Episode #66: How to Manage Your Business when Life Feels Heavy with Terra Bohlmann

Intro (00:01): When you give smart women a five-year plan, simple business strategies and a positive mindset. It's amazing how fast your business can grow. Welcome to the fast track woman podcast with your host and business strategist, Terra Bohlmann. She helps women business owners stop winging it and board the fast track to success. When she's not making high flying dreams, the reality you can find her traveling to random destinations, desperately tracking down Chanel, broaches, or sipping overpriced coffee drinks. Her purpose in life is to help you build a profitable first-class business, smooth out the bumpy ride, and finally have more time, energy and freedom. So buckle your seatbelt because this episode of the fast track woman takes off right now. Welcome back

Terra Bohlmann (00:53): To this episode of the fast track woman, episode 66. I can't even believe it's already 66. Like it just feels like time is flying. So I wanted to do a special episode that isn't necessarily strategy based. It is strategies, but it's very much not a step-by-step, but instead it's some ways that you can manage your business when life feels heavy. And I just need you to know every woman business owner I've ever worked with in the last decade has times in her life when life feels heavy, that's the only and best way to describe it. And it could be because there's a death in the family. There could be because you're just feeling down about business, it could be anything, right? So that's kind of the, you know, the perspective is like, I mean, it could be something as simple as I got out of bed and I'm just kind of not feeling it today, all the way to a major life event, you know, and the, and the DS, what people call the DS, divorce, disease, death, that kind of stuff.

Terra Bohlmann (02:19): And then there's everything in between. So sometimes life feels heavy and it affects our business. So I want to give you some ways that you can choose on how to deal with it, and you can use all of these ways. You can use the one way that feels good to you or a combination. And there's three ways that I want to share with you. The first thing that comes to mind is dealing with the big rocks in your life, the best that you can, and then knowing that you did the best that you can. So what are the big rocks? The big rocks is a very common coaching exercise that a coach will do with their client to understand their top priorities. And in the, you know, in the coaching exercise, there's a visual of a vase and then rocks different size rocks. So I'll try to set this up through audio as much as I can, as I'm demonstrating how that I'm holding the space imaginary base, but you have a vase and then next to it, the rocks and they're all different sizes.

Terra Bohlmann (03:36): And what happens is we just start putting any, all the rocks and the base and the, the rocks don't fill that overflows the vase actually, cause that just doesn't work. But what happens when you are wise about how to fill the vase and the vase is a, isn't a analogy of your life. So if the, if the vase is your time, right, and you want to fill it with and maximize as much as you can, you know, to get the most that you can get done and you know, all that kind of stuff, it's like, what you want to do is you want to put the big rocks in first. So if you don't, you put all the medium-size and some small, and then you try to fit the big rocks in. They don't fit in the base. And that happens a lot in business is we have our big rocks and a lot of big rocks when I've done this exercise with some of my clients in the past, it's like, you know, the big rocks tend to be, you know, your family, or it could be your marriage.

Terra Bohlmann (04:39): And then it could be, you know, making profit and your business and it could be your faith or it, you know, you want to think in terms of, I like to think of like three, three to five big rocks, and then you have medium rocks and then you have pebbles and then you can have like sand which can fill in at the end. But when you have the big rocks and you are very clear on your big rocks, then those go in first. But what happens when life feels heavy, sometimes it's because it's affecting a big rock. And when you can associate with a feeling of feeling heavy with one of your big rocks, you have to do what you can to. When I say deal with the big rocks, manage it find the root cause, focus time and energy on it, water the plant, you know, because it needs some attention.

Terra Bohlmann (05:37): Cause if you don't deal with the big rocks, everything else is going to, it's going to be a trickle down effect, right? So I want you to deal with the big rocks. So, you know, but first obviously you need to understand what your big rocks are. What are your non-negotiables and the business map method. Your big rocks are found from looking at your values, your core value. What do you value the most? And know that those go in first. And so the first thing, if, if things are feeling heavy in life, is it because one of the big rocks needs some attention? And if that's the case, I want you to spend time or whatever it takes to get that big rock taken care of. And it could be, you know, whatever, you know, whatever it takes, it's going to need your attention or else.

