, you know, the boundaries are really it goes, we've had this conversation about boundaries, they're so important, and they're not um they're not gonna kill your business, they're gonna expand your business. That's exactly how you grow your business. Boundaries is the number one tool and skill you need to learn as a business owner, but also what you just said about working on your business. Oh god, you know how much, especially in like the tower tribe. I used to shout about this. Business owners, especially small business owners, don't understand the value in working on their business. We get so wound up with working in our business and doing the job, which is why we end, which is where we end up in burnout most of the time, because we're so much in it. And actually, you can't grow your business if you don't spend time working on it. It's impossible. I've tried it, it is literally impossible to grow your business without taking that time to work on it. And I'm a huge advocate for taking time out every single week to work on your business, and you absolutely should protect that space. Absolutely, you do not have to jump to anybody else's tune. This is your business, your boundaries matter.
SPEAKER_00I think I went to a conference, um, say Atomicon, it's a massive conference up in Newcastle. Um, in like my first year of business, I remember listening to one of the speakers there, and they were talking about um, you know, marketing and stuff like that, because it's a sales and marketing conference, it's a fantastic um event. Um, and I remember it was one particular line that just struck me was the fact that when you start a business, you should spend 50% of your time actually working on like the marketing, getting new leads, that that working on your business. And I was like 50%. I was like, gee, because I I haven't got 50% of my time to give. But ever since that, I was like, do you know what? Yeah, every time I think about my blog posts or updating my website, or I'm working on like you know, writing new courses, or you know, anything that's not actually working on my client's work, that to me is working on my business. It's on about you know, me, my marketing, my social media, my my website, my email, my SEO, whatever it is, um, or the latest one that they're that uh I keep seeing all over um digital marketing forums is about AIO, which just sounds a bit like old McDonaldie, but EIEIO. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But it's about you know optimizing your website and your socials and everything like that, so that AI starts to recommend you as well as you know the Google search engines and and various things. Um, but anything that you're doing for that, that is working on your business. Um, you know, even doing your market research or researching trends or or you know your industry research, anything like that. That is you growing your business while it might not seem like it. And you know, I was very guilty of this when I first started of like, oh, I can't just uh you know spend 20 minutes going through my LinkedIn and commenting on posts because that's that's a in inadvertent comments, like that's a waste of time. Um, when I could be doing something else. It's like, well, actually, that's not. That's me growing my network, that's me building those relationships, those connections. That's that's that is me working in my business. That is working.
SPEAKER_02That's not just it never feels like working, though, does it? When you're working on your business, because there is no like financial reward to that immediately, so you don't see like it's not a new client, it's not like working on somebody's social media because they're paying you to do that, it's working on your business, and you're not paying yourself to work on your business. It feels like we're being lazy or we're feeling we're not doing the right things, we're avoiding things when actually that it's more important, I think, to do that than it is to actually service the clients. I mean, you should always service your clients, but it's more important to work. You can't grow your business, you can't be the business your client needs if you don't take that time out to work on it. I mean, it can be, you know, your marketing, it can be your social media posts, it can be your emails, or it can be your goals and how you're going to get there, and you know, your your microcourse and everything else, your business planning. All of that counts as working on your business, and you should absolutely there is a value to that. It doesn't need to be monetary because the monetary value will come later. The monetary value cannot come if you don't do the work in the first place.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely. And I was actually um you're saying that about like the monetary value coming later. Again, I was at um at a business event last week, um, fantastic first launch event, and one of the speakers there was talking about, you know, if you look at your entire market, five percent of your market are ready to buy now, and you should absolutely never disregard the five percent who are ready to buy now. But 95% aren't ready to buy now, so you need to be in their mind when they are ready to buy. So when you're working on your blocks or or your business model or your your planning or your socials, your marketing, you're actually going for that 95% to remain at the forefront of their mind when they are when they suddenly drop into that five percent. Yeah, and I just thought that was that that was just a to put monetary, uh yeah, not monetary, sorry, a number on it to actually yeah, value to it. I was like, that was that was quite a well, obviously it stayed with me because I'm now talking about it on a podcast. But yeah, and people need to think about that. It's not about the five percent that uh in the market to buy now. You know, you need to think about that and protect yourself for that longevity. You know, you don't want to I'm assuming most people don't go into business to be in business for two weeks. They they want to be in there for the long haul. They want to you know, it it needs to be right for them for 100%.
