Business Success

It’s hard to have business success without work life balance, here’s why:

As a business coach, one of the most common challenges I see in business owners, executives or anyone who works for themselves, is burn-out. One of the best ways to avoid burn-out is to make sure you’re taking care of yourself on a regular basis.

If you’re like many business owners, you put the demands of the business first; so taking care of yourself may be one of the very last things you think about doing – until it’s too late.

For those of you who are guilty of ignoring yourselves here are some gentle reminders of things you can do:

Physical: Exercise, take walks outside and in nature, long baths, get a massage or pamper yourself in healthy ways, say no to junk and fatty foods, and get sufficient sleep and rest.

Emotional: Spend time alone with your thoughts; eliminate things that you are tolerating which drain energy. Spend time nurturing healthy relationships, set boundaries, rules and limits for your personal and professional lives, let go of habits and patterns that are holding you back, and get the support we all need from friends, family, co-workers or professionals whenever necessary.

Professional: learn how to take control of your finances and career, put limits on the hours you work, set and achieve professional goals, find work that is meaningful and fulfilling.

Spiritual: you don’t have to practice an organized religion to take care of your spiritual side. Some ways taking care of ourselves spiritually are meditating, doing yoga, visualizing, or participating in meaningful activities that speak to your values and passions.

So how do you begin?

1. Ask yourself some questions:
– What does taking care of myself mean to me?
– How would my life change if I did?

2. Jot down ten things you can do to start taking especially good care of yourself.

3. Prioritize – select the 3 that are most appealing to you.

4. Get back in the habit of taking care of yourself by scheduling time each day to do it. Hint: if you have a hard time getting started, limit your “sessions” to just a few minutes – you may find that’s enough to start feeling better-and once you do you will naturally want to do more.

5. Team up with a friend – do things together, help each other to be accountable and stay on track.

6. Keep building: additional time, sessions, and ways to take better care of yourself.

7. Enjoy! Let yourself relax and have fun. You’ll come back to your work refreshed with a clearer mind.

Having a hard time getting away from work? Learn more about work life balance coaching.

"Susan taught me how to think about my law practice as a business. She helped me to build confidence in my role as a business owner and boss, showed me how to use my financial records as profitability tools and focus my marketing on a select target market so I attract more of my ideal clients and cases. I would highly recommend Susan to anyone who wants to run a profitable, sane and productive business. Thank you Susan!" -Lisa Eisenberg, Immigration Attorney

"I am one of two partners in a small law firm. When I started working with Susan, I was completely wedded to the idea that I was a "practicing attorney" rather than a small business owner, which meant that I often failed do any long range business planning or to maintain solid control of my firm's profitability and finances. Susan cured me of that and has helped me create a business plan for myself and for my small firm, and the results have been dramatic." Erica Bell, Esq., Weiss, Buell & Bell

"Susan has helped me gain confidence in my role as a boss and to understand what I really need from my employees. She walked me through the hiring process and helped me to create a hiring and interviewing strategy. She has also helped me to see situations from the big picture perspective. Because of this, I'm able to be both firm and empathetic when dealing with difficult employee and client situations, which has been very useful." -Chris Page, Century 21 Solutions Property Management

"I had been running my own business for about three years with mixed results. While I had a great client base, I had trouble managing employees and was terrified of growing too much too soon. I was putting in way too many hours with little result. With Susan, I've reduced the amount of time I devote to management issues, so that I'm working less and enjoying it more. Now I can devote more time to providing better service to current clients, and have the confidence to let my business grow again!" Ean Murphy, Moxie Bookkeeping

"When I started to work with Susan I did not have a coherent marketing strategy or proper marketing material. Susan helped me re-conceive how I presented my service to potential clients. And it worked. Within a few months I was getting more business as a direct result of the actions she recommended that I take." -Edward Antoine, Antoine Education

"Before we worked together, my clients would often start to clear clutter but never stay around long enough to set up the systems to stay organized. I needed a way to get them to commit to the whole process for both of our benefits.With Susan on my side, I created packages that were met with immediate and overwhelmingly positive results. In fact, I have gained three new clients in the two weeks since I started offering them! My clients are happy and so am I. Thank you Susan!" -Matt Baier, Matt Baier Organizing

"Before working with Susan, I did all of my business online, never feeling comfortable enough to pick up the phone and speak directly with customers. Her sales coaching helped me helped me get out of my shell, to understand the difference between sales and marketing, and the importance of reaching out and focusing on people. Because of our work, sales are up, I'm more comfortable dealing with clients and new prospects and profits have increased 50%." -Martin Cross, Patent Translations

"Before I hired Susan, my business was suffering because I didn't know what to do next or how to do it. After working with Susan, and through her gentle but firm support and holding me to my goals, I have moved forward by leaps and bounds. My subscriber list has more than doubled ...I've produced a new product, re-designed my web site and have more balance and confidence in the future." Dale Kurow, Career Coach

"It's one thing to have services to offer. It's another to understand how to shape those services into a viable business. And Susan has helped me in every aspect of developing my business - from big picture tasks such as financial planning and maintaining client relationships to dealing with day-to-day challenges. She's perceptive, candid and intuitive, and has provided support that I can count on. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend her to any friends looking for business assistance."-Richard Staub, Richard Staub Marketing Services

"During the course of working with Susan, my approach to business has changed. She helped me to refine my professional and personal goals, and I've been able to deal with problems that had long gotten in my way. In a few months, I've seen my business and my confidence grow significantly. Thank you Susan." -Ruth Seidler

"Business Coach Susan Martin has helped me to manage my time, build structure and become more disciplined. Because of our work I have more business, improved relationships with clients, and learned how to better balance my work and personal life. If you have any doubts about the benefits of working with Susan, please don't hesitate to call me." -Carl Navarro, JCI Graphics

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