10 Ways I'm The Best Boss of Me

Running a business takes a lot of time and effort.

There’s frustrations when things don’t happen quickly - or at all!

It’s tiring - even if you hire people to work for you, ultimately the decisions fall on you.

It’s challenging - you have to think on your feet, be flexible, and be willing to pivot.

To make it succeed, your business needs a great boss! And that boss is you!

It’s not as easy to be the one always in charge, setting up systems, and getting things done. That’s why you need to cultivate being a great boss of yourself. Someone who does what they say they’re going to do, follows through on plans, and keeps the future in sight when making decisions. Oh and someone who tells you to take the weekend off, celebrates your successes, and tells you constantly: “You’re doing a great job!”

You can learn how to be the best boss - of you!! and lead yourself to success!!

1) Take Time Off From Your Business

It’s essential to have a separation between work and home life. You’ll wear yourself out if you’re always thinking: “I should be working.”

Set up regular office hours, and days off. You might be thinking: “But I can’t do that. My business is just starting. I have too much to do.”

Trust me. You’ll be able to focus, and get so much more done, if you limit the time you spend on your business.

If you allow yourself three hours to get a proposal out the door, and you know you’ve promised yourself to stop working at 4:00, you’re going to buckle down and get that work done.

Looking forward to having time off also fuels your day.

Making time for pleasure, enjoying life, friends, and family, means that when you do get back to business, you’re pumped up and actually have something to give to your clients and customers.

2) Do What You Say You’re Going To Do

Holding yourself to your word and being accountable to your plans and goals is one of the most key parts of being a boss to yourself. It’s also one of the hardest skills to learn.

You have to learn how to notice the disempowering thoughts that appear when you’re trying to get a task done, and learn how to not let your brain talk you out of doing it: “Maybe I can start tomorrow” or “This is probably a dumb idea” or “You’re going to embarrass yourself”.

It starts with recognizing that your brain is simply trying to keep you safe by trying to convince you that filming a promotional video or going on a podcast is too dangerous of a mission to take on.

Thank your brain for pointing out the danger, and carry on with the task at hand.

The voice warning you of potential disaster will quiet eventually when the task is done.

But as soon as the next challenge arises the voice will likely be back. Know this: You aren’t doing anything wrong. You’re pushing yourself out of your comfort zone, and that is where you’re going to be hanging out a lot as you grow your business.

You have to learn to work when you’re feeling fear, worry, and doubt. Learning to sit with uncomfortable feelings and emotions is one of the keys to doing what you say you’re going to do,. You don’t allow yourself to give up when the discomfort sets in.

Doing what you say you’re going to do is a game changer - and it can be learned with practice.

3) Get Dressed in Business Attire Even When Working From Home

Your energy shifts when you change out of yoga pants and stained sweatshirt into work clothes. Work clothes don’t have to be fancy. In fact, the more they’re personally expressive of the boss you envision yourself to be, the better.

Picture yourself at the height of success in your business. Everything is flowing, sales are being made, and your business is on fire. What are you wearing in that mental picture?

Wear that right now. You’ll channel that energy and show up as a boss in your business. Try it. You’ll be up for taking calls with new clients, showing up on Instagram Stories, and hopping into your Facebook Group to do a spontaneous Live video if you brush your hair and put on some red lipstick.

Putting on work clothes is a signal from my body to my brain that it’s work time.

Lipstick transforms me into a CEO who will hop on a call at the drop of a hat to talk about my latest offer.

Dress for the business you want to create, and never underestimate the power of a red lip. 

4) Buy Yourself Flowers

Hard work and determination make up a lot of a business owner’s day, but making time for pleasure, colour, and sensuality make for a business life you’ll be happy to live.

Give yourself small perks: some cut flowers on your desk, a special candle you burn when you’re nervous to pitch yourself and you need to fire up some courage, or treat yourself to a ritual of a cup of tea before you start your day.

You got into this business so you could create an abundant life of creativity, connection, and wealth.

