The Bonsai Approach to Business

An old boss once said, “A job isn’t a life sentence. If you’re not happy, it’s okay to leave.” Employees can change jobs to find a better fit, a higher salary, or a new challenge. But when you work for yourself, you don’t have that option. You can’t quit and find a new ‘job’—you have to shape and refine the business you already have.

Self-employment is not a set-it-and-forget-it endeavor. It’s a living, evolving entity that requires continuous attention. Like a bonsai tree, you don’t overhaul everything at once. Instead, you make small, thoughtful changes that add up over time—adjusting your services, refining your pricing, redefining your brand positioning, and improving your processes—all to ensure your business grows in a direction that truly works for you.

The Power of Small, Intentional Adjustments

A bonsai tree isn’t shaped overnight. It takes years of careful pruning to cultivate the desired form. Similarly, small but consistent refinements in business can lead to a more sustainable and fulfilling enterprise.

Here are a few areas where small adjustments can have a big impact:

1. Your Offerings – Are you doing work you love or just taking any job that pays? Pruning your service offerings to focus on what aligns with your strengths and values can make your business more enjoyable and sustainable.
2. Your Pricing – Are you charging what you’re worth? Adjusting or restructuring your pricing model can significantly impact your profitability without requiring more work.
3. Your Positioning – Are you attracting the right clients? Sometimes, a slight tweak to your messaging, branding, or niche focus can make all the difference in bringing in the best-fit customers.
4. Your Systems and Processes – Are you making things more complicated than necessary? Refining workflows, automating tasks, or outsourcing small tasks can save time and energy for what truly matters.
5. Your Marketing Strategy – Are you showing up where your ideal clients are? Shifting how and where you market your business—even slightly—can help you build better relationships and gain more visibility.

Knowing When to Prune

Bonsai cultivation isn’t just about cutting away indiscriminately—it’s about knowing what to remove and when. The same applies to business. Not every service, client, or strategy that worked in the past will serve your future. If something is no longer serving your business, it may be time to trim it away.

Some questions to ask yourself:

• Are there clients or projects draining your time and energy without providing sufficient value?
• Are there services that no longer align with your expertise or long-term vision?
• Are there outdated marketing strategies you keep using simply because they’re familiar?
• Are you spending time on administrative tasks that could be automated or outsourced?

Pruning isn’t about cutting for the sake of cutting—it’s about creating space for the things that help your business thrive.

Growth Doesn’t Have to Be Radical

One of the biggest misconceptions about business growth is that it has to be drastic. Many entrepreneurs feel pressured to constantly reinvent themselves, overhaul their branding, or launch new services. But real, sustainable growth happens through small, incremental refinements.

Much like a bonsai tree, your business should be shaped with care, not hacked apart and regrown from scratch. The key is consistency—making small, intentional adjustments over time so that, years down the road, you have a business that aligns with your vision, strengths, and goals.

The Long-Term Mindset

Many small business owners struggle with feeling stuck or overwhelmed. It’s easy to believe that you need a total overhaul if your business isn’t where you want it to be. But remember, the best way to shape your business is through steady, thoughtful refinement—not reckless reinvention.

As the saying goes, “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second-best time is now.” The same is true for business growth. The best time to start making those small, intentional changes is today.

What’s One Small Prune You Can Make Today?

Every business owner has something they can refine or improve. It could be letting go of an unfulfilling service, raising your rates slightly, adjusting your positioning, or streamlining your workflow.

You don’t need to overhaul your entire business overnight. But one small, intentional change today will help shape your business into something stronger, more fulfilling, and better aligned with your long-term goals.

So, what’s one tiny “prune” you could make to improve your business today?

Sound familiar? If you work for yourself and generally by yourself, you’ve probably found yourself stuck in decision-making mode more times than you’d like to admit.

