Calligraphy Biz Corner

16. From Burned Out to Balanced: Keys to Navigating Busy Season as a Small Business Owner

• Alane Gianetti, Shaochen Wu • Season 1 • Episode 16

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In this week's episode of Calligraphy Biz Corner, we’re tackling a topic that hits close to home for all small business owners and creative entrepreneurs—how to avoid burnout and manage stress in peak times like wedding season and the holidays. Whether you’re balancing a ton of wedding stationery orders, preparing holiday product launches, or just trying to keep your to-do list in check, we’ve got your back!

We’re sharing real-life strategies that have worked for us (and our clients) to help you thrive, not just survive, during these hectic times. You’ll hear about:

  • Setting realistic priorities so you don’t overwhelm yourself
  • Clear communication with clients and collaborators to properly balance expectations
  • Leveraging systems and workflows to streamline your calligraphy business 
  • Why self-care isn’t optional and how to make time for it—even when your schedule is packed
  • The importance of celebrating wins, big or small, to keep your motivation high
  • Mastering the power of saying 'no' so you can protect your time and energy


Whether you're a seasoned calligrapher or just starting your business, this episode is packed with actionable insights to help you beat burnout and keep your passion for calligraphy alive.

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👯‍♀️ Learn More About Us:

Alane:

Hello and welcome back to calligraphy biz corner today. We are going to share key ways to navigate stress and avoid burnout during busier seasons in both your business and your life. As Xiaochen and I were drafting the notes for this episode, we both realized that we are incredibly well primed to chat about this topic today because we have both had packed schedules lately. We've been juggling a multitude of things and it's been a bit overwhelming at times to say the least. So between weddings, bringing the podcast back for fall building and launching the podcast website, and then any ongoing client work, there have been so many opportunities for both of us to experience stress and burnout recently. but we have both been finding ways to navigate through those challenges through the struggles of busy season. And we are excited to share them with you today in the hopes that they help you. You navigate your own busier seasons in life. So we are currently in the midst of wedding season in the Northeast. Is that the same for Colorado too?

Shaochen:

Yeah, for sure.

Alane:

then any live event calligraphers that are tuning in, we know that you're probably about to head into your busy holiday season. So we figured that September was a perfect time for today's episode, just to help set you up for success when things do get busy,

Shaochen:

So before we dive into today's content, we're going to share some actual tactical tips for you on this topic. But before we dive in, there's a few things that we just want to catch you up on really quickly. So first of all, if you've been enjoying our podcast, you can help us fuel the podcast by buying us some coffee, or We would so appreciate your support. If our podcast has helped your business in any way, you can go to buy me a coffee. com slash calligraphy biz corner. Or we also have a link in the show notes where you can buy us one coffee, five coffees, however many you want. And so huge shout out to our listeners who have done this already, including Kara of the care report and Kimmy of the Kimmy collective, as well as some anonymous. We can't thank you enough. And we also can't wait to shout you out when you buy us a coffee

Alane:

yeah, we are so, so grateful for your help, like literally fueling our podcast. We are using our own time and resources to produce this content. So. Any way that you're able to support, whether that's following the show, wherever you listen, or leaving a review, or maybe you're sending an episode to a friend that you think would like it, or buying us a coffee. All of those ways are greatly, greatly appreciated. The other thing that we have to catch up on is Xiao Chen. You just got back from your very first ever business retreat. I think on Friday you got back, right?

Shaochen:

on Thursday. Yeah,

Alane:

On Thursday. Yeah. Well, it looked like so much fun. I was looking at the behind the scenes on Instagram and I was like, I have so much

Shaochen:

know. I wish you were there.

Alane:

So I know I would love to hear. How was it?

Shaochen:

Yeah, so last year if you guys have been following me for a while I kind of went on my own personal business retreat where I just like Booked a cabin kind of in the woods, like far away from my day to day life, just so I could like take a step back from my business and look at it from like a distance instead of working in it. And that was so helpful for me that I decided to go on a more like organized business retreat this year. And it was hosted by Lely Imadi. It was her next level retreat. And she focuses on creative business educators, which is like exactly where I am. I want to be and where I am right now. And I've been following her for a while. I knew I wanted to learn from her in some format. And I'm, I'm really glad I went, it was like this really cool, intimate experience, there was about 16 of us. And it was just like a really nice balance of rest and connection. And then, like I said, doing the work on your business instead of being in your business.

Alane:

Yeah, that's awesome. It looked like so much fun and the house that you guys stayed in looked incredible. I was like drooling over that pool setup.

Shaochen:

yeah, for sure.

Alane:

Are there any key takeaways or like learnings or, you know, favorite experiences that you want to share with us?