Terra Bohlmann (06:32): The other things are going to be out of alignment. So that's way, number one, deal with the big rock, the best that you are capable of doing and know, knowing that you did the best you can to get that back in, in shape, right? And when I say deal with it the best you can, I want you to also think in terms of doing only what you can do, what you can. And so if you're dealing with a big rock, whether it's a relationship fallout or something bigger, then it's like, you can't force the other person to change. Right? All you can do is all you can do is manage your own expectations and the things that you can control. So remember, number one way, I want to talk about deal with the big rocks, the best that you can and know you did the best that you can do period done.

Terra Bohlmann (07:33): Right? And then my second way that I, I personally deal because my life gets heavy, just like everyone else. When I have where it starts to feel heavy, I will give myself permission to take a self care day. So I give my surfs myself permission to take a self care day. And I've had that prescribed these to clients, to what happens when you're a high achieving woman business owner, we will just go, go, go, right? It's like nonstop level up. We never even take the time to appreciate how far we've came and things are just go, go, go. And then sometimes when it's goes that way, it's like, there's a big hit a wall moment and it just crashes. And then things start to fall really, really heavy. So I want you to always feel, you have permission to take a self care day. Even if your calendar has to get cleared and it's on a Wednesday, sometimes you can take a self-care day in the corporate world.

Terra Bohlmann (08:38): We'd call them sick day or, you know all kinds of different names, but just because you're running your business, it doesn't need, it doesn't mean that you need to work seven days a week. So again, this comes back to being able to own your boundaries and understand that sometimes things just feel heavy. And I want you to give yourself a permission just to take care of yourself, give yourself 24 hours to just lay in bed and relax, listen to some awesome music, go take a walk, you know, clear the calendar and just let any obligations. You know, that, you know, something came up and you reschedule. I mean, I'm, you know, I wouldn't make a habit of this, but I want you to know it's always a possibility and you are no less than a woman. If you're taking care of yourself at the same level that you would take care of any of your customers, someone I talked to once said to me about health, you know, I've, I've been on a journey, especially during the last year.

Terra Bohlmann (09:48): It's like, I need to take better care of myself. I need to quote unquote, exercise. I need to eat healthier. I need to, I need to, I need to, right. I've put on weight every year since I've had my business the last 10 years. And I'm like, all right, something's got to change. And someone, I can't remember who exactly told me, but they said, Terry, your clients pay you to take care of yourself. And I was like, what? And they're like, yeah, because if you take care of yourself and you feel good, you're going to show up bigger for them. And I was like, Whoa, okay, that hit home. And that was great advice. And I want to pass that on to you because it was a completely different perspective than I had ever valued myself and my health. So now I'm super excited. I'm in a, three-day a week.

Terra Bohlmann (10:41): I do plodders and Barre class. And you know, there's a stretch class and I'm committed to doing that three times a week and it feels good. And I feel strong and that's my main goal wants to feel better. You know? Well, everyone wants to look better and whatever mine truly is, I want to feel strong. And then, you know what? You can watch what you eat, all that stuff. I recently have as of this past weekend, giving up my infamous Starbucks mocha that I have every single day gone, not doing it. And that's been through, I've been through therapy. I've been all through all the things to try to get rid of the Starbucks. It is that ingrained in me. Finally, I had hypnosis and whew, and that it's been five days now. And normally I would go once to twice a day and I have zero desire for it. So please send me all kinds of good Juju, okay. That I am going to stay on this path because I think it's sticking, it's working. It's amazing. But I know it was important because I didn't want to have something have that kind of hold on me because it felt more like I needed to do it. And like it was so part of a routine and a habit, then it even tasted good anymore for me.

Terra Bohlmann (12:00): So wait, number two, permission granted to take a self care day. And if you feel like, Oh Terra , I could never, you know, I wouldn't cancel on my customers. Totally fine. But then you can schedule, schedule a couple of hours maybe the next day and you can go do the things I always thought self-care meant going and getting a massage or getting a Manny petty and doing those things that you feel are a trait. A lot of the times, right? But a self care day could be simply just blocking your calendar and going and sitting outside or going for a walk or reading that book that you've been wanting to read, or just doing nothing, taking a nap, all the things, self care, you have permission. And I'd love to see you get into a practice where you're doing self care much more than you're doing now.

