How Kate went from Overwhelmed and Wanting Out to tripling her Business

When Kate and I first connected she was feeling completely overwhelmed. With a business that has increased levels of paperwork, compliance and admin plus being a mum and a wife Kate was starting to look for a way out of her business. Having previously been a registered teacher in Early Childhood along with her husband Kate purchased her very own Early Childcare Centre 17 years ago. If you asked what she did for work Kate was very quick to say “I’m an Early Childhood Educator, not a business person” and struggled to navigate her way through being a great teacher and running a great business.

Combining her business with the “Mother Load” was exhausting her and she was sick of feeling like that duck paddling upstream in the rive. Paddling like crazy under the surface and getting nowhere.  Keeping track of birthdays, buying the presents and who’s got to go where for music lessons or sports training or that part-time job you encouraged your teenager to get is something every mother knows well. Logistically running a household is already a full-time job and when you add that to a busy Early Childhood Centre meant Kate was running from Dawn to Dusk and still feeling far behind the 8 ball.

Now Kate operates 3 centres tripling the size of her business in the past 12 months. The Mother Load she was carrying on her own has been divided across the family. Kate describes herself as confident and calm. She is easily able to deal with challenges as they come up, knows how to ask for help, and who to go to for support.

What did she do?

Kate stopped juggling everything. Sorting out which things in her business and life she needed to keep moving forward and which items she could put down for a little while and nothing would break. Kate figured out what was important to her with the Highest Life Priorities Navigator™ and started slowly getting rid of everything that wasn’t in alignment with those things that mattered most to her. More importantly, she got clarity on what she wanted from her business. And understood how it could add value to her life. This clear vision of what her success would look like allowed Kate to say no to everything that wasn’t moving her closer to that destination.

Kate expects to get less done in a week which while counterintuitive it’s made her productive. Taking the time to pause and get what she needs to do out of her head took the pressure off. Instead of being a monster business, she had in her head, Kate had this manageable set of projects to work on.

Putting herself first – while deeply uncomfortable for her has made sure she shows up as a better business owner, friend, wife, mother, and furbaby mum.  Her husband asks “What can I take off your plate?” and Kate can give him an answer that helps her rather than grinding through on her own. The bonus is that she also knows how to ask for help and more importantly who when she gets stuck.

Creating some accountability because while Kate was great at getting stuff down for everyone else she was great at procrastinating on the items for herself.  Building clear boundaries around when she would talk and think business even with her husband has allowed her the space to create a business she loves rather than one she wanted to get rid of on a regular basis.

If you want a plan to being calm and confident in your business you can connect with me here.

Or join us in our group of busy female business owners who are saying Goodbye Overwhelm, Hello Business Freedom

Looking for more stories of woman who has kicked overwhelm to the curb while growing their business and working less? Check them out here.