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Business

How To Cope With Time Management Hurdles As A Spoonie

Time Management Tips For Those With Chronic Illnesses


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Any Link Marked With An Asterisk (*) Is An Affiliate Or Referral Link. This Means I Get Some Type Of Compensation For RecommendingThe Product Or Service. There’s No Change In Your Price If There Is Any Price.

Time management as a work at home entrepreneur is a total bitch sometimes. Add in multiple chronic illnesses and you’ve got a perfect shit storm waiting to happen.

Time Management Presents Special Hurdles When Your A Spoonie

Before you look at me like I’ve lost my mind, spoonie is a term many people with chronic illness use to refer to themselves. You can read more about how the term came into practice.  You’ll also learn a bit more about how we have to manage our energy much differently than those who are not coping with these illnesses.

It’s this needed to manage our energy coupled with the sometimes unpredictable needs or flair-ups that makes managing our time a little harder.

I’m not complaining. I’ve gotten past the “woe-is-me” stage for the most part. I’m actually here to offer some tips for my spoonie brethren who don’t believe they can successfully run a business. Or for those of us who are struggling to get shit done on a daily.

My Top Time Management Tips For Spoonies

These will also work for people who are “normal”. (Side note: I don’t believe in normal. I think it’s an illusion we sell ourselves to fit in. I also believe fitting in is boring.)

Tip One: Know Thy Self

'Time management presents special hurdles for us #spoonies. But that doesn't mean we can't be entrepreneurs. We just have to do it our way.' ~Jennifer WeinerClick To Tweet
You have to know yourself very well. Make sure you know when you struggle energetically. Schedule very little during this time. That seems like a no-brainer, but–if you’re anything like me–you want to do all the things. This will lead to overscheduling and frustration. I’d love to see you skip that.

You’ll also want to know when your creativity is highest, when you do better at more logic-based activity, and so on. Some of this will also be based on the type of business you want to do and will change as you become able to outsource things.

Tip Two: Document Your Processes As You Go

This one will help you when you are ready to outsource. There are many ways to pay for outsourcing. And you want to be ready for it when the time comes.

You can use resources like Trello*, Asana, and ClickUp to build your processes.

The side benefit for managing your time is you’ll also be able to move through things more quickly if you set up cards with checklists for your processes so you can copy them over every time. You won’t miss any steps and you get shit done more quickly if you actually build out a process for the things you do on a regular basis!

Tip Three: Use Time Blocking Or Some Version Of It

Until I started using my version of time blocking, I was almost literally getting nothing done most days. Now I block out every business and personal activity. It’s a rough schedule to keep me on track. I also leave plenty of room for downtime. I never know when a migraine or my IBS will hit.

I encourage you to try your system for a week at a time and make adjustments as you go. Time management is as unique as the person doing it. Don’t get discouraged! It’s taken me six months to get anywhere close to having a system that really GSD.

Tip Four: Try Coworking Sessions At Least Once A Week

'Time blocking, Co-working sessions, and Batch creating content have worked together to get me so much closer to success. I highly recommend these for your best time management ever.' ~Jennifer WeinerClick To Tweet
A coworking session is where you and at least one friend get together. You bring your own work and spend intervals getting shit done. Then you take a short break. Rinse and Repeat!

I do this weekly with a friend in Maryland via Zoom. We also are in a membership that does this together once a month.

I’ve found that I am getting more ahead in the detail work (think content planning and social media execution) than I ever thought possible! Plus I’ve made a new friend that is there for me every week to make sure we get this shit done!

You can also host these in real life! Go to a coffee shop, cafe, or any place with a nice atmosphere for working with a friend! Just remember to actually work!

These are a great time to do the next tip. You can also get to those little tasks that keep getting put off like email marketing, creating lead magnets, updating your accounting, checking various analytics, and so much more!

Tip 5: Batch Create Content

This is a game-changer! The first two weeks or so will suck ass. But once you get your flow going, it’s amazing to not have to worry about your content on a daily basis. Or whatever your schedule is.

You can batch create any type of content unless it’s in a particular place or time-dependent. This would be like at a wedding or other event. Or something like you are going on vacation. I think you get the idea.

This works for videos, blogs, podcasts and other audio, and social media posts. You can even create certain types of story posts in advance.

I would also say to schedule everything you can. Just be sure that you will be able to respond to comments and engage in other ways during the “recommended time frame” around when your posts will be going out each day.

Time management becomes so much easier when you don’t have to add much–if any–content creation in most of the week. Unless you do this for clients–and I would still batch create theirs as well!

Want Some Tips On Batch Creating Content?
Check out this post

Wrapping It All Up

No matter what you’re coping with as a spoonie, you do have skills that the world needs. You are very capable of running your own business. Do it scared.

If you want to do your soul’s work, stop putting it off and making excuses. Just do the damned thing.

It will be hard, but you have people who will support you. The spoonie community alone is super supportive. And so is every entrepreneur I’ve met to date.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on time management

I hope that at least one of these tips helps you or someone you love. I’d love to hear about it, or even just your thoughts on this article in general. Drop a comment, an email, or a direct message.

 

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Top 5 Time Management Tips For Spoonie EntrepreneursTime Management For Entrepreneurs With Chronic Illnesses5 Ways To Manage Your Time As An Entrepreneur With Chronic Illnesses

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Working For Free Is The Fastest Way To Get Paying Jobs

Blog Title for Working For Free Is The Fastest Way To Get Paying Jobs

 

I know it sounds counter-intuitive, but doing some work for free is one of the best ways to get paying jobs when you’re just starting out as an entrepreneur.

