When talking about office hours, even for yourself if you are self-employed or are thinking of going that route, it is so important to set a schedule for yourself. Set boundaries and know what your day is going to look like. I have to keep reminding myself to stick to the schedule because so many things come up and my To-Do list will continue to grow. Yours will too! We are always going to have things on that list and we will always think, if I can just do one more thing or see one more client it will help free up tomorrow. But then tomorrow never comes because you continue to think like that and then at the end of the day you can’t work on the other things that you’ve been wanting to work on.
Those other things are parts of the business that could take you to the next level. That’s why you have to focus on creating a set schedule. That’s why I need to focus on creating and implementing office hours. I want and need set days where I will provide my training sessions to people who book me to come to their house or work with them at the local coffee shop. I also need days that are sectioned off for just working on other parts of my business such as creating apps as well as photo and video shoots. If I stick to my office hours I will reach my goals quicker. 2016 is going to be exciting!
If you were on the scope the other night about Open Enrollment I was talking about how excited I am to be doing Ed Troxell Creative full-time now and how Periscope allows me to teach, one (me)-to-many. For those trying to figure out the balance of when to charge and how to charge this should help. The one-to-many can be considered the free part of your services. The one-on-one time dedicated to one individual is paid. That’s how you charge people for moving forward in your business so keep that in mind. You have to know your worth and you have to find what you’re passionate about, what you are knowledgeable about, and be able to share that out to the world.
Realize that people will naturally gravitate towards you once they see the value you bring to the table. That’s the beauty of Periscope and social media. I love being on Periscope, especially now. If you ever went back to watch any of my old scopes (please don’t, ha!) they were terrible. I hated being in front of the camera but after I practiced and continued to record it got easier. I forced myself to stick with it. And because of people like Nicole Walters, whose amazing, the 1k1Day business group I was in, and the support I have from friends and family boosted my confidence level.
Make sure you surround yourself with positive people and build a support network you can reach out to. Set those office hours and stick to them. Fight the urge to respond after hours. Make a note and get back to them during your regular office hours. It will be hard but you have to train your clients so that they know how to follow the rules. If you don’t stick to the office hours why should they?