Funny Business Math: When I Spent More Money, I Made More Money

I felt so excited about the fact that I was working for myself in my business, doing what I love and yet I was absolutely exhausted.  Every single day.  

One of the main reasons I chose to leave my full time job in corporate was so that I could experience the oft-imagined freedom of owning your own business.  This is one of the great myths of being in business for yourself, we imagine that we will have so much free time and can do whatever we want whenever we want – but nobody told me that his reality had to be one that was created, not just a given because you are suddenly a full time entrepreneur. 

I am Bridgette Simmonds, a Life and Leadership Coach and I created Limitless by Bridgette, a coaching and training organization that supports driven and drained women business owners who want to connect and align their true purpose with their business goals for ultimate ease, freedom and success.  

Ease, freedom and success.  Three wishes I had as I would close my eyes after another exhausting – yet fulfilling – day.  This was the first few years of my business. I figured this was just the way that it goes in the beginning.  But as my business grew, the hours in the day seemed to shrink. I began to feel more and more overwhelmed by it all.  

Because going back to work for someone else was not an option. I decided that I was going to have to figure it out.  

In some of the networking groups I was in, the advice was given to hire support. I thought that I would need to be earning a lot more money in my business before I could even afford to do that.  So I continued to work even harder and even longer and in the process grew more and more drained.  

It was at this point that I began to understand that I could not continue at this pace. Burnout was coming for me and that was not going to be good for anyone.  Once I started to consider what type of support I needed by listing the tasks that I did on a daily basis, I realized that I was actually scared of hiring someone else to help me.  

I was fearful that I would not have enough money to pay them.  I was afraid that I would not have enough work to keep them busy.  I was afraid to be responsible for another person because that felt like a whole bunch of work on top of an already long list of things I needed to get done in my business.  

The best antidote that I have found for fear is admitting that it’s there. Getting coaching support to challenge the beliefs and ideas I had that were holding me back from taking action towards something that would actually be supportive to my goals for my business.  Once I spoke with my coach, I realized that I had imagined and made up most of what was in my head about why I could not hire help and this was keeping me in this stuck space I so desperately wanted relief from. 

The next best antidote to fear after gaining coaching support and the clarity that comes from it is taking action in the direction of what it is you want.  So I put together a job description of what I needed done in my business and held my breath as I published it to LinkedIN.  Whew!  It’s out there in the world.  

Within a few days I found what would be my first Assistant and the most miraculous thing occurred. It was the best decision I could have made for my business, my energy and my income!  The most ironic thing happens when us business owners invest in support. We actually have the capacity to earn more the more we spend in order to operate our business!  

It can be super easy to remain stuck in our minds about what won’t work. How much it will “cost us” to invest in a team or in tools that ultimately create greater ease, flow and freedom for us in business.  The biggest lesson I have learned about this is if it costs me in the currency of ease and flow and my business is too difficult or clunky. If I feel trapped by the success of my business, that’s far greater than I wish to pay.  

As women business owners, I’ve found that we have the ability to mulit-task and get a lot done – sometimes to our own detriment.  I will no longer sacrifice in this way and am beyond grateful for the worthy investments I have made in the most incredible support I have for serving my clients.