When running a one-person business, every decision feels high-stakes—because you are the business. You don’t have a team to bounce ideas off and no boss to give you directives. Every choice, from pricing your services to picking a marketing strategy, falls squarely on your shoulders.

And when there are too many options, it’s easy to wait. Wait for the “perfect” choice. Wait for more information. Wait for a sign.

Why We Get Stuck

Overthinking decisions often comes down to three things:

1. Fear of making the wrong choice. You worry that you’ll waste time, lose money, or hurt your reputation if you choose wrong.
2. Fear of missing out on a better option. FOBO makes you hesitate, thinking something better might come along if you wait just a little longer.
3. Perfectionism. You want to get it just right, so you delay action in the name of more research, more planning, more thinking.

But here’s the truth: Not deciding is a decision in itself. And often, it’s the worst one you can make.

You Probably Already Know What to Do

Deep down, you likely already know the next step to take. But instead of taking action, you hesitate—overanalyzing, second-guessing, and getting lost in a loop of “what-ifs.”

• What if I pick the wrong niche?
• What if I price my services too high—or too low?
• What if I launch my website and nobody cares?

Here’s the thing: There is no perfect decision. Only the best decision you can make right now with the information you have.

And the only way to know if something will work? Take action.

Progress Beats Perfection Every Time

Running a business isn’t about getting it right every time—it’s about experimenting, learning, and adapting.

Instead of agonizing over the perfect decision, try this instead:

1. Make a choice. Pick the best option based on what you know right now.
2. Take action. Implement the decision and give it time to play out.
3. Evaluate. Did it work? What did you learn?
4. Adjust as needed. If it didn’t work as expected, tweak it or try something else.

This mindset shift—from seeking perfection to focusing on progress—is the key to moving forward.

Treat Decisions as Iterations, Not Final Answers

Most decisions in business aren’t permanent. They’re tests.

• Your pricing isn’t set in stone—you can adjust it as you learn more about your market.
• Your website isn’t forever—you can tweak the messaging or design anytime.
• Your marketing strategy isn’t one-and-done—it’s an ongoing experiment.

The faster you make decisions, the quicker you get real-world feedback. And that feedback is what helps you refine, improve, and grow.

Closing the Loop On this…

Every successful business owner you admire has made plenty of mistakes along the way. The difference? They didn’t let overthinking stop them from starting.

So, what decision have you been putting off? Take the next step today—because action is what creates clarity, not the other way around.

The Benefits of Downtime

It’s easy to overlook the fundamental need for rest and rejuvenation. However, stepping away from the daily grind isn’t just beneficial—it’s essential for your overall well-being and the health of your business. Regular breaks offer a unique opportunity to disconnect from immediate pressures, providing the mental space needed to gain fresh insights and perspectives. This time away instils a sense of balance, allowing you to return to your work with a clearer mind and a more focused, strategic approach. Prioritizing downtime helps you reconnect with your passion and purpose, ensuring that your entrepreneurial journey remains sustainable and fulfilling. Here’s why every solopreneur and business owner should prioritize taking time off:

Preventing Burnout: Ever felt like you’re running on empty? That’s burnout creeping in. Downtime lets you step away, recharge, and return with renewed energy and focus. Whether a short vacation or a day pursuing personal interests, these breaks are crucial for your mental and emotional well-being.

Cultivating Creativity: Creativity thrives when the mind is relaxed. Taking a break from your business lets you gain fresh perspectives and generate innovative ideas. Whether trying new hobbies, exploring new places, or simply relaxing, downtime sparks creativity by exposing you to new experiences and inspirations.

Improving Decision Making: Constant work without breaks can lead to decision fatigue, affecting the quality of your choices. Taking time off helps you approach challenges with clarity and make better decisions aligned with your business goals.

Enhancing Productivity: Ironically, downtime can boost productivity at work. Stepping back periodically prevents overwork, allows you to return to work with increased efficiency, and allows you to focus on what matters most for your business.