SPEAKER_02It is a tough one though, isn't it? It's like you know, taking not not just taking time out to work on your business, but the whole you know, not burning out thing and resting and self-care. It's it's a huge topic, really, and it's a tough one to get your head around, but we have to, as business owners. I mean, I've learned a lot of lessons, especially around long COVID. I mean, that was horrific for me because it was I was completely reliant on Alison, but we had our own roles in the business. So if I didn't perform mine, then hers didn't get done either. It had an impact on everything, and we hadn't set the business up that it basically, my biggest piece of advice would be set your business up so it doesn't need you. You know how I used to say, What was my saying? Show people how to do your job so they don't need you.
SPEAKER_00So they don't need you.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's the same with your business, you know, set your business up so it doesn't need you. And that can cover so many topics, even down to your branding, and you know, whether you're branded yourself or as an organization or whatever you're doing, but your business needs to be able to run without you in it. And when you first start out, you obviously can't do that, it's not realistic. You have to be in it, you have to be working it, but you've got to have that plan in place, and this comes to working on your business, taking that time out to work on your business because very quickly in your journey, you need to become almost irrelevant in your business, it needs to be able to run without you. Which is where things like you know outsourcing can come in, and which is a whole topic in itself. We need to talk about sourcing.
SPEAKER_00We we have said a couple of times. I think this is like the third episode that we've said. We've only done four episodes so far. It's like the third one that we've said.
SPEAKER_02But I thought it was seven. Is it only four?
SPEAKER_00Thanks. Does that does that tell you how much it feels like?
SPEAKER_02No, it means I'm having fun and it just feels like we've been talking, you know.
SPEAKER_00But no, I wanted to be four. We recorded it. This is our fourth, fourth episode. Um, but no, I wanted to go back to something that you said about the self-care point. And like, you know, we hear that laboured on so much at the moment, but self-care looks different for everybody. And I get, you know, you know, Verity, you know my diary and and how busy it is. And everybody goes, like, yeah, but when's your you time? And I'm like, yeah, but I'm doing like my diary is filled with things I love to do. Yeah, those are my self-care moments, you know. When I'm doing things for scouts or, you know, when I'm I'm going out here and there and everywhere, I'm like, but that that's actually myself, that's how I recharge so that actually I can go back to the business. Um, so self-care doesn't look the same for everybody, you know. Some people some people love that, that spa day that you know, put your phone in one of my friends, she went for her birthday treat was a spa day. She went, I loved the four hours when my phone was in a lock car and I just couldn't look at it and couldn't be distracted by socials and texts and calls and all the other stuff that goes with having a mobile phone. Um, and she loved that. And I was like, that that's my that's not how I recharge. Like that would not be that's not my how my self-care looks, and it looks different to everybody. And I think you know, if I could say one thing to a lot of people, it's like don't let other people's idea of what your rest looks like. Yeah, absolutely. Don't don't let them judge you, like that guilt and shame about the fact that oh, but I do this to to relax and unwind, great, do it, go for it. Yeah, it's that's not what somebody else is relaxing and re-unwinding and self-care looks like. Well, that's that's fine, you know, just looks different.
SPEAKER_02We're all different, and you know, I've been where you are, and actually, work for me was always I am a bit of a workaholic, I've always been a workaholic, I love working, and I mean it's a joke in my house because I always say if I weather lottery, I'd just like I give everything up, and my husband just laughs at me because there's no chance in the world that I could ever give anything up. Um she wouldn't, you know, you absolutely no. I I'd probably set up about seven different businesses just because you know I I've got the funds to do it, so I'll do it and I'll just be like crazily busy. So work used to be my thing, and even like I've worked all weekend this weekend, and I had a bit of a row, and you know, it was like you get a burnout, and I'm like, but this is self-preservation for me, this is getting on top of things, this is I've enjoyed it, I really enjoy what I'm doing. My husband has been studying all weekend, the kids are happy, so it's just I worked and I was happy to do that, but then I have also learned that for me, because my health wasn't great for a long time, I've learned that I do need to rest. And I've also learned that I can go and lie on my bed for half an hour and be completely recharged, and that's quite new for me. Just lie down for half an hour and I'm recharged. And actually, when I do that, I get so much more out of myself for the rest of the day than I would if I tried to keep pushing through.
