Today’s episode was actually inspired by a message I received in my inbox by someone who wanted to know:

How do you balance it all? You must be so busy all of the time!

Well, the thing is, I get this question regularly. A lot of people think because I have so many content platforms, have multiple different offers and products available in my business, am buying a house, have got all of these hobbies, and am doing all of these different things…that “I must be so crazy busy all the time.”

Well, this episode is all about how I work smarter not harder so that I have time for all the things in life and business that fuel me. Make sure to give it a listen if you have been looking for a balance between the two!

If you did like this episode be sure to screenshot and share on Instagram and of course tag me @erinmayhenry @gamechangers.

I actually pride myself on the fact that as an entrepreneur, and I’ve been an entrepreneur for multiple years now, I’ve never actually burnt out.

I’m not going to say I’m lazy because I always take action on things. However, I absolutely do not like to be too busy. I do not like that feeling of overwhelm when you feel like you’re sinking and life is taking over. 

And, while people often think that I have a lot on my plate, because of the mindset I’ve developed around how I need to produce things in my life, I absolutely do not feel like any of this is overwhelming or stressful. In fact, I find all of it extremely fun.

1) LET GO OF PRESSURE AND GUILT

I have 100% let go of pressure and guilt. Those are two things that make you feel overwhelmed.

If you are trying to balance work, your family, hobbies, and friends and you are taking action in each of these areas, what is probably making you feel stressed out is that when you are taking action in one of these areas you’re feeling pressure or guilt around one of the other areas.

I’ve adopted the mentality that whatever is in front of me is going to get my full attention. So, as I was recording this episode, I was a podcaster.

I’m not sitting thinking, “Man, I’m really nervous about the speaking engagement tonight.”

Nothing other than what I am doing right now matters. 

I’m not putting pressure on myself to progress in any area of my life, in anyone else’s timeframe. 

I’ve let go of all of the guilt that I should be focusing on this or that.

I’ve also let go of the pressure that I need to keep up with the Jones’ of my industry or that I need to be at X milestone by X date. NO. 

None of that enters the arena of my life. I do things in my own time, I do things when I feel like it. 

Yes, I still make sure to abide by deadlines and, yes, I still set and stick to my business goals. But, it’s because I’ve decided to do it in a way that feels good to me. 

Obviously, when I was working a part-time job or when I was in university, it wasn’t as easy to have this kind of freedom around my decisions. However, I worked towards this. I’ve set my life up this way.

And so, if you want a life where you balance more, yes, you are going to have to build a life where you have total freedom and total control, but it doesn’t mean that because you have a job you can’t experience the same thing.

PERSPECTIVE

If you have a job, it’s just about changing the perspective towards that job.

Say you decide you want to start a business, but you also have a 9-5… a lot of people would just decide that they hate their 9-5 and all they want to do is be in business. In this case, they are putting a lot of pressure on themselves to make their business successful and not showing up in a way that is actually working for them. And then they’re going to work every day MISERABLE.

If you changed your mentality around these 2 things and went into work thinking I’m going to build my business in the most fun, effortless, and simple way possible, as well as being grateful for the 9-5 for supporting you as you do so. 

If you changed your perspective, all of it would seem so much more balanced to you.

Even though I’m in the middle of a launch, even though there is always something I could be doing in my business, I never make myself feel rushed or busy because it’s just the way that I’ve built my mindset and the strategies that I’ve implemented. 

2) DROP THE TIME IS MONEY STORY

So, the first strategy is you need to drop the time is money story.

There is always going to be something to do. Guys, that is never going to go away. NEVER.

There are so many things I COULD BE doing. 

There is always going to be something that you COULD be doing. 

What you want to do is figure out what the high impact tasks are and focus on those. 

And, let go of the idea that the more time you spend on your business, the more you deserve to make money. When you do that you’re going to find yourself not only succeeding more in your business, but you will also find yourself feeling so much less busy. 

Time is money is such an employee kind of mentality. It doesn’t work like that as an entrepreneur. 