Terra Bohlmann (12:52): Being a woman business owner is not for the faint of heart. You have to take care of yourself. I'm so psychotic about this. Now that I have all my clients, you know, from an accountability standpoint, they have to let me know every week what they did for self care, because it's really important. I don't need you burning out no matter what stage of business you're in. Self-Care super important. Okay. So that's way number two, the third way. And this is more of a strategy. So like I'm, I guess I can't help, but do strategies. It's how my brain thinks, but I have a strategy called the roll up, expand down strategy, roll up and expand down. And what that means is when you are feeling overwhelmed, you're feeling overwhelmed. There's a lot going on. Life feels heavy or you're simply, no, you're just overwhelmed. You're in what feels chaotic, that kind of thing.

Terra Bohlmann (13:53): You need to roll up, right? If things feel rolled up, get back to the big rocks. I call them like the big, why roll it up to the big goal, the big, why the big rocks, however you want to think of it. But you want to roll up in your head to those main things or the main goal. Like my clients, we do quarterly goals, annual goals, and then break those a quarterly, go back to your annual goal. And if you don't have that, what's your quarterly goal. Go back to that, roll it up. When you're feeling overwhelmed and go, Oh yeah, this quarter, my big goal was to, you know, get, get 50 new clients or five new clients or sell a hundred of my products or, or whatever your goal was. All you need to do is roll it back up. And it's like, okay. So why am I focused over here? When this is going to be what moves me towards that big goal? The big rock or the big Y roll up when you feel overwhelmed. Okay. So that's the roll-up part. Lot of the times I have clients who are like,

Speaker 3 (15:06): It's not necessarily, they're overwhelmed. They're just kind of

Terra Bohlmann (15:09): Duck. They just aren't sure what to do. What should I be doing? What should I be talking about? What kind of content should I be putting out? What should I be focusing on? Right. And it's, they're clear on their, their big rocks, their big why and their big goal, but they're not sure what to do. So this is where we want to expand down. So that's where you start with your big, and then you break that down into chunks or to do lists. So say mine was, you know get 20 new clients this quarter. That's what I'm focused on. And maybe I have 10 new clients. So then it would tell me I have 10 new clients as part of my goal. What do I need to do? I need to expand that down. Okay. How am I going to get the 10 clients?

Terra Bohlmann (15:57): Well, I'm going to do a masterclass. And then I'm going to invite people to come have a consultation with me that feels like a fit. Then I'll offer them into whatever program makes sense for them. Right? You mean that could, and then from there, how am I going to get people into my masterclass? Okay, well, I'm going to run Facebook ads or I'm going to do personal invitations or send an email out to my list. I'm expanding down and that's going to tell me exactly what I need to do, but to not fill the overwhelm, it's the things that need to be done. I probably don't have to all be done by you. So this is where you can bring in someone else to help you or use a tool to help you as well. So on the expand down, it's good to have the checklist, but then I don't want you to look at the checklist of how to accomplish the goal and feel overwhelmed.

Terra Bohlmann (16:49): Instead. Then you take that and a lot of people may prioritize the checklist when they're expanding down or saying, is this something that needs to be done? If, if I don't do this, I'm not going to hit my goal. Yes or no. And if it's not necessary, scratch it out, right? We're not here to live in an overwhelm checklist world. And if anyone would be doing that, it would be me, but I have no problem going. This isn't a priority. I want to scratch more things off than I'm adding, or you can. So hopefully if you can scratch it off, awesome. Do it. If, if it's going to be one of those things that moves the needle to your hit your goal in a good way, keep it on. And then after that, you want to say, is this something I have to do? And a lot of times, because you know, we're business owners and we may have some control issues. We will think that we are the only person who can do it.

Speaker 3 (17:45): But a lot of times we're not, there's people better suited to do the thing.

Terra Bohlmann (17:50): So is this something I can delegate out? I may not be done perfect or may not be done to my exact expectations, but two things, one

Terra Bohlmann (17:58): Done is better than not done. The second thing,

Terra Bohlmann (18:04): They may actually do it better than you could have done it. So that's what you want to ask yourself when you're expanding down. Does this have to be done? If not, can I delete it? Number two? Okay. Can I delegate this? And then the third would be like something I have to do. And I just, you know, you can put like how much time you think it'll take and just get it done. Right. Prioritize things. So that is it. Those are the three ways that you can still manage your business when life feels heavy. Number one, deal with those big rocks, the best that you can, I would like to call it, bless and release, knowing that you did the best you can. And yeah, that may or may not be a business