Shaochen:

Yeah. And yeah, that house, I hope she does it again there because it was so cool. Like we, we like didn't leave.

Alane:

There's no reason to. It looked like it had everything you could possibly need.

Shaochen:

And we didn't even utilize all of the features like the fire pit and the ping pong table and the pool table like so many cool little like Nooks and crannies in there too. But yeah, so like, this is actually the first time Elaine and I are catching up about the retreat. And so I did kind of think about like, what are my takeaways? I'm still kind of like processing the experience too. And we are planning to, to come out with another episode later this year on investing in business education. So I'm going to just share a couple of like top of business tips. Um, For now, and the first thing was I, when I got to the retreat, I immediately knew I was in the right room with the right people, which I don't know. This is like the first time I've done something like this. And I don't think I realized like the power of that. Like all the people around me were people who were a couple of steps ahead of me in terms of what I wanted to do. There were a lot of podcasters, which is awesome because this is a pretty new venture for us. So I knew I had a lot to learn there. There was someone who actually had a podcasting business. And then there were people who had like making a million dollars in revenue in a year. And there was someone who had like six businesses and it was just like, I mean, there were, it was mostly women. It was a very much like girl boss type of moment. Someone did their intro and she was like, I feel so much imposter syndrome right now. And I couldn't believe she said that because I felt imposter syndrome being around her. And honestly, that was like a good feeling because I like being in those kinds of spaces where I know that I can learn from all the people around me. That I'm not the person who already knows everything. You know, I think there's a level of confidence when you are that person who already knows everything. And that's cool. But in order for us to really learn and grow and push ourselves, we have to put ourselves in the room where we are not the person who knows everything right. And everybody,, we can learn from everybody else because they've already done some of the things that we're trying to do.

Alane:

Yeah, absolutely. I feel like when I get in rooms like that, it's just so inspiring and motivating. And I know like, I always leave those situations feeling so lit up about everything. I'm like, Oh my gosh, if they're doing it, like I can figure out how to do it. And you get all of these new viewpoints and perspectives that maybe you hadn't even been exposed to before. And so just hearing all of that, I feel like it's always that like kick in the butt that you need to just. Go figure out what is next or what am I going to do with this or how am I going to take this and apply it to my business now?

Shaochen:

Yeah. And like also seeing that those people are just like normal people like you and me, you know, that's also very like helpful and humbling to that. They're not like some super person you see online because they have 300, 000 followers or something like, yeah, they do. But they're also like, It's like we could do that too. It just, it gives me the sense that like, there's nothing that makes them like superhuman or anything like that, but they're just building this business one step at a time, like the rest of us, you know, and they're like figuring it out as they go.

Alane:

Yeah. I feel like it's very validating for your own experiences, right? Like, you know, It just reminds you that you're not alone and that you are going in the right direction and wherever you're dreaming of, like you can get there. And those people, even though like maybe you're looking up to them, cause like you said, there are a couple of steps ahead of you. It's like, they are also looking up to people who are a couple of steps ahead of them. And it's just this really cool, like ladder of everybody just trying to improve themselves a little bit more every day or week or year to get to where they want to go.

Shaochen:

Yeah, absolutely. The second thing I wanted to share with something that lately. Is I guess kind of like her motto, like people who know her well, know that this is like something she says often, which is like, take what you need, leave the rest. And I love that because it really treated us like adults, like not all 16 of us have to be doing the same coordinated activity at the same time. Like it was actually a pretty free flowing agenda and schedule is like a loose thing. And it very much had more to do with like, how's everybody vibing? How are the conversations going? But. In that, I also learned that you also need to ask for what you need, like, in order to take what you need, sometimes you need to ask for it. So, like, you could have spent all the time at the pool if you wanted, right? But, I knew there were certain people that I wanted to have conversations with, and I knew that I didn't want to leave the retreat without having those conversations. So one of them was with Paige, of the legal page. I had some questions I wanted to ask Legal questions. And she had offered that kind of advice. So I made sure that I got to have my time to ask my questions. I also got like an SEO review. There were some people from show it who are at the retreat. I got a couple of minutes with lately to talk about this new mentoring program that I'm launching. So it's like, you know, I love the take what you need, but also Advocate for yourself and make sure that you're asking for what you need in order to get that.

Alane:

I love that. It's like putting the responsibility on you, right? Like, at the end of the day, you can put yourself in a course, or at a retreat, or join a group coaching program, or whatever the case may be. But if you aren't taking the initiative and putting the work in, whether that's, you know, connecting with somebody, talking to them, it's like, you can only get so far. So I love that it's like putting that Kind of responsibility back on you, right? Like they're here to share their expertise, expertise, but you also need to be willing to like show up and do the

Shaochen:

Totally. Yeah. Yeah. You have to also sometimes be vulnerable to right?

