Welcome to the Business Abundance Podcast, providing
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www .businessabundance .online. Hello. Welcome
back to the Business Abundance Podcast. I am
Zee and I'm here with Rowan and Ian. Hello. And
today we're going to be chatting about the cost
of always being available. That's like if someone
texts you on a Sunday morning, and I'm guilty
of it, and they just need a quick email or something.
They just need to have a quick conversation to
get something off their brain. All of a sudden
you're, yeah, but you should. I remember I got
client feedback once and it's really good. Like
when I messaged her at 11 .30 at night, she spends
time with me and gets all the stuff done at the
same time. I go, what are you doing? You've just
put that on the podcast. Most employers would
be like, yeah, what a hard work. The irony, last
night when you were messaging me, I'm there like
working and you're like, hey, you got this. I
was like, what's for - I messaged you because
you were online. Yeah, I was working. You said
available. But to be fair, I enjoyed it. It was
for me. It was for me. But yeah, I don't know.
I probably need this lesson as much as the rest
of the bedroom. Nah, you got to do what you got
to do. Well, sometimes you actually just feel
like working. I was pretty comfy on the couch
and I had nothing else to do and I needed to
get some thoughts out. Yeah, now when you got
the thought sometimes it's like you can't sleep
because you're going to deal with that rest peacefully
slept like a baby But you cried all night and
then woke up and you'd wake yourself. No slept
like Rowan's baby Yeah, no, it's probably a lesson
I need to learn however, I am slowly but Tell
me about your father Time to reap and a time
to sow, I reckon. My dad, he never stopped. So
that's probably where I got it. The... It did
turn into therapy. Whoops. Sorry, guys. That
was a compliment to you. Z is currently lying
on the couch. So, I think this conversation came
up because I was talking to someone who's interested
in starting their own business. Stop. Don't do
it. Do it. Do it? Yeah, why not? Send it. Do
it smart. It's going to be Ian's therapy session.
Yeah, okay. Now Ian's on the couch, but one of
the reasons we're just looking at some statistics.
No, just keep talking. One of the reasons. That's
Rowan just going, oh, butterfly. Distracting
everyone. One of the reasons they want to start
the business is essentially they want freedom,
which - Don't do it. Do you want to talk about
why you think that? If you're starting it for
freedom, initially, you're not gonna have a lot
of freedom, I don't reckon. No. True. More freedom.
When you first started? Pretty good freedom.
But when I first started, I had a ton of freedom.
Yeah, yeah. How much money? More than enough.
Yeah. Tons of time. Too much time to spend doing
that day. What was that business? This one. Oh,
well, how about your first business? No, I had
tons of time. Did that in my spare time? Yep.
Cool. I was slightly more educated. I was thinking
you might be the unicorn in the room. Yes. Yeah.
Sorry, Zee. There's this idea that when you do
start the business, you're going to set your
own hours. Well, technically it's not untrue.
It's not a lie. You're going to set your own
hours. You're going to run your own ship. You
can work when you want, where you want, all those
sort of things. Technically true. However, If
you also need money to survive, sometimes things
start to creep in and you feel like time equals
money and therefore. Got to feed the family.
And then all of a sudden you're working so much
more because it's generating money and you need
that money. And therefore it starts to turn into
a 24 hour shift. Living to work instead of working
to live. And then if you've got employees at
the same time and they start contacting you and.
You know, it's 7 .30am and you are running a
cafe and they text you and they say, we've run
out of almond milk. What are we doing? We don't
know where the capture is supposed to go. And
your breakfast plans are messed up because you
need to get dressed, call the suppliers and then
drive, restock. And the whole time you're just
wondering why can't they do it themselves. It's
likely because you trained them to come to you.
So, I mean, we're looking at setting. I know
there's two different examples there, one being
you're not setting boundaries about how much
you're on your phone and answering clients, and
then the other one is how much you're babying
your employees. Two classic examples of issues
we see that come through our door and the reason
why you don't get freedom when it comes to your
business. It's a very nice idea to be able to
work when you want, but when... time and money
crunches come in and people need you or you feel
like you need to be needed then that's when it
hurts. So I guess that's where Ian's come in
and he's a bit sad about the fact that you can't
get freedom when you're on your own business.
