You Started A Business For More Freedom. What Happened?

Written by Tammy Durden

Business Tips

You may have started your business to gain freedom and be your own boss. No matter the reason, you’ve found yourself far from them now. The business you started to produce freedom in your schedule has become a heavy burden, so what happened?

What Happened?

What happened is probably that you got very busy with the work in the business, especially if you are a solopreneur. You are so preoccupied with all aspects of the business that you have no time for freedom, or barely a life.

Why You Started Your Business

You started a business for many reasons, but do any of these sound familiar?

To do your passion – you thought the ‘work’ wouldn’t feel like work because you love what you are doing.
You wanted to help others – it’s in your nature, and you wanted another way to do it.
Be your own boss – tired of having to report to others (some of whom you disliked) and decided it was time for you to set out on your own.
To have more flexibility – you wanted room in your schedule because at your corporate job you were always slammed, leaving no room for flexibility.
You wanted to make more money – maybe you hit the ceiling at work, but you wanted to earn more and knew creating a business could help you do that.
Health reasons – you’ve had health challenges that continued to pull you away from your corporate desk and thought starting a business would give you room for your health challenges.
Other reasons – maybe you had another reason for starting your business.

Whatever the reason, most everyone who starts a business understands that it will take time to build it, market, and develop how you will be different from competitors. You’ve been doing it for some time now with a steady flow of clients for your service-based business.

You Feel Maxed Out And Overwhelmed

So, why do you feel maxed out and overwhelmed?

Perhaps thinking about why you started the business has long gone by the wayside, because you are too busy to reflect on it.

In fact, you are too busy to think about what will come next.

As you’ve gotten busier with each new client work. It’s a great problem to have, but it comes with its own costs.

You found that the services you provide to longtime clients have suffered. It’s not in a significant way, but enough that a couple of them have reduced their plans with you.

It’s difficult to continue to provide the high-quality services your clients are used to as your business becomes maxed out.

You don’t have time to consider how to turn it around. You need help, but don’t know how to get it or to even start.

Making matters worse, those closest to you have been complaining that all you do is work. So, now your relationships are strained too.

You feel like you’re going down. You can’t seem to change the direction because you do not know what to do.

Now what?

Helping Others

One of the reasons you chose to start a service-based business was because you wanted to help others. You are helping others but are just ‘doing it’ to do it now (client work)? You haven’t faced the fact that you don’t even enjoy it anymore.

Having a full book of clients comes with its own challenges. Everyone wants a full book of clients, but if you have not prepared for it, it can be overwhelming.

Your main objective when you began was to help others and solve your ideal client’s problem.

Is helping others still one of your main objectives in your business?

It doesn’t have to change if it is still. Even after I shifted away from helping clients only, I still helped others.

If this isn’t your objective any longer, that is alright, but you have to ask these questions to get to the heart of what needs to change.

I soon found that not all of my skills & desire to help meant working in my business. It also didn’t mean I had to always work on my clients’ tasks.

I could apply my skills, intuition, and desire to help others in different ways. Both inside and outside of the business.

The reality was, once I shifted from doing all the clients’ tasks, I was free to help more people.

I thought helping clients was the only way I could apply my skills in my business. I learned, however, that there were many ways to help & serve others.

Having freedom meant I could help people in my community, in our church, in networking sessions, and still help my clients. I was helping others in new ways. The best thing was that I felt very fulfilled.

Keep your heart to serve and help others.

You should regularly do self-checks and ask yourself if you still enjoy providing the services (categories) you provide to clients. Also ask yourself if you enjoy other aspects of your business or if it’s something that can be outsourced to a subcontractor.

Checklists to Check Yourself

As a service provider, design checklists so you can review important areas regularly (as I point the finger at myself here, I’m preaching to the choir).

Some areas you may want to design checklists around could include:

Financial Goals Checklist – set a goal for the year. Then split that into quarterly and monthly goals.
Services You Provide Checklist – do you still enjoy these, or do you need to provide other services?
Market & Competitive Research Checklist – should be done regularly. I suggest doing it at least a couple of times a year or quarterly. If something significant has changed in the industry you market to or in the type of services you provide, then do it more frequently.

You can create your own metrics with each checklist to determine whether you need to make changes. In the services you provided checklist, you want to review how you feel about each service you provide, whether it is still profitable, and if there are any other services you need to start providing.

The industry changes so quickly that you have to be current with the services you provide to your clients. Creating checklists to review all areas of your business is a good health check.

How could I stop working on my clients’ tasks?

I knew I needed to make changes if I was going to stop doing the clients’ tasks.

Help!

As a solopreneur, I was used to doing it all myself. If I was going to pull back from doing the client work, I had to make some big changes. If I was going to do this, I knew I needed help!

