Love Your Business: Guest Post #8


All month long join me here as I welcome amazing contributors with one thing in common
we love our business {blog/shop/etc} and we want you to love yours too!
To keep up to date with this series view all posts here.

Hello lovelies! Kaelah Bee here from Little Chief Honeybee! I'm a soon to be 24 year old small business owner, graphic designer, and furball mama to 3. My fiance Mike and I are getting ready to tackle our biggest challenge yet when it comes to balancing time, but I'm going to leave you hanging for that exciting announcement a little longer! (Nope, not pregnant! :P) Thanks to the sweet Miss Heather for having me over today!



I get to tell you all about how I effortlessly juggle a million and one "jobs" and how each weeknight and weekend is filled with friends and parties and relaxing away… Except if I told you that I'd be lying. My days are nothing like that. They tend to go like this: Sleep in too late (ugh!), scurry out of bed, drink a glass of OJ or coffee, brush my teeth (in that order, because you know, OJ after brushing your teeth is the equivalent of gross), sit down at my computer and have a mini panic attack at the emails that seem to have made their way into my inbox since last night (Oh… you mean I've been putting those emails off for a week? Ah…). I spend the day juggling anywhere from 3 to 7 freelance design clients, and lately it's been on the higher end of that. I also run the Little ChiefHoneybee blog, Hive + Honey Etsy shoppe, Honeybean Mobile Boutique (Nashville's first mobile boutique. in person and online), and I'm slowly but surely working on opening up two more online shops! Not to mention daily brainstorming and business planning for a brick and mortar store here in Nashville, planning my October wedding, and getting ready for that curveball I mentioned up top! Yeah, I think I love stress! Good thing I've got a bathtub and endless amounts of bubble bath to help a girl out.

I honestly think I'd be lying to you if I said I knew how to balance it all. There are days that I get to my computer and literally weep simply because I'm a little bit exhausted. Having a new(ish) business is like having a newborn baby (I'd assume… I've never had one but it looks tough!) There's so much you need to do and take care of. Constantly checking up on orders and stats. I've slowly learned how to enjoy it, even if I'm not the best at managing it.

I think that's exactly what life is supposed to be like though: a little bit hectic. It helps keep me on my toes. While I can't tell you how to make all of your daily to-dos fall into place without any effort, I can tell you what I do in order to keep me on the sane end of the spectrum:


1. Find your happy place. Find that one place that helps you relax and unwind. When you go there, don't take cellphones, laptops, or anything work related. Just go. For me? My happy place is the bathtub (as mentioned above!). I am a bubble bath girl. I take at least one a day, sometimes two if it's a particularly stressing time. Sometimes I cheat and take my phone to play silly games like Where's My Water? but usually I just lay there or read a book.

2. Set a timeframe for everything. If you have 5 things on your to-do list, give each one of them a time limit. For example, if I have 5 clients, I'll judge each of their requests and give each one roughly 30 minutes to an hour. Then I move onto my next topic. If it's something simple like take out the trash or clean my office, I'll budget in 20 minutes. If "take the dogs to the dog park" is on there (it is, daily!), I'll give that an hour or more so I can make sure to enjoy it myself. Budget in 10 or 15 minutes between the things you need to do and just kind of enjoy them. Reflect on how much butt you just kicked on whatever it was that you did, and relish in the moment. Then make sure to do it at the very end again! Few things can surpass the high I feel from an incredibly productive day's work.


3. Make time for friends! This is one that I have the hardest time with. If I have a lot to do, it's easy to turn down fun invitations to go out and do stuff. I always feel guilty while I'm out. That's non-sense! In order to keep ourselves from burning out, we need to unplug for a bit. I know many gals have said take the weekend off, so give that a go if it works for you! I take the weekend off from all design work, but I still bartend on the weekends so I never get a "proper" day off. Sometimes I try to treat Sunday as a lazy day, but I always end up scrubbing the house top to bottom or organizing my office. I kind of like that though. Cleaning has become my "stress relief" of sorts.

4. A little contradictory to the one above: Don't be afraid to sacrifice "you" time in the beginning. A little here and there is fine. Sure, coffee with a friend sounds great, but are you on a deadline or feeling ultra inspired? Use that time (only occasionally!) to get things done! Sacrifices are necessary in almost every area of life if you want it to "succeed" so don't be afraid to make them! Just make sure you aren't cutting people out of your life completely!

5. Try to work as far ahead as possible. I have some of the very best weeks when I schedule up all of my blog posts in advance. I can always go back and add anecdotes or personal details that may have happened, but having the "core" of stuff written in advance really really helps. I like all blog posts to go up before noon at the latest (8am is preferable), so it's nice to not have to wake up and rack my brain for what to type while I cower in fear from my Gmail!


Don't be afraid of a little hard work. While my business ventures still aren't exactly where I'd like them to be, they're well on their way! And the most exciting thing of all is that all of that progress is due to me! It's so invigorating to think that you dreamt up this wonderful idea and took the steps needed to put it into motion.

Don't be afraid of set backs and obstacles. They're inevitable. The real test of character and strength is if you let them knock you down. As cheesy as it is, I have my favorite quote tattooed on my upper arm and it reads: "I cannot change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails". If some unforeseeable event happens in your life, whether personal or business-related, don't let it keep you down. Recognize it as a folly and move on.

The success of your business is in your hands. You have the opportunity to make it into something amazing! Commerce breeds commerce, so I want to see you succeed! The world needs more self-made business ladies anyway!

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* I wanted to share a quick story real quick about Kaelah's PR marketing book*
If you have a chance to check it out seriously do so!  Here is some additional info I own a copy and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a little more help on branding & business blogging.  I loved every chapter and if you are new to business blogging I would recommend reading the pointers in chapters 14 & 38, I see the don'ts happening all the time and I loved that she talked about them!  Anyways just wanted to pimp her book for a min! =)
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6 comments:

  1. great tips! I need to work on a couple ;)

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  2. awesome awesome awesome!! i definitely need to work on a couple of these myself (mainly budgeting time for each task!) and work on better focus. with so much wonderful stuff on the internet i peruse way more often than i should! :)

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  3. Hi Heather!

    Thank you so much for linking up to the blog hop! Love your blog -- already following! Wishing you all the best.

    Kelly
    www.livelaughrowe.com

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  4. I love Kaelahbee and I always find her advice is spot-on!

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  5. Oh my gosh! I love these business posts!! Following now. :)

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  6. Another excellent post. This series has helped me in so many ways. Most of all I feel so much less alone (and insane) when I read about women just like me who are trying to juggle and balance the same things. Thank you!

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