I was in a cafe, a local cafe, a couple of weeks
ago actually and there were two young employees
running the show, no one else there. One was
the barista and one was the short cook and What's
a short cook? Short order cook. For little people.
Yeah, they only serve short people. Short orders,
so like basic fries. Toasties. Gotcha, gotcha,
gotcha. And they were having a whinging complaint
about being left there alone and my wife and
I are sitting there and we're like, huh, I think
we'd only just recorded the micromanaging. I
don't know, I'm sitting there going, oh, that's
an interesting perspective. Do I have a conversation
with you? Let's chime in. I said would you guys
rather your boss sitting over your shoulder saying
you're doing that wrong why aren't you doing
it the way that I showed you or would you rather
have this whole establishment to yourself and
have the autonomy and they've looked at each
other and go oh yeah they're not that bad are
they actually yeah I get to do what I want I
get to run I get to make the menu I get to do
this I get to do that the downside is Last week
that business went out of business. Unfortunately.
It was supposed to be a positive story of how
letting your staff do what they want to do, but
there might have been a bit of a culture problem
there, I don't know. But would you rather your
employees be able to run the show and you have
your time freedom that is spooked about in all
the brochures of starting a business, or would
you rather have them do it your way? Yeah, it's
a fair question, but... I think what I've seen
is people just feel guilty when they're not working.
Like it's essentially their baby. And it's their
reputation. Exactly. Their identity is tied to
it. It's hard to let that go, isn't it? If they
buck up a client, they might not have any more
work in the future. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. That's
a massive one, isn't it, that we see all the
time, is if I'm not working hard now, then I
might not have anything in the future. Sad. I
guess the cost of it being the stress that comes
with it, the chronic stress and then burnout.
When I see someone we burn out it really breaks
my heart because they know what it looks like.
Yeah It's so sad because obviously someone's
invested time and money and effort and their
dreams into this business and then turned around
and Don't even want to look at it. Don't want
to be there can't be there bodies not letting
them be there and Those hopes and dreams are
essentially going out the window and that's that's
the like emotional and mental cost of always
being available. It doesn't happen immediately.
You don't spend one week and then all of a sudden
you're like, oh well, now I'm burnt out or it
just snowballs. It accumulates. Yeah. It's a
straw that breaks the camel's back story with
stress. We talked about stress on another episode,
but people go on to the right thing. I've got
to work hard because I haven't got any clients.
I've got to work, so I might as well work hard
or answer that phone after work because then
I've got some work to do next week, work, work,
work, work, work. But then at some stage that
you've got something to do, things are happening
but then that's the example you've set for everyone
who deals with you whether it's an employer,
you're a client or a supplier, that's how they
deal with you and then you've got to either undo
it and change how you do it all or you've got
to deal with the fact you're super busy and you're
getting all that extra contact too which then
is the straw that broke the camel's back like
it all adds up into all these different types
of stresses and then suddenly we don't have time
or we can't have time to do the right things.
Suddenly you're in the corner with your thumb
in your mouth in the fetal position. to know
what happened. And it was something minor. It's
so interesting though. Recently, because I've
been doing a bit of trying to understand what
makes people tick, I have something about the
psychology of business kind of fun. Anyway, I
sent people that I know that I would consider
to be quite successful in business. I sent them
a message and I said, can I pick your brain about
your business? What was the one thing that really
got your business up and running from just an
idea? So I've sent every single person this text.
I said, I know that people can have a great idea
that's loved, but then getting actual paying
customers is a whole different story. Was there
something that made it all click for you? Can
you tell me what that was? What time did you
send this text message? Sent to all the 10 PM
at night. And every single one replied. And the
overwhelming response was, I was available, was
one of the That was one of the big ones. One
was putting yourself out there, which we can
chat about in a future podcast. But then, oh,
we did. The last one was about that. We did chat
about it in a future podcast. We did. We did.
