A little background about why I think this is important...

I recently had the honor of presenting two workshops at Jenny Shih's Make It Work Live retreat, where 40 business owners gathered to connect "in real life," and get valuable tips and insights on how to grow their businesses. I worried that if I hosted a workshop called "How to Create More Ease In Your Business" no one would show up because it was a bit woo-woo. When more than 15 people showed up for a 7:30am workshop, I knew this topic was worth discussing. Here are some key points from the discussion.

I know that I certainly didn't get into working for myself to make things harder. I didn't sign up for less work/life balance. I just wanted to do the work that was most meaningful to me, on my terms.

But I found that I was creating way more stress for myself right off the bat. And man, I felt gripped. Ugh.

When I was first getting my business up and running, I was up late at night, working weekends, thinking about my business constantly, the works. I stumbled upon a quote from Lori Greiner that said "entrepreneurs are the only people who will work 80 hours a week to avoid working 40 hours a week for someone else." Oof. That hit home.

I knew that this was not the way for me. If I was going to survive, there had to be another way. I wanted to feel excited and engaged with my work. I didn't want it to feel heavy and exhausting. So, I decided to seek out ways to create more ease in my business...here's what I came up with:

How We Make Business Hard

First, I just had to get clear on how we make business harder than it needs to be on ourselves. There's a lot to dig into here, but a few common examples are:

Taking on the wrong clients
Following the standard framework for our industry (even if we don't like it)
Taking on too much; saying yes constantly
Stuck and rigid thinking; “this is just the way things are.”
Loose boundaries with clients or customers
Making decisions based on comparison or perfectionism
Thinking we need to "do it all" even when we're not good/efficient at something (say bookkeeping)
Guessing with pricing
Doing custom work when you don't want to

The list goes on and on.

Understand your beliefs

Next, I had to examine was what I believed to be true about success and hard work. What stories had I adopted from parents, teachers, friends, bosses, and co-workers, over the years?

I realized personally that I had a belief that the only way to be successful was through hard work.
Grinding.
Sacrifice.
Suffering.
That with enough hard work, one day it'd pay off, but not before. And not without a lot of suffering.

I also realized that I associated things that are easy for me as not being as valuable, because they're not hard for me. The harder the work, the more valuable it is.

Whoa. There's a sure-fire way to never find ease in your business, huh? Just understanding my own beliefs around hard work and success helped me realize the trap I was creating for myself.

Take a minute to reflect:

What are your beliefs about what work should look like?
What did your parents tell you about hard work? About success?
What do you think about hard work?
What do you believe about things that are easy for you?

Get clear on what's hard

Next I had to stop and actually pay attention to what was hard for me on a daily basis. What felt like a total drag? What was the "ugh" in my business?

When we stop to examine each step of our business, we begin to notice the things that light us up and we just can't wait to do more of, and the things that feel like pure drudgery. Or maybe just the thing that feels annoying at the end of the good stuff.

For me I felt like I "had" to write blog posts each week as part of my marketing activities, but uuuuugh, it felt like they took FOR-E-VER. And then I'd have to go back and fix my typos and add photos, and by that time my energy was drained. I was really excited about sharing tips and ideas with people, but the writing? It was a huge time suck when there were so many other things to do.

So, I asked, what would this look like if it were easy? What would feel fun?

The answer for me was video! I could sketch out my thoughts in a few minutes, hit record, and pump out a video fairly quickly. I could share insights on my blog and email list, and get on with my day.

Was it perfect? Nope. But it felt so much better just to get the dang thing done. It took a task that I wanted to do in theory but dreaded doing in reality, and made it much easier.

Take a minute to reflect:

What feels hard or heavy in my business right now?
What do I constantly resist?
What would it look like if it were easy?
What would feel fun?
What would flow feel like?
What can I let go of?
What am I doing "just because that's the way things are done?"

Automate, Delegate, Delete

Once I did a few initial shifts like that for the things that always felt hard, I wanted to evaluate the rest of my list. I asked myself "what would I LOVE to take off my plate? How can I automate it, delegate it, or delete it?"

Automate: How can your systems support you? (Making something truly automated or just simpler)
Delegate: What can you hire someone else to do? What can you ask someone else in your family to do to take something else off your plate?
Delete: What can you let go of? What can you add to the “someday/maybe” list instead? What can you plan to do in a few months, but just can't focus on right now?

Chances are there are a range of options for every problem. For example, let's say that posting on social media is stressing you out. It takes too long, you don't know what to say, you're posting on a bunch of platforms you don't even like, whatever. So you could:

Automate it using tools like Hootsuite, Later, or Buffer.
Delegate it by hiring someone to write some social media content for you.
Delete it by simply doing less of it (choosing only one or two platforms to post on or posting much less frequently), or not at all.

Some of this can be solved by just getting the right systems in place, but it's also about being ruthless with your list to figure out what needs a different approach.

GET DREAMY

And finally, I had to get dreamy! Once you know a bit about your beliefs, where things are hard right now, what you can automate/delegate/delete, it's time to really shake things up! Here's how:

Let go of "should" and “the rules”

We get stuck in what we "should" do or “this is how it’s always been done” or "that's just the way it is." These are beliefs! Get clear on what you’re believing to be true. Decide whether or not you'd like to shift those beliefs. What would feel better?

Companies like Uber, AirBnB, and Rent the Runway came out of ditching the rules.

Shake it up.

How do you want to do business? What would “flow” feel like for you? What do you really want? What are your pain points as a business owner? How can you shift them? When you tap into what you really want, you start to think about how it might be possible.

For example, I know many coaches who only take clients three weeks per month so they can take the fourth to implement, catch up on admin, or take a vacation. One interior designer friend only wanted to take on quick makeover projects because she likes the instant gratification, so she did and business is booming.

Create Boundaries That Serve You

Setting expectations up front create ease. When people (customers) are clear on exactly what to expect from you, you create trust and they relax. If you want to take the weekends off, do it but let them know you won't be available after X time on Friday. If you only take 4 commissioned pieces per year, let them know that and what the process is for getting on the list. When you lay out exactly how something will go, your clients or customers feel that same sense of ease.

Little Tweaks & Ease Exercises

Carving out space for dreamy things could include:

Making a client wish list (or anything wish list - podcasts you'd like to be on, magazines you'd like to be featured in, etc.)
Leaving blank spaces on your whiteboard for "unexpected extra" (a la the Chalkboard Method)
Inserting ease in your language (one fabulous gal I know signs her emails with "take as much time as you need")
Detach from the outcome (start heading into conversations or potential opportunities with curiosity instead of desperation or "I have to make this work" energy)

Celebrate!

One thing I like to do is keep a few mini bottles of champagne in my fridge to celebrate little wins along the way. Whether I land a new client, finish a big project done, or hit a financial goal, taking the time to recognize that my effort has paid off is important. There are always more things to do (it never ends, really), so taking time to celebrate along the way shifts the energy you bring to your business.