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Overwhelmed - Need Help

AustinS28

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In a few days I'll be self employed for a year. I've made more money running a personal training business this past year than I have ever before. I'm 24, a college drop-out and basically have taught myself through reading how to run a business. Sales and customer relations comes pretty natural to me.

Life isn't bad, I'm just about to crack 6 figs (far off from my ultimate goal), make my own schedule, charge a lot per hour and have a lot of time to do whatever I want during the week.

All that said I feel so disorganized and overwhelmed and I just cannot figure out how to prioritize.

My ultimate goal is to operate a bigger business where I employ trainers to do what I am doing now and just run the back end. Basically cater to corporate people over here in Manhattan and eventually other cities and make training as convenient as possible to customers with competitive prices and a few other things I offer that most of my competitors don't. I'm also becoming pretty niche.

Anyways, I have trouble finishing things because I have so many things to do.

-Currently on the table

-I have to write a business plan because I'm not organized. It's been much harder than I thought. I know what makes me different and why I stand out as a business, but I am having a hard time articulating it to sound good on paper. It's also going to take many hours of market research.

-I need to write a presentation for business to business events that I want to host. I will go into participating businesses to network by providing lunch-time talks about health to employees and offer promotions.

-I have a new website I paid someone a few grand to develop, it's the core of my business because of its functionality. I have yet to write all the content.

-I have programs for clients I need to update periodically and that requires a lot of thought and planning.

This might not seem like a lot, but it is. It's 4 separate projects all pertaining to the same project, plus I have a heavy client load at times so my actual job takes away time from things to better my business.

My issue lies that I've started all four of these things, and haven't completed a single one and don't force myself completing them at this rate anytime soon because I just don't know how to delegate tasks to myself, how to prioritize and how to maybe figure out the best action plan to get everything done.

Just looking for some advice from anyone that is good at organization and task planning.

I'm also a perfectionist and have a hard time writing things about my business at times because I'm always concerned "it's not good enough," and this takes up valuable time.

I have bad follow through with certain things. I am chock full of great ideas, at least people tell me they are, but don't follow through on many of them because I get overwhelmed and don't strategically plan.

On the flip side as said earlier, I am running a successful business that is opening up windows, growing and has a ton of potential. I just want to get better.
 
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Kung Fu Steve

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You need a babysitter.

I say that half joking and half serious because I am the same exact way. Out of the 3: workers, manager, entrepreneur -- I have extreme trends in the first and the third but I am TERRIBLE in the management realm. Time, schedules, organization... I really really struggled to go from 6 to 7 figures in the last business until I had an assistant.

She was by far the best thing for me. She babysat me to the point where she would text me "remember you have to be here and here for this meeting and that meeting tomorrow at this time and that time."

If you're starting to pull in a few bucks a personal assistant could work wonders for you (but be sure they are a self-starter otherwise you'll be in a lot of trouble!)
 

Tyler Ellison

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-I have to write a business plan because I'm not organized. It's been much harder than I thought. I know what makes me different and why I stand out as a business, but I am having a hard time articulating it to sound good on paper. It's also going to take many hours of market research.

-I need to write a presentation for business to business events that I want to host. I will go into participating businesses to network by providing lunch-time talks about health to employees and offer promotions.

-I have a new website I paid someone a few grand to develop, it's the core of my business because of its functionality. I have yet to write all the content.

-I have programs for clients I need to update periodically and that requires a lot of thought and planning.

Do the website first, put everything else out of your mind. You say "it's the core of my business because of its functionality" so make that the one thing you do for a day and be done.

Then update your programs because that's essential to maintaining and growing the business.

The biz plan and the presentation can basically be written at the same time since they should be similar, and they should be your lowest priority.
 

Brett877

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I Agree with Tyler on what your priorities should be. One thing I learned and still struggle with is the action of wearing TOO MANY hats at once, an entrepreneur and Business Owner gets use to wearing a lot of hats and forgets to notice when it is time to lay some down and tighten one hat up for a bit.

Essentially what I am saying is that when you start focusing on content for your website don't try and work on aspects of the business plan. You can easily fall into the act of "Oh this information will go well in this other article" then you switch gears and are going down a different path. Before you know it 8 hours have gone by and you only have a minimal amount of work done. Pick a task and finish it and if something comes to mind during the task use a not taker to quickly make a note and try not to follow that thought down the dark road of distraction.

As far as getting organized, I do web development, not for the public but for my own projects that i want to succeed. In doing so there is alot of "This could work" and "That's a good idea" or "I should Write about that" and they always come at the worse times when in the car or at lunch with someone or when you just don't have the ability to write it all down. What i like to use is Evernote, it's a great multi-platform note taker and it could really save you some time and face when trying to write content. Just keep all your ideas and thoughts jotted down so when you designate the time to write you have the ability to recap your thoughts, instead of re-thinking them.

If you have the freedom to set your own schedule, find out when you LIKE to write content or do the things that need done. Me personally if im writing something it is in the morning, I am awake alert and creative I like to write the first few hours each day or I will use that time to plan and then save the rest of the day for the nominal tasks, Answering emails, listening to problems, writing code... things like that.

Hope this helps!
 
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Megans_Ambition

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As someone who loves organizing chaotic situations, I've come across a lot of issues that sound similar to yours right now. Here's my advice and I hope it helps you!