First, I had to decide if I was going to stop all client tasks. If not, which tasks would I keep doing?

I had to consider what tasks I was keeping and which I wanted to have someone else do. That is why, in part, why I created the “Build Your Agency Checklist.” It helps break down delegating for you.

I loved meetings with clients monthly and going over strategy.

I no longer wanted to do the social media, email marketing, and other client tasks.

It is what we tell our clients to do all the time. It is even part of our marketing campaigns and elevator speeches.

We tell clients that they need our services because we will free up their time, allowing them to work on their business instead of in the business.

As a solopreneur, you may not recognize this in your own business. It can be hard to determine when it is time to step back from the client work.

You’re so busy doing all the work, you struggle to see how you can stop working in the business and start working on the business.“
tammy durden

When I transitioned the business from solopreneur to having a team, it was because I had come to a place where I was tired of doing the client work. I was also tired of not having more time with family & friends. Not to mention that I needed time to work on my business.

Working In The Business

It is wonderful when clients love the services you provide. But the truth is that as long as you continue to be the only one providing the services, you will find it difficult to work on your business. It will also be hard to scale your business.

A great overflow of providing excellent services is that you will attract clients as well as get referrals from others.

Yes, we all love to be booked full, but often we do not see what that really looks like until we are there. By then it’s too late.

You are working fully in the business and not often on your business. You are doing a lot of client tasks and not many tasks that help you work on the business.

The problem with having a full book of clients is that you are boxing yourself in until you end up with the inability to take on more clients.

It also means that you don’t have time to work on your business, except in off hours (after 5 pm and weekends) if you have any. This presents its own issues, including wearing you out and straining relationships.

The other problem with this is that you cannot grow any further. In fact, it may mean that you will begin to lose clients, or if not, they may reduce some of the services you provide.

I don’t know many business owners who don’t want to continue growing and increasing revenue. The truth is, however, that having a full book of clients leaves no room for growth or increasing your revenue as a solopreneur.

For me, it became a juggling match. One that I was losing.

This also meant that everything felt like an emergency and I was constantly creating quick copy, putting out fires, and going over emails late. Most importantly, my excellent client services were becoming less excellent than they once were.

I knew something had to change, but I wasn’t sure what that was yet.

I had committed myself to helping other disabled persons work from home once I had enough work because I knew the difficulty of this challenge myself.

Transitioning to Working On Your Business

After I realized that I could not do everything myself, I began to shift my workload. I could not continue to do all of the client work, create marketing copy and graphics, be on social media to talk to potential clients, and plan content for the upcoming months, let alone plan for the future of the company.

If you are here too, you probably know this also, but you may not be sure how to do it.

If you are reading this and are not there yet, start taking steps now so you can begin to pull back from doing all the client work in your business.

I came to a place where I moved from providing all of the services for my clients (working in) to managing the team and working on the business.

Start Working On Your Business

The way to scale and continue to grow is by getting help. Once you make this shift, you can begin working more on your business and less in it.

Giving all of my client work away (to my team) freed me up to focus on other areas of my business. Areas that had been ignored for too long. One of those was planning for the future.

Once I shifted from working in the business to working on the business, I suddenly had freedom.

My schedule was much more flexible. I didn’t have to check every email the minute they hit my inbox. I could schedule lunch with friends, but more importantly, I could do more networking and planning for the business.

You may be asking how to do this.

Revenue Multiplied

We’ve discussed revenue and how it has flatlined because you cannot accept new clients. Your revenue has capped, but it’s still under your goal. Being busy with client work is great; however, you need to plan for the next steps.

How will you create new revenue if you are fully booked?

You need additional revenue to meet goals, but have no time to develop other revenue streams.

All businesses rely on revenue, but micro and small businesses must meet their monthly goals because it keeps the business going. It doesn’t usually go to a savings account.

Many new business owners do not pull any income from their business in the first year or so to keep the overhead (lights on) and advertising going to keep attracting clients.

The truth is that online service providers who do not charge more than $49 per hour* cannot jump the $100K revenue mark. Even those who charge this amount will only end up with a little more than half of that $100K after they take out expenses and pay taxes.

The only way most online service providers can jump the $100K revenue wall is by having help or charging a large hourly rate. And that is only if you are working 40 billable hours per week, which is nearly impossible for online service providers.

You may be one of the rare providers who only need to add a small amount to your family income. I was there initially as well. Truthfully, I was there for a few years when our children were younger, as they were my priority.

When our children began graduating and leaving home, I was able to grow the business further. Once I was close to that $100K mark, I didn’t want to turn back.

Software and Systems Needed

Are you in that place? You know this place – where you hold your breath each month, hoping that you can cover all of your bills in your business?

