The story in your intro is speaking to me!!! I’m overcommitted to clients, which means I don’t have time to focus on growing other parts of my portfolio career. This will shift in the new year and your post is inspiring me
Yes to this! I’m 1.5 years in and I am finding myself at a unique spot where I am stuck between not necessarily growth and maintenance, but client work and personal work. When I first started, I did the exact overcomitting you described and what I launched into for more flexibility ended in me working more hours than I ever had in my full time jobs. At the end of last year, my client load dropped significantly and the first creative idea I had in years finally had space to drop in. I’ve been building that and it lights up my world (but doesn’t pay the bills yet). I have new clients in the pipeline but I’m nervous about sacrificing paid client work for growing the dream and finding a mix that feels good (agreed balance is bullshit!!).
As I said in the video chat, I walked away from my major client last year (70% of my income) to focus on building more scalable offers, and I am SO proud I backed myself because I was able to replace that income, plus more. Back yourself!!
i often talk/think about being really intentional about what season your business is in. i look at the seasons as: expansion, maintenance, or contraction. then prioritizing accordingly (both your work & expectations). i’ve found this esp. helpful through phases of change in personal life or business.
This resonates a lot!! I’m trying to build in time to get the tools in place to help support me on client work and then I’m hoping to have more breathing room for growth outside of clients!
In my humble experience (portfolio career a few years ago, now have specialised), and if helpful to anyone, the ROI of hiring a good virtual assistant to do some or all of these things, say for 10 hours a month at first, is just incredible.
A good suggestion! I used to have a VA (and she was fabulous) but I’ve now built the infrastructure and AI capabilities that allow me to manage everything alone. That being said, I know that low leverage work isn’t where my time is best spent so I totally think I’ll have a VA again at some point 😊
You are amazing. Thank you for clobbering me with information that should seem so obvious to me. I’ve spent so much time managing growth vs features vs maintenance for teams I’ve supported… I just need to take the systems I’ve implemented for others and customized and apply them to myself!
Found myself furiously nodding to all of this. It’s so reassuring to hear it from someone else. Thanks for penning it down. Now I’ll get back to my quarterly systems refresh.
Love it Anna. Doing a time audit is one of the things I often suggest to my clients. How much time do you spend in meetings, how much on growth etc. So many clients say the only time they get to do 'real work' is when they go home after dinner, and it shouldn't be that way! I also love a good colour coding of my calendar for a quick pulse check - I use green for growth-like activities and it's a quick easy way to see how much green is in any given week!
This one hits home. I left my 9-5 in late 2022 to build a portfolio of internet incomes…and I still find myself committing this cardinal sin today. Taking on more work than is humanly possible.
Nice post, Anna. As a serial entrepreneur, I agree with your thoughts on striking a balance between maintenance and growth activities (albeit not necessarily a 50/50 balance). Being ADHD, I find that striking a balance in anything is a challenge for me... I tend to be all over the place most of the time. And, like so many startup founders, I'm a risk taker. So I'm easily attracted to any new shiny object. I tend to spend far too much time on growth activities while ignoring essential maintenance tasks to the point of potential disaster. Since I'm often unaware of this tendency, being reminded of the importance of both maintenance and growth is valuable not only to my own sanity but also to the success of my business.
I’m happy it landed with you! I find most people tend to focus on one over the other (depending on what they’re good at or enjoy) so you’re not alone in that 😊
The story in your intro is speaking to me!!! I’m overcommitted to clients, which means I don’t have time to focus on growing other parts of my portfolio career. This will shift in the new year and your post is inspiring me
My job is done! 🥰
And scaling too fast without infrastructure will lead to a gargantuan collapse under pressure.
THIS.
I made this mistake earlier this year.
Had lots of money in the bank. But my business systems and ops were so broken.
Oof, I'm sorry to hear that. Stressful!
Yes to this! I’m 1.5 years in and I am finding myself at a unique spot where I am stuck between not necessarily growth and maintenance, but client work and personal work. When I first started, I did the exact overcomitting you described and what I launched into for more flexibility ended in me working more hours than I ever had in my full time jobs. At the end of last year, my client load dropped significantly and the first creative idea I had in years finally had space to drop in. I’ve been building that and it lights up my world (but doesn’t pay the bills yet). I have new clients in the pipeline but I’m nervous about sacrificing paid client work for growing the dream and finding a mix that feels good (agreed balance is bullshit!!).
As I said in the video chat, I walked away from my major client last year (70% of my income) to focus on building more scalable offers, and I am SO proud I backed myself because I was able to replace that income, plus more. Back yourself!!
Ooo i love how you’ve articulated this.
i often talk/think about being really intentional about what season your business is in. i look at the seasons as: expansion, maintenance, or contraction. then prioritizing accordingly (both your work & expectations). i’ve found this esp. helpful through phases of change in personal life or business.
really enjoying your writing, thank you!! :)
Expansion, maintenance, contraction is a brilliant way of framing it 🫶🏼
This resonates a lot!! I’m trying to build in time to get the tools in place to help support me on client work and then I’m hoping to have more breathing room for growth outside of clients!
It’s a juggle!
In my humble experience (portfolio career a few years ago, now have specialised), and if helpful to anyone, the ROI of hiring a good virtual assistant to do some or all of these things, say for 10 hours a month at first, is just incredible.
A good suggestion! I used to have a VA (and she was fabulous) but I’ve now built the infrastructure and AI capabilities that allow me to manage everything alone. That being said, I know that low leverage work isn’t where my time is best spent so I totally think I’ll have a VA again at some point 😊
You are amazing. Thank you for clobbering me with information that should seem so obvious to me. I’ve spent so much time managing growth vs features vs maintenance for teams I’ve supported… I just need to take the systems I’ve implemented for others and customized and apply them to myself!
Glad to have clobbered you!
Found myself furiously nodding to all of this. It’s so reassuring to hear it from someone else. Thanks for penning it down. Now I’ll get back to my quarterly systems refresh.
Haha love it!
Love it Anna. Doing a time audit is one of the things I often suggest to my clients. How much time do you spend in meetings, how much on growth etc. So many clients say the only time they get to do 'real work' is when they go home after dinner, and it shouldn't be that way! I also love a good colour coding of my calendar for a quick pulse check - I use green for growth-like activities and it's a quick easy way to see how much green is in any given week!
It’s a great little exercise! Back in the day I was religiously about tracking my time and it was the best foundation. Fab suggestion
This one hits home. I left my 9-5 in late 2022 to build a portfolio of internet incomes…and I still find myself committing this cardinal sin today. Taking on more work than is humanly possible.
We all do it 🙈
Nice post, Anna. As a serial entrepreneur, I agree with your thoughts on striking a balance between maintenance and growth activities (albeit not necessarily a 50/50 balance). Being ADHD, I find that striking a balance in anything is a challenge for me... I tend to be all over the place most of the time. And, like so many startup founders, I'm a risk taker. So I'm easily attracted to any new shiny object. I tend to spend far too much time on growth activities while ignoring essential maintenance tasks to the point of potential disaster. Since I'm often unaware of this tendency, being reminded of the importance of both maintenance and growth is valuable not only to my own sanity but also to the success of my business.
I’m happy it landed with you! I find most people tend to focus on one over the other (depending on what they’re good at or enjoy) so you’re not alone in that 😊