Wow. I'm so switched on. Anyway, the next one
was that story. There was a small business, a
little medical. business and essentially they'd
just bought it, had no investment. Other people
were investing in them. So there was a huge risk
to everyone around them and they knew it. It
was back when computers and stuff weren't necessarily
about. They've grabbed their phone book and they've
taken the phone. What's the phone book? as in
like a phone book with all your contacts. Oh,
okay. And they had like the paper diary and those
sort of things. Some people might not know what
a phone book is. They might be your age. I don't
know what a phone book is. How old do you think
I am? Twelve. I'll have you know it's my birthday
this month. Anywho. You're getting older. Anywho.
So they've taken the phone book home every single
night and whenever that phone went off they would
be picking it up. They would never let it. not
be answered and that was essentially what they
did for the first two years. They said they would
answer that call any time and if someone wanted
to book in, they would be there. It was almost
like a 12 -hour guarantee. They'd worked from
6 .30 in the morning until random hours on the
weekend because that's what worked for their
clients and they were just available and available
and available. Anyway, not something they had
to do forever because their business became quite
successful and they were able to fill those spots.
But it was what they needed to do in order to
get their business to where it was. The risk
being they could have kept that going as a standard
and they could have just been like, I'm going
to be available whenever, wherever, because I
know it works. Imagine if they did keep that
going as a standard. They delivered that. That
would be cool. Pretty incredible. I feel like
you'd need more resources. to cite some resource
to it, and that's the motto of the business was
that you answer the phone no matter what. Yeah,
pretty cool. Anyone who's annoyed with someone
not answering the phone, there we go. Probably
a bit easier back when it was landlines. You
still had that disconnection with a landline.
There was a few places I worked where it was
a two ring policy. So if it rings more than twice,
we failed. Mobile phone changes that a little
bit, doesn't it? Because it's always there. It's
not just the phone ringing, it's the fact that
you can do stuff on your phone too. Yeah, but
I mean they're at home. They're waiting. It's
the middle of dinner. Yeah, and they're picking
up that phone It doesn't matter what's happening.
They're picking up that phone. They are always
available. And so what happened when they're
already on the phone? Oh Interesting because
it would just go with the question. Yeah Yeah,
I remember those I just remember the beeps in
Landlines were something else. Anyway, so that's
the way I thought it was important. Yeah. Anyway,
so they were probably the opposite of what we're
going to recommend in this podcast. Maybe. Well,
the timing, yeah. You've got to do what you've
got to do. Like there's time for working hard
and there's a time for working smart and there's
a great time to work hard and smart, you know?
So, you know, when you're at one stage in your
career or your business, working hard makes more
sense. Yeah. And when you're on another stage,
working smart makes more sense. But working hard
is always fantastic. I always recommend that.
But if you're doing the right things, the issue
is there where we're doing things that don't
make that much sense because we did it once,
because maybe it made some form of sense, or
we could, or we had the time to, so we didn't
really mind. So I was like, oh, I don't mind
making that dinner for you tonight because, yeah,
I've got a bit of time. But then you always make
dinner for that person. And then now we do mind.
But you never change it. So it's, it's those
things. So some things make sense, but some things
don't make sense. Yeah. The cafe example doesn't
make sense. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I've got nothing
to do this morning. We get the milk next time
they ring. Can you get the milk to get on the
way through? If you don't mind. Oh, no, I don't.
Yeah. That's how it goes. Yeah, exactly. Whereas
those people starting a business, they've gone
in to really over deliver early. And there's
one adage that rings true. You never get a second
chance to make a first impression. So every person
that they dealt with in their first few months
of business has come away from that transaction
going, oh, that wasn't the usual, that was kind
of good, one would hope. They build an incredibly
successful business. Yeah. So again, there's
a time to do that. There's a time to, as Rowan
said, there's a time to work your butt off. And
it probably is when you first start, is put yourself
out there, under promise, over deliver. have
a whole ream of happy customers in your phone
book and build on that and then scale out. I
think when we're talking about this, we're talking
about things getting a little bit out of control,
that adding up is having some healthy boundaries.