Alane:

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

Shaochen:

And then kind of like working backwards from that point. It really helped me to set intentions. Before like diving into the retreat, because in order to know what you want to get out of the retreat, you have to also be kind of like clear headed about what you want going into it. So, like I said, otherwise, you might leave without some of the things you wanted or regret that you didn't have the opportunity because, like, it is a really cool opportunity to be in a room with all those people at the same time. So setting intentions before you head in to your retreat or your conference or whatever it is that you're going to is a really,

Alane:

I'm actually starting a new group coaching program this week. And I'm doing the same thing, like, literally this morning when I was. I wrote down like, what do I want to get out of the next six months so that I had a really clear direction and I knew how I was going to, you know, conduct myself or show up within this new group program. Like, I know I want to be a part of the cause. I know I want to be Vulnerable, even though it's scary and put myself out there and make connections with these other people that I'm going to be in the room with. So I feel like it's super important to do that. And I love the way that you phrased it, because regardless of whether or not an investment is fully aligned, cause you're never going to have that answer. When you're investing in yourself for your business, but if you can get clear about what you want out of it, then you're always going to be able to walk away with something. And it's always going to be a good investment, even if maybe it wasn't like the absolute perfect one for you. Right.

Shaochen:

Yeah, I love that. I can't wait until we regroup on this in a couple months and share more insights on what we learned with, like, these kinds of business investments.

Alane:

Yeah. It's going to be a really good episode. I've already been like taking notes as I've been thinking through all of this and like watching you experience your retreat and me going into this coaching program. And, you know, both of us having made previous investments in our business I think it's going to be a really great episode because it can get hard to know, like, where do I put my time and my money? If I am looking to grow a specific area. So we're excited for that one, but that's awesome. I'm so glad that you, that you went, that you put yourself out there, that you had those couple of days. Again, I know it was like in the middle of, A very busy season. We were in the middle of bringing the podcast back and re like launching this website for the very first time. But hopefully you also got some like well deserved and probably much needed rest while you were there as well. I got to do some just lounging by the pool.

Shaochen:

definitely did some of that. All right. Without further ado, let's jump into today's episode. We're talking about our top tips for navigating busy season, avoiding burnout and staying motivated in both our work and life. And we draw a lot of this from our recent personal experiences. And we kind of realized as we were jotting down our notes that we have two kind of categories for our tips. And so the first steps we're going to share are. Three ways to take care of your work, and then three ways to take care of your life or yourself during busy season. So let's start off with the three ways to take care of your work. Elaine, you want to kick us off?

Alane:

Yeah. So the first tip that we want to share is be realistic and ruthlessly prioritize. What do we mean by this? I have realized that it can be really easy to overestimate what you can actually accomplish in a single day. And the reality is that life can also just get in the way sometimes. Something that I've been doing this year that's worked really well for me is instead of having, you know, my long to do list for each day, I try to identify my top like one to three non negotiable tasks and focus on those first before moving on to that never ending to do list. So I've actually been using the full focus planner. I don't know if you've heard of it. I'm one of those people that like. Starts a planner and then falls off within the first couple months and just doesn't stick with it. But this one I have stuck with all year so far, very proud of myself about that. But I think that the reason that I'm loving it and it's really working for me is because at the top of each like daily page spread it, there's a section where you can write down what are your big three tasks for that day. So I love being able to jot those down in my planner every single day and be able to reference those as I'm going about my day. I don't always have three on my list. It really depends on my schedule. Like for example, if we're recording a podcast episode, I know that I might not have time to prioritize three other big tasks today because. Recording episode is one of them. So I just try to be realistic about what I can actually accomplish with the time that I have during that day. And then as long as I can check off whatever is listed under that big three, then I end the day feeling productive, feeling like I'm in a good place rather than feeling defeated or disappointed in myself for not getting every single thing on my to do list done.

