Welcome to Business and Balance, your go-to newsletter for online business owners ready to reclaim their time and sanity. Each week, you’ll get practical tips, time-saving tools, and strategies to streamline your services, grow your business, and create space for what truly matters. It’s all about working smarter, not harder, so you can build success and savor life.
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Heyy Reader,
I'm notorious for trying to do it all (just ask my husband and kids).
But the thing is, we just can't.
I talk about business and balance, but I don't believe in work-life balance in the traditional sense; I don't think you can have equality in your business and your life--especially if you're a parent or a caregiver.
So what does balance mean to me, as someone who preaches it?
Making a successful plan that works for YOU.
Some weeks, you're going to give more to your business and some weeks, you're going to give more to your life. And that's okay. That's true balance. Just make sure you plan it out as best you can to avoid burnout.
So how do you avoid the burnout?
With the help of my friend, Frannie (my ChatGPT), I created this Roadmap to Business & Balance.
Disclaimer: ChatGPT made this image after I made several tweaks and asked for updated language. It's not perfect, but I'm happy with it.
Step 1: Set Your Destination--Define what balance means and looks like for you.
Step 2: Prioritize What Matters--Schedule in and plan for what is most important to you first. Kids dance recital? It's a non-negotiable. Put it on the schedule first.
Step 3: Be Realistic--I got this tip from one of my coaches, Carly Jo Bell: If you are planning a task, write how long you think it will take and then triple the time. That's how long it will REALLY take. She's a genius.
Step 4: Build in Rest Stops--Although it sounds counterproductive, you have to rest to be your best. Make a plan for rest. Yes, I actually put this in my calendar.
Step 5: Stay Flexible--This is especially true if you are a caregiver. Unexpected things happen on the daily. You have to be flexible to make this thing work.
Remember, I'm cheering you on! You've got this Reader!
🤝 ACTA NON VERBA PODCAST
EFFECTIVE TEAM AND TIME MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES FOR ENTREPRENEURS
A few weeks ago, I joined Mechi Mansilla on her podcast, Acta Non Verba where she talks about business, freelancing, and mindset. During our episode, we dive deep into the practical side of team management, project management tools, and leadership strategies that can scale your business.
Here’s what we covered:
The importance of building systems for efficient team management
The best tools for streamlining operations and keeping teams on track
How effective leadership drives growth and ensures productivity
Sammy’s top tips for delegating and managing tasks efficiently
Insights into building a solid foundation for scaling your business
Delegation is incredibly powerful. But it can also be scary. You've built up this business and now you're supposed to just let a stranger come in and do things?
How do you maintain control without being overbearing?
How do you delegate and give the person range to make decisions without losing control?
I know I'm an OBM and I'm supposed to be all things automation, but I really value personal touch in my client experience. So today I'm going to give you a few pointers for automating your client communication.
More Personal:
Create email templates. I create email templates in my CRM and set a reminder for each client at various intervals in my CRM and project management tool to send an email to the client to check-in, see how things are going, and even ask for testimonials. I use templates so I can add personal notes and updates for each client. You can completely automate this.
Less Personal, but Still Effective:
Set up automatic email sequences. This can be done in your email marketing platform or your CRM. You can set it to automatically send emails to check in, ask about renewals, ask for testimonials, and whatever else you want to send. You just set it and forget it and it's pretty amazing.
THE ONE HOUR WIN
NON-MEETING WEEKLY CHECK-INS
We're all about being efficient over here at Bohannon Virtual Solutions.
Right now, our team is rather small. We started out having weekly team meetings and quickly realized that was overkill.
So, I started sending weekly updates instead.
Honestly, it's just a fun way to keep everyone updated on what's going on without requiring they join a meeting every week.
It takes less time, they can do it on their terms, and I add some fun stuff.
I highly recommend you do a weekly newsletter for your team!
DELEGATION INSPIRATION
TAKE NOTE OF YOUR TASKS
This is my newest digital product. It's not quite ready yet. I'm hoping to have it out by mid-April. It's gonna be MUCH better than this!
Everyone hates when I tell them this, but this is truly the best way to figure out what to delegate.
As soon as you start thinking it might be even close to time to hiring help, start making a list of your daily, weekly, monthly, and even quarterly tasks.
When you've got that list done, sort them into tasks that absolutely HAVE to be you and tasks that COULD be someone else.
You can break it down even further by taking the could be tasks and determining which are taking you too much time or which are things you really hate.
Those are going to be the things you outsource.
TIME FOR WHAT YOU LOVE
WHAT EVEN IS SUCCESS?
Forget everyone else for a second.
How do YOU define success?
At the end of the day, that's what really matters and determines what makes you successful.
And success changes at different moments in our lives.
For me, at this moment, success is running my business to help pay my bills and being able to homeschool my kids.
What does success mean for you, Reader?
BOHANNON VIRTUAL SOLUTIONS RECOMMENDS
YOU NEED SOME SELF-CARE
It feels like our lives are so damn stressful sometimes.
I asked our team to share what they do when life is overwhelming and they just need a break from it all.
Katherine said she loves to splurge on bath bombs and enjoys them after a long day of work.
What are you doing to practice self-care? Hit reply and let me know!
While I have a whole year's worth of topics planned out, I'd love to hear what you need where you're at in your business right now. Hit reply and let me know and I'll work it into one of the next few newsletters!
For $20, I'll put your free or paid offer in my weekly email newsletter. Together we will pick the perfect day to send your offer to my list. It's the perfect way to grow your own list!
Business & Balance, by Sammy Bohannon, is your go-to newsletter for online business owners ready to reclaim control & grow their business in a way that's true to them and sustainable in the long run. Each week, you’ll get practical tips, time-saving tools, and strategies to streamline your services, grow your business, and create space for what truly matters. It’s all about working smarter, not harder, so you can build success and savor life. Plus, after you sign up, you have the chance to see Sammy's adorable dogs, Penelope and Willow. No, seriously. She made a whole page on her website for it.