So whatever you decide to do, have some boundaries
on that. So we will do this, but we won't do
that. And you know, we have it here with clients
that we do do certain things and there's some
things we don't do. Other people are really good
at it. you really complain at us because we don't
do those things well that's fine no worries like
it just doesn't suit us that's nothing bad about
us that's nothing bad about you it's just it's
not going to work out it's not a service we offer
well it's going to be service it'll be how we
do it you know yeah do we want to answer the
phone at eight o 'clock at night guaranteed no
are we happy to answer it sometimes yes if you
abuse that probably not yep if you're not happy
to pay a bill probably not you know there's certain
things that that we're happy to do and we do
very well there's certain things we probably
a lot worse than other places, but we just don't
see them as valuable. The cost for us as people
is not worth the value to the client or to us,
so we prefer to upset them and not do it than
be upset ourselves. And then some people get
that, some people don't. Has consequence, like,
just for yourself, even, like, as a person who
probably hasn't set boundaries, it does have
consequence, you know, that, hey, I have a quick
question can certainly turn into hours and I
know I've done that and I'm happy to do that
for the people that when it suits me essentially
if it's outside normal time but then you do have
to think about the people that you're so let's
just say I did that on a Sunday when I'm out
playing golf all of a sudden I'm distracted I'm
not present I'm not Lucky you're good at golf,
it doesn't matter. Yeah, thank goodness. Gets
out of bunkers, no problem. Yeah, and so it does
impact the people around you and so you've got
to be aware. That's it. The boundaries are personal,
I guess, because, you know, you've got a client
that you're dealing with after hours and a quick
call turns into two hours, you don't mind doing
that, so that's fine. It's the issue when the
client then saves those questions till eight
o 'clock because they know you're available at
eight. There's a very big difference between
a client calling saying, oh, I need a bit of
a hand with my chat now. Sorry to distract you.
You know, can we do this? And, oh, it's time
to chat now and having those boundaries. And
I think that's the difference. Yeah. Well, it's
pretty relevant considering in the last podcast,
we were talking about how you essentially live
your work in the sense that when you're networking
and those sorts of things. Yeah. But when it
comes to addressing issues. for a client, for
example, like you're still a human, still need
your downtime, that sort of stuff. You're allowed
to say no. Yeah. I know when I was first learning
this, it was an issue where I didn't want to
disappoint people or I didn't want to miss out
on an opportunity that someone might be presenting
me. If someone's called me and they're not actually
my client, but they want some help or to ask
a question, that could be... me working with
them in the future. So why am I going to miss
out? And I do look back on that because I'm obviously
still building. We all are. Yeah. I want that
opportunity. And so I can justify that. Would
I do that now? Sometimes. Let's give and take.
It's like there's a criteria both ways. So one
setting boundaries, one setting what's the rules
of engagement? Yeah. So changing the topic. completely
to different look at a different angle there's
a client a very long time ago that was just like
their life was ruined because they're constantly
clients calling the business now the receptionist
was getting everyone's getting phone calls 24
7 non -stop where's the job at where's the job
at where's the job at and they're booked out
for 18 months ahead so they had 18 months worth
of clients bringing the business constantly where's
job at where's job at where's the job at was
exhausting hated life everyone in the business
hated life and so What was the change? The change
was changed in the process to give everyone a
monthly update on their current Estimated schedule
and the phone stopped. Yeah, so so we did it
this way We had a few clients it was fine when
they rang up I've got a little open trial and
no one went back and changed the rules or you
know part of that's community for client Hey,
don't ring us. Ask where the job when you sign
them up If you're wondering about your job, we
send a monthly update Yep, okay Now they know
not to ring, they're aware. So it's what do you
agree to with people? But I think most people,
whether it's a personal thing or work thing,
probably they have expectations. And if they
get upset, they might show that displeasure,
but might not tell people what that means. They
won't change the expectations or communicate
the expectations. And being able to have that
sort of self -assurance or confidence or self
-respect is probably the best word to go, well,
here's a boundary. This is what I'm happy with.
This is what I'm not. So I know sometimes people
call me, I'm like, hey, this isn't a weekend
call guys. So what are you? What's the go? Oh,
sorry. Yeah, I probably could have waited. Like,
yeah, no, you could. But then - But by now. If
they call me, I was like, well, no, you're not
bothering me at all. No, that's perfectly fine.