SPEAKER_00See, whereas my brains go, you know, lie down for half an hour, my my anxiety would go through the roof because I'd be like, this is wasting time. I'm not feeling rested. I didn't be like that.
SPEAKER_02I did used to be like that. And I did it once because I had no option. I was so exhausted. And you know, there's so much going on. There's the fibromyalgia, there's perimenopause. My brain is just like one big fluff ball. It is like this fog going everywhere in my brain daily. And sometimes I get to the point where I'm just staring and I'm not doing anything, I'm procrastinating, my head is foggy, I can't think, I can't even come up with the next sentence. And I'm like, I just need to rest. So even if it's just switching the laptop off and sitting on the sofa for half an hour, I know that 30 minutes, complete silence and rest will recharge me and I will come back and I can work until nine o'clock, 10 o'clock at night. Not recommending that. That's just the way I do things. I quite like working, you know, stupid hours of the day. But I can do that, but if I don't have that half an hour, and it's like the equivalent of a power nap, isn't it? If I don't have that half an hour, I will not be productive.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And that's the thing is that I mean, I remember that when I worked for you, was you know, uh there was one day where I think I messaged you and I was like, oh, I'm gonna be taking a few hours out in the morning because I was gonna go get my nails done or something like that, but I'll I'll be back, you know, I'll work later on to the night. I don't remember this so vividly. You turn around to me and we're going like, Flick, I don't care if you work, do you work at two o'clock in the morning? Right, as long as the work gets done every week, I don't care. Just let me know when you're not available for calls or chats or things like that.
SPEAKER_02But other than that, you because you don't work set hours, and that was I just want to put a caveat in there that I did not encourage you to work at two o'clock in the morning.
SPEAKER_00No, it was just the off-handed comment. Please let people know that. Like, I don't care when it gets done, as long as it gets done. Like, and that was, you know, I think that was the first time I'd ever really worked somewhere where it was truly flexible working hours. And now, like you say, when you're a business owner, and you know, we're talking about honouring your energy, it's not somebody else's energy. Like, if you work well at two o'clock in the morning, great, but just let your clients know that when you're available and when you're not available, and and just work to your energy and your rest periods, and and you know, this this was your business, right? You set it up to do it how you wanted to do it.
SPEAKER_02It's really ironic, actually, because you've just like triggered something, not triggered, but you triggered a thought process because part of what I teach in leadership now is all about presenteism and how we need to step away from that nine to five thinking, and it's not about bums on seats and seats, it's not about how long somebody has sat at their desk for. If they're working their full seven and a half hours, it's about the outcomes, it's about the impact and the job that they've done. And our message with you was very much I didn't even care if you only work 20 hours a week on a 37 and a half hour contract. If the job was done, the job was done. So it was never, and we need to move more to that in organizations where we're thinking it's not about the amount of time we spend, it's about the the value of our impact and our you know input. But we need to start thinking of that as business owners as well. You don't need to work 60, 70 hours a week as a small business owner. What you need to do is make sure that the time that you are in work and you are working, that is valuable time. And you can't do that if you don't give yourself time to rest, because you do lead to burnout, you do lead to mental health issues, you do lead to stress and anxiety and all the rest of it that we've all experienced. You have to kind of, it doesn't matter if your working week is 15 hours. If those 15 hours are really productive, then you know your business is gonna grow. But at the same time, if you're trying to work 60 hours and you've only got 15 hours worth of energy, then you just that's wasting time. That's far more wasting your time than going to take half an hour on the sofa is.
SPEAKER_00That that's when you're gonna find yourself doom scrolling and not actually, you know, doing things productively, you're just gonna end up staring at your screen, like you say, and just kind of going, I need to be writing a blog or I need to be doing this or I need to be doing that. And that's when you know we'd lead to guilt and we're so we we feel so many guilt, I think, as business owners, because particularly if you've come from that kind of corporate background, if you've worked in that kind of environment where, like you say, you had to be there at eight o'clock in the morning and you know, you you were timed lunch. I mean, I remember, oh my god, we being in certain employments where it was literally timed to the the second as to how long you had for your break, your lunch break. Even toilet breaks were were clocked by the minute.
