Am I Willing to Maintain This?
Am I willing to maintain this?
If you're considering starting something new this year to grow or refine your business, it's worth asking:
Am I willing to maintain this?
We spend a lot of energy figuring out if implementing something—a new service, a hire, a marketing channel, a software—makes sense for our goals.
What we don't often consider is the fuller lifecycle. What will this choice require from me to maintain it over time? Am I able and willing to spend the time, money, and energy to do so?
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A few examples:
You're introducing a new service or product line because you need the revenue boost and suspect your customers would like it. Great! How will you continue to market it beyond the initial launch? Will it build on or distract from your current marketing efforts? Does what's required to produce or deliver it fit with your actual capacity and the vision of the business you want to run? (If not, there are likely other, simpler ways to create that boost)
You want to hire an admin or employee because you're at capacity and want to free up time, or you're curious to expand your solo business beyond you. Fair! How much time and energy will you need to not only train this person, but manage them over time? Are you willing to do this? (This is often where I see clients either get excited because they love mentoring, or flatten back against their chair because they absolutely don't want to be responsible for someone else).
You're sick and wondering if you should push through and do that client call or send that quote anyway. Sure, you could get through the call itself, but what about the follow-up notes? You could send the quote or sales email, but do you have the capacity to fulfill the work or respond to inquiries that might come in afterwards?
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We're good at imagining the beginning. The potential short-term benefits and satisfaction of starting.
Not so much the fullness of what's required to maintain something over its lifecycle.
This is simply a type of long-term thinking to practice within our business. (One that gets more important the more established our business becomes.)
This, and then what?
What comes after, and am I willing to take responsibility for the fullness of that?
When vetting something new, we want to make sure it makes sense not only now, but that it contributes to the kind of business—and life—we want over time.
Where will this choice put me in 6 months? 12 months? 2 years?
Let me know if this resonates,
— Kate
P.S. I had an aha with this last year. I was in the midst of a full-on client project and teetering on the edge of getting sick when someone reached out for a discovery call. I could see I had time later that week, but then I thought: Wait—when will I send the proposal? I didn't trust myself to have the time and energy within a few days, so I offered times the following week. Small decision, but it saved me from pushing myself over my own edge.
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