Shaochen:

Mm hmm. I have a similar process I use the golden coil for my planner. It's like a customizable planner so you get to choose what your what layouts you want because similar to you if I don't have like My planner in the format that I want. I won't use it. And what I like to do is right down my top priorities for the week. And for me, it's more than three typically because it's for the week. But then from there, once I know what the parties are for the week, I kind of like Pick up to three for each day. So I always have like my bigger picture of what I want to accomplish for the week and then how I'm going to make progress towards that for each day. But it's a very similar process to you where it's like, I try to not overwhelm myself with all of the like smaller stuff, which I also jot down in a separate column, but it's more of like, I can pull in one of these things if I finish my like big three

Alane:

yep, exactly. Yeah. Again, it can get really easy to be looking at that run on to do list of all of the things that you have to do for your business, whether it's client work or update reviews on your website or whatever the case may be, but I love how you take the approach. And I do this as well of like. What are the top priorities for this week? And then, you know, you could even go like, what is it that I'm working on this month, this quarter, et cetera, but taking those top priorities and then distilling that down into like the manageable tasks for each day, rather than just your whole list of, of tasks. Every single idea or to do that comes into your mind. Going back to what you said too, about setting intentions when going into a new business investment, I feel like it's the exact same idea here. Right? It's like, you want to set an intention for yourself at the start of each day so that you feel like you actually. Achieved something. We always want to set ourselves up for success rather than setting ourselves up for that defeat or like sense of failure. I think about my dog Oliver, when it comes to this idea I've heard this said in dog training to have like, put your dog in situations where, you know, they're going to succeed, not fail. Right. So like, I know now the types of environments and situations that he thrives in and I know the ones where he doesn't. So like, I'm never going to put him in an environment or a situation that's going to cause him anxiety or set him up to fail or, cause him to like, Do something that I would say is like quote unquote bad behavior because he's not gonna know any better, right? Like if I let him off leash At a place where I shouldn't be letting him off leash and he sees a squirrel and takes off that's on me That's not on my dog so I feel like it's the same idea with planning our days just to kind of like tie this one up, I feel like it's kind of a three parter here, but I would encourage you to set the realistic expectations for yourself. Determine what accomplishment actually looks like for that day. And then just keep your never ending to do list separate from the non negotiables for that day. And focus on what actually needs to get done in that moment. Rather than looking at, you know, a 20 page list.

Shaochen:

Yeah. And so the other like half of this tip, this very long first tip was like, be realistic, which we just talked about and ruthlessly prioritize. And so I want to talk about the ruthlessly prioritize part. So yeah, we start off with these good intentions and setting out plans for ourselves. It could be easy to skip the planning step when you're really busy, but like Elaine just said about like setting yourself up for success, it's even more important because you need to make sure that you are being strategic about how you spend your very limited time. And so you go in with your priorities for the day, like maybe I'm in production for a wedding. So like Monday, I want to do welcome sign and some small signage. And then I want to work on the seating chart for the next two days. And then the rest of the week is for place cards or something. So you set out your timeline for yourself day by day and your priorities. But if I start slipping on that timeline, where I need to get ruthless about prioritization is To be reevaluating constantly where I am on that production plan, and it's not about like penalizing myself if I slip on the schedule or something like that. It's just more about the awareness at the start and the end of each day to know, like, am I a part of it? Am I on track to hit my deadlines or not? And if the answer is no, I'm not, then what do I need to adjust? Do I have the ability to give myself a little bit more time because the seating charts taking me longer than I expected? Or do I have something that's in my top three that needs to be cut so that I can give myself more time? Because that's something I absolutely have to get done, right? Like, I can't imagine the CD chart not being done. That's like a non negotiable, right? And so maybe I need to not do my social media posts this week because that's actually not going to be directly revenue generating or it's not like I'm not on the hook for it from like a client work perspective. Right? Or maybe emails aren't happening. I'm not responding to emails. Bonding to emails, except for the people who have weddings this month, that happens a lot, honestly, in busy season. And that's kind of what I mean by ruthlessly prioritized, because it doesn't like feel good to quote unquote drop the ball. But sometimes you have to just not do the things that aren't important in order to get the things that are important done. so I'm going to actually roll right into our second work related tip, which is communicate the expectations and boundaries to your clients and collaborators. So this goes hand in hand with what I was just talking about, because you might have a lot of unhappy potential clients or clients if you never listen to their emails. So when it comes to not doing something that someone else is expecting you to do, you need to communicate and be clear on what they can expect from you. So on the email one, which I know, I think like freaks a lot of people out who like to get to inbox zero, like, Put in your email signature that it's busy season and they can expect to hear from you within like four business days. Like give yourself a little bit of breathing room. You can put whatever you want to clarify in that signature and like Highlight it or bold it or whatever so that you're trying to communicate that expectation to anybody who's emailing you and in terms of creating boundaries This can also be including your business hours in your signature too And this can be something you do year round not just during business season busy season so like maybe you are, you know in the office between 10 to four Monday through Wednesday or something. And then the rest of the week, you're just focused on client production. So you're not really at your computer or emails or whatever, whatever your schedule looks like for you. Just communicate that because I think in our society and our culture, we're so used to people being online eight to five Monday through Friday. And as an entrepreneur, especially if you're a side hustler, that's just often not, that's not what your schedule looks like. So just make sure you're communicating that in some way. Yeah.