Maintaining Work-Life Balance: Solopreneurs and small business owners often blur the lines between work and personal life. Downtime helps you set boundaries, prioritize self-care, and nurture personal relationships. Achieving a balanced life sustains your entrepreneurial journey in the long run.

Downtime Options: Vacation vs. Sabbatical

Vacation: Refresh and Reconnect

Whether a short getaway or an extended trip, taking a vacation is a classic way to recharge as a solopreneur. It’s a chance to unwind, explore new places, and immerse yourself in different experiences. Whether you choose a relaxing beach retreat, an adventurous hiking trip, or exploring a new city, vacations provide a crucial break from your daily business routine.

Benefits of Vacation:

• Physical and Mental Renewal: Stepping away allows your mind and body to recover from stress, ensuring you return with renewed vigor.
• New Perspectives: Traveling exposes you to different cultures and environments, sparking creativity and inspiring new ideas for your business.
• Quality Time: Vacations offer an opportunity to strengthen personal relationships and reconnect with loved ones.

Sabbatical: Deep Dive into Personal Or Professional Growth

A sabbatical is a break aimed at personal and professional development. It’s a chance to pursue passion projects, learn new skills, or simply reflect without the day-to-day pressures of your business.

Benefits of Sabbatical:

• Focused Self-Improvement: Use this time to enhance your skills, explore new interests, or strategize for your business’s future.
• Strategic Planning: Step back to assess your business from a broader perspective, refine strategies, and set ambitious goals.
• Renewed Inspiration: Engaging in activities outside your routine reignites your passion and creativity, bringing fresh energy to your entrepreneurial endeavors.

Choosing the Right Downtime Strategy

Deciding between a vacation and a sabbatical depends on your current needs and goals. Vacations are ideal for rejuvenation, while sabbaticals offer a deeper exploration of personal growth and business strategy. Both options are invaluable investments in your well-being and the long-term success of your business. Remember, downtime isn’t just about resting—it’s about recharging your creativity, enhancing productivity, and ensuring sustainable success as a business owner over the long haul.

There’s a lot of talk and writing about AI these days. Especially ChatGPT and its main competitors/lookalikes Perplexity, Pi, Gemini (formerly Bard), and Grok.

But I don’t see anyone discussing the practical uses of AI tools for business owners in everyday life. So, I wanted to add my two cents about AI tools from a practical point of view.

Unlike the posts providing prompts you can use or merely reviewing the newest AI app startup, my goal is to highlight AI tools that make business tasks easier, take less time, and automate mundane or repetitive tasks.

If you run a 1 to 15-person service-based business, these AI tools are worth looking at.

1. Manage your relationships with Cloze: Most customer relationship management (CRM) tools are complex pipeline management apps with so many features that you need to watch several hours of tutorials or hire a consultant to implement them into your sales process.

Cloze is easy to use for managing prospects, opportunity pipeline progress, and even ending email campaigns. But two features stand out, and both use AI to make them happen.

1. Cloze can detect updated information (phone, Email, social links, etc.) for your contacts based on the Email they send you. It will ask if you want to accept those new details and then update your contact’s information in your address book for you.
2. Cloze will automatically remind you to reach out to your contacts based on your relationship and the frequency you typically email, call, or text them.

Everyday use case: Client and prospect outreach and follow-up is important but easy to forget to do. Forget the spreadsheets and calendar reminders; let Cloze remind you to do it automagically. Log in to the web dashboard or smartphone app and review the “Keep in Touch” section. Selecting Send Email will open a pre-written template that you can use (you can send your Email from within Cloze) or write a custom message. Cloze can also track when your contact opens and reads your Email, helping to manage your prospecting process easily.

Check it out at cloze.com. There is a free trial, but the basic annual plan is affordable.

2. Write more professionally with Grammarly: Nothing makes you look more like an amateur than poorly written emails, proposals, blogs, and website landing pages.

