255: Feeling Overwhelmed and Inadequate?
Summary:
Have you ever felt overwhelmed with everything you have to do? Or maybe you’ve felt inadequate because you can’t seem to make any headway on your to-do list. Whatever the reason, you are not alone. Life as a business owner means there is a never end list of things you have to get done. Managing these feelings takes understanding that we all have our limits. It also means setting better expectations for what you’re able to do and when it can be done. Then, Natasha O’Banion answers, “What are you looking forward to this year?”
Main topics:
Why these feelings are common
You are already doing enough
Setting a schedule
Repeat after me…
Ask a Pet Biz Coach
Main takeaway: We’re not after perfection, but we need to see progress, especially as we start battling feelings of inadequacy and like we’re not doing enough.
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
tasks, business, scheduling, clients, feeling, day, setting, feel, post, payoff, inadequacy, needing, deadline, life, space, boundaries, understanding, natasha, months, wait
SPEAKERS
Meghan, Collin Funkhouser, Natasha
Meghan 00:10
Hello, I'm Meghan I'm Collin and this is Pet Sitter confessional an open and honest discussion about life as a pet sitter. Hi, you are listening to Episode 255. Hello. We hope you are doing well and are staying busy but not too busy.
Collin Funkhouser 00:28
We are thawing out from a pretty extensive snowstorm just recently, so it feels good to for things to finally get getting back to normal and much warmer.
Meghan 00:37
We want to thank our Patreon members like Ashley, Janie. And Katie,
Collin Funkhouser 00:41
if you have found value in this show, if you've learned something over the past 254 episodes, please consider sharing it with somebody who you know could benefit from it or join us and support us financially.
Meghan 00:52
And you can do so at petsitter confessional comm slash support, we are taking a little bit of a break today from our hiring series to discuss a topic that is rife in the petsitting world and actually one that I recently experienced feelings of inadequacy. So you may feel like no matter how much you do, it never seems to be enough. And that can be really frustrating. Or you can't ever seem to get ahead with your business and you feel like you're drowning in an avalanche of stuff. Are you waiting on something in your business? Are you waiting on more clients, or a phone call or an email response from a networking opportunity? Or something that's just out of your hands? Do you feel like you need to be doing something more? Well, as a business owner, you have stuff to get done. So not only are you working on things that are currently on your plate, but you're also waiting for other people to do things. And it really all weighs on us as the business owner, it makes us feel like we're not being enough or we're not doing enough, we want to say that you are enough what you're doing is enough.
Collin Funkhouser 01:57
And so why is this such a problem in our industry in particular, it's mostly because our businesses are really weird. We make money by being in motion, when when we're out pounding the pavement going from visit to visit, you'll have a lot of time to be sitting at a desk working on stuff. So when we're out working with the pets, we have all this administration and all this business stuff that needs to get done at the same time, or our days are also really broken up. We don't have long stretches of time to sit and focus and work through many of the issues that come up and address them in a coherent manner. Additionally, setting boundaries is hard saying no to pets, just so we can sit and file paperwork is not very appealing for the majority of us. But there is a fact there will always be more things to do.
Meghan 02:44
Yeah, the work never ends. We are business owners, we wear many hats, and there will always be more work to do. The problems never stopped coming. So what do we do about it? It's not all doom and gloom. First, you have to understand that you can only do so much there are so many hours in the day, there are only so many things that you can get done in 24 hours. And obviously less than that, because you're going to be sleeping, what's that. But it is hard, though, it is hard because we try to pack so much into our days and make the most of the time that we have. But as it turns out, overloading your schedule is not good. Trying to multitask actually makes the work take longer and not get as much done because you're not able to focus on each task and give 100% to each task.
