My Secret Weapon to Avoid Overwhelm When Running a Business

Transcription: Hello and Welcome to The “S” Word LIVE. My name is Renee Hribar, Sales Strategist, TEDx Speaker, and Author. And my goal today is to help you make selling for yourself simple and fun. So for those of us who haven’t met yet, I have been selling for myself and for other companies professionally for over twenty-four years. So I’m coming to you live right here on my Facebook business page that is syndicated all across platforms. So wherever you’re hearing this, whenever you’re hearing this, hello, say hello as you join. Know that this is fresh on the day. So today I’m talking about overwhelm because I have had at least three clients this morning share with me that they were feeling overwhelmed, overworked and exhausted. And it is not an atypical thing to hear, I’ll be honest, but it definitely seems to come in waves. So if you’ve ever felt overworked, overwhelmed or exhausted, it’s OK. It’s not your fault. I mean, I’ve been running a company since nineteen ninety-six. I incorporated my first business in nineteen ninety-six, so it’s been a long time. And so if I didn’t do something about feeling overwhelmed, overworked or exhausted, I would not be in business anymore. What are the statistics? Most businesses go out of business. It’s a higher rate than divorce. Businesses that start close. So to protect yourself, if you’re running your own business, it’s great to not get overwhelmed, exhausted or overworked. So I have studied this quite a bit.

From psychological research, to what doctors say, physical health, mental health. When it comes to running your own business and you’re wearing all the hats, maybe you are doing everything yourself. Maybe your whole company is you, maybe your whole company is you and one other person, maybe your whole company is you and two other people. So it’s easy to get caught up in all the things need to get done. And so over all of my study and all the investments that I’ve made in my business, I have come up with a four bucket system. In fact, I was inspired by a book that was written by a woman who lives in Michigan, Carol. And I’ll make sure I put the picture and the link to that. I’m not an affiliate or anything. I’m just a fan of the book. It’s called Have You Filled a Bucket Today? I called the bucket system. So the four bucket system, it looks like this, if you can see that did today, too. I actually just shared this with the women in my mastermind today. And so the first thing I do when I wake up in the morning or when I have a moment.

So for me, it’s the morning, maybe for you it’s the afternoon, maybe for you it’s right before dinner. Maybe you work full-time for someone else. And then you have a certain time when you start to work on your business. So when you get that perfect time of the day, maybe you have to carve it out in your calendar, where you can take ten minutes and actually work on your business and you fill up the four buckets.

So the first bucket is yourself. So you’ve heard before. Let me know in the comments, “Put on your own oxygen mask first.” Right. For those of us who have flown as much as I have flown, lots, you know, hundreds of thousands of miles in the air as I’ve worked over my career and traveled, they always say, if you’re traveling with a child, always put your oxygen mask on first. And I always thought that was crazy until I learned this. You can’t help anyone else unless you are alive. So if you’re feeling overworked, overwhelmed, exhausted, there’s nothing you can do for anyone else.

So you have to take care of yourself first. It’s not selfish. It’s an absolute necessity. So take care of yourself first. So for me this morning, literally, it was make sure you shower, make sure you have a nice cup of tea, make sure you have a nice meditation and say your morning prayers. That for me was it. That was all I needed. And then I made sure I did that. And guess what? I felt I felt much better. I didn’t feel good waking up. I had to be honest, too much dessert last night. I probably shouldn’t had any. And so I had a tummy ache. I didn’t feel good. So I had some nice peppermint tea, meditation, prayers and I took a shower. I felt better. So that was the first bucket. And you can see that’s right up here. Second one is my family, including my pets. So if you were to come to my house today, there are hermit crabs and dachshunds and a husband and a child and just making sure that they’re all handled and taken care of.

Say hello as you join. And so taking care of the family, what do they need today to feel loved and seen and heard? I made sure, you know, I made a little note for my kiddo in his lunchbox and I made sure I gave my husband a kiss before he left for work. Little things that you think, oh, it doesn’t really matter, does it matter? Just little things that we focus on that we did them. We feel good about them and they’re done. So this also could be maybe there was an appointment like I know last week I had in my four buckets. I had to make sure that I got my kiddo a haircut.

I had to make sure he had a contest at school. And we are one of the few schools that are open in our area. So it’s like, yay. So he had a fun contest school. We needed to go get something at the store, so we did that so that went in my bucket, my family bucket the last week that I did this, but I do this as much as I can. I don’t just in this weekly, sometimes I do it daily. It just depends on how I’m feeling. You know, the more the better. Right. It’s like exercise. The third bucket is people who are paying me. So my employer, my clients, my students. Who is paying me? I need to make sure I take care of them too, because they’re paying me. So what do I need to do for them? Sometimes that list is long. Make sure that email goes out. Make sure that post gets shared. Make sure that that form gets filled out. Make sure that this gets passed along to the right person. Show up to this meeting, run this meeting, prepare these slides, whatever that might look like. Who is paying you? Write that list there. Sometimes it is a bit long and then potential clients or potential employers. So who potentially or other potential income streams. So for a lot of people that I work with, they’re freelancers. Maybe there’s another potential income stream like creating a course or creating a mastermind or a group program. And so they might have something on that list today or this week to focus on to get them one step closer to creating another income stream. That is another part of what I do with my clients. Not only do I help them sell for themselves, but I help them create new income streams, which is always fun. So say hello as you join.

Have you ever felt this way? If you ever feel overwhelmed, exhausted and overworked, if you have try my four bucket system. I just laid it out for you. I hope you got the chance to write it down and I’ll make sure I put the book, that is one of the inspirations, down in the comments. Whether you see this here or anywhere else across platforms, I want you to know that there’s a link that goes along with this that gets you on my email list, and I’m going to give you a free gift. I have a lot of great stuff I’m going to share with you, but also it allows us to communicate because social media is so busy. And oftentimes, you know, I know at least for me, I’ll go on social media detoxes, but I always check my email. And so if you’re like me in that case, make sure you’re on my email list. Make sure that we’re staying connected and talking. I have a great community on Facebook. That’s also another great place to join. If you’re not there, make sure you come by and hang out. The worst thing that can happen when you own your own business or when you’re trying to create, you know, you’re a freelancer, create a little side hustle. The worst thing is if you feel alone and feeling alone is another impact on feeling overwhelmed, exhausted and overworked. So use my four bucket system, make sure you get on my email list and join us in the community.

Don’t do this alone. See you next week.