My Organized Biz

Honeymoon clarity and changes at MyOrganizedBiz

by Jennifer Hofmann on June 14th, 2008

(www.myorganizedbiz.com) - My honeymoon was a life-changing event for my business.

Before I left, my biz complained that I was going for 6 whole days. It worried that my email was on autorespond and my phone was off with an “I’ll call you back in 6 days” message on it. When I walked out the door with my bags, it was seriously fretting.

My business moped around the whole time I was gone, waiting for me to get back so I could again pour into it my undivided attention and 110% of my time, energy, sweat, and tears.

But when I returned, instead of automatically, unthinkingly stepping into the fray, I took a good look at how things had been before I left.

It wasn’t pretty. In fact, when I considered how I would soon be plugging away for 14 hour stretches as before, the thought made me physically ill. In my heart, I knew I had to pay attention to this and possibly make some changes.

The Big Picture versus reality
I did some brainstorming about how I wanted my new life, my married life, to be. Everyone has an image of what their perfect day looks like. In mine, I work for 5 hours and then move on to doing other things I love - spending time with my new spouse, playing with the cat, cooking delicious meals, taking walks, oodles of reading, meditating, and hiking in the Oregon woods.

I didn’t want my partner to say “I miss you,” anymore. We had so much fun on our honeymoon, I wanted some of that in my everyday life. Though I run a small business because of the freedom it gives me, I had been feeling enslaved. Not good.

Making changes
After I reflected for a couple of days, I realized that in order to do create a new relationship with my business, I had to: A. cut out some of the things I have been doing and B. start learning to say “no” to the inevitable other things I might say “yes” to since I’m such a time optimist.

The sad news is that I’m leaving b5 - I’m going to stop blogging My Organized Biz. This is painful to my heart. I’ve met so many amazing readers and bloggers in the last 3 months and I’m genuinely going to miss connecting with you on a daily basis. The daily connection from blogging requires two hours of writing and planning and an hour of internal work with the b5 company. Simply put, if I stop blogging, I get 3 hours closer to my goal of a simpler life.

Change is hard (but good)
If you’ve thought at all about simplifying your worklife, I will assure you that cutting things out (like I am with blogging) initiates the grief process. So make space for it. Not writing the blog is just one of several things I’m stopping and there’s a huge urge to fill the void so I don’t feel the pain.

As for my second goal of learning to say “no” to the myriad opportunities that could potentially fill my new-found time, I’ve started working with business coach, Kathy Mallary The Inspired Market-Her and am getting tremendous support toward my goal. My work is becoming more purposeful and I’m finding more enjoyment from working in shorter, more intense time bursts.

I’ve also met two small business gal-gurus whose contributions to my life are immense and whose work I highly recommend: Havi Brooks of Fluent Self and Lisa Hunter at Extraordinary Women Thrive. All three of these women are helping me learn to say “no” more skillfully.

What’s next?
Not a big fan of goodbyes, I’ll let you know that even though I’m no longer blogging, my business is thriving and I’d love to see you there. I love working with small business owners who are stuck in their office with their stuff.

I’m introducing a new offer soon that I think takes the cake and my newsletter subscriptions are going like crazy. My message is still the same as on the blog: you are not the problem so let’s fix your space so you can love your work again.

If you’d like to stay in touch with me - and I’d love it if you did - you can always find me at Inspired Home Office.com. Well, at least for 5 hours a day.

Much love and gratitude to you and wishing you the best of success - and freedom - in your work,
Jennifer

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POSTED IN: About Me, Organize, Productivity, Systems and structure, Time Management, Time off