Collin Funkhouser 03:30
But it can also feel like you're not getting enough done, because the one thing that you're working on is just taking a long time. So we have to take a step back and know that there's nothing more that we ourselves can do. This is especially true for things like marketing or trying to grow your business, we have to sow the seeds, and then wait for them to sprout that is really hard. Just putting out one Facebook post isn't going to get you 100 clients immediately. Or maybe another great one is when you start working on SEO for your website, that search engine optimization is a long game, it's six months or more before you start seeing the benefits of this. Meanwhile, you're putting all this work into blogs, Title Headings, checking your service areas, getting good reviews, but we don't see that immediate reward. So we get a bit short sighted and start needing immediate gratification where entrepreneurs and small business owners, we need things to be in motion. It's part of who we are. Otherwise we wouldn't be out doing this on our own.
Meghan 04:30
The drive to do things in our business to make things happen in our business is what makes you successful. It can also come back and bite us though, when we don't balance it out with proper expectations and understanding what our limits are. So that goes back to this setting the boundaries in your business and your personal life. So a great thing to do when starting any activity is start by understanding what a realistic expectation is for when you see the payoff, not when you think you can get it done. So I can go to our website right Now and really hammer out all of the basics for SEO on each page in about two days, I can get that done in two days. But I won't start seeing the payoff until months down the road because Google has to start seeing those changes and making those connections with what I have just done. Or it could be knowing that you are going to start posting helpful posts in local Facebook groups. And so the post takes about 10 minutes to make, put it together, get it out there. And so you'll get some likes, follows and comments immediately. But people may not need you right now, they may like your page, but they don't need a pet sitter or dog walker for another six or nine months, or they may never need you at all, they just like the content that you're putting out there. There is this instant gratification that we are expecting. But we may not always get
Collin Funkhouser 05:46
in business, there will be moments where you have to wait on other people to do their job before you can do yours. As an example, we had to renew our business license after we had an address change. And it took forever for ever, we needed to update our Google My Business listing to match our new address. And we have to wait. We've had this task that needed to get done for a few months now. And it's just dragging on and on. And we can't change that listing until we get that new business license. So we're stuck with needing to do this task. The task itself won't take very long at all. But we have to wait to do that. It's still on hold for us. At the end of the day, we've had to set realistic expectations for both the time it takes to complete the task or project. And then when we will see the benefits or the payoffs from it. And be open to making adjustments, get input from others and be okay with quote unquote, missing the mark. But that's part of learning and understanding how these things work. We have this feeling of wanting to do more, maybe do something different or add something onto our list. But that's just not doable right now maybe we have to acknowledge the limitations of what we are doing right now. Once you commit to something you have excluded, being able to commit to anything else. Your yes to one thing means you must say no to something down the line. And we don't like to admit that to ourselves. We don't like to face that reality. But that's part of saying yes, and saying no. And realizing that we have limitations on ourselves that maybe you said yes to a crazy full day of droppings and walks. Well, that means that you have to say no to doing admin work that day, because there's just no more time for anything else. And this is a great reason to have set days and times where you only focus on working on the business, a great
Meghan 07:38
tactic is having two buckets of tasks. So one you're working on the business and to your working in the business. Unfortunately, you cannot do both at the same time, I guess unless you were doing a drop and visit and scheduling the client at the same time. But I would not advise that. So you can be executing tasks while simultaneously planning and developing them.