SPEAKER_02I'm like, sorry, let me wee. Sorry, I need a wee. And it's not how you get the best out of people, and it is absolutely the same in your business. You need to be able to get the best out of yourself, and you can only do that by understanding how your body works, understanding how your mind works and giving it what it needs, nourish it completely. And I'm not just talking food, because let's face it, you know, I've never got on that bandwagon. But you know, just nourishing your body and mind and understanding what it needs.
SPEAKER_00I'm working out, and and when you first set out as a business owner, it is about that, you know, experimenting with you know what works well for you because you might have come from a background like that that was that rigid, you know, what I've had before, where you know you're clocked to the second, to the minute, um, you know, every hour, every day of what you're doing, what are you doing here, what are you doing there. Um, you know, if you then set up a business, you're kind of going like, right, okay, well, I've got nobody cracking the whip, but I've got nobody, you know, watching me, you know, work out what works for you. Um, and certain things work better for others. I mean, and communicating that if you've got partners and and husbands or wives, or um, you know, when I have to say to my husband, he's going like, Well, what are we doing this weekend? And I was like, Well, I've got to work for a few hours on Saturday because you know, things haven't gone well this week, or you know, I haven't got the job done, or you know, I've been out at events, and so I need to just do a little bit of work, like communicating with the your loved ones is is vitally important as well when you're a business owner.
SPEAKER_02I used to tell people to put like a magnet, a calendar magnet on the fridge and just write it down what you're doing when you're doing it, and add to it and take it away as you need to, but your family can see it in plain sight. Because let's face it, and this would be another topic we talk about as well. Getting family support when you're a business owner is like it is it's a tricky, tricky area, particularly if they've never run their own business as well.
SPEAKER_00They've always been employed, but yeah, yeah, we that will be another one.
SPEAKER_02We'll talk about that another day. We are officially at 41 minutes. We're doing really well at staying on track, I think. Oh, yeah, I think we're so what would you say is your um oh no, you're gonna have to say it.
SPEAKER_00Wednesday wild words of wisdom. I'm gonna add a W another W into there.
SPEAKER_02Wednesday Wild Words of Wisdom. I'm never gonna be able to say it ever. You need to know that now. I don't say it often enough to remember it, and even when I do remember it, I can't get the word Wednesday wise words of wisdom.
SPEAKER_00Wild words of wisdom.
SPEAKER_02Wild wild words, because we're wildly intentional. Yeah, and today we've gone through this whole podcast without a dog barking.
SPEAKER_00How amazing is that I think that was actually the first uh uh animal reference as well that we've just said we're not doing so great on the animal references the last couple of episodes, but we haven't apologised today, so that's good.
SPEAKER_02That's good, that is good. Um what's your words of your wild words of wisdom on a Wednesday?
SPEAKER_00I think oh now you know you put me on I know this is coming, but I always feel like it's put me on the spot of like what's what's what we said. I think it is just that you know self-care is important, but self-care doesn't look the same for everybody.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And most of you listen, listen to yourself, just you know, you know you're gonna be far more productive by taking that time out than you would if you tried to power through like you did last week.
SPEAKER_00Like it feels like you might be doing this week because you know you're still exhausted from last week. Yeah. Maybe you need to re-listen to this episode.
SPEAKER_02But I am sat here, you know, recording this where I'm like, you know, I'm not not stressed, I've got work to do, but I've worked all weekend, so that's been a period of adjustment for me. Because when I kind of started, even like last week, I somebody had to have a real word with me about how the organization works because I went with the assumption that it's bums on seats, I have to work my hours, and it's like, no, you just have to get the job done. Doesn't matter when you do it. Obviously, when I'm in class, it's different, but when you know the other side of the the role is just this full autonomy. It's so yeah, so I I it is a lesson I've got to learn myself again, I think. But I will because I know what happens if I don't.
SPEAKER_00It's so freeing when you do learn it.
SPEAKER_02It is, it really is. Right, should we leave it there?
SPEAKER_00I think I think that's that's nicely wrapped it up for this week, and we will see you next week.
SPEAKER_02See you next week. Bye. Hey Thanks for spending this time with us on Wildly Intentional. If this episode sparked something for you, take it with you and act on it. Don't forget to subscribe, share, and come and say hello online. And remember, bold talk leads to big breakthroughs and no apologies.