There are many AI writing tools, but my favorite is Grammarly. It integrates into your device OS to help you write better everywhere. This integration means that Grammarly can suggest spelling, grammar, and syntax corrections anywhere you can type.

Everyday use case: Once installed, you don’t need to log into your Grammarly account to write. Instead, you’ll see Grammarly’s suggestions in any text field you write in. This integration is helpful when writing an off-the-cuff post or comment on LinkedIn or an email in webmail or an email client. Grammarly will automatically suggest revisions for clarity, as well as spelling, grammar, and syntax.

Check it out at grammarly.com. There is an excellent free version, but the premium version is better for long-form writing.

3. Protect your calendar and time with Reclaim. Busy entrepreneurs live by their calendars. Whether you use time-blocking to schedule deep work, sign up for demos of new software, schedule meetings with clients, or plan 1-to-1s and lunches for networking, it’s easy to get overbooked.

Reclaim uses AI to automatically manage your calendar, preventing overbooking and leaving time between events to get work done.

Everyday use case: Set up Reclaim to add buffer time and breaks between meetings. Once set up, Reclaim will automatically:

• Add 30 minutes after a meeting to decompress, allowing you to review your notes and set up action items resulting from the meeting.
• Add travel time before events away from the [home] office so that another event that would cause you to be late isn’t scheduled.
• Add buffer time between events and meetings when turning to-dos into calendared events so that you can mentally switch tasks.

Check it out at reclaim.ai. The free (lite) version is fine for most people but limits some functions. The Starter (paid) version removes most limitations. Note: Reclaim currently only supports Google Calendars (free and paid Workspace), but it says Outlook support is coming soon. If you use Outlook, then check out Motion for similar features.

Note: I use these tools daily; I won’t earn anything (no affiliate linking) if you click on the links.

To help you with this process, I’ve put together a seven-point checklist for a successful mid-year brand and marketing checkup:

1. Review your brand message and positioning: Take a critical look at your brand messaging and positioning to ensure it still aligns with your business goals and target audience. If you’ve made any changes to your products or services, your messaging and positioning may need to be updated to reflect these changes.

2. Analyze your website traffic and user engagement: Use website analytics tools to track your website traffic and user engagement. This information can help you identify which pages and content are performing well and which may need improvement. You can also use this data to adjust your SEO strategy to drive more traffic to your site.

3. Evaluate your social media strategy: Review your social media profiles and analyze the performance of your posts. Consider which types of content resonate with your audience and which platforms drive the most engagement. Use this information to adjust your social media strategy for the second half of the year.

4. Check your visual branding: Your visual branding is an important aspect of your brand identity. Make sure that your visual elements, such as your logo, color scheme, and fonts, are being used consistently, including on your website, social media profiles, invoices, and email signature.

5. Audit your content marketing efforts: Take a closer look at the content you’ve created this year. Review your blog posts, videos, infographics, and other materials to ensure they’re on-brand and provide value to your target audience. Make adjustments as needed to improve the quality and effectiveness of your content.

6. Evaluate your advertising campaigns: If you’ve been running paid advertising campaigns, evaluating their effectiveness is essential. Review your ad spend, click-through and conversion rates to see if you’re getting a good return on investment. Adjust your campaigns as necessary to optimize your results.

7. Get feedback from your customers: Finally, reach out to your customers/clients and ask for feedback on their experiences with your brand. Use this information to identify areas where you can improve your brand and marketing efforts to meet their needs and expectations better.

These tips will help you conduct a successful mid-year brand and marketing checkup. Remember, a strong brand and marketing strategy is crucial to the success of your business, and regular check-ins can help ensure that you’re staying on track. 

Bonus tip: Seeking help from a branding and marketing pro can be incredibly valuable for your mid-year checkup. As your resident expert, I can offer you a fresh perspective and objective insights to improve your strategy. 

Feel free to reach out if you need guidance on industry trends and best practices, or use my 15-minute brand checkup worksheet to see. Let’s work together to take your brand to new heights!

