Creative Compass

© EEF LLC erineflynn.com

Create a business that fits your life Life comes first.

Family and friends, those are priorities. You can love your business, clients, and work, but

nothing compares to these relationships.

If you are self-employed you have the opportunity to create a business that allows you

freedom and flexibility. But only if you plan it that way.

Failure to make a clear plan in the beginning that allows time and freedom to focus on

your life's priorities, can lead to a business you hate.

Or maybe you love your business, but end up unhappy with your personal life. There's just

not enough time to do what you want outside of your work hours. You need to prioritize.

Signs that your business doesn’t fit your life

• You feel like you’re ALWAYS working and can’t get a break

• Clients calling and emailing constantly

• Don’t enjoy your work

• You can’t keep up with everything and feel like you’re spread too thin

• You feel like you’re missing out on things you want to do, because you’re tied to your

computer

What do you want out of life? What are the top three priorities in your life? Write them down.

Your web design business needs to accommodate the time and freedom to allow you to

focus on these priorities.

Creative Compass

© EEF LLC erineflynn.com

For many entrepreneurs, their top priorities may look something like this:

• Family & Friends

• Health

• Travel

Having enough time to spend with loved ones is a motivating factor for many designers.

But they often miss the mark. Because running your own business is so involved, it's easy

to end up working 60+ hours a week. Or thinking about work when you should be enjoying

time with those you care about.

If you have, or are planning to have children, it can be even harder. Trying to be a stay-at-

home parent and also run a successful business can make you crazy.

Health is a huge factor for small business owners.

Some people find being self-employed much better for their mental and physical health.

Maybe sitting in a cubical makes you depressed (it makes me depressed). Maybe you

NEED to get up and move in the middle of the day or you'll murder your coworkers.

Maybe you just want the freedom to take a yoga break whenever you want.

But if you design a business that requires you to work 60+ hours a week and you're too

exhausted to hit the gym or make a healthy dinner, your health will suffer.

We hear all the time about freelancers owners burning the midnight oil, working their

butts off, and getting... what? Money? What good does that do you if you're too sick to

enjoy it?

Traveling is the freelancer's dream.

The idea that we can work remotely from the beach while sipping mai-tais is a nice one. Or

putting our business on hold for a few months while we gallivant around Europe.

Sadly, few web designers accomplish this. Their businesses require too much attention,

they're not making enough money, and besides, they're the only one who can make the

websites.

But there's good news.

You CAN plan your business so that you don't work nights or weekends.

Creative Compass

© EEF LLC erineflynn.com

You CAN structure your business so you're not 100% reliant on client work (even if it is

your bread and butter).

You CAN build a business that gives you the freedom to log out and spend time with loved

ones.

You CAN do all of this as a web designer or developer.

The very first thing you need to do is figure out your priorities. They don't have to be the

ones I've listed here; they can be whatever you want.

But they should be personal.

Later, we'll marry our personal and business goals in a way that allows us to run a

successful business, and still live the life we want.

What are your three top personal priorities?

How does your current business conflict with your life plans? Your business might be CRAZY successful. Maybe you're one of those designers who's

raking in 6-figures a year (the apparent definition of "success" in our world) while sitting

in your pajamas.

But that means nothing if you're not living your life.

All the money and followers in the world mean NOTHING if all you do is live for work.

And we love our jobs, and love the work that we do but there is SO much more to life than

hitting an arbitrary bank account number or getting a ton of likes on our photos.

I'm not saying we don't want to make money. We do. We want to make enough money

that we can comfortably live our lives the way that we want. But we don't want to be

working all the time to get there. We want to get there in a smart, thought-out way that

doesn't equate to sitting at a computer for 12-hours a day while life passes us by.

Knowing your top three personal priorities, is there anything in your business that causes a major conflict?

Creative Compass

© EEF LLC erineflynn.com

If one of your priorities is to travel, does doing weekly website maintenance or being on

retainer prevent this?

