Giving your clients too much time? Read this.

Today I want you to think honestly about how much time you give your clients. When you first started your business, you were probably super flexible. You made yourself available to clients, to networking meetings, to events, to anyone who wanted your time. You were available on evenings and weekends for phone calls, meetings…whatever the client wanted and needed, you were there. 
 
Perhaps you’re granting or have granted unusual unpaid requests. And when somebody asks you for something, you say “Yes, of course, I can do that.” 
 
I remember my very first client. I met at seven o’clock in the morning, and I also used to schedule other consultations at 9:00 at night. I was available for anything, because I was so desperate to have clients. I didn’t have any boundaries around my time when it came to clients, I was just happy to get paid. 

Here’s the problem though: your business has grown since then, and you likely have very little time. You are pulled in a thousand different directions and there’s just no more of you to go around. So these extra demands your clients are used to making and having you meet (that are often non-paid) are really taking a toll on your life. They also get in the way of you growing your business. 

While you meant well and wanted to do everything to keep them, the over-servicing of your clients that you used to do in the beginning soon becomes detrimental to your business.

Are you doing any of these things now? 

• Doing things for clients or prospects for free to build goodwill, like offering extra time and advice?
• Going over the time allotted for your consultations? 
• Giving more than your contracted services, because you don’t know how to speak up?
• Answering texts from clients at night, on weekends, outside of work hours, or when you should be focused on growing your business? 
• Giving away precious time that you could use to be with your family? 
• Responding to phone calls or emails as soon as they arrive, even though you’re working on something super important? 

In the beginning, yes, some of these things made sense.

But at this stage, it doesn’t make sense anymore. This is leaving you very little time for you to grow your business further, and very little time for your personal life. I know many people (before they work with us) who regularly put the kids to bed at night and go right back to their desk, to work until midnight or 1:00 a.m. 

This is not sustainable. 

I suggest that you honestly assess if you are being too flexible with your time. This is the beginning of our conversation about leveraging your time…and once you see where time is slipping away, you can start to make changes.

Assess your flexibility with clients

Pull out your journal and ask yourself the following questions: 

• How, specifically, are you giving your time away or being too flexible with clients?
• How does this make you feel and why?
• How is this getting in the way of growing your business?

Once you get it all down on paper, it may shock you to see how much you are giving away by still bending over backwards. Your time is valuable, but it is also limited…now more than ever. 

You don’t have to do all of this extra work out of fear of losing your clients (really, you don’t).

If you would like to implement strategies that will result in better use of your time, help you set boundaries with your clients, get your life back and continue to grow your business, we are here to help. 

Just reach out to one of my heart-centered strategy coaches for a free Business Audit and Needs Analysis today, and we’ll see if we are a good fit. They’re here, waiting to meet you. 

The way to schedule your Business Audit and Needs Analysis is by filling out the fields in the image below. Do it now. Don’t wait. You deserve to get your life back.