But it's having that ability to say, well, I'm
having to help you, but better be rude right
now. But it doesn't matter what type of business
you have or whether it's with employees or things
like that. It's setting the parameters of what
you expect and making sure that everyone's clear
on that. Because if they're not happy with it,
they can choose to do something else. That's
their choice. You have a choice as what you'll
do as well. And hopefully you agree and that's
where the work happens. It's almost like a confusing
guilt with responsibility. That's... Well, so
we think about all these different scenarios
in our head. If we do this, they might be upset
or as long as it's past, we go through 10 different
outcomes. But just having some communication
or an agreeance means we don't have to do any
of that. Well, it takes nine of them away. Yep.
Immediately. We often build up any sort of communication
or any communication that we put off. We're probably
putting it off because we've got 10, 20 different
scenarios going through our head that might not
be great. We know the right thing to do. We just
don't do it or... Just pick up the phone. We're
scared. Yep. Yep. Yep. And the anticipation of
the event is always worse than the event itself.
Correct. It's hustle culture. But I think it's,
yeah, it's defining what's working hard and having
a crack, which we should encourage. And what's
a point where we don't actually need to do that?
Not being lazy, but it's not actually healthy.
And let's say you're a mechanic and then you're
constantly answering questions to people and
that's how you got a name and that's what you
do. But then you're spending your whole day doing
that. You're probably getting taken advantage
of by the crummy clients that aren't happy to
pay anyone. And the good clients will feel too
bad to go hell and harass you because you won't
charge them. So they'll feel guilty about going
and wasting your time. Not wasting your time,
but you know what I mean? So you actually lose
a good client and get the bad ones. Yeah. If
you're going to answer that phone call, then
that's going to be the standard that you've setting
for yourself and you've got to live with the
consequence of that. And when you're ready to
change that, then that's just what you've got
to do, isn't it? It's interesting because if
you go into say a large retail establishment
that has been around for a while, any large retailer,
you basically know that The flow chart of what's
about to happen is I'm gonna walk in I'm gonna
find the product that I want I'm gonna take it
to the counter. I'm gonna pay for it and then
I'm gonna walk out That's what happens Any change
to that might ruin your day or just make you
ask a question So why as a business owner can't
you have those expectations? Yeah, but if someone's
gonna transact with you in any way Here's the
way it happens and build the routine so people
know that Monday to Friday between X and X Rowan's
available. And it has to be important to get
immediate response. And it has to be involving
the business and it can't be frivolous chit chat,
as an example. In my case, frivolous chit chat's
encouraged. Yes, exactly. It's a nice break.
So set those boundaries, but also set the routine.
So people know that when you pick up the phone,
it'll be the same way you pick up the phone every
time. It'll be, good afternoon, this is Ian.
How can I help? And then the conversation flows
in a predictable manner that helps people stay
at ease when they're talking to you and it goes
exactly how the old days and sales training when
it got to the end of the presentation and now
it's time for you to give me your credit card.
And people would give you the credit card? Yeah,
could ask for the money. Could ask for money?
Makes sense. Yeah. How many times have people
had customers and are like, oh, what happens
next? Yeah, like they're literally asking you
to take the bill, book them in and you're like,
oh, didn't ask that, oops. And genuine technique
is the three questions, is what do you want to
know next? So they ask a question, what do you
want to know next? How much is it? $7 .95, what
do you want to know next? When can you deliver?
Next Tuesday, what do you want to know next?
Oh, that's it. What do you want to do next? Oh,
I guess I'll buy it. So just going back to the
letting things add up, you know, completely different
ways. So employees, you're talking about the
milk and going to get it, but it's the same thing.
What are the rules? So we have policies and processes,
say you should have processes and no one follows
them, blah, blah, blah. But the fact is sometimes
it's just having to give someone a reference.
So what are the rules here? Like how do we do
things here? Okay, who goes against the milk?
Who does this? Who does that? Blah, blah, blah.