Collin Funkhouser 07:59
I mean, you can but like you said, it usually doesn't go very well. And maybe you're not really happy doing it. And it doesn't really get to where you want
Meghan 08:08
a major aspect of overcoming these feelings of inadequacy and not doing enough is actually creating more space in your days, which kind of seems counterintuitive. You may think I'm busy. I feel like I'm not doing enough and you want me to do less in a day. Well, that's how it feels. But that's not actually what we're saying. If we're not in motion and working on tasks, how can we be productive? That's a lie that society has taught us, we've been taught to not take a step back and always grind always hustle, there's that hustle mentality of always got to be doing something more. But it leads to an unhealthy perspective of ourselves and the work that we do. So here's an example of creating more space in your day. You say Mondays and Thursdays are for emails. So did an email come in on Wednesday? Well, then it waits until Thursday, social media post and commenting is for Wednesday and Friday. So did you not get all of the comments on a Wednesday? Well, those wait until Friday, really segmenting your week and saying I do this on this day is really going to help give yourself space and a deadline for tasks in your day. Giving yourself structure is what allows your brain to stop stressing out about missing things and feeling overwhelmed. I know in my brain, when I get so overwhelmed. I feel like there's something missing. I know like I have the tasks in my head. And obviously then I need to write them down. Which is another great way that I kind of decompress is there are 27 things I need to do there. But they're all up in my head. So if I write them down, it frees up my brain and thinking space for things that I can focus on in the immediate the here and now and I'm not worrying about what's going to happen in two hours or the next day. No, it's
Collin Funkhouser 09:53
a really great two step process. When you're feeling overwhelmed, write everything on your brain down in that exact moment and get a sheet of paper literally physically do this, it feels much, much more releasing and pleasing to do it on pen and paper than to do it in a Notes app on your phone or computer, dump everything down there. And then you go back and you look at that list and you say, when do these things need to happen? Is this a reoccurring event is this something that has a particular deadline, and then the next step is to then start scheduling those out on your calendar physically block out time to do them. Because if you don't intentionally do that, these these processes, these thoughts, these ideas, these activities, these tasks will just consume your brain and take up all of your thinking space.
Meghan 10:35
Well, and so just saying, Tuesday from nine to 10am, is when I do admin, it isn't really enough, because if you're suffering from the feeling of overwhelm, and you just can't get on top of anything, Tuesday at nine needs to be just for a very specific aspect of your admin work. Maybe it's pulling all of your invoices together, you know, you process them at 11am, and you send them at 3pm, or however it works for you. But you see how we're breaking out these tasks in our day, it means that you know, when the next time you'll get to work on the tasks, and when they will hopefully be accomplished. This is
Collin Funkhouser 11:10
a method that I've used for tutoring kids through their college careers, basically giving their day structure so that they could overcome the feeling of needing to do everything on their list at this exact moment. And it really started out whenever I was trying to help them to study for big tests, helping them understand you can't study for the, for a test in two weeks, all two all day today, you've got to study for it a little bit every single day. So we're going to schedule that time out, block that time out for two weeks ahead of time, and then work a little bit each and every single day so that we're better prepared for this. And maybe you didn't get through all the material today, don't stress out about it, you've got a two hour time block tomorrow, where you're also going to be studying for it, we're spreading it out, we're setting deadlines for each and every single task and then we're scheduling a time to actually get it done.
Meghan 11:57
So again, you are doing enough, it may not feel like you are but you are you have to believe that and accept that you can only do so much you are one person. Yes, you may have staff working on the other aspects of your business, but you are still one person and there is probably a lot on your plate. So we've discussed setting time aside, we've disguised recognizing the limits of ourselves and the time that we have. So what else is there setting priorities is important. When something gets put on your plate, ask yourself, is this taking me closer to my end goal or further from it,
Collin Funkhouser 12:31
and don't accept a lateral move either. So if you have a goal of only doing midday dog walks, anything that comes up any other tasks, any other particular bookings or service requests, whatever it may be, if they don't get you there, they need to be removed, and you need to stop doing them. It's all about finding clarity of purpose and goals for our lives, we can feel overwhelmed because we end up doing all of these things in life that aren't actually getting us anywhere. But we feel like we need to do them. Like if you're blogging, or posting reels or you're on YouTube, or whatever it is, if you're doing those just because some guru or somebody said you need to be doing them, you should stop doing them. You need to stop doing them. It's your business. Only do things that you actually want to be doing and that are getting you closer to your goals. So right now, take a moment to stop what you're doing. Just be still for a moment and repeat this. I am enough. I am doing enough. There's nothing more I can do. The things that I am doing are sufficient to get me to where I want to go.
