When I first began my business I made a mistake. I forgot to set my boundaries and as a result my client would fax/phone me at all times of the day with ‘urgent’ requests. Everything had to be done NOW and that meant putting down my newborn bub or my toddler or my older son who wanted my attention, to do their work. I would become easily stressed and I felt that I had no time to be with my kids even though they are the reason why I decided to start working from home.
As time went by and I started to market my business, I of course started signing up new clients. My main client still didn’t understand why I wasn’t at their beck and call AND still didn’t understand what and why I was becoming stressful. They knew I had a newborn, after all they hired me despite my 34 week pregnant belly and they knew I had older children but this seemed to have no bearing on the situation for them. They had a need and I fulfilled that need. Only thing is, they were encroaching on my family time.
Eventually as I became busier and started thinking about becoming a multi-VA business, the decision had to be made. What was I going to do about the situation?
I began by reflecting on why it wasn’t working. How did the situation make me feel and how did that effect my business overall? Not setting clear boundaries with this client was holding back my growth and ability to take on new clients. It became clear that they had to be fired as a client and that is exactly what I did, despite the fact that I would be losing out on 15 hours a week billing time. A big chunk of change in anyone’s eyes.
I credit attending the Business Mums Network Conference in 2007 with making me sit up, take notice and make the decision to fire my first client. Since then I’ve gone from strength to strength. I’ve added people to my team and together we rock!! I also finally sat down and decided exactly what my boundaries were. Did I want to be constantly bombarded with chats via Skype? No I did not. Did I want to be constantly answering emails? No I did not. Did I even want to answer my own office phone? No I did not. I hired an in-house Virtual Assistant to help ME get my ‘stuff’ done and I lay down the law with my clients.
I no longer ‘chat’ on Skype unless it is something to do with my current task. I have Beckie to answer the phone and screen calls for me. The office is closed on Fridays to allow me some time to breath. I book in phone conferences in advance and try to get them done all on the one day. I return and make calls in a blocks of time instead of sporadic throughout the day and the side benefits of setting my boundaries is that I am becoming more productive in my work day.
So what did my existing client’s think? “About time, we were wondering when you would stop running yourself ragged”. I even get chastised for answering emails on a Friday or on the weekend by my clients. The amount of emails that come through are minimal because clients know to use Basecamp instead. I’m less stressed and my family loves it!
Moral to the story boys and girls is to make sure you figure out what your boundaries are. Figure out what is acceptable and not acceptable in your business. Make sure you lay down the ground rules and then stick to them. Not only will you be less stressed trying to meet everyone’s needs but your clients will thank you too.
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Kylie,
This is a very powerful article! I remember you talking about this client, and what you needed to do, when we were in Melbourne last year – and I think what impressed me the most was that you followed through on your decision when you got back home!
You didn’t let the fear stop you from doing what needed to be done. And I say that takes tremendous courage. You’ll be reaping the rewards for a long, long time!
Boundaries are something small business people often forget to set when they start out… (ask me how I know
yet they are so important to not only the success of our business, but our sanity! Thanks for the reminder.
Thanks Karen. It was your and Chris’s session that made me make the decision. You made me think about what and why of the situation. I was so afraid of losing those hours and the money that I didn’t think about how the client made me feel as a business owner AND as a mum. Once I made that commitment to myself to set boundaries and fire that client, I actually signed up 3 new clients the next day, with less hours but at a higher rate that they more than replaced that client’s billing $$.
Kylie, that is fantastic! Glad we could assist you in making this decision! This is such a powerful demonstration of the value in sticking to our boundaries – I have just shared this with my husband who has a couple of difficult clients to sack.
He’s very motivated now, and wants me to remind him often of the power of commitment to ourselves first and foremost.
Hi Kyles!
This is such an important story and lesson to share. It’s when we share these kinds of stories that we have the most influence!
Thank you so much for crediting Karen and I for opening your eyes! It was a weird moment actually because we both knew we’d made a light bulb go off in your head as soon as it happened. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that moment in our session!
Keep up the great work and keep those boundaries high girl!!!!
Kylie – Thanks for sharing your experience. Setting boundaries are so important for all business owners. You story sounds like mine. Every single time I have let a client go a new one or multiple ones have appeared instantly to replace them with better energy and more $.
I know this is something many WAHMs struggle with. Thank you for sharing your story.
Thank you for the article. This is something that even before children I struggled with.
I’m glad to see I’m not the only one, and that there’s a strategy to avoid it!