What I’ve found in entrepreneurship is that much like motherhood, there's not enough support.
We live in a time where women are breadwinners, making millions and raising families. And with that comes a lot of pressure to keep up the sometimes performative actions it takes to sustain that level of business.
It's really affecting people mentally and physically.
What I believe and what I teach in the women that I'm working with is that we do need to structure our businesses in a way that gives us freedom and flexibility.
You know, being somebody who is a doer, being somebody who likes to check boxes as my clients do, I've operated a lot in the masculine as we know it. I've also leaned heavily into the feminine and kind of expected things to just show up and happen for me.
Neither of them are sustainable long-term when you're in one.
I am personally in the place right now where I found this richness in my life, this wealth that goes beyond finances. And it's really my desire to be able to help others to facilitate and create that.
I believe that as mom founders, when we decide and make a conscious choice to run our businesses differently, that not only can we succeed financially, but we can also have the lives that we desired when we started our businesses.
But in order to do that we need to get rid of what’s stopping us from having the lives we want our businesses to provide, we have to stop the urgency and scarcity that is ingrained in us and bleeding into our businesses.
If we are going to create real change and lead better, we have to be able to identify and remove any sort of scarcity and urgency that we're operating from.
It's only then that we can really have peace.
There has been this shift, especially for women who have grown really big and maybe are making millions to where it's like, I did all these things, I checked all these boxes, I have all the things and I still don't feel great.
There is this craving for peace, for presence, for joy, for fulfillment, but it's also very uncomfortable because what we know is in business is urgency and scarcity and checking boxes and doing one thing after another and planning for another launch and, the structure, the strategy, the to -dos.
And while I will say that is a part of it and it's a necessary part of a sustainable business, if we are not balancing, and I use that word carefully, understanding that like many people are like, that is impossible.
If we are not balancing our restoration and wellbeing with the ambition that we have, then we're going to continue in this cycle to where years from now you look back and you're in that position where you have it all or you've gotten the next thing, you've reached the next milestone and it still doesn't feel like enough.
The Detriment of Operating Your Business from Urgency and Scarcity
Let’s talk about taking the urgency and scarcity out of your business. First, you need to understand the detriment of running your business and operating from that place.
You know that you're operating from this place because it's very reactive. Instead of responding to things that are happening, you feel like you're just firing things off, one thing after the next. There's always something going on. You're very short in your responses and there's a lot of fear.
Scarcity is based in fear.
And if we run our businesses from a place of scarcity, it keeps us in the cycle of always chasing the next thing.
Should we always have goals? Yes.
Should we, more importantly than goals, always have purpose?
That's really what we're seeking when we set goals. We need something that can hold us accountable, that can keep us showing up.
We have to take the urgency and scarcity out of our business because if we don't, it is detrimental to our health. It is detrimental to our relationships.
And furthermore, it is detrimental to our business because many times we are making decisions based upon the short term and what seems right in that moment and we're making those from a reactive place.
When we make decisions from a reactive place, instead of gathering all the data and responding, we end up having to fix things later on.
Versus if we make decisions with a long-term lens, then we are putting things in place that are actually sustainable. So I want you to consider the sustainability of your business right now and always.
We cannot see that one more email, that one more thing in our project management, that box we need to check, that message we need to answer.
Everything feels like it needs to be done right now. And that feeling contributes to so much stress and it overwhelm and anxiety because it keeps you at like this high level of not being able to function correctly because you just feel like there's all these to-dos and all of them have to be done right now.
So you're just spinning on this hamster wheel. That's what urgency and operating out of urgency does to your business.
Unraveling the Urgency
In order to take the urgency out of your business, what you have to do is learn to evaluate where the urgency is actually coming from. Once you know where it's coming from, then you can create an actual solution for it.
In order to do this, it requires you to step back.
So for my founders who are buried in the day-to-day, this is a big problem that you guys have. You’re not able to step back because you are living in that state of well, after I get this done or after this next thing, then I will assess that.