There are many reasons why New Year’s resolutions may not work. Some common causes include setting unrealistic goals, not having a clear plan or strategy for achieving the goal, losing motivation or interest over time, and not tracking progress or accountability. Additionally, some people may be more successful at achieving their resolutions than others due to their level of commitment, ability to handle setbacks or obstacles, and overall support system.

Monthly, or Mico-resolutions to the rescue.

This is why the monthly resolution works so well. Whether you call it a resolution, micro-resolution, or micro-goal, the results will be the same; instead of your attention being pulled in multiple directions, you’re forcing yourself to focus on just one thing. 

You could set for yourself 12 habits you want to build or change throughout the year but focus on just one each month. After all, they say that if you do something new consistently for 30 consecutive days, it will become so routine that you don’t even think about it anymore. 

Or your monthly resolutions could be different each month, like focusing on a habit one month, completing a personal project the next, or whatever great big substantiative goal you want to achieve within 30 days.

One month last year, my resolution was to “protect my time,” which meant saying no to projects and meetings that didn’t advance my more significant over-arching business and personal goals.

The benefits of monthly resolutions

One of the benefits of monthly resolutions is that they help you stay motivated and engaged. When you create a long list of New Years’ resolutions, it’s easy to lose sight of your progress and become discouraged. With monthly resolutions, you can see your progress more frequently, which can help you stay motivated and on track. 

Another benefit to monthly resolutions is that you stay motivated. Monthly resolutions help you build momentum and increase your chances of success. Achieving a small goal can give you a sense of accomplishment and encourage you to keep going. 

Since starting my monthly resolutions, I have accomplished much more throughout the year, and favorable resolutions were more easily achievable than negative ones. Meaning that resolutions to create, revise, or improve something felt better to work on a little bit each day than resolutions that started with the words “don’t” or “stop.”

There are two crucial things to remember about this process. First, you need to write your monthly resolution down so you can see it in front of you daily. Put it in your calendar, write it on a post-it, write it down in your daily journal, whatever it takes. Second, be flexible and keep going even if progress is made slower than you like. Some resolutions take more time and effort. I’ve even carried a resolution over into the next month from time to time.

Do you want to make 2023 your most productive year ever? Are you wondering, “how am I going to get everything on my to-do list done?” I can help; just reach out for a chat.

A “start, stop, continue” list is a helpful tool for reflection and growth. For a business, it can be used to identify projects, initiatives, and activities that are worth starting, stopping, or continuing to achieve specific business goals.

Doing a “start, stop, continue” list can be a valuable exercise for helping you identify areas of your business where you can make positive changes. It is a simple but effective way to reflect on your current business activities and plan to move forward in a more positive direction.

To do a “start, stop, continue” list, you actually need to make three separate lists: one for things you want to start doing, one for things you want to stop doing, and one for something you want to continue doing. This exercise can be done for any business area, such as operations, marketing, and finance.

For the “start” list, think about things you want to start doing to improve your business or reach your goals. This could include reaching out to past clients, attending trade shows, or writing a monthly blog. The key is to make these things specific and achievable, so you can focus on making progress toward them.

For the “stop” list, think about things you want to stop doing that may be holding you back or causing problems for your business. This could include things like procrastinating, overspending, or engaging in unproductive tasks. By identifying these habits and behaviors, you can start working on making positive changes.

For the “continue” list, think about things you are already doing that are working well for your business and that you want to keep doing. This could include things like staying organized, attending strategic networking events, or collecting customer reviews. You can build on your current strengths and successes by continuing to do these things.

Once you have made your “start, stop, continue” lists, you can use them as a roadmap for making positive changes in your business. You can set goals for each item on your “start” and “stop” lists and develop a plan for achieving those goals. One way to do this is to use the SMART goal-setting framework, which stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. By setting SMART goals, you can increase your chances of success and make progress toward your objectives.

