Who Controls Your Time?

Hey everybody, it's Tara Bryan and you are listening to the course building secrets podcast. Whether you're a coach or a CEO, the success of your team and clients is based on your ability to deliver a consistent experience and guide them on the fastest path to results. This podcast will give you practical real life tips that you can use today to build your online experiences that get results and create raving fans. Why? So you can monetize your expertise and serve more people without adding more time or team to your business? If you're looking to uncover your million dollar framework, package it and use it to scale you're in the right place. Let's dive in.

Hey, everybody, in this week's podcast, I want to talk about who controls your time I was talking to a client today and she mentioned having to figure out when to reschedule a one on one client that cancelled at the last minute. And it prompted a greater conversation with her about who actually owns her time. So she was trying to scramble to reschedule a client meeting that they cancelled at the last minute. So I asked her, I said, Well, why do you feel like you have to reschedule if they cancelled? And she said, Well, you know, they paid for a certain number of sessions. And so I have to figure out when to fit it in this week. And they said what? Well, but if they're canceling, they're almost forfeiting one of their sessions, right? Because they're canceling at the last minute. They didn't give you any notice. And really, what's happening is it's showing that they don't necessarily value my clients time. Right? Because by canceling last minute and saying, Well, I have something else that came up, regardless of what it was. They're putting it back on my client to actually figure out how to fulfill on you know, what she thought she could fulfill on.

And so in this episode, I want to talk a little bit about how do you set boundaries. How do you actually enhance your customers relationship by setting boundaries, and being very clear about what your time is worth? Because I'm going to tell you that the fastest way to burnout is to try and accommodate all of the variables and all the things that happen in your client relationships. So let's dive into that just a little bit today. Because I think it's an important topic that that a lot of times we don't talk about, we just assume that it's our job to figure out how to fulfill on everything that we've promised, regardless if the customer is pulling their weight or not. So let me use just an example to get us started. So if I go and schedule, any type of Spa appointment, say it's a massage or a haircut, or color, whatever it is that you go and do it the spa, there is a policy that usually comes up that says, If you cancel within 24 hours, or if you're not a spa person, let's use another example just to drive this point home, is I reserve a room at a hotel. Right? So in either case, if you cancel within 24 hours, you still have to pay for that service or for that room. And the reason is, is because the company is on the hook, right? They haven't been able to sell that service, they haven't been able to sell that room because you have reserved it. And so the expectation is well, yeah, if I'm canceling last minute, because something has come up, that I am just going to eat that cost because I made a commitment. I made a reservation. And if I have to cancel, then I have to eat that cost, right? That's sort of the norm for, you know, these different businesses.

So my question to my client was, well, why don't you also value your time enough to say, if you cancel within a certain amount of time, either you are forfeiting your, your service, or you have to pay regardless of if you show up or not. And it was interesting, because she hadn't really thought about it from that perspective before. And I said, Well, isn't your time worth more than trying to figure out now how to change everything around and happens to be her son's birthday on Friday? And she said, Well, I'm gonna try and reschedule that client. And, you know, I'm gonna try and do it around the birthday celebration, but I may have to change things and You know, and in all these different things and, and, you know, so my question for you, as you're listening to this today is how do you value your time? Do you set expectations? Do you train your people that they can just cancel and reschedule at any point in time? Or do you have something in place that actually holds them accountable to not only respect your time, but for you to get compensated or be very clear that if they don't show up, they're not actually going to get that time from you. During that week, they're forfeiting their ability to use your time. And, and so really being clear about that we were talking about a different company that is around her same industry. And if you don't show up for a class or a session, they actually charge you for not showing up. And she said, Well, my people would never do that. And I said, Well, is it because they would never do that because of who they are? Or is it because of the way that you've trained them? Right?

Because everything is about clear communication, everything is about setting expectations. And so if you're setting the expectation that somebody can cancel on you at the last minute, and you will, you know, figure out how to work around your already busy schedule, be it clients, or family or other obligations, you're just teaching them, that's okay for them to do and it's no big deal. And so are my corresponding tip for you today is really think about how you're either setting the expectation that you don't want to be setting, or how do you start looking at valuing your time first, and then helping your clients value your time. So you aren't burning out, you aren't trying to accommodate unrealistic expectations, or, or setting yourself up to fail, because you don't have any of these policies in place, you don't have any boundaries that you're setting for your customers and clients. And I think it's, you know, it's industry standard for hotels, or, you know, airlines or spas, or whatever else to say, Hey, if you don't show up, you don't get your money back. Right? Like, you forfeit the right to get your money back. And you can't just jump on another plane, you can't just grab another room for free later on when you change your mind. Right? And so, as service providers, as people who are doing one on one services, my question really is for you to dig into that for yourself is, is, you know, are you setting boundaries? And are you valuing your time, because the thing is, is that if you are clear about valuing your time, and what it means, if your time isn't respected or valued with your customers, it doesn't mean you're not providing awesome service, it doesn't mean you're not showing up at the highest level. What it means is you're you're valuing your relationship with that customer to say, Hey, I am reserving my time to be with you, if something comes up. If you can't attend, if you know, something changes, then value my time enough to respect the fact that I'm not going to, you know, bend over backwards to reschedule. And there are some exceptions to the rule, you know that there are some exceptions. But in general, if you set expectations, people know that they need to respect your time, they need to respect your boundaries as much as they respect theirs. And most of the time, it's this and I've been thinking about it, right? Because they haven't been given the expectations, they haven't been told that this is you know, how you want to work the relationship, because at the end of the day, and I think this is another trap that we all fall into as one on one service providers, as a lot of times we think about how to serve how to give them as much value and help them with results as much as possible. Without thinking about the fact that we're still running a business, right? We're still providing a service to them as a business owner, not just a friend, not just someone who is, you know, there for them whenever they need it. Right.

So, so you know, consider that as you even just if it helps you look at the math, right? Look at what it means to you, too, have to change your schedule change and rearrange things and adjust and do all sorts of things on a regular basis. If you have clients who are you know, rescheduling or canceling at the last minute, how does that affect you from a business perspective? So that helps you make it a little bit more objective. Really look at that, in terms of the cost to you and to the business when You're not able to fulfill appropriately and you have to make up that time. Alright, so a little bit of a different course building secret today, but I really wanted to dive into that, because it was something that we were talking about this morning. And I think it's, I think it's something that we all struggle with at different points of our business, and how do we, how do we draw those boundaries and, and, you know, boundaries are not bad boundaries, set expectations that actually enhance the relationship. And so when you think about that, and you think about, you know, clarity in communication, clarity in relationship clarity, in expectations, it actually helps the relationship grow, because everybody's on the same page, you probably have had those experiences where things weren't communicated. And then it's, you're not real sure, or one person's disappointed or one person is challenged, and it affects the relationship. And, and so think about that, as you are setting boundaries. So my question for you today is who controls your time in your business relationships, and really thinking through that, and then set some policies set some expectations, the next time you have a new client or a new customer and say, here's what it looks like. When we work together. Here's what it looks like, if you can't show up for a session. If you cancel a week in advance. Great, this is how we can reschedule. If you cancel within 24 hours, here is what that means you do not get that session for the week, or I'm going to you know continue to charge you or you have one session you can do that for but none of the rest of them or however you want to set it up. But respect your time, respect your boundaries, and that will lead to more respect from your customers. So there you go. There is my course billing secret for today.