There's two types of people who hear consensual sales in the first go, Oh, Eww, Shawna, that is not what you want to say. There are better words to use and the second type here, consensual sales and say, you know what? You're right. I don't want to talk my way into the sale. I don't want to memorize a script. You just want to work with clients who are excited to work with you. Now that's consensual sales.
Hey, it's me, it's Shawna, oh man. Today's episode. It's going to be good. Good. It's all about how you can build a business from home. Okay? And I'm not talking about like an empire builder business, I'm talking about a business or you just want to do really good work with a handful of clients. Okay? Like how can you do that without being afraid that the kids are going to ruin the whole thing?
00:53 Okay, let's talk about it because sometimes I feel like the business building advice is good in theory, but it's not always the most practical. Okay? Like how do you do client work when you have a thousand other priorities and demands? How do you take client calls and get to the important parts of the work where you need undivided attention while you're constantly getting interrupted. Okay. Like how do you do that and what do you need to believe to still get what you want and be successful in what you're trying to accomplish here? Okay, so we are talking about that today. So pull out your pants, put on your pants. Let's go. Okay. So I thought that I was the only one who did this until I met a woman named Lisa Gail, who's amazing. She runs her own marketing agency and we did this interview series a while back about how to run a business with a bunch of kids because she's got six of them.
01:46 She's on her sixth one. The sixth one is due like any minute. And then I've got five and one thing that we both agreed on is that you need to have convenient access to your work. So for me it looks like having spots throughout my house where I can pull up the computer. Okay. It means having one of those Ikea cards that has the three sort of drawers that I can cart around the house with some important work stuff. It's incredibly important that you have convenient access to your work. If your work is something where you got to sit down and you've got to pull up this notebook and this access and this file, it's never going to get done. What we need is a very clear line to getting the work done that needs to get done. Okay. So what shortcuts can you create where you're able to access your work?
02:43 Conveniently? Like I said, for me it's having a laptop, it's having a Chromebook, it's having a particular spot on the couch. It's having one of those, what do you call those things that you put in your lap and you can put your laptop on top of it and it's like a lap desk am saying that right? I think that's what it's called. I've got one of those in my room, so if we're like hanging out or we're watching a movie and I've got to do something quick for work, I've got convenient access. Okay. I also like to have a spot in my kitchen. Now this might ruffle some feathers because some people out there will tell you that you can't multitask. I bet you can. And I bet you're really good at multitasking if you are a mom or if you have a bunch of kids, I bet you are one of the world's best multitaskers and you can do it too.
03:28 And when I first started taking on clients and I had a bunch of babies at home, I had five kids under seven. So that means like everybody was a baby. Okay? Like a little baby. And so going into my office to shut the door and cutting myself off from the family, it just didn't work. So it was really easy for me while I was cooking dinner or like cleaning up the floor, you know, like if I was just doing like the puttsy life stuff that still needs to get done and it's still important, but my work is still important. I would just put the computer on the counter. Okay. I would later learn that it would need some sort of elevated stance because the kid spilled coffee on it wants, Oh my gosh, I had this laptop that had like missing buttons for like a year and a half because they messed it up.
04:13 But anyway, that's besides the point. What I'm trying to say here is easy access to your work. Okay. Make it super easy on yourself. Brings me to kind of my next point. As I'm talking about like going into the office and having to close the door, I need you to really rethink about how we think about work. Okay? So like getting dressed in a suit and tie, leaving the house work until nine to five was not made for women with families or little babies in mind. Okay? So that means that that model, we need to rethink about how we work. Okay. So that's the model, right? Like he leave for a nine to five, you go to work, you come back, whatever. I mean, that's how my first job was when I graduated college. Right? You go to a job, you come home and that's that.
05:00 But if you want to work from home with a family, with kids everywhere, we need to rethink how we work. So the way that work is sort of structured, it's structured for like a man, right? Okay, I'm gonna leave the house now in my suit and tie and I'm going to come back at five for dinner. And they're done from nine to five, right? Without distractions. Or maybe they've got some distractions, but they're not competing with the family life, right? So what I'm trying to say here is that model does not work for a mom. It does not work for me. And maybe it doesn't work for you. So that means we have to get creative in the way that we think about work. So one perfect example of this is, I was on this business call and it was only like a half hour, right? So it wasn't even that long.