I talked last week about building a portfolio with some mock work to increase your ability to get jobs. Another way to increase your paying jobs is by doing some small jobs for a testimonial or as a one-off freebie has worked well for me. Let me explain.

Networking in Facebook Groups

'I know it sounds counter-intuitive, but doing some work for free is one of the best ways to get paying jobs when you're just starting out as an entrepreneur.' Jennifer Weiner of Southern Hospitality ConsultingClick To Tweet
Networking is Facebook Groups has been my best source of jobs to date. My two favorite clients to date have come from doing this! The most recent of these is a copywriting client. I’m currently offering copywriting services at a super low discounted rate.

I noticed in a comment thread that a lady I adored was asking for copywriting help for products. So I commented that I offered this service, which she seemed surprised to hear. I offered to rewrite a product description that was already on her site and send it to her as a sample for free.

I suppose you can guess what happened next. She loved the rewritten description so we discussed pricing and all the details of working together. Contract was signed, and I’ve just about completed half of the descriptions. I’m so excited to see the rest of her new products!

Moral of that story: Use Facebook groups to your advantage while following the rules. Many business networking and support groups will have a once a week or once a month post where you can promote your paid products or services. Don’t be afraid to offer to do a small sample of your service or to send a small sample for free if you’re just starting out.

Hashtags Got You InstaSad?

Learn about Instagram Hashtags and a simple research and use strategy. Links to tools to help you research them too!
Click here to get your Hashtag Mini Guide and Be InstaHappy!

Offering A Small Sample Of Free Work

This is another way I’ve gotten some work. It’s also resulted in some glowing testimonials. You can advertise this in those same Facebook groups and on your own social media accounts.

Announce that you are doing a certain number of free whatever it is you do on a first-come, first-served basis. Have in mind a particular client you want for these free spots. Have a way to collect names and numbers for a discovery type call just like you would for a paid client. Always make sure your client and you are going to work well together!

Once you have those spots filled, be sure you announce that as well and get to work! Be sure you give the same quality of work and customer care to these clients that you would if they had paid full price. Also, have a system in place to collect timely feedback and testimonials for your website and social media.

How Do These Help You Actually Get Paying Jobs?

I’m glad you asked!

  • Offering to send a free sample helps by:
    • Giving them a risk-free, personalized sample of your work
    • Showing you take initiative, especially if you are able to grab and idea from their website in advance of the initial contact
    • Showing your enthusiasm for the work you do without being overbearing
  • Doing work for free helps by:
    • Helping you get testimonials faster
    • Getting your portfolio real work to show
    • Starting to build word of mouth sooner

I’m sure there are way more benefits that those. I just dropped a few off the top of my head to help you see the benefits of both methods.

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What do you think? Could these strategies help you get paying clients?

Will you try either of these methods? Have you tried them before, and how successful were the for you if so? I’d love to hear you thoughts! Drop them in the comments and share to your favorite social site.

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How To Build A Mock Work Portfolio To Land More Clients Now

Mock Portfolio Blog Header Image

 

Finding clients as a new business is tough. It’s even tougher when you don’t have a portfolio of your work to share. But how do you build a portfolio without clients? Even more fun is trying to build a portfolio when you do work that you sign a nondisclosure agreement on. Or when you know that disclosing the work you do will harm the other business.

Don’t worry, I have an idea to share with you on just how to get that rocking portfolio without violating your ethics or waiting forever to get enough client work!

Mock Work Is Your Answer

Sometimes it’s hard even to get people to let you work for free (we’ll talk about free work for reviews and more next time). So start doing some mock work when you’ve done you biz to-dos for the day.

What Exactly Is This Mock Work You Speak Of, Woman?

Come check out what mock work is and how building a portfolio of it can benefit your small biz!Click To Tweet
It’s not complicated, trust me. I don’t do complicated!

You simply make up a product, service, or business. Then you do some work for them. Once everything is up to par, you post that work on a portfolio page on your website. Easy peasy, right?

Now, some of the types of work that are good for making this type of venture may need real-life examples to work with. So grab a friend or family member for those areas.

Shall we look at some business types that this idea would be good for?

Business Types That Should Consider Making This Type Of Portfolio

In my opinion, if you do any of the following you should consider building mock examples of your work.

  • Copy Writing
  • Video Editing
  • Photography
  • Social Media Marketing or Management
  • Web Design
  • Blog and/or article writing
Is your business one that would benefit from doing mock work? Find out here!Click To Tweet
If your a photographer or work with video, you will obviously need real subjects to work with. Be sure to get signed consent to use their photos on your site, even if it’s a friend or family member!

As an SMM, you can work your own accounts as well as fictitious accounts to get some stats as to how well your strategies work. Just don’t spend too long getting those stats. Done is better than perfect. You can keep working those accounts to get longer-term stats while working with your clients.

Where’s My Mine?

It’s in the works. I just had this burst of inspiration a few days ago. I will come back and let you know how it does or does not help me. I’ll be doing mock work in WordPress sites, blog writing, and copywriting. So, it may take a hot minute!

 

I’d love to know if this is something you plan on doing for your biz! If you’ve already done something like this, please share your results. If you’re aren’t comfortable sharing in the comments, you can share with me privately by picking an option on my contact page or sending DM via social media.

Read A Second Way To Get Paying Clients

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