Business Boundaries, Delegating & Systems
Business Boundaries, Delegating & Systems
My thoughts on business boundaries, delegating and systems based on my business goals.
So as you probably know I own and run 2 businesses.
First I started my therapy private practice in 2015.
My second business is my super fun business coaching business which I started in 2023.
When I started my first business, I learned some from my mentor and other group practice owners. I also watched and listened to videos and podcasts on business building. You can read more about my private practice building journey here or in my course.
It took me a while to learn that I needed to set boundaries in my business to protect my energy. Below is a summary of my initial process.
Negotiating my time and energy boundaries:
Business Tasks: Setting business hours, including setting hours for returning phone calls and emails, working on CEU’s and other tasks.
Recharging Time: Making time for marketing the business and networking. Setting aside time for fun, relaxation and ‘nerding out’ or creating. Making time for exercise and fresh air. Making sure to schedule time with friends and family.
Delegating: I hired a virtual assistant who understands HIPAA compliance.
Business Systems: I invested in an EHR that offered what I needed in my business to help me work smarter not harder. I also utilized an email system and task management to help me stay organized. I started also using bookkeeping software to help me keep track of my income and expenses.
Then I finished my doctorate and when I started my second business, I had to reevaluate those boundaries again and add more because my availability and energy changed. I found that I was at first overly focused on growing the side hustle so I had to reevaluate.
Reevaluating my time boundaries:
Business Tasks: Moving around my time boundaries, to accommodate for goals in my second business. Making sure to continue to prioritize tasks in my first business to maintain momentum in growth and with marketing.
Recharging Time: Continue to make time for recharging activities like time with family/friends, creating, resting, exercising etc.
Delegating & Receiving Support: Continuing to utilize assistance from my virtual assistant. Working with my business partners to manage tasks together. Working with a coach to help me focus my time, attention and efforts.
Business Systems: Changed EHR’s to work with an EHR that was more efficient and worked even better within my system and goals for my private practice. Continued using most of the same business systems and added business systems for my second business to help me keep track of and manage leads, build courses, build communities, blog etc. Then reevaluating those systems over time. Substack is happily, a huge part of this system now.
Regarding your own business needs, boundaries and delegating
The following questions, may help you identify how to move your business forward:
What are your current business tasks? Are they organized well? How do you stay organized and get the things done you need to complete?
If you have two or more businesses, have you modified your organizational patterns to accommodate the new tasks?
Are you making & taking time to recharge? If not, how could you start to make some small changes?
Have you thought about delegating such as hiring an assistant to help? Or hiring a coach to help you brainstorm what is needed in your businesses?
Regarding business systems, have you evaluated what you have and what you need and what needs to change to make your business(es) more efficient?
Systems I Currently Use
I have a few posts about business systems. Here’s one that describes some of the systems I currently use and I also describe affiliate marketing. I am an affiliate with these groups but I only market systems I use or believe in.
Speaking of delegating, have you ever wondered about professional employer organizations?
And I am going live tomorrow with an expert on professional employer organizations (PEO’s) which provide HR support to business owners.
I went live on Friday announcing this broadcast. Subscribe to my channel to get the live notification.
Also, here is a video describing about my current business systems if you are interested.
Well that’s about all folks about boundaries, business systems and delegating. Please drop me a line to let me know what you think or to answer the questions. Please reply to this email if you want more support.
Stay nerdy!
Dr. Brie-Anna Willey