Hey there, my fabulous listener, welcome to episode 216 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast. 

Thank you for lending me your ears today – I know you have lots of choices, so I sincerely appreciate me being one of them!

If you’re enjoying this podcast – I’d love you to take a screenshot and share it on your socials and tag me in it.  How cool would that be!

Don’t forget you can get the show notes for this podcast at www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/216

Before I get started on today’s episode – how did you go with last week’s episode? Episode 215? I chatted with Karen Bryant about HR and lifting the HR veil for small business owners.  If you didn’t listen into that one – then once you are finished here – slip back there for even more small business made simple GOLD!

Oh, and can I ask a favour?  At the moment, I am collaborating with some amazing Australian thought leaders to do the first-ever BIG small business survey.  We want to amplify the voices of small businesses heading into 2023 to see what’s holding you back, where the biggest opportunities lay in your opinion and what you’d like to see done differently.  If you could take 5 minutes of your time to fill it in, I would be so grateful.  Additionally, if you leave your email (you don’t have to), you will receive of $500 worth of freebies from the 5 of us doing it.  My freebie is all about your marketing strategy and is exclusive to this survey – so worth doing just for that!  Here’s the link: https://bit.ly/SmallBizSurvey2022

Thank you for doing that.  Feel free to pass on to your friends/family/audience if they are a small business too.

But onto today’s episode.

I’ve found myself talking a LOT this week about boundaries with my friends, family, and clients and thought, given the time of the year, it might be a good discussion for us to have too!

Setting boundaries is an important part of business, especially if you are in a growth or start-up phase.

I’m not a boundary expert and frankly have to call myself on boundaries every now and then, but I thought if I share my thoughts, it might make you start to think about your own boundaries – especially when you are planning a new year – 2023 and what that might look like for your business.

Let’s start with marketing boundaries! 

I talk a heck of a lot about showing up, human-to-human marketing, having your audience get to know, like and trust you and the fact is they can’t do that if they don’t know you – or you never show up for them and give them the opportunity to get to know you.

But there’s boundaries in this, too, of course.

I definitely want you to show up.  I definitely want your audience to have a chance to get to know you – the real you – not just the ‘work’ version of yourself.  People buy from people they align with, that have the same values, that they trust – so if your audience doesn’t know these things – doesn’t know what you stand for, or trust you, then buying from you is going to be harder for them.

BUT, there are boundaries, right?  And you can change those boundaries too – over time.

That’s certainly been my experience.

And when I say you should let them get to know you – not just the work version of yourself, it is still 100% up to you what you share and what you don’t share.  There’s no formula, no rules.

I am sure you follow some oversharers on social media – although I would question whether they really overshare or whether they, too, have boundaries – they just aren’t your boundaries.

I share a lot.  But there’s a lot I don’t share simply because I don’t want to.  I don’t want to today, but maybe next year, next week, tomorrow, I might want to – but for now, I know my boundaries.

What are your boundaries when it comes to content and sharing your story and about yourself?

Why are they your boundaries?  Is it about you (you’re nervous or think no one would want to know that (whatever that is), or is it about your branding – sharing “that” has no bearing on my brand or doesn’t align with my brand, so I am not sharing that?

Have a think about your marketing boundaries – do they need some tinkering, or are they solid?

Remember, great things happen outside your comfort zone – so make sure your boundaries aren’t holding you back.

Of course, the other big boundary you hear about all the time is work/life boundaries.

Personally, I think work/life balance is not really a thing – but a thing life coaches made up to sell their products or services.

It’s not possible or credible.

But you need to love what you do and have boundaries around what you do – AND your boundaries might not look like anyone else’s, and that’s ok!

I work a lot.  I work on weekends, at night, early mornings, work hours – it’s a lot.  I have two amazing businesses, and that takes a lot of time.

But, I do have boundaries, and I try not to take on work that doesn’t suit those boundaries as I learnt a long time ago that some people’s money comes with too many conditions – not everyone’s money is the same!

But I think I do have work and life balance.

Just yesterday, I had breakfast with my bestie, visited my parents, did some podcast interviews, and then went on a road trip with my hubby and daughter and came home and cooked a roast for dinner for the family.

Did I do much work – heck no!  Is there work to be done – frig, yes!  So, doing what I did yesterday, a working weekday, means that I will be working on the weekend or doing some night work.

Does that worry me?  No, because it’s harvest – we are farmers, and it’s harvest/hay season, and I am what I refer to myself as a harvest widow right now.  Hubby is never really home or just home to eat/sleep, my kids are either at work or helping him at nights/weekends, so it’s just me at home, so I am happy to work.  Although Season 3 of the Crowne has just come out, it might be a toss-up of work and Netflix!

I refuse to work on other weekends and nights – it can all wait until tomorrow.  But right now, I am in a busy season of my business (before the calm Christmas/New Year break), and so is my entire family – so it’s more about work than life – and then December/January will be more about life than work.

So, swings and roundabouts.

Most people go into business for themselves for some freedom – like my breakfast, visiting, travelling day yesterday – and most of us realise that if we do that when we are simply going to have to make up the time wherever else – because the work literally starts and stops with us.

So, what is your balance like?

If you went into business for yourself for freedom and flexibility – how’s that working out for you?  If not so good, what do you need to change in 2023 to achieve the level of freedom and flexibility you dreamed of when you went into business?

What other areas in your life do you need to set boundaries?

Maybe spend 15 minutes and make a list of boundaries you have and then a list of boundaries you’d like to have in all areas of your life, including marketing boundaries.

If your brain works like mine – the exercise of writing them down might be enough of a nudge, or even spotlighting them by having them pinned in front of you to see every day when you sit down might be what you need to start making small changes toward your boundaries.

As always, if you want to chat about setting boundaries or perhaps even a chat about showing up more in your marketing, book a discovery call with me http://bit.ly/Discoverwithjenn and let’s do that together.

Otherwise, let’s chat in my Facebook group – Like Minded Business Owners.  If you’re not a member, come join!

See you next week on the podcast for episode 217!

Please head over to https://bit.ly/SmallBizSurvey2022 and do the survey – and share if you can – the more numbers, the better the stats we will have and the bigger difference we can make.

But in the meantime, let’s hang out on social and get social on social – you’ll find me on Instagram, Facebook and my fav LinkedIn.

Oh, and before I go, do you have a subject you’d like me to chat about on the podcast or a guest I should interview?  Please get in touch – DM me or email jenn@jenndonovan.com.au – thank you!

But whatever you do,

……..remember small business peeps, as my opening song says, there’s no point in dreaming small!