Not wanting to be overrun by clients

Before getting to the topic, I wanted to remind you that today, November 20 at 1:30 pm eastern, is my free webinar Adventures in Pay from the Heart.

Sliding scale, pay what you want, and various versions of letting the client set the price can be a disaster for a business, or it can be amazing, as it has been for us.

I experimented in a limiting way with what I’ve come to call Pay from the Heart, and then made it our main business model about a year ago. I want to share all I’ve learned from it in this webinar.

Totally free. No upsell. Just sharing.

Join me at 1:30pm eastern. And if you can’t make it, if you’re registered you’ll get the recording. And yes, please invite anyone you think needs it

Click here for more information and to register

Okay! On with the show…

Topic: Not wanting to be overrun by clients

“I’m worried if I do this marketing thing, and I’m overrun by clients, that I won’t have a life any more.”

We shared a smile when she said that, because as real as the concern is, it’s also funny. I hear this from clients fairly often, the worry that a flood of clients will make their life unmanageable, that their freedom will be squashed.

It’s as painful as it is funny, because folks who face this are also facing a real need to make a living, to have clients so they can pay their bills.

What a push-pull! Wanting more clients so that your business can be successful, and not-so-incidentally so you can do great work and help people. But also NOT wanting more clients, because of the loss of freedom you think will happen.

There’s three things I want to bring up, that can help free this logjam in your business.

First: It’s a real concern.

For heart-centered, caring people, it IS a real concern. When someone is in need, and asks you for help, how do you tell them you can’t? How do you turn someone away, saying you don’t have room?

How do you learn to prioritize your own freedom over what other people need?

Aaahhhh! This is exactly the question at the heart of this problem. Acknowledging the deep care that you have for others is so important.

Being aware that you would want to give your time away to people who need it, and yet you also need enough time for spontaneity, for connection, for non-work life, is beautiful.

Embrace it all.

Second: External structure supports the inner

What I mean is that it can be really freeing to figure out your schedule ahead of time, before you dig into heart-centered marketing and bring clients in (and I have faith that you will do just that).

It’s hard to say “no” to a request. “No, I don’t want to schedule you Saturday night, even though you are struggling.”

However, it’s much easier to present a request with the truth, “My schedule doesn’t have an opening then.”

And that will be the truth if you figure out your schedule ahead of time, and block out the times when you decide you aren’t available for clients.

It’s so much easier making those choices when you’re not facing someone in need, but instead are facing your own needs.

This is true even if you don’t have a solid commitment on your calendar. You can, ironically, schedule “unstructured/spontaneous time.”

The spiritual teaching: we aren’t God.

Although each of us is an expression of the Divine, and we have infinite potential in our hearts, none of us, as humans, encompass the totality of the Oneness.

Sometimes we are asked to stretch, to give in big ways, and that’s beautiful.

But when you make it a habit, when you don’t do it from guidance but from reaction, there’s a subtle arrogance in the perhaps unconscious belief that if you don’t help this person just as they asked, they won’t get help.

We are all meant to help, to be of service, but we aren’t the only ones (thank the Divine!) It’s okay to create a sustainable schedule for yourself.

Third: What can happen when you get full

It’s very human to believe that however it is right now is how it will always be, yet change is always available.

When my clients become overfull with clients, here’s some of the things I help them contemplate doing:

• Raising prices. When my clients are truly overfull, often it’s time to raise their prices. This can do a few things, including a) trimming the client list down enough so that they aren’t overrun, but still full, b) helps pay for administrative help so that they have even more free time.

Note: raising prices doesn’t mean you can’t offer particular individuals pro bono or reduced rates when you are guided.

• Create different offers. They start to get creative in offering group programs, or home study programs, or other kinds of offers that allow them to serve more people, and bring in more income, without taking up more time.

• Bring in subcontractors. For certain kinds of businesses, at a certain stage of development, you can bring in additional practitioners or subcontractors. For instance, a web designer brought in some tech and design help, so her could more easily serve more clients without exhaustion. An acupuncturist brought in a new acupuncturist to work within her business.

There are so many possibilities. As your business gets busier, if you can maintain some focus on business development, then you won’t just be overwhelmed, but your business can actually grow and become more stable and profitable, while still providing you the freedom you yearn for.

All of this is to decrease the fear.

I just don’t want you to stay paralyzed with too few clients, yet nervous about doing what it takes to bring in more.

There is so much love and care and support out there. There is so much creativity in your own heart. You can have a schedule that works and a full business.

Is this a fear of yours, concern about being overrun and losing freedom in your life? How do you work with it? What landed for you in what I wrote?

With love,

Mark Silver, M.Div.
Heart of Business, Inc.
Every act of business can be an act of love.