In addition to setting goals, you can do a few other things to increase your chances of success when working on your “start, stop, continue” list. First, enlisting the support of employees, contractors, family, or a coach or mentor can be helpful. Having someone to hold you accountable and cheer you on can make a big difference in your ability to achieve your goals.

Second, it is essential to be flexible and not get discouraged if progress is not made as quickly as desired, as long-term behavior change can take time and effort. Finally, it can be helpful to track your progress along the way, using tools like a journal, spreadsheet, or app to help you stay on track.

Overall, doing a “start, stop, continue” list is a simple but powerful way to reflect on your current activities, habits, and behaviors and plan how to move forward in a more positive direction. By identifying the things you want to start, stop, and continue doing and setting specific and achievable goals, you can work towards making positive changes in your life. By enlisting the support of others, being flexible, and tracking your progress, you can increase your chances of success and make meaningful progress toward your objectives

In a recent blog post I wrote about how “The Early Bird Catches The Worm,” and “The Fortune is in the Follow-up.” are old sayings that go hand-in-hand. They’ve become old sayings because they are true. Following up with your clients and prospects will make you look professional personally, and enhance your brand reputation exponentially.

A timely follow-up can also mean the difference between closing a sale and hearing that they hired someone else before you got around to it.

The challenge however is that while we know the importance of following up, sometimes we forget to do it in a timely manner. Another was the time it takes to write that follow-up, making those critical decisions between sending an email that was too long or didn’t have just the right amount of information.

One solution was to prepare a ready-to-use email template that reduced the time it takes to craft an appropriate follow-up email.

The other solution was to create a reminder to follow up. For this, I use an automated approach using IFTTT.

If This Then That (IFTTT) is a freemium service that allows a user to program (and I use that term lightly) a simple action in response to a trigger event. For example, IF someone tags you in a photo on Facebook, THEN a copy can be saved to your Dropbox automatically. It’s really more like making a two-sep recipe than programming. While the Facebook example is simple, there are ways to do more complex automations too. IFTTT is free for five “Applets” (what they call recipes). More than five will incur a subscription fee starting at $4 per month. I only use three automations using IFTTT, so the free account works just fine for me.

To use IFTTT you’ll need to sign up for a free account, and then connect some of your services to make the applets. For this example, I’ve connected my email and calendar. Both are via Google Workspace (formerly known as GSuite and Google For Business), but any email and calendar service should work.

Once you have connected your services, you can create an applet that responds to an event in one service and triggers a response in another service.

Today I’m going to share with you my automation hack where a reminder to send a follow-up email is sent to me when an event on my calendar (like a prospect call) ends.

Step one: Craft your follow-up email template.

A follow-up email can be used for a variety of reasons. So having one all-purpose template may be a challenge. But for the purpose of this automation, I developed one that really serves as a good starting place. I always customize it based on the type of meeting I just had. Here is my template for the purpose of this automation:

Hi NAME,

Thanks so much for taking the time to connect today. I really appreciated your insights on [SOMETHING-I-AM-SPECIFICALLY-GRATEFUL-FOR].

Also: I really enjoyed learning about [SOMETING-WE-HAVE-IN-COMMON-OR-SHARED-INTERST-OR-SHARED-CONTACT].

Anyway, here are the next steps and key takeaways as I remember them from our conversation:

• [INCLUDE-BOTH-COMMITMENTS-MADE-BY-YOU-TO-THE-OTHER-PERSON-AND-BY-THE-OTHER-PERSON-TO-YOU].

If you feel I missed anything, please let me know. Otherwise, have a great rest of your day, and I look forward to [IMMEDIATE-NEXT-STEP]!

Thanks,
Andy

I keep this template handy in Evernote so that I can quickly copy/paste it into a new email, and draft my follow-up because not every meeting is in my calendar (e.g.. I just met someone at a networking event).

Step two: Set up your IFTTT automation.

