5 Tips for managing your business following a plot twist!
Facing a Plot Twist that’ll affect your business! Now what?
We are running our handmade business. It’s all going brilliantly. We are fired up with lots of goals and plans. And then PLOT TWIST!
A plot twist is where your world as you know it turns completely on its head and your focus and priorities changes completely. It could be caused by an unexpected loss, illness, a sudden move, a new life entering the world, or a near miss or anything that changes life as you know it. It’s your Tower card in a Tarot reading where change comes at you suddenly, without warning .
Whatever it is, it triggers a material change in your life. And it could be a small, short-term plot twist or one that is a biggie and that has longer-term implications. And you don’t always get all the answers needed straight away to make long-term decisions about you and your business. So give yourself time.
For me, it was the discovery of a benign brain tumour (see this post for more details) - my world changed overnight and although not immediately life threatening (thank goodness - very grateful indeed for that!), I suddenly became a “patient” with lots of appointments and the emotion that comes with not knowing what was going to happen next and what the outcome was going to be.
I have learned a lot over the last few months about myself and what is most important to me. But it has definitely been a process. And there have definitely been good days and very, very bad days. And the perfectionist in me has struggled. Struggled with the changes this has necessitated. Struggled with being seen as a patient rather than a person. Struggled with letting go of some things and saying no. Struggled with postponing some of my goals and plans that I had been so excited and passionate about. I didn’t ask for any of this and it all felt so unfair.
So what have I learned about navigating a plot twist in your life when you run a small business?
Give yourself time and space
First things first. When a plot twist happens it is important to give yourself time and space to process. Whilst life does go on and there are people out there having a worse time that you. This is possibly the biggest thing that has ever happened to YOU. Others having a worse time of it than you doesn’t take away from the fact that this is possibly the biggest thing YOU have had to deal with in your life so far. So it’s ok to take some time and space to process.
And for me - my diagnosis was a complete shock. Yes I had been scanned because I was having some weird symptoms, but a brain tumour never featured on the list of conditions I was being scanned for. And my doctors seemed pretty sure that all was ok during my appointments and that this scan was just to put my mind at rest so I wasn't overly worried.
So when I got the phone call to go into hospital immediately (within the next hour!) the adrenaline started pumping and to be honest I am not sure it has stopped since!
You mourn life the way you knew it as your new reality takes hold. And it’s ok to take a bit of time out to get your head around it all.
For me I took a break from social media as I just couldn’t face slapping a smile on my face and pretending all was all hunkydory when it really wasn’t. We get told that posting regularly on social media is vital to a successful business. But I have always believed that quality is more important than quantity and your social media following won’t just end because you don’t show up for a couple of weeks. You have to do what is right for you.
And I had to cancel and postpone some shoots in those first early days because I just knew that I wasn’t going to be able to give my all to those Clients and do the best job I could. It truly broke my heart as I felt like I was letting people down but it was the right thing to do. Thankfully my Clients were amazing and so understanding. I just needed time and space to adjust to my new normal.
2. Prioritise what is most important - say no if you can!
Following on from giving yourself time and space. I found it helpful to prioritise the most important things and just do those. For me it was making sure my boys, husband and family were ok and supported. It was a huge shock for them too!
So I focussed on spending time with them and just doing the basics - showering and getting dressed, doing the school run, letting immediate clients know what was going on, feeding myself and my boys etc. Survival mode is real!
When you are in survival mode you just have to focus on the absolute basics and no more. And that’s ok - it’s only for a short time and then you will get a better idea of what is feasible in the longer term.
And it involved saying no a lot! I cancelled shoots for the first time ever. I cancelled some discovery calls and turned down work that I would have normally loved to do (with Clients I was so excited to work with). I just didn’t want to take on any more in case I couldn’t fulfil what I committed to do. Those early days were so uncertain and I was just waiting for a phone call to tell me whether I would be going into surgery or what the next steps were. I truly had no idea whether I could take on more work or not.
3. Communicate to Clients what is going on and what the options are for them
a. Cancelling work
I realised early on that as I needed to cancel/ postpone shoots (some of which were on the day of, or days after my diagnosis or coming up soon after) that I was going to have to tell some people what was going on. This was hard. I was still getting my head around the news and had no clue what was coming next and I had to try and explain to Clients what was happening and what the options were. Because it wasn’t about me in these conversations. These Clients had paid money for a service to meet goals and deadlines in their own businesses and so I had to be compassionate that this was inconvenient for them.
So I contacted all Clients with booked shoots coming up in the next month or so following my diagnosis. Some I had no choice but to cancel and refund as their deadlines were such that there was no way I could deliver what they needed me to with everything going on. Because it’s not just about the shoot prep and shooting time. There is all the culling, editing and retouching afterwards and having the headspace and focus to do this is essential.
