050 As entrepreneurs it can be so easy to get overwhelmed and burnt out and lose track of what we love - like why we started doing what we do in the first place. What systems can you put in place to help you stress less and get back to doing what you love?
Today's guest is Erin Cantwell. She was a graphic designer who went to work at a branding firm in NYC, so she's got some serious creative skills. And now, she helps creative entrepreneurs to bridge the gap between their creative work and the operation side, like how do you get down to the nitty gritty of your business.
In this episode you're going to learn a lot of interesting things about systems you can put into place. So even if you are not a creative entrepreneur, as in doing a creative business, like an artist or something, you still need creativity in your business, you still have to use creativity to be a successful entrepreneur.
And so she has systems that can support you to find more flow, to spend more time in those spaces of creativity when you need them. And she also does a brilliant job of helping us to figure out how we can focus more on the client experience. What is it like for your client, for your customer, for your audience? And how can you focus more on that experience as a way to set up boundaries and systems that support you as well.
Erin has a lovely way of helping us see the correlation between the systems that we set up, and how those systems can help to keep us healthy, happy and sane. But also bonus make us even more successful at this work that we love to do.
More info <<HERE>>
Connect with Erin:
Instagram and Facebook and Website
050 As entrepreneurs it can be so easy to get overwhelmed and burnt out and lose track of what we love - like why we started doing what we do in the first place. What systems can you put in place to help you stress less and get back to doing what you love?
Today's guest is Erin Cantwell. She was a graphic designer who went to work at a branding firm in NYC, so she's got some serious creative skills. And now, she helps creative entrepreneurs to bridge the gap between their creative work and the operation side, like how do you get down to the nitty gritty of your business.
In this episode you're going to learn a lot of interesting things about systems you can put into place. So even if you are not a creative entrepreneur, as in doing a creative business, like an artist or something, you still need creativity in your business, you still have to use creativity to be a successful entrepreneur.
And so she has systems that can support you to find more flow, to spend more time in those spaces of creativity when you need them. And she also does a brilliant job of helping us to figure out how we can focus more on the client experience. What is it like for your client, for your customer, for your audience? And how can you focus more on that experience as a way to set up boundaries and systems that support you as well.
Erin has a lovely way of helping us see the correlation between the systems that we set up, and how those systems can help to keep us healthy, happy and sane. But also bonus make us even more successful at this work that we love to do.
More info <<HERE>>
Connect with Erin:
Instagram and Facebook and Website
Hello and welcome to the healthy, happy and mostly sane entrepreneur podcast. I'm your host national board certified health and wellness coach and I are Vedic practitioner and mostly st entrepreneur Ellen Leonard. Each week, I share my obsession with helping you build a healthy life that works for you, your family, and your business. Because I don't think you have to sacrifice your own health and well being to be successful. So please stay tuned. For today's episode full of ideas to make staying healthy just a little bit easier. Don't forget to hit subscribe, so you don't miss out on future episodes. And speaking of staying healthy, happy and mostly sane, and today's show notes, you'll find a link to a freebie just for you. 24 ways to stress less. That's right click on that. Download your free 24 ways to stress less. I have been a stress management consultant and coach for over seven years now helping hundreds of clients and students figure out how to manage their stress. So I took my 24 best steps and loaded them into a guide just for you. To get you started and help you start to manage stress. It's especially important this time of year and I've got you covered. I'm so excited for you to get to know today's guest she has so much to share with you. Her name is Erin Cantwell. And once upon a time she went to wristy Yes, the era's D, that's how fancy she is. And, and she was a graphic designer who went to work at a branding firm and NYC. So she's got some serious creative skills. And now, she helps creative entrepreneurs to bridge the gap between their creative work and the operation side, like how do you get down to the nitty gritty of your business. And I love that somebody with that much skill and that much training, as an artist, as a creative has taken her passion and love of creativity and being able to spend more time in what she calls the zone of genius, how she's taken that and created a whole business to help other creatives be as successful as she was, and really get down to how do you put systems in place that support and nourish you, and that support and nourish your business. And that's exactly what she and I talk about in this episode. And so I think you're going to learn a lot of interesting things about systems you can put into place. So even if you are a creative entrepreneur, as an doing a creative business, like an artist or something, you still need creativity in your business, you still have to use creativity to be a successful entrepreneur. And so she has systems that can support you to find more flow, to spend more time in those spaces of creativity when you need them. And she also does a brilliant job of helping us to figure out how we can focus more on the client experience. What is it like for your client, for your customer, for your audience? And how can you focus more on that experience as a way to set up boundaries and systems that support you as well. So she has a lovely way of helping us see the correlation between the systems that we set up, and how those systems can help to keep us healthy, happy and sane. But also bonus make us even more successful at this work that we love to do. So let's dive in. Erin, thank you so much for being here today. I'm so excited to have you on the podcast.