Once you get done with your current clientele for the day, step back. You need to take a deep breath, grab a snack bar, and take just one sweet minute of time for your brain to hit the reset button.

I agree with Tyler on your list of priorities and what order they should be done in, but I'd like to help with your confidence in presentation as well.

You want things to be perfect, who doesn't? Heck! This is your business! This is your dream! That passion in your heart already gives you the content and the message, now you just need to sort it out. Grab some sticky notes and write down your content snippets. What is important? What do you want on the website? Remember the old high school paper writing way of doing things about "medium, slow, fast" and keep your points in that order at first.
I've finally gotten the kick in the pants I need by treating my life like writing an essay. Sounds weird, right?

Start with something that kicks, something that grabs! Make a valid point and stick to it. Back up your point with solid research and finish with a dash to success!

You've already become successful in your business, and I hope you grow even more! Keep in mind that sometimes you just HAVE to hit the reset button. Grab a cup of tea. Take a breath. Pick a task and stick to it. As a personal trainer, you know about making people stick to their goals. Look in the mirror, put on your best "I mean it!" face and get out there and do it. I believe in you!
 

MJ DeMarco

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Congrats on your success thus far. Sounds like you are heading in a great direction.

-I have to write a business plan because I'm not organized. It's been much harder than I thought. I know what makes me different and why I stand out as a business, but I am having a hard time articulating it to sound good on paper. It's also going to take many hours of market research.

Curious to your beliefs on this.

Why do you believe a business plan will solve your disorganization? Why do you feel this is necessary to move forward? Or could it just be a waste of time? Your results thus far have been accomplished w/o the BP.
 

AustinS28

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Thanks for all of the above great advice. I read an article after I wrote this that said often people with my problem become consumed with the big picture and instead of missing the forest for the trees, I need to focus on the trees before the forest, to paraphrase. I'm not going to start anything else until my website content is done.

Congrats on your success thus far. Sounds like you are heading in a great direction.



Curious to your beliefs on this.

Why do you believe a business plan will solve your disorganization? Why do you feel this is necessary to move forward? Or could it just be a waste of time? Your results thus far have been accomplished w/o the BP.

A few reasons but after you asking me this question I'm seeing less of a point. I want a concrete plan of action and that doesn't require a full on business plan.

I wanted to be able to explain my business more in depth to people who ask about it.

For the future, I know what I want and some of the steps to get there, but I don't know all of the steps, I guess that's the whole point behind risk taking.
 
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MJ DeMarco

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I wanted to be able to explain my business more in depth to people who ask about it.

How about, I own a personal training and fitness consulting business.

No one needs to see a business plan except an investor or potential partner. Perhaps a better solution is a gigantic whiteboard in your office with a schematic of your short/mid-term visions.

Ps5gLqy.jpg


Some examples are in the Workspace thread.

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/post-your-work-area-biophase-knows.53168/

Just thinking that it sounds like you are putting a lot of weight (and time) into something you probably don't need.
 
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AustinS28

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How about, I own a personal training and fitness consulting business.

No one needs to see a business plan except an investor or potential partner. Perhaps a better solution is a gigantic whiteboard in your office with a schematic of your short/mid-term visions.

Ps5gLqy.jpg


Some examples are in the Workspace thread.

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/post-your-work-area-biophase-knows.53168/

Just thinking that it sounds like you are putting a lot of weight (and time) into something you probably don't need.

You're so right. I'll concern myself more with this when/if I ever need capital for a brick and mortar establishment. The whiteboard is a great idea.
 
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ZCP

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Hire help. Do your clients train themselves? Use the same philosophy they do to get help where you need it....... but how do I know if they are good help / consultants / experts???? The same way your clients do.

Delegating and getting help / advice in the areas you are weak is the best way to get to the next level. Don't get help, you have a job. Get help, you can create a business / system.
 
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AustinS28

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Hire help. Do your clients train themselves? Use the same philosophy they do to get help where you need it....... but how do I know if they are good help / consultants / experts???? The same way your clients do.

Delegating and getting help / advice in the areas you are weak is the best way to get to the next level. Don't get help, you have a job. Get help, you can create a business / system.

Yea I'm about this too and like Steve said up top that is definitely a solution I am looking into.

My current website I created off wix in about 12 hours. It's not good enough and doesn't offer any interactive features so I hired someone to make me something with a ton of interactive features, some that I have not seen on another trainer's or gyms website that I've checked into. I am all about time efficiency and delegating tasks to people I can't do or that I am not good at.

I train all of my clients in person. That is the reason I need to hire employees because I do not want a cap on my salary as there are only so many hours in a day.

Also have a few ideas for paid online subscriptions I want to roll out at some point, but there those ideas come, have to jot them down and save for later.

I got one page typed up for the site since I made this, working on the second, shouldn't be so hard.

----

On an aside my girlfriend is insisting I get my college degree for stability. I do not have time for it right now and it's sad that this may be the cause of ruining a good relationship. I just can't convince her to see where I'm headed. I guess it's hard and I totally see her point, to convince someone you are going to do a bunch of things you haven't yet done. I just know where I started, two year ago on food stamps making 200 dollars every 2 weeks for a month, and I am here now....
 

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