For the rest, all I could do was be honest. Explain what was going on and what the impact was on them (cancellation/ postponement) and what their options were.
b. Offering a refund
I offered all Clients a full refund if they wanted one so they could work with someone else given the uncertainty of my situation. This was a big financial hit for me as for some of these shoots I had spent time preparing for and had budgeted for that income, but it was the right thing to do and something I felt was an absolute must.
c. Offering to postpone
Or, I offered a postponement if their deadlines weren’t urgent for once I had a better idea of what was going on and felt I could do the job they paid me to do.
And you know what? Whilst a couple of Clients asked for a refund, the majority stuck with me because they really wanted to work with me which I am very, very grateful for. And now the majority of those postponed shoots have now been completed and some of the work I created in that time is some of the best I have ever done. You know what they say about creativity being an outlet…
d. Not taking any more work in the short-term
And I stopped taking on new work/ discovery calls until I knew what was going on. So yet I lost some potential Clients (some of whom I dreamed of working with) and income. But it was the right thing to do for me and my business at the time. My priority was finishing completed Client shoots and helping booked Clients with their options.
e. Setting and sticking to boundaries
It is more important than ever during plot twist times to set boundaries in your business. You should set and stick to boundaries anyway when running a small business, but they are more needed during tough times. So these are some of the boundaries I set and stuck to to make my life as easy as possible:
Not working evenings and weekends so I could rest and spend time with family
Only checking and replying to emails once or twice a day so I could focus on the priority task(s) at hand
Limiting time on social media for my mental health
Not taking on any Client work with tight/ critical deadlines in the short term
Extending my turnaround times for photoshoots from 10 working days to 15 working days to give myself a bit more time to work around appointments and my energy levels
Pausing more complex services in the short term (e.g. white background and model shoots)
Splitting longer shoots over 2 days so I could pace myself
Not overfilling my days so I had time and space to rest as I needed to
Essentially set the boundaries you need to get through this whilst carrying on working and stick to them. You won’t win any medals for battling through and making life more challenging for yourself!
4. Rest and sleep as much as possible
Dealing with a plot twist takes a lot of time and energy so try and prioritise rest and sleep as much as possible. And I know from experience just how hard it is! You are reeling from the news and what it means, and you are TERRIFIED! Being so wired is not conducive to restful sleep. I don’t think I slept properly for a couple of weeks afterwards even though I was exhausted and awake most nights for hours fretting. But I rested where I could. I had lots of hot baths (they are my biggest stress reliever), and I dozed/ napped where I could during the day. Even the school run would exhaust me so some days I took myself back to bed when I got home and watched cheesy and easy to watch programmes (Criminal Minds, Heartland and The Gilmore Girls saw me through some dark days)!.
My home and garden became my refuge where I could process and heal so I spend a lot of time in my cocoon being kind to myself.
Eating nourishing food and spending time outdoors helped massively with my mindset and mood.
It’s amazing how things in my businesses that seemed important and essential in my business suddenly seemed so small and unimportant.
5. Make life easier for yourself - ask for help!
I realised early on that in order to get through this I was going to have to ask for help and make my life as easy as possible. Again this can be hard if you are used to being superwoman and doing it all yourself. But in truth there is very little you can’t get help with or ask someone else to do for you.
Household Stuff
In terms of juggling household stuff, this was one area where I asked for quite a bit of help from many different sources. Firstly I asked my parents to come and stay to help with the kids in the short-term and they came to stay for a week following my diagnosis. It was so nice having them here for support and the kids always love having their grandparents around and it made those early few weeks much easier on us all.
I got lots of lovely COOK meals for the freezer for the days where we just needed something quick and easy to bung in the oven for tea.
I am the primary carer for my children. Yes, my husband is thankfully very hands on with the kids and always has been. But I do most of the scheduling and organising for the family (including the school run and making sure my kids are in the right place at the right time with everything they need). I am just better at all that than he is. So rather than ask him to take all that on, I asked him to help more with the school run. He is still working from home much of the time post Covid so it’s easier than ever for him to take one of the kids to school and pick them up/ take them to their after school clubs etc. Think about what you can easily ‘outsource’ to others and what you absolutely have to do yourself.
Trust me - the list of stuff you HAVE to do yourself is usually smaller than you think!
Andy also took over the bulk of the cooking and shopping. Don’t get me wrong. There have been bumps in the road on this one!!! There have been home shops where he has forgotten to update them in time and we have ended up with just the two magnums of Prosecco he uses to book the delivery slot and no food! And we have had a chat a few times about including more vegetables into our meals… But for the most part it was one less thing for me to worry about.
We asked my 10 and 12 year old kids to take on a few more chores round the house for extra pocket money. It’s been good for them to earn money for ‘work’ and it has helped me out no end. Jack now washes the car once a month, mows the lawn weekly, and both boys tidy their rooms and help put laundry away each week. I know this won’t be possible for very young children but as mine were a bit older, they were more than capable of taking on a bit more responsibility and help out more. My 12 year old also now makes his own way to the school bus and back now we have longer and sunnier days so I don’t have to drive him every day.
