Being a wellness entrepreneur has some amazing benefits. Without a 9 to 5 job you can:
- Design your schedule around your family
- Work from wherever you want to
- Go grocery shopping during off-peak hours
- Do what you love and love what you do
But without a boss breathing down your neck, teammates to check in with, or any form of accountability what-so-ever, it can start to feel like a little too much freedom.
If you find yourself staring at a blank computer screen with no idea where to start, scrolling through the social feeds of other wellness pros and struggling to meet deadlines you set for yourself, you are not alone! Time management is one of the biggest issues for entrepreneurs.
Here are three things I wish I had known when starting out:
1. Know your “Magic Hours”
You have probably already learned that plopping yourself in front of your computer with the intention to “be productive” does not mean you’ll get anything done.
Everyone has what I like to call magic hours, but because so many people are working corporate jobs that value presence over productivity they never discover this. The truth is that most of us have a 3-4 hour window during the day where we can accomplish as much (if not more) than we could in a full 8-9 hour work day. Taking advantage of this is one of the major benefits of entrepreneurship.
Some people get their best work done before the world wakes up (5am – 9am) and others, once the world goes to sleep (10pm – 2am).
To discover your own magic hours, try alternating your schedule for a little while. Perhaps working out at 8am is actually taking away from the time when you could be most productive in your business. It may be wise to embrace your night-owl tendencies and plan to get your work done late at night.
Don’t feel guilty if your internal schedule doesn’t match a “typical” workday. Just like it would be ridiculous to expect all people to thrive on the same diet, it’s ridiculous to expect all minds to thrive on the same schedule.
Once you know your magic hours, your main job is to protect them! Remove anything else from your schedule during that time and dedicate it to getting your most important work done.
2. Break Up Your Week
What you do during your magic hours will vary depending on your business, but it’s important to have a focus for your time.
If you find that you are most creative and productive between 10am and 2pm, maybe you will focus on writing 2-3 blog posts during that time once per week. Turn off your phone, disable desktop notifications, and focus on finishing all the blog content you will need to create for the week.
Many people find it’s best to have a weekly schedule that allows them to focus on different parts of their business each day, versus trying to manage everything every single day and never feeling accomplished.
If you have multiple revenue streams, decide which days of the week you will see clients and keep those days reserved for client work alone. It’s tempting to want to have an open schedule for your clients, but the time you dedicate to anything in your business should reflect the percentage of your income that it’s generating.
For example, seeing clients for one-on-one sessions brings in about 40% of the revenue to my business right now, so I have 3 days dedicated to completing work with my one-on-one clients.
When I was starting out, I obsessively hunted for information on how other wellness professionals scheduled their weeks to use as guidance in scheduling my own. While every business is so different, I learned the most from those who let me in on their behind-the-scenes.
Here is a peek into my “typical” work week (my magic hours are 9am to 1pm):
Monday & Tuesday – Client Days
- Booking hours 10am - 6pm
- See one-on-one clients
- Finish and send client plans between appointments
- Answer emails
- Work on clinic-related projects during gaps
Wednesday – Self-care & Admin
- Self-care
- Sending & following-up on proposals
- Invoice tracking
- Check voicemails
Thursday – Content Creation
- Create group programs
- Write blog posts
- Recipe development
- Brainstorm ideas for creative projects
Friday – Client Day
- Booking hours 9am - 4pm
- See one-on-one clients
- Finish and send client plans between appointments
- Answer emails
- Work on clinic-related projects during gaps
Weekends – ETC.
- Wrapping up unfinished tasks
- Working on passion projects
- Self care
- Strategy and intention setting for the week ahead
It’s really important to know that often, our weeks do not play out as perfectly as we hope.
Sometimes I accommodate a weird booking request and end up staying at the office until 9pm. Sometimes my clinic days leave me so exhausted that Wednesday becomes mostly dedicated to renewing my energy. This leads to the final (and arguably most important) point…
3. Schedule Self-Care
One of the big reasons that wellness professionals struggle with time management is because they’re not making time for themselves. As the saying goes: you cannot pour from an empty cup.
When you’re the boss in your life, it’s easy to think you should be constantly getting things done, but you will just end up working more while doing less. Start the day with something that fills you up, whether it’s calling your mom, meditating, hitting the gym, or sitting quietly with coffee.
I find that back-to-back client days on Monday and Tuesday often leave me feeling really drained, and until I recharge, nothing productive will happen. This is why I stopped feeling guilty for being slow on Wednesdays and started scheduling some rest + relaxation into my week.
When you show up in your business happy, energetic, and ready to kick butt, you will get better results than when you show up empty, exhausted and ready for a nap.
It sounds like common sense, but this didn’t come intuitively to me as an entrepreneur and I think it’s common for wellness entrepreneurs to place unrealistic expectations on themselves and then wonder why they can’t be met.
If you have a time management issue, you can likely fix it this week by using the 3 tips above.
First, identify your magic hours and plan to work during those times. Stop expecting to be productive all day long.
Then, break up your week so you are only tackling one chunk of your business at a time. Quit trying to do everything every day.
Finally, remember to schedule in time for self-care (whatever it looks like for you). Don’t feel guilty because odds are it will lead to increased income when you’re bringing 100% to your business and showing up with a full cup.
