Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | RSS | More
Referenced Links:
Tweetables:
We experience burnout and overwhelm when we say “yes” to everyone but ourselves. #vatip 
Gotta Tweet!
Saying “yes” to everyone causes us to say “no” to ourselves. #vatipGotta Tweet!
You’re a business owner and you have choices. #vatip Gotta Tweet!
In Words:
You’re listening to episode number 25. Hello virtual assistants. Today we’re going to talk about the causes of burnout and overwhelm and quitting before you reach the point of your success.
I’ve talk to a couple of VAs that have decided to put their business on hold or do something totally different altogether. That’s obviously an okay decision, but I have to wonder if they hadn’t got into the zone of overwhelm or burnout, would that really be the case? So that’s what we’re going to talk about today.
Let me just tell you while I’m recording this, I am fighting a slight cold and sore throat and didn’t realize how difficult it would be to record, but I want to have this episode. I don’t want to skip, and I feel like the information I have is important. So I don’t know. Who knows? I may rerecord it once I get healthier, but at least the information will be there and I’ll have it all transcribed and just can say it all over again.
Anyway, one of the things that occurred to me in thinking about what happens when we experience burnout and overwhelm is the fact that we’re saying “yes” to everyone but ourselves. We’re saying “yes” to all kinds of things for money. Whether it’s a need or desire for more, we’re saying, “yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.”
By saying “yes” to everyone, that causes us to have to say “no” to ourselves because you can’t do everything for everyone, including yourself. At some point you have to say “no.”
As you’re taking on projects, assess every single one of them. Assess every phone call. Assess every interaction with someone in regards to your business.
For example, I used to have the vCita popup on my website and it invited people to schedule an appointment, and it was open. Anybody could schedule an appointment. It didn’t ask any questions. They just scheduled a time.
Well, what I started noticing was that I was getting a lot more tire kickers because of that. There was no barrier to entry. They just put in their name and phone number, and there were times where appointments were scheduled but no one showed, or there were times where appointments were scheduled but we really didn’t need an appointment. They were just fishing for prices or just wanting to talk to someone about their project.
After I saw this happening too many times for me, I decided to take that option off and look for something else that was more of a barrier, that asked more questions that prequalified them before I interacted with them. I wanted to know what they were looking for as far as their project went, and I wanted to know how soon they were looking to get this done. Because I had talked to people at that point that, you know, were deciding. They had different options as to what they wanted to do, and they weren’t even going to be ready in the next 6 months, much less 30 days.
So instead of saying “yes” to everybody that wants an appointment, no, let’s ask come questions to make sure they are ready for me, at least in that initial stage for a conversation.
By assessing that one little piece, like why is this going wrong every time or more times than not, and it’s because I’m not asking anybody any questions. It’s just more like, hey, come talk to me. You’ve got an idea. You think you might need some help with something, come talk to me. Just an open free for all, and that just didn’t work with the type of setup that I wanted.
What is it that you have now that is causing you overwhelm or causing you not to get the results that you want?
How can it be better? How can it go smoother? What tweaks can you do to it to make it a better experience for both you and your business? That’s something that no one else can answer for you but you, but it’s something you have to look at.
Another thing in just thinking about overwhelm and what causes this is that we’re doing the same thing over and over. If you’ve been working with AWeber and newsletters for years and now you’re not even excited about any updates that come out with AWeber, it might be time to do something else for clients.
I know for me, I’ve been doing WordPress for a while and, you know, the desire to learn about all the different options and nuances, it’s kind of fading and I’m getting more interested in actual events and actual training and products. I think the main problem with that is that, you know, I’ve experienced working with a lot of people who had their website set up, but that was the extent of it. It stopped right there.
Once my work is done, if I set up your website, you know, it’s really none of my business what you do with it later. However, it’s like, man, you know, you’re sitting on something that you could utilize and I want to help people utilize their skills and to put their passions out there. I want to help them utilize it and see them get results. See them go from zero to, you know, 1,000 on their Facebook page, or see them go from making no money online to making whatever their goal is, five figure, six figure, online in six months because of their products and because of their webinar.
You know, you want to see results other than no website, got a website, I mean, that is not a good case study. It’s not an interesting conversation. From my experience, the clients who were the most motivated and excited about what I offered were excited and motivated because they knew where they wanted to go for their business and they knew that the missing link was the technical aspect. They knew that if I get the technical worked, I’m off, I’m gone, and those are the people that were the most joyful to work with.
The way I figured that out is just assessing and thinking about what’s going on because I have experience burnout, but it wasn’t because of workload. It was the type of work and the type of clients, and so I’m just figuring out, okay, how can I keep this from happening? How could I start working with people who aren’t just seeing people online and thinking it’s a great idea, ooh, I can be online too. I just need a website.
But people who are in business, like this is how they make their money and they’re ready and want to go for it, you know, those are the people I want to partner with because they inspire me as well to go and do, you know, what I do. Instead of being drained and the website’s been sitting for six month and still the Hello World blog post is sitting out there, or no follow-up after months and their website is in test and it’s just sitting.
So your burnout and overwhelm could come from saying “yes” to everyone but you, but it could also be because of the clientele that you have, who you have chosen as your clients, and yes, we get to choose who we work with and we can switch gears at any time. We can change what we offer. We can change who we offer it to at any time.
I just encourage you before you give up, before you say it’s not working, look at all the parts.
Figure out is it what I’m doing, who I’m doing it for, or how I’m doing it? Ask yourself how can this be done smoother? How can this be done better so it’s a great experience all the way around?
You’re a business owner and you have choices, but the choice is up to you and what you choose for your business.
Thanks so much for tuning in. If you like what you heard, stay tuned. We’ll be back. Tell me what’s going on with you. Come on over the Facebook page: facebook.com/tiffanyparsonbiz, or if you prefer a little shorter message, come on over to Twitter: @tiffanydparson.
See you next time.
Leave a Reply