How to boost your bottom line without getting new clients or raising your rates

Are you a female solopreneur who has been struggling to reach your goals despite investing considerable time, energy, effort, and focus? If so, you’re not alone – failure rates for small businesses are abysmal. But in order to fix a problem, you have to correctly identify what the actual problem is, and time management may not be it! In this article, we’ll look at the 6 behaviors that are stealing your productivity and profit: procrastination, perfectionism, people-pleasing, distractability, impulsivity, and time blindness.

It won't happen overnight, but you can unlearn these habits and finally reach the promised land of sustainable revenue and profits. So let’s dig in and uncover the hidden reasons you’re not reaching your goals!

When procrastination is the problem

One of the potential barriers to success as a small business owner is procrastination. Procrastination can be a difficult habit to break, as it is often a learned behavior. Furthermore, it can feel like a never-ending cycle, where one waits to feel more motivated to take action, only to feel unmotivated to take action due to procrastination.

With this, it is important to not wait until feeling motivated to take action, as it is the procrastination itself which is the problem. Procrastination can become severe and chronic, but it can help to recognize that the habit of procrastination is learned and anything learned can be unlearned with patience and persistence.

The first step in breaking this cycle is to simply identify that procrastination is the problem. Taking action is also a habit, and it can be formed by taking small steps toward the goal.

When time blindness is the problem

Setting limits on how much time, energy, and effort is put into a task or project can be a way to start becoming more aware of how much time we actually waste. Whenever your brain tells you "you have time for this", "this won't take long" or "I just need to do one more thing before I go" recognize that none of these actually stand up to reality. You may not ever excel at estimating time, but you can always learn to wear a watch, set reminders and alarms, and give yourself buffer time between appointments so you won't be late.

Decide limits and communicate boundaries to others if people pleasing is the problem

The best way to address people-pleasing tendencies is to decide limits and communicate boundaries to others ahead of time, instead of deciding at the moment. This can be difficult, as it requires us to be honest with ourselves and others about our expectations and what we are willing to do. A good way to begin is to recognize when we are feeling the urge to people please, and to remind ourselves that we are all capable of setting boundaries and limits and starting small.

When someone asks us to do something, we can take a moment and pause before giving an answer. This gives us the opportunity to reflect on how we feel and if we are comfortable with the situation. We can also practice saying no without offering an explanation or excuse. This can be difficult, but it is important to remember that no is a complete sentence and that we don’t need to justify our decision.

Taking the time to set boundaries and communicate limits can help us to become more mindful and intentional in our decisions and help us to reach our goals by putting our own needs and priorities ahead of pleasing others.

Stop and pause for a moment before making decisions impulsively

Many of us make decisions on the fly, out of FOMO or shiny object syndrome. To help avoid deciding impulsively, take a few moments to ask yourself: Do I really need it? Will it help me reach your goals? Is it something that I can put to use right away? Chances are, if you take the time to really consider these questions, you’ll realize that you don’t need what you thought you did.

Many of us have signed up for countless low-ticket (and even high-ticket) items "for the business" that we never even used, and this eats a hole in our profit potential. If you don't need it and don't use it, it wasn't a deal. If you want to eliminate guilt and regret, hit the pause button before making impulsive decisions.

Distractibility is the thief of confidence

There are countless things competing for the focus and attention of every entrepreneur, not to mention phone calls, texts, emails, marketing messages, pitches, and customer service requests. Most of us have lots of creative ideas and are good at solving problems, but you will get much farther in business and life when you can create fewer distractions so you can prevent fires instead of getting better at putting them out. Fewer distractions mean better focus, more intentional decision-making, and the ability to create strategy instead of relying on tactics. One suggestion that really helps is closing all those open tabs on your laptop and disabling notifications on your phone. Most distractions that feel like an emergency really aren't.

With practice and determination, you can free up time, energy, focus, and attention by getting a handle on the habits that limit your productivity and profits. It may be slow going at first but stick with it, and get help if you feel too frustrated to go the distance. Your business and peace of mind will thank you for it. It's really frustrating to recognize you are holding yourself back, but the good news is that you can unlearn those habits. Want to learn more? Click here to listen to my podcast episode on the topic: https://bit.ly/3HuTsG5