05:42 Like the husband can take care of the baby for a little bit. And I had this brand new baby. She's like a couple of weeks old and she's screaming, she's screaming out there and I can hear my husband as he's struggling to calm the baby down and they can't keep focus on this call. Okay. So I put them on mute and I walk out there and I said, give me the baby. Right? Give me the baby, like I'll take it. And I took the baby and I took the phone call and was way less stressed out and way less overwhelmed and I could focus way more, even though I was doing those two things at once because once I grabbed the baby, she was perfectly fine. Right. And so this is just my way of saying that if you think that you can go into your office, shut the door and be isolated, that may hurt you, like that may not help you get what you want when it comes to building a business while doing it at home.
06:39 Okay. So how are you going to build a business from home? So one thing that I've been personally working on really hard is making sure that before I sit down at my computer that I have a list of the things that need to get done. Now I'm not talking like a list of what would be a list, write a blog post. Okay, so maybe that's the thing on my list, right? Well not my list, but a generic list would say something like write a blog post, create content for social media. I need you to create a list that gives you an actionable action step. Like when you look at it, you know what you need to do. Cause a lot of times when we build these lists or we build the steps or we create a checklist, we like look at it and we still, most of our time is spent deciding what to do.
07:32 We don't know what to do. So oftentimes those things on the list are too big. Does that make sense? They're too big and they're too vague. So we need to make sure that our goals and our things on our checklist are clear and they're small enough that they have like an actual item. So if the thing in the list is write a blog post, well what does that mean? What's the action step? I need to pull open the Google form. Okay, I need to open up Google docs, I need to give the blog a headline, I need to write the first paragraph, right? Give yourself the action steps. Like it gives your brain something to focus on, it gives your brain something to do. Then just wondering what is it that I'm supposed to be doing this like blog posts and I can't ever get to, that's the worst feeling ever.
08:19 That's why people can't get stuff done is because they just can never get to it. And if you don't give your brain an action step, all the other action that's happened in your life is going to get done first or it'll get to the bottom or you're never going to get to it. Okay, so what are you doing? Okay. What's the actual step? This is really helpful because then if your business starts growing, you can also hire out help. Okay. We often times you can't hire help because nobody can do it like us. Nobody knows what needs to be done. We don't know what to tell them to do. If you have this sort of process in mind, it's like, okay, these are the things that need to get done every day. These are the things that I'm working on. It will help you outsource a lot easier in the future.
09:02 Okay. This is like 2.5 this is like an extra point to that point of having a checklist, which is give yourself a chance to cross things off. Okay. Like you take your pen, you put it into the paper and you cross the thing off. Ooh. That is going to feel so good. Okay. If you don't like pen and paper, no big deal. I also use it in Trello where you click a button and then you see the line come across. It's really important that when you're trying to establish routines or you're trying to build a habit that it feels good. It has to feel good for you to do it and do it again and again and again. So whatever sort of little brain hack that you need to do to make that feel good, to see progress, to get progress, to move forward in your business, cross that stuff off.
09:47 So this is like another point. Sorry, there's like a bunch of points there I guess. So making sure that you have tools that are fun and easy to use. So just like I talked about having convenient ways to access your work. Give yourself tools that are fun to you. So like I have certain pens that I like. I like using washi tape. I have a certain really cool tiger printed bag that holds all my pins, right? I have a special notebook that I like. So never underestimate the tools. If you're going to be invested in your business, start with some good tools that you like to use that will make building and running your business a lot easier from home when you enjoy it. Okay. And however you can enjoy it, enjoy it however you're going to enjoy it. Enjoy it. Okay, quote me on that.
10:34 What do I want to talk about next? I believe this is a little philosophical, right? I believe that children are equal to us adults in dignity. So what that means is that if my kid is screaming outside the door and there's an emergency, or if the, you know, an emergency, like I gotta wipe their booty or they hurt their finger, right? If a kid needs something, they are equal to us and dignity that it's not the end of the world. If I have to pause for 30 seconds or a minute to go help that person. Okay, so you don't need to make apologies that you have children. I think there's like a C K Louis, not a C K Louis C S Lewis. There's like a CS Lewis quote that's like children are not a distraction from the work. Like they are the work. And so this is just my long way of saying that you don't need to make apologies for having children.