Alane:

And even with the interactions that I have had with my own clients, and then also interactions that I have had with other business owners, like if I'm working with somebody on something, it doesn't, like, I don't actually care if it's going to take you a little bit to get back to me. And I know that my clients don't like, they're not going to get mad if they haven't heard from me in a couple of days, it's just all about, like you said, communicating when. You can actually expect to get that proposal or hear back from you or whatever the case may be. People just want to know, like, Yes, you're on my radar and I promise I will get back to you by this date.

Shaochen:

Yeah.

Alane:

Something that I actually do is I just always have my vacation responder on in Gmail. It's an automated message. And I say that in the email just to confirm that their email is received. And then I let them know that they can hear from me in two to four business days, since it is currently wedding season. And even when it's not wedding season, I keep that on just because. I feel like it's just nice to email somebody and be like, okay, cool. They did get my message. And this is when I can hear from them, even if it is within 24 hours or, you know, whatever the case may be not during wedding season. So that just helps take a little bit of pressure off of me from having to respond right away or feeling like I need to respond right away, because I know that every time somebody is emailing me, they are getting an auto response that clearly outlines when they are, when they should expect to hear from me. Bye.

Shaochen:

So to add onto that, it's also important to communicate your timelines and expectations with collaborators, whether that's like other wedding vendors that you're working with other business partners. So I'll give an example with our podcast. Elaine and I, we tag team with the production work for the podcast. So like editing and show notes, like all of that kind of stuff. And our schedule, like each of our schedule affects the other person's schedule. So like I usually do the first pass of the editing and then pass it on to Elaine. And so our editing timelines, because. Obviously, this is not our full time job. Like with the podcast, we have a lot of other things going on. So our timelines are, don't have a lot of wiggle room. So we need to make sure we're communicating if we have to adjust a timeline and how that impacts the other person, just trying to be really considerate and understanding to each other. And so sometimes if one person's really busy, then the other person might take over a task too, or we might switch roles. So again, kind of going back to that, like. Communication and ruthlessly prioritize just like constantly iterating and adjusting and it's always better to communicate and ask for the help than try to just like bulldozer through it and like work until 2 a. m. every day because like that's not great for your mental health either and you're probably not producing your best work so it's just good to continually think about like how can I adjust based on where I am to produce my best work and a lot of times that includes just being clear on your communication and expectations. I'm going to share another example of like a client boundary you can set to help you navigate busy season and not get caught up in like more work than you need to be doing, which is making sure that when you are in the design review process, that you are being really clear on how many rounds of feedback are included for your client and also how much it costs. If your client needs more revisions so you'll definitely want this outline in your contract, but also make sure that you're on the same page when you're actually in the design stage and communicating with your client about the design. Like when you're handing the design over to them, make sure they know how many rounds of feedback they get with you. Because this will also really help your client to make sure they consolidated their feedback, because sometimes what I find, especially if you're working with a couple is the bride will have an opinion and they'll send that to you and then they'll talk to their And then they'll have an opinion and so you want them to talk to each other first and then talk to you, you know, and I think communicating that as far as like, hey, like, you have a limited amount of design review with me, and if you need more than that, you have to pay like that really helps them to like communicate with each other and consolidate their thoughts first.

Alane:

Yeah. And I feel like as well, I am a self self proclaimed people pleaser, but I feel like as people pleasers, it can feel like, Maybe scary or like a little uncomfortable to set those boundaries with clients or with, you know, vendors, whoever it is that you're working with. But I have found that it takes so much stress and mental pressure off of yourself. If you know that you are clearly communicating every single thing right off the bat and that you don't need to, because then if something does come up, then you can say, Oh, well, we are now on design revision four. And that is. Now going into extra as communicated when I onboarded you, like it's going to be this much extra, whatever the case may be, but I feel like it also just allows you to operate from a much Calmer headspace than like feeling stressed out about how you're going to deal with certain situations

Shaochen:

Yeah, I think as much as someone might not want to pay extra, they would prefer not to be surprised even more. Right. So like just having that communicated up front and then they can decide like, do I, is this extra revision worth it to me to pay or not? Now that's their decision, something you've already communicated to them.

