How to Create and Navigate Boundaries in Your Business

There’s only so many hours in the day, which means we need to be productive with our energy and time to focus on what matters most in our business and in our lives. One of the most powerful ways I’ve been able to maintain this is through boundaries. Boundaries help you become a better leader to your team, to your clients and to help with your personal relationships and family. They play a role in setting the expectation and creating limits so you are less likely to lead to burnout. 

Here are a few of my favorite tips when it come to setting boundaries in your business:

Have dedicated times to review work and predetermined response times. 

Whether you have an agency, coaching or service based business you want dedicated times to review work and respond to clients and team members. When it comes to reviewing work I recommend scheduling time in your calendar to review client work and anything pertaining to your team tasks. Providing feedback is such an important part of being a leader, so allocating time for this allows for you to give support where it’s needed but in a particular period of time so you are not overwhelmed yourself. 

Response times are a little more tricky, and require a lot of personal restraint. (I fall victim to this too) It’s so easy to receive an email, voxer or any communication and feel the impulse to respond right away. But before you know it you’ve lost an hour of your day going back and forth with a client or even a team member. Make sure just like reviewing work, you set aside an allocated time of day to answer questions and respond to messages. 

Know when to shut it off. 

OK this one is personal!

It is so easy to fall into the trap of working 24/7. (I struggle with this a lot.) For any other entrepreneurs you KNOW what I’m talking about. What you do for a living lights you up to the point of no return sometimes, but as much as we love what we do there is still a need to create boundaries. Now that doesn’t mean that every now and then I do a little work on the weekend, or after 5pm some weekdays. But overall I make it a point to shut work off. 

Sometimes that requires accountability too, my husband keeps me in check when I’m not shutting things down. I also have people in my circle who keep me accountable to creating these boundaries so everything can continue to eb and flow. It’s the hardest habit to break, but the most important. 

Have dedicated times for your team to ask questions. 

From the start, have dedicated times your team can contact you or have you review work. As a leader, you have to keep your eyes on large projects and initiatives which do require allocated time during the day to review work. I recommend including a ‘feedback hour’ in your calendar and notify your team to submit anything that needs to be reviewed during that time. This way you have dedicated time to work with them on anything they need support with, and provide feedback where it’s needed. 

Always remember your team comes first, you can’t serve your clients well without making sure the internal machine is up and running well. 

Want to learn more about managing your business and creating systems to implement boundaries on all areas. Visit my resources page where you’ll find my masterclasses available for purchase.