“I was making great money but working so many hours it just wasn’t sustainable” . . . recently I heard no less than three variations of this same story within a few days.
“I invested in a marketing or sales team. We made back our investment but it still felt like a struggle to hit my goal.”
“My clients are getting great results but it’s taking more of my time to get them there. I can only take on a select few at this rate & pace.”
In my line of work, the magic number three makes my ears perk up and start looking for other evidence to support this as not just a coincidence but a trend. Unfortunately, I think this is definitely a trend many can relate to.
Spotting the Warning Signs of Burnout
You’re a seasoned CEO, consultant, coach, or service provider who has multiple high-ticket offers. As you review your 2023 goals against what you accomplished so far this year, you are finding you are:
- working more hours than you hoped
- feel like you can’t ever unplug from your business and hit your goals
- feel guilty prioritizing rest and personal time
- filled with stress & anxiety
- at an all-time low with creativity
- watching your profit margins decline despite steady or growing revenue
- not sure which offer is the most profitable and best use of your time
- are getting great results for clients but aren’t living with the freedom or lifestyle you want
You are doing all the “right” things and yet find yourself asking “What am I doing wrong”?
As business owners, we often desire freedom, set a goal, and immediately attach a dollar sign. Yes, revenue and profit are important in creating the lifestyle you desire but a key component most do not consider is planning for CAPACITY.
Ensuring you can reach your desired revenue goal within REASONABLE limits of your desired working hours.
Or in other words…
Goal Planning + Capacity Planning = a Sustainable Business
that allows you to:
- Stay energized and inspired
- Balance personal and business time
- Enjoy rest and relaxation
- Increase profit without adding hours
- Maximize your marketing and sales efforts
- Feel fulfilled without being overwhelmed
The difference between “Doable” vs Realistic Goals?
It’s time to stop ignoring one-half of the equation. As you set and re-assess your goals, annual or quarterly, we need to take the time to add the integral step which is capacity planning.
This requires an honest assessment of your goals to determine if they are realistic, and acknowledging that what is considered “realistic” may be different for everyone.
For Example:
Last year you made $500,000, took less than 3 weeks of vacation, and it severely impacted your mental health. Setting the same goal for another year – in my humble opinion – is no longer realistic.
Doable, yes, but at what cost?
Or this year you increased your pricing to serve 3-4 clients at a time instead of 6-7+ clients. But over the past year, you haven’t noticed that the hours spent to fulfill a contract has crept up from 40 hours to over 60 hours.
Somehow, fewer clients equal MORE work. Preventing you from helping more clients and increasing your revenue.
Unless you learn to manage realistic workload expectations,
you will always leave money on the table.
Properly planning to include time to take vacations but also answer emails, participate in masterminds, attend conferences, communicate with your team, AND work on client deliverables allows you to set a pace to enjoy the journey.
Finding the Balance Between Workload & Revenue
It’s time to stop ignoring half of the equation. As you set and re-assess your goals, annual or quarterly, we need to take the time to add the integral step which is capacity planning.
1. Take an honest assessment of your top goals and any boundaries you set for yourself and your business
- Not working over 40 hours a week
- Making $300,000 a year minimum
- Not spending more than 10 hours a week on admin
Understanding what is negotiable and non-negotiable to you helps you quickly decide where to put your focus and what levers to pull into your business. If you honor your boundaries it becomes very clear when & where you need to revisit your systems & process or start growing your team to create additional support without sacrificing your peace of mind.
2. Fact over feelings, look at the (actual) numbers
This is no time to be an ostrich with your head in the sand, this is the time to take a deep breath and tackle things head-on.
Take a moment to review your schedule for the past month or to, break down where you spend your time and see the numbers on paper.
- How much time do you actually spend with clients vs the back end of your business?
- Does your package pricing accurately reflect your time and value?
- How many clients can you realistically serve each month and still feel energized?
Don’t estimate, or guess our brains have a funny way of lying to us. Despite completing the same or similar task in the past, our brain will always UNDERESTIMATE how long it will take to complete a task.
This phenomenon is called the Planning Fallacy and one of the best ways to prevent it is to work with actual data.
3. Plan for multiple scenarios, “Good, Better, & Best”
- What are the client & revenue targets for an average month?
- What will be the targets for lighter months when taking a vacation?
- What will be the targets for the weeks or months when you have full focus?
We all know the only thing consistent is change. By having one inflexible plan that doesn’t allow for the seasonal peaks and valleys that naturally occur in business you are setting yourself and your team up for disappointment.
Setting your standard of success as a spectrum and not a single definitive endpoint allows you and your team the breathing room to make any necessary adjustments along the way will yield much better results.
In Summary
In order to grow your business and be able to enjoy the journey along the way it’s critical to incorporate capacity planning along with realistic goal setting to create a sustainable business strategy.
Now you are able to use this capacity plan to accurately create your marketing strategies and campaigns, forecast sales, finalize your calendar with events and workshops, confirm your attendance to conferences, and book your vacation flights and hotels WITHOUT having to wonder if you have time for it all.
Now you KNOW your goal is not just doable, it’s realistic and can move into action and implementation with CONFIDENCE.
This is just one reason why I love numbers, they don’t lie. Thankfully, if you aren’t a “numbers nerd” like me or don’t have time to waste, I’ve created a calculator to help.
You don’t figure this out alone. In fact, I’ll walk you through it step by step.
Click HERE to grab your FREE version of the Burntout Busting Capacity Calculator.