We have to learn to assess in real time. We have to learn to see the red flags before the burnout hits and we are incapacitated.
And so, you learn to step back and assess then anything that comes in to identify the actual urgency, you're going to ask yourself:
Is this self-imposed or is this urgency being imposed by someone else?
Here's two examples of that.
Self-imposed urgency is something that is within your business that you have set a timeline for.
Be that a timeline in your project management or a timeline in your head, ie: an email just came in, I need to respond to that right now.
Do you?
Is that something that you've told yourself?
Or is that an expectation that you have set?
And sometimes there's unsaid expectations, which really is the importance of us setting clear expectations from the start in our business as well with our teams, with our clients, with everybody around us.
If you're working with clients that have deadlines and you have deliverables for those, or you have a promise to a client to deliver those, you first need to know where the urgency is coming from.
Is the turnaround time too quick for you to give your best quality work?
Is the quality of work suffering because you are trying to match those deadlines?
Are your expectations real or realistic for what you want to achieve?
I know for me personally, one of the hardest things I've had to get over is being so tied to certain timelines.
It is hard to not control everything and to have to let go that certain things are going to happen.
Like even in recording my podcasts this morning, I'm off schedule and I can get flustered a little bit. I have to really step back and say in the grand scheme of things, does this really matter?
I know it's such a simple question, but at the end of the day, yes, our businesses are so important. But is anyone going to die or be hurt if I am late to recording podcasts? No.
So why am I putting that pressure and that urgency on myself?
And so this is where we look for self-imposed urgency.
Eliminating Urgency for Quality Work & Mental Well-being
If this is an urgency that you are creating for yourself, that means you also have the control to change it.
That means that you can say, you know what, I'm going to extend this timeline.
I'm going to ask for more support on this project.
I'm going to have a conversation, be that with yourself or somebody outside of you, to change that urgency.
If you feel like you have to answer emails as soon as they come in, change your email signature to let people know that you only answer emails twice a week.
There is so much control that we have in our businesses that we forget about when we're service providers.
You can provide a better, more quality level of service when you are operating at your best.
So, in order to take the urgency out of your business, you need to identify is this urgency coming from me or outside of me?
And if it's coming from you, you need to recognize the control that you have in that situation and ask yourself, what changes can I make to alleviate the pressure that is coming from this urgency?
If the urgency is coming from outside of you, ie: you have a client who is constantly messaging, team members constantly messaging or things coming in, promised deadlines that you've given to clients that you're struggling to meet or you're working outside of the hours that you wanna work to meet.
I think that sometimes we forget that we're human.
And the fact that we're raising children and growing businesses, yes, it makes us superhuman, but the reality is we're still human.
If we don't leave a margin for mistakes and space for us to be human, we set ourselves up to fail.
If you promise a timeline that isn't working for you, if there are expectations that are said, written or unsaid, you can reset expectations.
You can have a conversation that may be uncomfortable in order to remove that pressure.
A lot of times, the pressure that we feel that's creating that sense of urgency, can be solved with a conversation, be that a conversation with yourself or with somebody else. You could say something like, “this turnaround time is too quick for our team. In order to deliver the best quality of work, we need X amount of time.”
It doesn't make you less than or weak for needing more time and not wanting to operate from a place of urgency. It's draining when we do that.
This is why people are in the pattern of rushing to , rush, rush, get all this stuff done, a million things, different directions, and then crash.
And if we really pull back from that, it sometimes is the same timeline, right? To where we get the same amount of things done, but the quality of work is better when we allow enough time, enough space for our brains and for our humanness.
So to remove the urgency, I want you to identify if it's self -imposed or if it's outside of you, and then I want you to make a choice that if it's self -imposed, you need to figure out what are you telling yourself about not operating that way?
Because that's where the fear is.
If I don't operate this way, what will happen?