Erin Cantwell:Thanks for having me, Ellen.
Ellen Leonard:You're welcome. And you know, I talked about this in the intro, but you clearly love helping entrepreneurs find success. I mean, you're very passionate about it. And you talk a lot about this vision you have for your clients, and I think for people in general to to be happy and thriving in their business. And so I'd love if you could share with us like what that looks like to you like so if your clients are getting the the ideal outcome from working with you like what are their lives look like? And what's different and how does that kind of look for them.
Erin Cantwell:So ideally, for me, if my clients are successful, they're spending most of their time in their creative zone and their zone of genius following their passions, building a business doing the work that they love. And they're spending their time on that part of the business rather than all the nitty gritty that comes along with running a business. So I come from a career Have background I went to art school, my first job out of college was a designer. And I come from very much the creative world where systems aren't necessarily inherent in it, they're No, they don't come kind of hand in hand with it all the time. And one of the things that I really found early on is that what it takes to run a successful business requires you to step out of that creative flow, a lot of times you have to handle the like, you have to handle the invoicing and the task management and all of that stuff. And that gets in the way of being super creative. And especially as a creative person that gets in a way of like being fulfilled and loving it. So what I really work on with my clients, because my brain is one of those brains that actually does work in that way, I'm super systematic, and I love putting systems in place that I call kind of like, I put them in place so that they support my flow, so that I have things set and running in the background, and I don't need to worry about it. And I can spend my my time in my zone of genius and creating and doing the work I love. And that's what I help my clients to do too. And what's it like when your clients do get to spend more time in their zone of genius, and I love that you call it that, by the way, because it's like, not only do I need to identify what my zone of genius is, but I need to like be in that flow in that zone.
Ellen Leonard:So tell me, like what it's like for them, when they get to do that more.
Erin Cantwell:They love it. I mean, a lot of times we really see it actually make their business kind of blossom and bloom, they find themselves a lot more fulfilled, because the stuff that I was talking about their stuff that we can put in systems for or the stuff that drag them down and kind of make them like, you know, it's that stuff that you don't want to like get into the office or your studio or wherever you're working and do first thing in the morning, you don't want to be worrying about like all of the little nitty gritty that are so important to keep a business running. But a lot of times when we can kind of systematize that, and I'm not just talking software, I'm talking about, you know, setting up their schedules in a way so that all of that happens at once. And then they can just set it and forget it for a week or two or a month. Or, you know, time blocking is big, just like let's just sit down and do this or whatever it might be, however, we choose to set up systems for them to work through it, then they spend the rest of their time really operating in this like their passion. And it comes through in their work, it comes through in their client happiness, they can just really, they can really build their business and spend time being fulfilled. And I always I keep going back to this phrase like doing the work they love because as a creative, and somebody that helps creative entrepreneurs like all of us get into this because we love this work because it is our passion. You know, it's not something that necessarily is always the most logical step for somebody coming out of high school or college to follow. It's a passion, it's a calling, it's something you really just feel in your heart you want to do. So the more you can kind of enable that the more that your business blooms, you yourself bloom, you're less stressed, you are just happier and more fulfilled, your relationships are better, it really kind of it has a ripple effect. Like you're happier, your business is happier, your personal life, your health, your relationships, all of that kind of just get better, the less you the less you have to worry about the stressful stuff and the stuff you don't like the stuff that you keep putting off and keeps building up, the more you can do, the more you can spend time creating and doing that work that fulfills you without that nagging in the back of your head, like Oh, I should be doing my finances, or I should be managing this or I should be calling that client that I don't want to call, the more you can kind of get that stuff out of your way and just really enjoy yourself. It really has a positive impact on all those other areas of your life and your well being. It's almost like you're able to get back to why you actually started the business in the first place. Absolutely. Yeah, that's that's a big thing that a lot of my clients kind of talk about, I had one girl that I worked with, and she was just the sweetest, but