Meghan 13:37
Do you believe that? It's hard sometimes. But it's true. And I would like to say it again. I am enough. I am doing enough. There's nothing more I can do. The things that I am doing are sufficient to get me to where I want to go. In the end, though, it's a process. Like everything, you have to see the long term vision, the long term goals for your business what you want out of it. And know that little steps are so important. They get you to where you want to go. You can't eat the whole elephant in one bite. You have to do it little by little not that we're eating elephants. But but we're not after perfection here. We just need progress in our lives. And little steps help us to get that progress, especially after we start battling feelings of inadequacy and of not doing enough or not being enough. If you have been a business owner for any length of time. I'm sure that you have come across some of these feelings as well. And we want to know how you combat feeling overwhelmed and inadequate. You can let us know on Facebook or Instagram at Pet Sitter confessional and Natasha
Collin Funkhouser 14:45
on our Ask a pet biz coach segment answers the question What are you looking forward to this year?
Natasha 14:50
Oh, I'm looking forward to traveling again. Personally, I'm looking forward to getting back on the road 2020 and 2021 We're crazy and nuts. But I have done a pivot again, I rescaled my business again. And I'm actually looking just the play in 2022. So if you guys are tired with me and you guys are like, yes, we went through, we went through the trenches the last two years, we have to scope out some play time. And I think this is my natural cycle. You know, when I first started six months, hit my goals scale that in two years, my third year, I was like, I'm ready to play. I think for me, it's like grind to play one grind to play ones. Please, guys, let's always, you know, make sure fun time is part of this, because it's just not all about business. I really want our industry to be a fun, happy, right, my team, we're my community, we're all about changing the pay game. That's that's our slogan, we're changing the peg game, because this is a fun place that takes care of families, animals, and yourself. And we want to, we want to promote that every day,
Collin Funkhouser 15:54
how quickly, many forgot the lessons from 2020, when we had a lot of downtime, and many people looked around and went, Oh, actually, I like this space that I have in my life. I like these, you know, not being rushed minute to minute to minute to minute. And then the rest of this year was just absolutely insane for almost everybody. So I love that idea of going, Okay, let's have a breather time, and let's make some more space in our lives and really enjoy it. Because that's what it's all about.
Natasha 16:23
I mean, that's the thing. It's like, that's a perfect point, right? We had zero your clients did not need your services, okay? And that's just a reality. If something happens, there's a shift and your clients don't need your services, guess what? It is what it is. But when they need you again, they're like, Hey, where are you going on vacation, I got to get out of here and your backup, jumping, jump into a ship again, and run and make crazy because they called on you. So now you have to ask yourself, what do you want? And all this? What do you want your business to be? And all this? Where are you jumping? Where you're not jumping? Where are you putting a boundary where you're not putting a boundary? Right? It's you first
Collin Funkhouser 17:00
your clients may be ready to go and book you solid. But if you're no, if you don't want to be booked like that you don't have to be?
Natasha 17:06
Absolutely not. I mean, for me, I hate telling clients No, and not because I don't have boundaries. I'm obviously you guys, I'm very clear on boundaries. But I just don't believe that my business should not scale quicker than my demand. So if I'm getting in multiple clients, I'm like, Yeah, we're book we're booked. Okay, I should be continuing to hire so I can supply that demand. I'm scaling on time. That's the only reason I don't like saying no, because I'm like, oh, shoot, that means our business is not, you know, not running in pace with the with the demand. We're not being scalable. So that's the only reason why I don't say no, but I'm never not gonna say no, because I'm not worrying about the health of me and my team.
Meghan 17:47
If you would like to be part of Natasha's monthly membership group, you can do so at start scale sale.com and use the code P SC 24 15%. Off. We are so grateful you took the time to listen to this today. And if you know of another petsitter who is dealing with these sorts of feelings right now. You can share this with them and hopefully it will be of some help to them. Thank you.
18:09
Bye