And that is where scarcity comes in.
Overcoming Fear to Build a Sustainable Business
One of my clients has built a very successful million plus dollar business and she shared a thought with me that she had about this stress and this overwhelm and the way that I've operated and ran my business, it's worked.
So why would I stop doing it? Like that's her, that was her very transparent thought. And I'm like, it makes logical sense. Like your brain equates the success with it being done that way because that's all you know right now. You don't have data or proof otherwise. So scarcity is based in fear.
We are afraid of what we might lose if we show up, operate, set boundaries, do whatever differently, because all we know is what we've done. This is why change is so hard for people. This is why when clients come to me, they've spent years running their business in a way that they know is not sustainable, but it's working, right? That's the double -edged sword. It's like,
Well, it's working financially. But nothing else feels good.
I want you to really think about scarcity and knowing that it’s fear. I want you to think about what you're afraid of. If you do things differently to where you are operating from a place of confidence, peace and holding the boundaries and the standards that you've set for yourself and your business…
Are you afraid that you will lose people?
Are you afraid that your revenue will go down?
Are you afraid that people will think something about you?
If you can figure out what those exact fears are, it's easier for you to create different thoughts to create a different solution.
Do you want to be an example of fear? Do you want to lead in your business and in your home from the place of, if I don't do this, I will lose this?
Or do you want to operate from a place of, I know if I do what is best for me, it will be what is best for them?
Those are two different ways of thinking. And if we're going to build businesses that are successful and sustainable, we have to operate from a place of quality, tranquility and being able to be in the visionary seat and assess situations.
And we cannot do that if we are reactive, if everything feels urgent, and if we are operating from a place of fear.
So we're gonna remove that urgency by assessing where it's from. We're going to remove the scarcity by assessing what the fears are that we have if we operate or do things differently. And then we're gonna confront those fears. We're gonna provide ourselves with new data.
Level Up Your Business
One of my favorite things that happens with clients is when we start to shift things in the business, when we start to set new boundaries, when we start to set them up and restructure the business in a way that is optimal for a long term, and they get higher paying clients, they get more respect from their clients.
They are getting more time freedom, more time for their relationships, more time for themselves and taking care of themselves and mentally and physically.
It's hard to show yourself and give yourself proof if you don't try. And so when you recognize that you're operating from a place of fear, when you're always chasing the next client, the next revenue goal, you lose sight of what you've built already.
And so it's important for you to just recognize that you’re operating at this heightened state. There's stress, there's anxiety, everything feels urgent.
The question becomes, can you sustain that?
And we know the answer is no. And that's why I'm encouraging you today.
You know that you can't continue to meet the demands that you have on the current timelines that you're setting. You know that your expectations for yourself and probably your team and the example that you're being is probably not in alignment with who you want to be and what you want to represent long term.
You have the power to change those things.
I want you to look at your responsibilities in your business. I want you to see if the responsibilities that you have and the way that you're leading, if they align with how you wanna feel in your business.
And if it doesn't feel good because of what we've talked about today, then it's time for you to make a plan to change it, for you to identify these areas and sources of the scarcity, the urgency, the fear and the reactivity so that you can put boundaries or new standards in place to change them.
You don't need more temporary solutions.
You don't need another weekend where you're incapacitated because you're so tired from the week. You need to restructure the way that the business is. And so the first step to change is awareness.
And so being aware of this urgency, scarcity and fear then inputting some of these solutions, asking yourself these questions is really, really important.
Lastly, The Female Founders Freedom Framework is now available! It is a free downloadable PDF that is going to be your guide to freedom. It's going to be your guide to restructuring your established business in a way where you can make your business based on freedom and flexibility.
It's going to assess eight different areas of your business, give you clear action steps and non -negotiables that need to be in place and it is truly brilliant. So make sure that you head over to kelseakoenreich.com/femalefoundersfreedomframework and grab that for free today.