Setting Boundaries

This has been a strange year for the travel industry, and while many of us are not exactly swimming in a sea of clients right now, I feel that this down time is the perfect opportunity to talk about how to set ourselves up for success when travel returns to normal. We know that the travel industry will rebound and when it does, we could all be in trouble with being too busy. It sounds like a good problem to have – having so much business that we need to consciously manage it all – but we need to prepare for it now. In order to keep our sanity as we run our own businesses and juggle various clients with different needs, we need to get comfortable with setting boundaries so that we can strike a balance between our work and our home lives.

When my top agents talk to me about common issues they have, more often it is that they have trouble balancing their growing business and setting boundaries. Being able to set your own schedule and decide when you work is the whole appeal of owning your own businesses. However, the downfall of being in charge is that when business is doing well, if you don’t set up the proper boundaries for yourself, you tend to work so much that you do not get to enjoy that freedom.

I know that I deprive myself of sleep when I get super busy. I will work late into the night and then wake up early because I have small children who would never let me sleep in. The problem is that I know I can get more done in the quiet hours of the night after my children are down for the night. I can put in a solid four hours of work, uninterrupted by all of my other duties as a mother. But weeks of getting less than six hours of sleep took its toll on my body. I began feeling it a few years ago and it really began to drain my health.

We brag about how busy we are. We brag about how we allow our business to take over our existence as if it is a good thing. We make it so that the image of being successful is not being able to take a break without coming back to 50 things to do. We feel the stress when we are away from our computers, email and phones. We end up jumping all over the place to handle all that we need to handle in a day. We think if we only get more organized or had more time, we could get so much more accomplished. However, COVID has taught us that even if we have all the time in the world, we can still be so busy we cannot relax. The trouble isn’t with simply being too busy, but with not having the boundaries in place to properly manage the busyness.

How will we deal with the surge that will be coming our way in the next year? Will we work ourselves too hard and then say, “Hey, at least we have business?” That should not be our solution. We need to take the time now to put in the framework for the busy time that is ahead of us. What boundaries do we need to set to make that happen? How do we even begin to create boundaries?

First, understand how you work best

This requires you to really think about your personality and how you best function. Snow Academy’s Remote Work Style Report Tool is a great resource where you can create your own report to share with others. It will allow you to specify how you want to be contacted and what works best for you. Keep in mind, if you request others to follow what works for you, you must do the same for them. That means you may need to bend just a little to make it work for everyone. If there is someone you are working with that really needs to speak to you and you prefer to do it via email, you may need to pick up the phone to make it work.

You could share how you work best with your clients and even include this information in the questions you ask to find out how they work best. I know when someone first starts out working with me, they often worry that because I work at midnight, I am expecting them to do the same. I tend to work late at night, but I do not expect to get a response from anyone during that time. It allows people to know my expectations also. Being clear that you do not work past a certain time or how someone should reach you when it is an emergency versus something that can wait is helpful in establishing boundaries.

Share your calendar with people and give times you are available

You can make people set up appointments with you so that you can organize your day. There are great apps out there that can help you with that, including Acuity Scheduling and Calendly.

Create a color scheme, so you can color code the following types of calendar items:

• Meetings and Appointments
• Time blocks for uninterrupted time
• Time blocks you can be flexible about and use when needed
• Personal time you do not want taken away

Don’t be afraid to use tools to allow you to be unavailable

Most people know that you can set up an auto responder on your email to notify people who send you email you are unavailable, but there are other tools available to you also.

If you have an iPhone there is an app called Brick that allows you to auto respond to messages. For android users, IM Auto Reply will work similarly.

Now is the optimal time to set up the boundaries for when we are back to being busy. Do not be afraid to be assertive and set yours so that you can avoid burnout in your business. Keep in mind that it is on you to make the boundaries and stick to them, so if you tell people you’re unavailable past 8pm, don’t turn around send emails past 8pm and blur the boundary lines! Doing these few simple things to establish boundaries in your business will go a long way in maintaining your physical, mental and emotional health as a business owner. Having healthy boundaries will set you up for success when business inevitably comes flooding back in.