Today there are so many subscriptions needed to keep the business open and the workflow going smoothly (forgive me as I take a bit of a tangent here).

When I began 18 years ago, I only needed a small desk, a laptop, Google (professional version), and Microsoft software (including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint). Microsoft was a one-time purchase that lasted a few years. So, there was very little cash laid out.

Today, you may be able to make payments on those listed, but you also need more software and tools.

Software might include:

Accounting
Documents
Worksheets
Slides
Educational Housing (if you have a membership or course)
Your Professional Email (regular daily)
Email Marketing
Social Media Scheduler
Graphics & Videos
Photo subscription
Project Management
Videos & Video Management
Online Data Storage system
Domain Hosting
Hosting for Your Website
Website Management
Video Meetings

I probably missed some, but overall this is the type of software online service businesses need regularly.

The Solution

How does multiplying your revenue instead of losing it sound to you?

You are probably wondering how I multiplied my revenue. The key to doing this, as a solopreneur, quite honestly, is to hire help.

This may seem counterintuitive, but stay with me. When I say hire help, I’m talking about subcontractors (or 1099s in the U.S.).

Most solopreneurs cannot afford to offer benefits and truly ‘hire’ someone. To hire an employee, you have to be able to offer benefits such as vacation, sick time, insurance, and pay half of the Social Security (in the U.S.), at a minimum. Online service businesses usually cannot provide these.

The solution is to bring on subcontractors. Just as a builder who is constructing a house hires contractors to do tile work, plumbing, HVAC, and painting, you can bring on a subcontractor to help you provide services to your clients.

Defining Subcontractor

“A subcontractor is an outside company or individual hired by a general contractor to perform part of the work or services under an existing contract with a client. Subcontractors are independent and not employees of the general contractor. A subcontractor may also subcontract part of their work to another subcontractor, creating a chain of contracts linked to the original agreement.” –Cornell Law School

Subcontractors can do your client tasks, freeing you up to work on the business, while multiplying your revenue.

I always suggest to my clients that they have subcontractors work on client tasks before having them work on your own business. Have them help create income before paying them from your income (not revenue).

Let’s consider a service provider who charges $35/hour as an example. The amount they would earn in a year is: $72,800*? We established that after business expenses and taxes, this would be greatly diminished.

Now, let’s take that same hourly rate but imagine that you can now bring in more clients because you’ve brought on 3 subcontractors. We will assume one of them takes on your current clients. So, there will be 2 others doing the work of all the new clients.

If you do it right, you will multiply your revenue and will not be dependent on the hourly rates. You can go from solopreneur to thriving business owner with a team.

All of this assumes you can fill up all available time; based on the same parameters above, you would create revenue of $218,400. This is three times the amount you could bring in by yourself. No matter how many hours you worked, you could never bring in this revenue without subcontractors.

This is, of course, an example. The reality is that you will multiply your revenue, but I cannot say that it will be by the number of subcontractors you bring on. I can only tell you that each time you have a subcontractor do the client work, it will free you up from work you would have done.

Final Thoughts

The goal of this article is to open your understanding of how you can free up your time and multiply your revenue. Helping you work less and earn more.

If done properly and with continued new clients, there is no limit to what your revenue could be.

This gives you the time to create the lifestyle you truly want. You don’t have to wait until your client book is full. You can begin to shift your client work to subcontractors.

At first it can mean less income for you, but in the end it will multiply it. I advise clients to start doing this with a client because you are not accustomed to the revenue yet. It makes it much easier.

Then with each new client, have a subcontractor provide the services. Eventually you will also be able to shift your current client work over to a subcontractor.

This article was a big overview of how best to free time and multiply your earnings. If you need help with implementing the specifics and are not sure how to start, please reach out or book a free session with me.

I hope you will soon be able to say you are living the lifestyle you want and are making the income you need (or want).

*This serves as an example only and does not represent a suggested hourly rate. In the example, it assumes 40 hours worked every week of the year.  Online Service Providers rarely work 40 billable hours each week. The most hours available are usually between 32 and 37 hours each week.  The remainder of the hours are spent between projects, emails, and on the calendar.  This also assumes that you can attract enough clients to fill up all subcontractor hours available, which is unlikely. Plan according to the amount of client work you have and then work on marketing to attract more clients, which will increase your revenue one client at a time.

Tammy Durden Business Consultant & Coach

Tammy Durden is an award-winning business coach and consultant who specializes in helping women online service providers grow a business to fit their lifestyle rather than squeeze a life around their business.

Tammy has established herself as an authority figure over the last 18 years while creating and growing several online service businesses. She is also a sought-after thought leader, course creator, and speaker in the online service industry.