she was very overwhelmed at the point that she came to me. She had kind of duct taped the business together sort of is the way I described it. She had started off you know it the way many creatives actually ended up starting off, which was she had a nine to five job and people knew that she designed and she was a designer, and people would come to her and ask her for these like one off projects. And she loved it. So she did them. And next thing you knew, she got to the point where she was like, I can take this full time. I have a lot of different clients, but she was treating it very much like all these individual projects and not a business as a whole. So what we did was we really sat down and we kind of put a structure around her business and we put the systems in place and we really shifted her mindset to form instead of thinking about all of these different projects she was working on with all these different clients, we started thinking about like, this is my business and my business has these projects going on. And all of a sudden she was able to kind of like make decisions that supported her, her health and wellness, her life and her business in a different way. Everything just got easier. It just kind of all clicked, she was able to manage things appropriately, she was able to set boundaries that were good and healthy for her and her clients. And she was just able to see much better results. Because she, you know, we really got out of that overwhelmed mindset, and we got everything situated. And then she could really just focus on delivering and delivering within this, this guidelines that she set herself. And it really helped her like, the amount of referrals that she saw come in, in the next few months because she just blew her clients away and she loved what she was doing. And all of that really came through was just unbelievable. And her business boomed from, you know, from that, that big mindset shift and that big way of just kind of addressing things.
Ellen Leonard:And sounds like she was able to find a lot more balance in her life as well. Trying to figure out how to juggle, you know, all the things that as entrepreneurs, like it's us, we are many of the times tech support copywriters, email gurus like we are doing so many things. And so how do we kind of step back and really use our skills of organization and, and really thinking through things to support us in both being successful in our business, and then still being able to stay healthy, happy and sane in the rest of our lives.
Erin Cantwell:Yeah, I mean, you're exactly right. as business owners, we were all of the hats all the time. And honestly, you know, I think that the boundaries and systems that we set up are what allow us to find that balance. Like there is something to be said people love multitasking. And honestly I'm like the less we can multitask the happier we are when I am mobbing. I am full on mom and I have two kids, I have a one year old and a four year old. And you know, the more I can put my phone away my computer away, and I can just shift them focus on them. That's good quality time, then that that like that fills me up and I can then go to work. And I can focus on my work. And that fills me up in a different way where when I find and I see this with a lot of my clients and I talk to them a lot about it too, when you're kind of like half and half in all these different worlds all the time or you're just being stretched too thin. You're never giving everything your full attention. And like you know, even like for your morning workout, if you're spending your morning workout going through everything in your to do list. Everything that you have to like all those emails you have to send you're not like really focusing and getting the best workout you can you're getting like an okay workout. And you're stressing about everything else where instead, if you can really be in that moment, you can focus and you can do that workout, then you got a great workout it and now you can hit the ground running with that to do list in those emails. That's kind of one of the things I really helped my clients to understand is that when we're intentional, intentional about how we're spending our time and where we're putting our focus. Every result is better than spreading ourselves thin across all of these different things that are running through our head.
Ellen Leonard:Yeah, and I'm guessing the spreading ourselves too thin can lead to burnout rather quickly.
Erin Cantwell:Absolutely. burnout is real. I mean, especially right now with the COVID. And everything going on in the world burnout is it's, it's serious, it's there, and it's harder to come back from than it is to prevent. So you know, I really always advocate that people are super proactive about it. I mean, I log off on the weekends on my business, I encourage my clients to because I didn't for a while I'm gonna be completely honest, at the beginning of COVID, especially, all of a sudden, my husband was working from home, my kids were home full time too. And I was the primary caregiver during the day while my husband was working, which meant that I lost a lot of time I had been planning to spend doing work. So I was up early, I was working during nap times I was working late, I was half working while I was watching my kids, I was working over weekends, I am exhausted.
Ellen Leonard:Even just hearing all that Erin, you just made me so tired.