And then they are responsible for that. And that's
your job is to manage that environment, set the
environment, manage the environment, not fill
in all the gaps and put your fingers in all the
holes. Because you're putting the fingers in
the holes. And if you're involved with the community
club, Right. I think it will have been you'll
know that a few people do a lot of things and
what they're doing is putting things in a whole
lot of holes and they're always upset about it,
but they love doing because they like helping
but they also upset about it and All they need
to do is stop putting the finger in the hole
and someone else is gonna get annoyed Because
it's hitting in the face and then they're gonna
put their face in the hole You know, but I do
that because it's analogy Business okay, we don't
have milk. We don't have them up with no one's
drinking. Okay Well, what are we meant to do
something to be so and so? Okay. No, they haven't
okay At some stage everyone's going to be upset
at the milk enough that the person's going to
get the milk. Do you actually have to do anything?
A lot of people are like, oh, I'll grab that
and I'll solve that for you. A lot of these things
add up that seem really tricky on small, but
that's effectively what happens. We're going
back to the straw that broke the camel's back.
You start doing something, they all add up, and
then suddenly you've got too many. And it's having
the ability to go, what's essential, what's not,
what's our policy? And actually having the confidence
to enforce that. Whether that's a personal thing
between people, whether that's with employees,
whether that's with customers or suppliers, it's
the exact same thing. It's just setting the rules
and having the belief that those rules are fair
and we're happy with that. Now if no one is happy
with that, you're not going to have any business.
So obviously you're not going to make those rules.
But it's within the realms you're happy with
that work. It's that simple really it really
is confidence and the world's gonna go on like
the world's not gonna afford the sky's not gonna
fall Well, it's not gonna end and once it's explained
most people are gonna understand. These are the
rules of their transaction. There's Would have
mentioned this before but if price rises most
people are fine with price rise if there's a
reason it doesn't have to be a good reason. Mm
-hmm Petrol prices went up. Why because there
was a war. Oh, oh, yeah, right then. We said
we were gonna pay us up Oh, that's good for them
though. Mm -hmm That's going to be the answer.
Some people aren't going to like it. Majority,
they've got a reason. If the fee goes up every
year and you don't know why, that's different.
So again, set the rules, give the reasons and
then that's how the culture forms. All the streaming
services every three months. Oh yeah, your price
is going up $2. Why? Oh, it just is. Pay the
artists. I'm just putting myself in the position
of client. So I guess it is an interesting lesson
to learn. They start their business. They know
that they need to get work. They know that by
answering, they get work. I'm just thinking about
the practical steps that they can do in order
to bridge that. And so, for example, one that's
coming to mind is if they're working, but they
also are the person responsible for the phone
calls, you can set up order replies so that at
least the client knows that you've sent them
some sort of touch point that they know you've
received. They arrange it when you get back to
them. Yeah, exactly. And so there's the auto
replies or there's sharing tasks. If, for example,
you have a partner that is capable of doing some
of the work, then pass that onto them. And that
can be a team effort or just setting a really
simple process. Like what you were saying, if
this happens, then we do this, then that's just
a nice little system you can put in. Yeah. It's
good for your sanity as well, sorry to cut you
off. Yeah, you know what's going to happen. If
you know what's going to happen, if you've got
a flowchart or a chart of communication or anything
like that, any process, it makes it so much easier
and you don't have to think about it anymore.
Which your example is, it's good because, you
know, like, so you're asking the call and then
you get a sale. It's looking at that process.
Okay, someone's going to answer the call. Let's
look at it from other key points. So what's the
value we need to create? What do we need to please
them with? What do we need to tick boxes? Do
we need to tick? And then, okay, we have our
responder say, okay, we respond to inquiries
between three and five every day. We'll give
you a call back if we have an answer. Talk to
you soon. And then maybe after we've called them,
there's just an email with a few things in it
that you send out. So instead of drafting it
every time, make it custom. Like have one that
you can just change a little bit. because then
as you're doing what you do you're getting some
consistency and exactly what Ian said you have
the confidence that you know that's going to
happen but then you also have the ability to
pass that someone else or something else later
whereas we generally do it because we can and
it's quicker to do it ourselves but then you
never have the opportunity to give it to someone
else with the key points being addressed. You
know the beautiful thing about passing it to
somebody else in your team is they might have
an idea. as well. It's probably better than yours.