If you want to spend more time with friends and family, do constant email notifications

from clients keep you from being in the moment?

Does the constant feeling of being "on-call" stress you out and make you lose sleep,

affecting your health?

Are you not making enough money to ever take time off?

Write down anything and everything in your business that's conflicting with the life you

want to be living.

How can you restructure your business? Business re-structuring is scary. And you might be saying to me, "I can't restructure my

business--I do web design! Everything is one-on-one!" That's fine. But there's always

room for improvement. You can remove or revamp services that aren't working for you.

Web design projects taking up too much time? If projects are dragging on forever, make

note. Could they be trimmed to fit in a shorter timeframe? Could you charge more so

you're being fairly compensated--and take on fewer projects giving you more free time?

Having strict time-frames for projects motivates clients and you to get work done.

Charging more means you need to be providing premium service, but allows you to work

with fewer clients and make the same, or even more money.

Are you being stretched too thin? If you're offering too much you might feel like you're

losing your mind. Could some services be outsourced, automated, or removed completely?

By outsourcing you can still offer clients the services, but you don't have to provide them

yourself. You can strike a deal with another entrepreneur so that you're both fairly

compensated and end up on top.

Removing products completely can be a great step in streamlining your business and

focusing down. Spreading yourself too thin and trying to do everything hurts more than it

helps.

Alternatively, could you add new products or services to take some pressure off? If you

typically offer one-on-training you could offer pre-recorded trainings instead. Turning

Creative Compass

© EEF LLC erineflynn.com

one-on-one services into multi-use items is one of the smartest things you can do in your

business to provide your clients with quality help, and take the pressure off of yourself.

Don't worry about actually removing, adding, or changing products and services at this

point, but list possible solutions. We'll create perfect packages later that work for both

you and your clients.

How will this restructuring affect your business? Everything has consequences. Some are good, some are bad. Some consequences might

be bad for your business, but good for your life.

Removing services might leave a hole that needs to be filled. You can do this by referring

or outsourcing services you no longer offer. But removing services might also help you

focus in on who you want to be working with and what you want to be known for. Having a

clear focus is vital to having a successful business.

Adding services might fill a hole. Your clients might be thrilled that they're able to come to

you for more work, and you'll get the benefits of additional income. But adding services

can dilute your brand and focus if they're not in-line with your goals.

Revamping services can allow you to find a "sweet spot" where you give clients what they

need, while enjoying providing the service. But it can be hard to find the balance between

giving clients what they need, and what we're able to give. We'll cover this more in a

future lesson.

We're speculating at this point, but make your best educated guess on how these changes

will affect your business.

How will this restructuring affect your life? The whole point of this exercise is to create a business that has positive effects on our

lives. How will the changes you came up with above help you live the life that you want?

Creative Compass

© EEF LLC erineflynn.com

Will any of the proposed changes end up hurting your life plans more than your business

currently is? If yes, they're not worth it.

Removing services can free up your time. You will have more mental space and less to

worry about. But removing services that bring in good income might cause you more

stress as you struggle to pay your bills.

Adding services can bring new outlets for creativity and income. Bringing in more money

and allowing you to try new things. But new services can also take up a lot of time and

energy, leaving you none for your life.

Revamping services to better fit around your life is a solid option. But again, the problem

lies in finding the balance of giving clients what they want and what we are able to give.

We can't know for sure until we try, but think through how each business change will

impact your personal life.

Wrap-up Running a web design business around life's needs and wants can be hard. But it's not

impossible. Take an honest look at what you want out of life, and what in your business is

holding you back.

Being self-employed means you have the power to create the business and life you want.

No one else does.

Through a lot of hard work, careful planning, and smart strategy, you'll be able to make

more money and take more time off.

Action steps

• Determine what YOU want out of life

• Complete the worksheet by focusing on how you want your life to be, and what you

can do to make your business fit your life