Terra Bohlmann (18:47): Rock, but that's okay. Like

Terra Bohlmann (18:50): We have to deal with it the best that we can. So that for me, I see my brain as a bunch of windows. Sometimes I have to do that in order to close that window, the best that I can so that I can move on and focus on the other things in my business that needed to happen. So number one, deal with the big rocks, the best that you can and know that you did the best that you can do the things that only you can control. We're not controlling anyone else because that's an ex that will exhaust you even more. The second way is you always have a permission to take a self care day. And if it has to be the next day, because, you know,

Terra Bohlmann (19:25): Just at that point, that's okay,

Terra Bohlmann (19:29): Just don't make a habit of it, but it's okay to do it right. Or maybe it's a couple of self-care hours that you can schedule out. And it gives you something to look forward to in the next few days or something like that,

Terra Bohlmann (19:41): But self-care is important or else

Terra Bohlmann (19:45): You're gonna burn out in your business. And I don't want that. We have to be able to manage our business. And a lot of it is we have to take care of ourselves. And then the third way is the roll up and expand down strategy. Roll up. When you're feeling overwhelmed, get back to that big. Why the, the rocks, if you think of the rocks in your life

Terra Bohlmann (20:08): Or the big goal that you're focused on, and if you're

Terra Bohlmann (20:12): Completely overwhelmed, you're like Terra , I don't have rocks. I don't, I don't know what this Y thing is. And I don't have goals. Then that should be your number. One thing,

Terra Bohlmann (20:22): To create some goals that feel doable. I have a whole five-year plan workbook.

Terra Bohlmann (20:28): I give away for free on my website, Terra Bohlmann.com/workbook, download it. It's free and it will help you lay out your next five years. That's a great start. And then you can break that five-year and a one year, one year and a quarter.

Terra Bohlmann (20:42): Pretty cool. If we don't have a plan, all paths will

Terra Bohlmann (20:48): Lead us there. And we don't want that. So roll up, expand down. When you're overwhelmed, roll up, get back to basics, get back to the big things. The important things, get rid of the other things. And then remember you want to expand down whenever you need to know exactly what you should be doing. So that's when you want to make the detailed checklist based on the big goal, and then go through and do your deletion process. Does this have to be done? Can I delegate this? Do I need to do it? And if that still feels heavy, you know, ditch it some more, go after it again and get it down to where it feels doable, but it feels, and it feels fun and exciting. I mean, there's always things, honestly, in everyone's business that aren't always the most fun things that need to get done.

Terra Bohlmann (21:37): You can outsource that whether you want to do it now or later after you're making more money, but it's like, no, that the things that are important that have to get done, taxes, accounting, all that kind of stuff has to get done. It doesn't have to be done by you. And the more you can focus on the things that light you up and the core that makes you the money and really digs into that, why you run your business anyway, the more money you're going to make and the less bad things that you don't want to do that feel icky or heavy or anything like that. And then you can pay somebody to do those things, because there are plenty of people who love to do what you would think you wouldn't like to do, but there's tons of people who love that stuff. So cool.

Terra Bohlmann (22:27): I'm so grateful to my bookkeeping company, because they're amazing at that stuff. And I can log in anytime and see where I'm businesses app. It's pretty cool. It's powerful. Feels good. So, yeah, so that is how to manage your business when life feels heavy. And I hope you found this, these ways and strategies and whatnot in a different way. I hope you think about it in a different way. So next time your life does feel busy and heavy and full and overwhelming. You have permission to take that self care day. You can go deal with that big rock. That's probably making everything feel the way you're feeling right now. Or you can do the roll up or expand down strategy. All right. And if you don't have a plan, I would highly recommend downloading the destination success workbook because it'll help you literally walk you through step by step. And it's a fill in the blank workbook to how to create your next five years and get that plan going all right, until next time take care.

Outro (23:36): And there you have it. Another jam packed episode of the fast track woman podcast, don't forget to visit Terra Bohlmann.com where you can get business tips and strategies, learn how we can work together to accelerate your business success or access this podcast. Episode show notes with a full transcript and links to resources mentioned today. And if you enjoyed this podcast, I invite you to leave a review so that we can help serve more women business owners to like you until next time here's to owning your time and valuing your work.