Yep. It's usually what happens here for me. It
really is something that I think every person
who is starting a new business, when they start
employing people, that's your biggest asset is
those new ideas that new brands bring. They're
not as emotionally attached to the outcome as
you are. Ideally, they are at some stage in their
working life. Well, they don't have the fear
of failure. You're exactly right, because it's
not their money. It's not their neck on the chopping
block. That's right. So you can throw some crazy
ideas out and every now and then one of those
crazy ideas becomes a pet rock And you make a
million dogs love pet rocks Someone painted some
eyes on a rock made fortune me Yes, I think all
of it just kind of means that you're going to
be able to take that holiday Instead of just
working somewhere with nicer weather. Yeah, and
if you find yourself you don't have enough time.
You're too stressed have a look at the key things
you're doing. Set some boundaries. Make a list.
Yeah, set some boundaries. Set something up to
do those key things and let everyone know what
expectations are. I mean, if you are on my band,
you're like, oh, clients always want to talk
to me. Let the clients know, hey, got to be done
at the moment. Going to talk to people between
these hours because I know everyone's going to
be happy and I'm going to be able to service
you well, but also have some balance. If you're
on my band, all your clients are going to go,
oh, yeah, fair enough. Good on you, mate. If
you're a big business, it's going to be different,
but don't be afraid to put those things in place,
but you still need to do the value points. That's
the key. Does work. And I was just thinking it's
not really work related. Yeah, it is. I've got
work and personal on my phone, right? And I obviously
get notifications throughout the day. You know,
you have people send you reels and videos and
random messages and catch -ups and that sort
of thing. And what I do is I go to bed at 9 .30
-ish and I sit there and I'll do my Duolingo
and then I'll respond to everyone and then I
won't worry about it until the next night. And
so there's always a 24 hour response and everyone
knows it. Is it going to reply to me again? Yeah,
but it's like if someone... Why is she replying
in Spanish today? What is going on? Originally,
I felt really guilty about it because I can't
turn off my notifications. I just, I can't do
it because otherwise I'll miss it with so many
stupid platforms. I should just delete platforms,
but turning off notifications is just too far
of a jump for me. I just feel like I'm going
to miss something that I probably should. But
if I go throughout the day and I go - It's always
available. It's a good setup you've got there.
It's a good example. Exactly. So yeah, just swipe
away those notifications. I'll get back to you
tonight. Everyone has - got on to the fact that
it takes me 24 hours to reply, unless they call
me. So that's my boundary. And as for work, call
me whenever and we're working on that one. You
can do that when you've got the right setup.
It's when it becomes a problem and you don't
have the right setup and you do it because you
have to, that becomes an issue. So you've got
different focuses and you're going to put more
attention to those. So it's going to be different
for everyone and it will change around though,
feel bad because someone else doesn't do it or
does do it. That's what works for you at the
time. Yeah. And in doing all of that, you are
teaching, I think someone said this earlier in
the podcast, you're teaching people how to treat
you. Self -respect. Yeah, exactly. So you just
need to define what it is that you want to get
out of it. If you do want to be available, then
you be available. You deal with the consequence
of that. However, if you're starting to see that
has negative impacts, start changing it. There's
some great resources available as well if you
are feeling like you're at that point where crap,
what do I do? I've set this standard and now
I can't step back from it. Reach out, find some
help. Whether it's read a book or listen to a
podcast, I find The Imperfix, which is based
on The Resilience Project, outstanding. And they're
starting to branch out from education into business
now, which I'm really excited about seeing where
they go with that. in regards to helping business
owners who are feeling the pinch a little bit
mentally. So I've seen firsthand what it does
in education and in mental health. So to see
that translate across to, and this isn't sponsored
by the way, although if they want to throw us
a couple of dollars, that'd be fantastic. I just
want to talk to them. Yeah, I've met them in
Melbourne. It was great. Hugh could probably
relate to this podcast. He's one of those guys
who was always available. And I think he's just
starting to set his boundaries. But genuinely
awesome humans and trying to help. Yeah, well
on that note, I guess have a listen to the Imperfix
podcast and if you do need some help, reach out.
We can chat from the business hours of 9 to 4
on Monday to Friday. Unless it's a Sunday at
8pm I heard is when Z's returning messages. Alright
everyone, have a good week. See you.