Give yourself some small perks that mean you get to experience moments of delight along the way to building your empire.

5) Eat

You need energy to pull off this feat of being a business owner. And food is the fuel that keeps you going. Some of you would argue that it’s coffee and anxiety, but I’d suggest that taking time to eat will give you sustainable energy for the often long slog toward business success.

Listen to your body. I’m not advocating for any one kind of way to eat. It’s so personal to you. But I will advocate for the simple act of eating. For too long women have been taught that they’re supposed to deny themselves food. That food is dangerous. That their bodies aren’t worth feeding. No. No. No.

Say yes to food. Say yes to taking time to eat, and not stare at your phone or try to multi-task.

Your business deserves a boss who’s strong, energized, and doesn’t burn out by 2:00 in the afternoon.

Fuel up so your business can thrive.

6) Connect With Other Business Owners

Women in business are amazing people to get to know. They’re motivated, creative, interesting people who have a vision, a desire to serve, and ambitions to live bigger and bolder lives.

Take every opportunity you can to network with them.

Join Facebook Groups, find women on Instagram who are doing the same kind of business as you, go to conferences, and meet people in real life.

I love to network. I’ve even taught classes on how to get out there if you’re a person who’d rather stay home. It’s so important, not just for your business, but for you. Having peer support is an incredibly mortivating experience: to hear how other people get throught their similar struggles and succeed is worth its weight in gold. 

7) Plan and schedule your content.

Half of business is marketing.

This fact came as quite a shock when I first started out, but it’s true.

And marketing these days is all about content creation which means a lot of balls in the air: Instagram, Instagram stories, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Blog, Podcast, Email newsletters.

This means you must have a system for content creation otherwise you don’t have time for anything else and marketing becomes a full time job.

There’s fantastic apps like Later that help you schedule and gives an overall picture of when you need to post.

Taking time to plan and schedule content means you have more time to serve your clients and move your business forward.

8) Invest in your business.

I have a Virtual Assistant. Hiring Leeann was the best decision I made. She helps me with everything technical and figuring out systems. If she doesn’t know how to do something she figures it out.

I also invested in Hustle and Charm Community which is a membership group of women entrepreneurs. Plus, I invested in branding with professional photos, logos, and copy for my website. All worth it. And I recently invested in Susan Hyatt’s In Demand program to attract as many clients as possible to me.

So often we talk ourselves out of investing in our business. We tell ourselves: “I can’t afford it. I’ll wait until I make money, and then I’ll hire people to help me out.”

But the opposite is true:

The more we hire out to do the things that aren’t our areas of expertise, the more time we have to operate as the CEO of our business, and make plans and decisions that move our business forward.

Investing in our business means we’re taking a risk that it will pay off in the future.

Take the risk.

The momentum you’ll feel, and the confidence you’ll feel in yourself and your future will propel you forward like nothing else.

9) Make a lot of mistakes.

If you’re not making mistakes, you’re not trying hard enough!

Make offers that fall flat. Send out copy that barely gets read. Collaborate on a project that goes nowhere.

All of these mis-steps, and “wrong decision” are going to move you along to the right decisions.

Trying to be perfect is the biggest time waster of all.

Let yourself fail often and hard.

Learn how to manage the negative feelings that arise like shame and embarrassment.

Keep taking massive action until you get the results you want.

Adjust as you go.

You’re an entrepreneur. You are going to get good at thinking on your feet, pivoting, and finding solutions that keep you moving forward.

It’s liberating to fail publicly. Go on. I dare you.

10) Have compassion for yourself.

If I’m having a hard day,. I let myself knock off early. I have cookies and tea. I journal. I talk to a friend or sister.

Being in business is amazingly worthwhile, and also incredibly challenging.

It’s a marathon not a sprint. You have to take care of yourself, soothe yourself when things get tough, and show yourself some loving care.

If you need to take a day off, you can. After all, you’re the best boss of you.

Thanks Boss.

I’m the best boss of ME!