Alane:

Right. Exactly. So the third way to take care of your work that we wanted to chat about today is using the power of systems in your business. So You know, me, I'm a systems girly, but having proper systems in place is a huge part of being able to navigate stress and overwhelm during busier seasons. As I mentioned before, having that automatic reply set up in your email really takes the pressure off of feeling like you have to respond to emails right away. And so in addition to my vacation responder that I just have set at all times in Gmail, I also have auto replies. Built into my actual workflow in HoneyBook for new inquiries. So like if somebody fills out my contact form, they get an automated response saying like, you know, your inquiry was received and this is when you can hear back from me. Having a CRM, which is a client relationship management tool like HoneyBook or Dubsado that can do things like send proposals, contracts, and invoices all in one file is also super, super helpful, especially during the busy season. You know, when you are busy. In the studio, working on client projects or whatever the case may be, you don't really have a ton of extra time to be going back and forth on emails for proposals or manually processing invoice and contracts, right? Like your time is in the studio creating. So while I was preoccupied these last two weeks with both weddings and our podcast tasks, I was still able to effortlessly book a new 2025 couple, as well as a mentoring client. And for me, it's just so important that my business can still run and I can still make money even when I don't have a ton of time for the admin side of things. So. I also was able to then feel way more relaxed about them taking that next step because I knew that as soon as they submitted their deposits, they were going to get another automated email from me, thanking them, letting them know what to expect for the onboarding process and when we're going to kick those things off. And so that takes that pressure off of me of having to onboard them immediately. Like, I knew that I didn't have to get to it last week right after they signed and submitted because they already got that like extra touch point just confirming that everything was received. This is when you'll hear from me and this is what the next steps are going to be.

Shaochen:

Yeah, I love that. And I also really love the automatic payment reminders because I don't have to be the one awkwardly being like, Hello, your payments due in two days. Like there is literally a system reminder that does that. And pretty much everyone has paid on time because they get my annoying CRM reminders that I don't have to send by myself. But also, like for me, how I leverage this with my client workflows is I'll have Dubsado, which I use for my CRM, send me reminders when it's time for my clients, six week check ins, so six weeks before their wedding, I have kind of like a wedding checklist for them and that's when we start finalizing designs and things like that. It reminds me when it's time to ask for a review, for photos, like all of those repetitive tasks. that I do with my client. And I could also have Dubsado just send those emails automatically for me, but I like to look at them and I like to personalize them before I send them out because some clients I might already be working with before the six weeks hits. Like I have very proactive clients who just reach out to me and like want to start things. a little bit sooner. But then I get those reminders in my inbox and it's really easy for me to then go into Zipsado and just send that email out real quick. And I think that's just a reminder too, is like systems can work for you in the way that you want them to, like systems can fully automate your process. Like I said, they could send those emails for me, but they can also send me a reminder. And so whatever level of comfort that you have with systems doing stuff for you, you can make that work for you through a, like a CRM type system.

Alane:

Yeah, exactly. That's why I love systems so much because whether you're doing automations or you're just having the templates and the reminders built in, it saves you. So much time. And again, it just like frees up that mental load of feeling like, Oh my gosh, am I forgetting something? Am I dropping the ball on something? Like, no, we have the technology to be able to put all of these things in place so that we don't have to worry about it and we can continue on with the thing that people are actually hiring us for, which is actually making calligraphy, right? Like people aren't hiring us to send a proposal. They're hiring us to create for their wedding.

Shaochen:

Yeah, yeah,

Alane:

we will put links for both HoneyBook and Dubsado in the show notes. So if you are not using a CRM yet in your business, but once you give one a try, I think we both have free trials in our links. So you can, you could try both and then decide. I, I did that when I was looking for a CRM. so those are our three ways to take care of your work during busy season. So now we're going to chat about three ways to take care of yourself. So number one is to schedule time for yourself. We can get very easily caught up in work and the demands of running a business that we tend to forget to. Or at least I, I don't know about everybody else, but I tend to forget to listen to what my body and mind really needs. And it's very easy for me to just prioritize client work and keep going, going, going, and feel guilty, taking a break when there are so many other things to do. But I have learned that So important to remember that giving yourself an opportunity to reset and recharge is actually going to allow you to show up even better in your business. Like, I wonder if you experienced this after coming back from the next level retreat, like Did you feel, I don't know, lighter, less stressed or, you know, more energized?

Shaochen:

yeah, it definitely felt like more energized and like also just from the conversations we had there, I felt like I had a better direction about where, like how I wanted to execute on certain things. So, yeah, I agree. Taking like a break sometimes is really what you need to be reinvigorated.