11:35 Okay? You don't need to make apologies for children being children. Let me just caveat that by also saying that if you're trying to build a business from home, include your children in the process. Okay? So you can tell them, set them up before you work. Say mom is going to work over here and you cannot talk to her for an hour or until this timer goes here on until the show is over. Or you don't go outside for like X amount of time and then we can talk because I'm working and I need your help. Children are natural helpers. They want to help give them the chance to help you tell them, when you help me, this is what we get. So like you're including them along for the journey and they're going to love it. Right? Like give them that chance. Okay. Give them the chance to be a part of what you're doing and tell them how they can help you.
12:27 Okay. There's another point that I also want to emphasize and top of like not apologizing to your clients or like whatever your kids are stressing out and you're like apologizing for the kids. You don't need to apologize. The other thing that I want you to know is that you don't have to apologize to your kids either if you need to work. Okay? So what I mean by that is that your kids will be fine if you have to put them in front of the TV to watch a movie for an hour or two hours or two days, whatever, to get the stuff that you need to get done, they're going to be fine as you need to put them in their room or in a pack and play so you can just focus in or take that call or whatever. Like you don't need to apologize for that.
13:10 Your kids are going to be fine. Okay. It's sort of like progress over perfection, right? Or like the 80 20 rule. It's like if I only do that like 20% of the time, it's going to be fine. So yeah, that's all I had to say about that. Okay, so how are you going to build a business from home with your life going crazy, a hundred miles a minute, kids everywhere. What are you going to do? Do you remember? Let me recap quickly. One, you're going to make sure that you have convenient access to your work. Okay? You're going to also make sure that you have really cool tools to use that make it enjoyable. You're going to make sure that if you're running a business from home that you keep literally some type of running checklist of the things that you need to do, but that are very, very specific and action orientated.
13:57 Okay, what are you doing? What is the thing like what is the essence? Is it clear? Is it clear? Is it specific? Okay, if not, rethink. Well, this is like a side note. Everything that you're adding to the list should be supporting the bigger vision. So one thing that I always ask myself, like when I'm somehow like I ended up on Amy Winehouse videos and I'm on this Twitter thread about politics, like whatever, like there's moments where I have to ask myself of myself and say, what am I even trying to do? What am I doing here? Why am I here? So get into a habit of, as you're building this checklist, as you're working the checklist, what are you doing? Is this supportive? Is this connected? Is this the path to where I'm trying like what I'm trying to build? Does this help me get closer to my goals?
14:42 Okay. And part of getting to your goals is being honest about where you are. And I think that this is where a lot of sort of limited help you build an empire and make millions of dollars sort of gimmick on the internet falls short. Is that okay? Sure. Like let's get you there, but let's have a really honest conversation about where you're at currently and what's your current life situation. Right? Because we know that what is happening immediately has a way bigger impact of how you're going to get to where you're going. Then just a blueprint or some sort of roadmap. Right? Also crossing things off, like one thing that I often see is that people are not confident with their progress or like I'm not making any progress. Well like are you crossing stuff off? Okay. So like part of being able to do to make it to the bottom of your checklist is to also make sure that you're crossing things off and you'll just feel better and it keeps you motivated.
15:33 No apologies. That's the other big idea. No apologies for your kids or to your kids. Okay. Incorporate them into the process and rethink about how you're working. Okay. Are you working from a model where the man leaves in a suit and has gone from nine to five? Can you get creative? Right. Okay. How can we rethink our work and how can we have it fit into a model that is uniquely our own life? Something like that. And then your kids will be fine. Your kids will be fine. I promise I'll be fine. Hopefully. Well, I don't know if that, I shouldn't make any problems, but you hear me? Okay, so those are the main ideas. Next week, if you want to listen to the next show, the next one that's coming up, it's all about where you need to look for clients. Okay. Where do you need to look for clients? That's the next episode. And if you found this episode helpful, tell a friend, tell me, tell iTunes you're amazing. I'll talk to you all later.
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