Some people pride themselves on being busy, it’s almost become this like personality trait that people feel really self-righteous about. But, there is nothing self-righteous about working for the sake of working. Absolutely Freaking Not. 

You should be focusing on high-impact tasks and implementing simple strategies that work. 

3) SIMPLIFY YOUR BUSINESS

In the words of Marie Forleo, “Simplify to Amplify”.

This is literally why I have so much time. 

While it may seem like I have a lot going on right now, it’s important to understand that I also have a team. 

In the beginning, my business model for the whole entire first year of my business consisted of using my YouTube channel to attract people and my Instagram to get them into my one coaching program. That’s pretty much all I did and I made 6-figures from it. 

And that is the reason I had so much time—I focused on the important stuff. 

I built a website (it was good enough), I changed my branding a couple of time (#gemini), but really I didn’t do much and it ultimately worked. 

So, you need to have a simple strategy. 

Overwhelm and confusion will ultimately only lead to you not taking action at all, so you need to simplify your business in order to really take consistent forward-moving action.

This is the exact reason I created my group coaching program Simply Business. So I could show you how to make things simple, how to make them easy, how to make them effe
ctive (while also supporting you and providing you with a group of business besties). 

The mindset is the hardest part of business, the simple part is the strategy. 

You’ve just got to figure out a simple strategy that fits you, your target audience, your industry and then tweak it until it works. And then when it works, put more work into the front end of it, whether that’s hiring a team, launching adds, whatever.

Figure out what works for you and then GROW THAT THING.

Do you know what that is going to lead to?

You making a lot of money, you impacting a lot of people, and you spending WAY LESS TIME.

4) STOP STARTING AGAIN

When it comes to working smarter, the hardest part is the start! 

According to the law of inertia, or as we like to call it, momentum, the hardest part is the initial push. 

What most people don’t realize is that that start part, of anything, is the hardest. Once you’re riding that beautiful wave of momentum, things get so much easier. BUT, because people lack the tendency to stay consistent they’re constantly in the starting phase. And so, they’re always left feeling like business is really hard.

They never get to the point where they can ride the waves of momentum.

So, what you need to do is have faith. Nothing is going to work straight away. 

Setting everything up really is the hardest part. You’ve got to navigate your way around the tech, learn new things, create systems…Once everything is set up, all you need to do is tweak, all you need to do is evaluate, all you need to do is figure out what’s working, what’s not working, and then you grow and scale from there. 

5) IF YOU DON’T ENJOY IT, JUST QUIT

Honestly, there is a difference between “This is difficult, I don’t know how to do this” and “I actually hate my life right now”.

Why are you building yourself another job you don’t enjoy? Again, there’s a difference between unconfident, there’s a difference between being a beginner. 

If you literally hate doing something, just don’t do it.  

If you want to work smarter and not harder, you actually have to be enjoying what you’re doing. 

I promise, there are days where I’m totally frustrated, there are definitely things in my business I don’t enjoy, but 80% of the time, I am having a good time. 

You know, of course, I feel nervous doing new things, but am I having fun planning it? Of course, I am. 

You’ve got to make sure the niche you’ve chosen, the business model you’ve chosen, all the little things that make up your business, that you actually enjoy it 80-90% of the time. 

If you don’t enjoy being an entrepreneur, there is NOTHING wrong with not being an entrepreneur. 

Again, please do not confuse fear, procrastination, and nerves with an actual sense of apathy towards everything in your business. 

If you are someone who feels optimistic about all the things you could be doing, but you find yourself procrastinating for some reason, that right there, is the mindset. 

So, ask yourself, do I really want this?

If the answer is yes, you need to figure out what is standing in your way and move it. 

are you ready to start creating your dream life?

IN THIS FREE THREE PART VIDEO SERIES, I AM GIVING YOU ALL OF THE SIMPLE STEPS YOU NEED TO BUILD A SUCCESSFUL ONLINE BUSINESS!