Alane:

Yeah. And I feel like it gives you some clarity too, because you're able to step back, not focus on whatever it is that you've been spinning your wheels over, and then you can come back with a fresh perspective. So for example, I. Last week, I had a bit of a hectic schedule. Honestly, from last Sunday till last Wednesday night, it was just a constant go, go, go. And Wednesday was a big day because I had a mentoring call at 9 AM. And then I had to drive to Long Island right after that to deliver a wedding, which was just already causing me. So much anxiety just thinking about it. Cause I knew I had to drive through Manhattan to get to Long Island. Like I am not a confident driver. I was just feeling all kinds of stress about it. And knowing that I really wasn't gonna have much downtime that day because I had a mentoring call and I knew I was going to be in the car for at least three to four hours delivering this wedding, I was like, maybe I should use that time before my mentoring call. To try to catch up on some emails or get ahead on a few things. But that also just started to feel really overwhelming in that moment. So I took a minute, I paused, I was like, listen to what is your body saying? What do you actually need right now? And I realized that I needed to create a very calm morning for myself. So instead of just diving into, into, you know, work at. 8 a. m. I decided to start the morning with a book and some coffee and breakfast before my call and I knew that whatever needed to get done that day I could do it when I got back home from Long Island and like that was behind me so just listening to myself and what I needed allowed me to start the day in a much clearer and calmer headspace and it just helped reduce some of that anxiety that I was feeling. About making the drive, honestly. Cause I, I had that slow morning. I got on my mentoring call. That was really great. And then I was like, okay, you're just going to, you're going to get in the car. You're going to take your time. You're going to make your way through Manhattan slowly, but surely,

Shaochen:

Yeah. I love the kind of underlying theme of this episode. It's like that I've heard come up several times. It's just like, be intentional, be intentional about your day, your schedule, your priorities. It's so easy for us to open our computer, immediately look at our email and start going through that. And I'm guilty of that too, being like the first thing that I do. it's hard. What you did is hard. so much harder is to actually take a step back and be like, what is my body telling me? And what do I need in this moment to set myself up for success for the rest of the day? I'll be honest. I took a nap before we recorded this podcast. I was very, very tired this morning. I'm not really a, caffeine person. And when I do drink caffeine, it only masks my tiredness. Like I just feel kind of jittery and not at my best. So I was like, instead of drinking coffee, I'm going to take a nap and that'll hopefully set me up better for the rest of my day. And I think it's hard to make those choices when you already feel like your time is so limited. Similarly, like I am more productive if I can get some movement in. So even if that's 15, 20 minutes, I use like the Peloton app at home, like that helps me so much if I can just like take a little bit of time to do that in my day. and

Alane:

yeah. I love that. And the reality is when you are a business I don't know if you feel this way, but I feel like I could literally be working 24 seven. Like there's always something to do, whether it's client work or you want to work

Shaochen:

through a really busy.

Alane:

or you need website or update email templates, like it literally never ends. And so what I have found over the years after burning myself out and just working nonstop is like. you have to make time for yourself because nobody else is going to make that time for you. So like if you actually care about, you know, the way that you're feeling both physically and mentally, and if you can recognize that, prioritizing that self care is going to allow you to show up as a better, you Business owner, then you're the only person that can make time for that. So I love that you have those appointments, like standing on the calendar as non negotiables regardless. Like, that's why I like the gym that I belong to, I have to book a class in order to go, and if I cancel within 12 hours, I get charged and like that, the reason that I'm a part of that type of a system is so that it holds me to it. Or else I just wouldn't go. Yeah. So I am such a big fan of celebrating your wins or giving yourself something to look forward to when you're in the middle of a busy season, it. really doesn't have to be anything crazy or extravagant. I feel like I used to think Oh, that means I need to go Take myself out to Like a really fancy dinner, but it's not that at all, if that's what you want it to be,

Shaochen:

but and that leads

Alane:

but like for last week, for example, um, when I you know, it was just kind of nonstop for, Four or five days straight. My motivation for getting through the week was I knew that I had a girl's night to look forward to on Friday. We were going to order in Thai food and we watched this, uh, new season that just came out of Emily in Paris, which was just lovely. And then I had a trip upstate on Saturday to go So even though last week was just crazy with work and I was, Even up until midnight one night, which like, if you know me, that's way past my bedtime. I was in bed nine o'clock last night. I had two exciting that I was really looking forward to. And I knew that once I got through, you know, Friday 4 PM, like. I was going to be able to turn off and just rest and reset with some, you know, rejuvenate with friend time and being out in nature, all of that. Um, once the weekend actually came. So it's kind of that like light at the end of the tunnel. So I like to put those little things on my calendar too, especially even when it does feel like maybe I'm too tired to go hang out with my friend at which I very could have easily like canceled on her on Friday night. But I knew that being with her was going to like, make me feel alive and just more like a normal human

Shaochen:

Yeah, no, I love that reminder. And, Elaine knows I'm not, I'm not the best at this, like celebrating wins one and I'm working on it, but I also love the reminder that it doesn't have to be something big or something crazy. It's literally just having something on your calendar to look forward to. And we all need that, especially when we're in the thick of it. So it's nice to have somebody in your corner to remind you to prioritize yourself and your wins. And so hopefully it could be us on this podcast, reminding you to do that right now. So our last tip for taking care of yourself during busy season is to start saying no. I'm so guilty of having FOMO all of the time, but being able to say no is such an important skill and one that you might have to, like, hone and practice. Sometimes you do have to turn down dream jobs because you've overcommitted and taking on another job, even if it's a dream job, is going to really put your mental health, you know, at risk. And hopefully your calendar is already busy. Booked with other dream clients and things that you enjoy doing. Saying no is so important because not only can it alleviate burnout, but it can also help you prevent burnout. And sometimes this goes for personal commitments too. Like, if you're over committed on the work side of things, you might have to turn down some personal things. And so I think like going through that It just helps us to evaluate what do we want in the future and helps us evaluate what is the balance that we want to have. there are going to be times where we say yes to things that we maybe wish we said no to but we can use those data points to help us determine what is the ideal number of clients I should take on each month, or, you know, how many projects do I need to also be able to spend time.

Alane:

Yeah. It's like future you still comes to life at some point.

Shaochen:

me this is kind of a reminder

Alane:

Yeah. I feel like going back to what

Shaochen:

but it's

Alane:

it really just, it all comes down

Shaochen:

the road. But I need to

Alane:

and whether that's, you know,

Shaochen:

me has

Alane:

At the start of each year saying,

Shaochen:

me commits to. I think a lot of

Alane:

are the ideal number of jobs or clients I would like to

Shaochen:

And I need to work on

Alane:

this is, you know, kind of an ideal number of times I want to be out of the office or on vacation or spending time with my family or whatever the case may be, but taking the time to. Like you said, be intentional with that. and also listen to what is, what am I actually asking for? What do I actually need right now in this moment? or what do I think future me is going to want or need in that moment? And then using that to kind of guide your decisions. Saying, or, you know, practicing saying no is something that I have really been embracing over like the last year or two. I have reframed FOMO in my mind as instead of the fear of missing out, I now just tell myself it's the fun of missing out instead of the fear. Cause I think it's just. enjoying snuggling on the couch with my dog and watching Selling Sunset like Exactly. It's all about just taking what you need. Um, and I don't know, I think that this is maybe also, I feel this more as I've

Shaochen:

something else you

Alane:

don't know about you. Uh, and I guess it's just that, that, you know, your priority shift and things that were once important to you are no longer as important to you. But I don't know, I feel like I hit 35 and Tired and I just started to care more about like what I want and my own mental health and other people thought. So I feel like I feel a lot of FOMO and like, you know, social things like, am I going to miss out on event or that gathering or whatever? But I'm like, do I really want to trek to Brooklyn on a Tuesday night? No, I don't. So I'm going to stay home and that'll be much more fun for me. Yeah, I'm good. I'm good. I don't need to say anything else on that point.

Shaochen:

Yeah,

Alane:

notes for this, I want to find a new word for busy. I like, I don't like that word. Right. Exactly. and also like, I think it's reframing the way that you look at things, right? Like, yeah, we've had so much going on these past couple of weeks. But I'm also like, but these are all things that we get to do. And that's so freaking cool that like we get to record a podcast and we got to launch the website. and like, I got

Shaochen:

It has

Alane:

two really awesome couples in September.

Shaochen:

but Like, it

Alane:

And so I feel like because busy has a negative connotation, but I'm trying to look at the things that are on my list is like, Oh, I get to do these things. I have these opportunities, like they don't add up, but. Even while I was drafting the notes for this episode, I still couldn't think of a better replacement for busy. I was like, maybe it's like a full season, like fuller seasons of business or life. I don't know if anybody has any ideas, please share with us.

Shaochen:

I, I love that word actually full. I mean, I feel like we are all leading. Full lives as entrepreneurs just on a regular basis, but then like saying that it's like a fuller season that's like on top of whatever you're already full life is like you're doing even more. I like that. And then it does feel very like rewarding and positive. But just to wrap up our episode, if you enjoyed this episode, if it was helpful, please support us by leaving us a rating or review. You can do that really quickly on Apple or on Spotify. You can leave us a comment even, and you can help us fuel our pod like we mentioned in the beginning with our new Buy Me a Coffee website that we will link in the show notes. So we'll talk to you soon.

People on this episode

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Alane Gianetti

Host
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Shaochen Wu

Host