Erin Cantwell:But you know, and it's one of those things too as a as an entrepreneur, I love the work. So it doesn't always feel like work until yeah is up with you. And that was you know, that was a big lesson for me really early on with all of this because I was just so used to juggling it and it being okay. But yeah, burnout is real. And the more you get the earlier you can set those boundaries and be proactive about stopping that from happening, the better off everybody's going to be. And that's part of where if you can get some of those. I call it like all the different tabs in your brain open. Like the more you can just like get rid of the ones that don't need to be there. You can kind of put them to the side and now they're getting taken care of the better off you're going to be and the less burnout you're going to feel in the long run.
Ellen Leonard:Yeah, I'm just worried about Erin right now being able to see all the tabs open on my computer and knowing that equal numbers of tabs are open in my brain right now. How does she know my secret shame? My head,
Erin Cantwell:I'm not the only one that's exactly not the only one That was me, that's still me. Sometimes I'm not gonna say I'm perfect, but that is so many people. And it really like the it will creep up on you it has a toll for sure.
Ellen Leonard:It sounds like you've got a lot of really good ideas about how people can start to really create these healthy boundaries and almost like these containers, where we're really intentional about how we're spending our time. So you mentioned logging off on the weekends, what are some of your other favorite tips to offer for clients to really start to not only get their work done, but prioritize their health and wellness as well, so that we don't get burnout.
Erin Cantwell:So one of the areas that I specialize in actually is the client experience. And I think that this has everything to do with being able to set that balance and those expectations. One of the things I really work with my clients on is that the second day, get a client that's, that's the time to set boundaries, expectations, to position yourself as a partner and an expert, to become trusted. So they know you're always going to do the best thing for them that you're going to act in their best interest. And you're always going to be there for them. But really early on setting those boundaries in that client relationship helps you keep that balance throughout. Because if you start out saying I work nine to five, I don't. And I work Monday through Friday, I don't answer emails on the weekends, but I will be back to you on Monday morning. Or if you email me throughout the week, you'll hear back within 24 hours, whatever it is for you, whatever those boundaries are for you. If you set those expectations really early with any client that you're working with, they're on board, they know it, they're they're good. If you don't have those boundaries, and then halfway through, you try and implement them. Now the client feels like you took something away. And all of a sudden, you're like, now things aren't good. Now all of a sudden, that relationship is damaged. And you're dealing with a whole different dynamic. So I work really hard with my clients to make sure that they're intentional when they bring on new clients, not only in how they're structuring their time, but how they convey it to their clients, so that everybody's on the same page. And those boundaries can stay in place without bringing any tension into the relationship or the project.
Ellen Leonard:And I love that you're using that word intentional, again, it's like we front load some of this work and the thinking through of things, just to make it easier on ourselves later. And to be able to at the end of the day, everybody listening who has clients, they want to show up and serve their clients like there. That's why they started doing this. Like they love their clients, they want to do a good job. And I can't do a good job. If I'm exhausted. I can't show up for my clients if I am burnt out and, and overwhelmed. And then you could even start to hate your clients, which would be just horrible.
Erin Cantwell:Yes. Yes, no, I completely agree. I, you know, you are your business, especially as a solopreneur or somebody with a small business, you are your business, if you're not taking care of yourself, you're not taking care of your business, and you're not taking care of your clients. And yes, that resentment is real. And it will trickle in. And I cannot tell you how many people I've talked to that feel that way. And you know, I that's where I have to say like, Okay, well, is the problem really just your clients? Or is this something you can do to change things and reset it and take the power back, so that all of a sudden that your client is not controlling your happiness, you can control your happiness, and we can do that. Like, let's figure that part out.
Ellen Leonard:Yeah, I love that. And, and speaking of staying, you know, healthy, happy and sane sounds like you've got a plan for your clients. What's the plan that you use for yourself? How do you sounds like you, you really have things manage? So tell us how you're rocking that out and keeping that balance going with being a mom and a business owner?
Erin Cantwell:Oh, I have things balanced. Some days. I'm not gonna lie. Nobody's perfect. But, um, no. I mean, I rely heavily on planning ahead. I have systems in place, I have a calendar I could show you that has my what I drew up my ideal schedule, I have my client work slotted in there, I have my workouts, I have my lunch breaks when I have to go pick up my kids. And I figured out what an ideal day looks like for me. And I'm not so stringent that if it doesn't work out that way that I'm you know, upset and thrown off for the rest of the day or the week or anything. But I know kind of an ideal flow. And I know how I can make sure I get done with the stuff I need done first thing and then I can focus on the stuff I love. I can focus on the big things that make a big difference for me and my clients. And I can then at the end of the day, focus on my family and really Fill my cup back up again. Get my workouts and do all the things we need to do and that's that has really allowed me to kind of keep that balance keep those boundaries in place and and manage that stress and juggling all the things and wearing all the hats.