I also asked my cleaner to do a few more hours each week so I didn’t have to do epic amounts of housework and could just maintain surfaces and bathrooms until her next visit.
Finally, I asked a close friend to help with picking up Jack from school some days (she was there anyway) and Andy’s sister to check in on him regularly to make sure he was ok and getting support. And I let the boys schools know so they could offer them support via pastoral care.
So ask for as much help as possible. It’s not being weak. It’s the smart thing to do to get yourself through without reaching breaking point!
Work Stuff
As many of you know I not only run my own business but I am a mentor on the Diploma in Silver Jewellery by Jewellers Academy and one of the Q&A call hosts. I love this role and it is very important to me. So I let owner Jessica and my line manager Anna know as soon as possible so as not to disrupt things too much for my students.
And they were both beyond amazing and supportive. Some of my lovely colleagues temporarily took over some of my Q&A calls where I just couldn’t do them in the short-term. And the team helped me reschedule 1:1s where hospital appointments dropped in the diary. Together we muddled through and I will be able to see my students through to the end of their year-long diploma. You may be surprised just how helpful it can be to share what is going on with close Clients and Colleagues so they can support you (and they will want to I promise!).
What could you outsource in your business?
If you want to keep your business going whilst you deal with your plot twist, you may want to consider outsourcing some of your work to the likes of a Virtual Assistant (VA) or even hire a part-time assistant who lives locally to help with admin, making orders, packing orders etc. There are lots of people out there who can help with photography, accounts, client onboarding, blog writing etc. Once you establish your priorities, look at the other stuff and decide what you can pay someone else to do.
But equally you may want to take a pause that’s ok too. There is no right or wrong here. I was lucky that financially taking a pause in my business wasn’t the end of the world, but I appreciate that not everyone is in the same situation as I was. There are a couple of things you can do to insulate yourself against a financial hit when needing to take a break… These are:
1. Price your goods and services for profit
In order to ask for help in your business and pay others to do some work for you means you must ensure you are pricing for profit. So I encourage all business owners to go back through their prices for their goods and services to make sure they are pricing for profit (particularly at a time when the cost of goods sold is rising quickly). Raising your prices and selling fewer products or services for the same income can make a big difference in terms of your ability to keep working. So don’t play the cut price game as a small business owner - we just can’t compete on price. Focus on the value you bring your Clients and pricing to build the business and life you want. Yes you may loose some Clients when you raise your prices. But you will better attract Clients who really want to work with you even if your prices are a little higher. And surely those are the kinds of clients we all want, right?
2. Get Business Insurance
I strongly encourage all small business owners to take out business insurance AND critical illness insurance just in case they are ever needed. It means if you ever have to take extended time out from your business due to ill health then you don’t have to deal with the financial implications associated with doing so. I know it can be hard paying for insurance when all is going fine. But it can be an absolute lifeline for business owners during tough times.
Mental health and personal support
I am one of life’s people who likes to talk it out. It’s how I am and how I deal with things. My husband on the other hand is a cave dweller.
I knew that to navigate this situation without over burdening my family I would need the support of someone who could help me see the wood from the trees and help me not only prioritise but also help keep me in the right mindset to see this thing through.
So I turned to the very lovely Janey Holliday. I have known Janey a very long time (like almost 20 years). She was my fitness trainer way back when and now runs an online coaching business helping women and female business owners. She is one of the most positive people I know. It’s those people that you know will always have your back that you need more than ever in the plot twist times.
So I had some 1:1 coaching sessions with her in those early days so I could firstly talk to someone who was not involved and second of all, work through my mindset and triggers so I was in best possible shape to beat this and more importantly help those around through it. Do sign up for Janey’s news letter as it is always jam packed with helpful advice and ideas.
Our 1:1 sessions were beyond helpful. They gave me a doable plan of action based on what I wanted and needed, and helped me focus on what I could control instead of focussing on the negative and scary stuff and thoughts. I found them a complete lifeline.
So if you are in the middle of a plot twist I highly recommend working with a trusted coach or therapist. It really could mean the difference between turning a traumatic experience into a positive one that helps you grow whatever happens.
What else?
Above all be kind to yourself and do whatever you need to do to muddle through. There will always be solutions to the challenges you face during a plot twist and it is important to surround yourself with a supportive ‘team’ of family, friends and colleagues to help see you through.
Because you will get through it. As one door closes another one opens as they say. And because life is always what you make it.
And you might even find that you have a more balanced and grateful life once you have come through it because you are clearer than ever about what is important to you and what matters.
I hope that this has been helpful and that should you ever face a plot twist in your business you have some tips and tricks to navigating through it with minimal stress and upheaval.
Sending lots of love,