Ellen Leonard:Yeah, and I think you guys just heard that. But did Erin just tell us that we are allowed to build our own ideal day?
Erin Cantwell:Absolutely.
Ellen Leonard:Oh my gosh, where has that been forever? You mean? I don't have to Oh my gosh, I could make all the choices on my own and just make everything fit that ideal day. So that is Mm hmm.
Unknown:Yeah,
Erin Cantwell:I mean, no one controls your schedule. But you and that's that, that I think that's a big thing that people have to kind of wrap their head around. Because it's not, it's not something that comes easily to everybody. I think everybody always thinks I'm too busy, I have too much of this. The only things on your calendar are the things you're letting be on your calendar. So put them where they work for you. And, you know, work around that, because you can set up your day, or your week or your month, you can set it all up in a way that works for you and your business and really allows you to put your time and energy where you want it to be, versus, you know, trying to accommodate everybody all the time. And just feeling like a crazy person trying to get it all done. I love that. And you know, for years, I've always put, um, I have all my meals on my calendar. And clients are not allowed to book during those times. Because, yeah, that's what I'm eating. And if I'm not fed properly, then the entire world will suffer along with me, including, unfortunately, sometimes my clients usually not. Yeah, I usually don't people in my house. Yeah, no, it's super, it's super important. And I agree, I have a break built in where it's I'm getting my kids from school. And then for the hour after I get them from school, they need that time to decompress, I need a bit of time to decompress, I start getting ready for naps, I start you know all of those things. And those times, if you don't protect them, they will get booked with other things and your day won't be what it wants to be. And then all of a sudden, you'll be back to burnout and overwhelm. So taking control of that really, really can help in the long run.
Ellen Leonard:And I love that you're also really realistic about how long things take. Because I know when I work with clients, so often they're they're not checked in with how long these things take, right? Like how long cooking a meal would take or how long eating a meal with kids will take how long bedtime actually takes like these things all take X amount of time, or even just the way that we kind of entrepreneurs can think about getting tasks done. Like you could say, Oh, I'm going to totally redo my website this weekend. Well, really, why don't we think about how long that might actually take to do and feel a little more realistic. So yeah, I love that. Um, you know, how can people get in touch with you or work with you tell us a little bit about that.
Erin Cantwell:So you can primarily find me on Instagram. That's where I'm most active. And that's at Erin Cantwell. co I'm also over on Facebook, or my website is Erin Cantwell, that co but really Instagram is where you'll find me most days. That's where I like to hang out. Well, thank you so much.
Ellen Leonard:I will of course link to all of that in the show notes. And you know, lots to think about today. Erin, thank you so much for all your insights. I really do appreciate you taking the time to talk to us today.
Erin Cantwell:Absolutely. Thanks so much for having me. Alan,
Ellen Leonard:thank you so much for listening to today's episode. I'm so glad that you were here. And I'm so curious to know, so shoot me an email or hit me up on social? What systems are you thinking about putting into place to support you? What things did Erin suggest that really resonated with you that you could use in your day to day life? And also, was it a revelation for you as well that you can build your own ideal day. I mean, one of the things that's so awesome about being an entrepreneur is that we have so many choices. And that's part of the reason we did this was to have more control over our lives and we can create our own ideal day. So how are you going to use that and leverage that to build your own ideal days, weeks, months and business. I'd love to hear more about that. So be sure to reach out and share that with me. As always, you can find how to connect with Erin and more details in the show notes. So you can find those in whatever podcast app you're listening to or by going to my website at www dot Ellen leonard.com backslash podcast that's e Ll e N dash Elio na rd.com backslash podcast for all sorts of resources and details and stuff from this episode and other episodes. And don't forget to hit subscribe so you don't miss out on future episodes of this podcast always full of actionable tips to help you stay healthy, happy and sane while running your own successful business. I hope you enjoyed this week's episode and I wish you a healthy, happy and mostly sane week. I'll see you next time.