For this step, you’ll need a free IFTTT account with your email and calendar services connected. IFTTT is fairly easy to use, and when you sign up you’ll be prompted to add services (e.g. email, calendar, social account, etc.). There are thousands of services you can connect to your account to create Applets. One nice thing about IFTTT is that you can browse a library of pre-set-up Applets that work with your services, and then all you need to do is customize them.

For the follow-up Applet, here is what you want to do to set it up:

1. In My Applets, click Create a new.
2. Next, on the next screen, click If This: Add to add your calendar service. I use “Google Calendar” and on the next screen scroll down to “Any event ends”. It will then prompt you to choose which calendar you want to use (if you have more than one associated with your account). Then click create trigger.
3. On the next screen, click “Then That: Add” and in the search bar type “email” to filter out all of the other services. Click “email” and on the next screen you’ll only have one option “Send me an email”, so click that too.
4. On the next screen, you’ll be faced with two open text fields to enter HTML text. If you know HTML, go ahead and edit these fields to have the email subject and body you want to be in your follow-up reminder. If you don’t know HTML, copy/paste the snippets below.
5. After you add your HTML click “Create” and then “Continue” and “Finish” on the next screens.

On the last screen click “check now” to make sure it works and then you’re done. Now, after any event in your calendar ends, you’ll get an email in your inbox that looks like this in about 15 minutes:

With this reminder in your inbox and a template that you can copy/paste to get you started, you’ll never forget to follow-up again. And the template serves as a starting point for your message.

Here are the HTML snippets you can copy:

Subject: Follow-up reminder for {{Title}}

Body: Hey – Your meeting – {{Title}} – from {{StartTime}} to {{EndTime}} just ended. Should you follow up?<br>

<br>

Heres a quick template:<br>

<br>

Hi [!First Name],<br>

<br>

Thanks so much for taking the time to connect today. I really appreciated your insights on [SOMETHING-I-AM-SPECIFICALLY-GRATEFUL-FOR].<br>

<br>

Also: I really enjoyed learning about [SOMETING-WE-HAVE-IN-COMMON-OR-SHARED-INTERST-OR-SHARED-CONTACT].<br>

<br>

Anyway, here are the next steps and key takeaways as I remember them from our conversation:<br>

<br>

– [INCLUDE-BOTH-COMMITMENTS-MADE-BY-YOU-TO-THE-OTHER-PERSON-AND-BY-THE-OTHER-PERSON-TO-YOU].<br>

<br>

If you feel I missed anything, please let me know. Otherwise, have a great rest of your day, and I look forward to [IMMEDIATE-NEXT-STEP]!<br>

<br>

Thanks,<br>

<br>

Andy

NOTE: Change the name in red above, to your name.

In 1999 I left my job at the NFL to work for myself. It was tempting to stumble out of bed whenever I woke up and just sit on the couch in front of the TV with my laptop, and launch into my day without a plan. But I knew that I needed to be focused and productive in order to make working from home sustainable (and grow my business).

Since so many people are working from now, and Brenits Creative is a 100% remote-work team, I wanted to share four things that I have been doing consistently for 20 years.

Have a simple, repeatable routine. Back in ’99, I would wake up at 7 on regular workdays, got dressed, and left the apartment. I would exit my front door and turn left, walking around the block to the deli to get a bacon-egg-and-cheese sandwich and a coffee. After leaving the deli, I would continue walking around the neighborhood, making left turns until I got back home. It took about 25 minutes each morning.

This, for me, replicated “going to work.” And at 5 PM, I would “leave work” by making the reverse “commute,” walking around the block to the right until I came home. I did this every day for several years, rain or shine because it helped me make the mental/emotional shift from being “at home” to being “at work.”

Have a dedicated workspace. Back then, I had a tiny one-bedroom apartment, and my desk was next to my bed in the bedroom. The desk was the only place I worked, and it created a work zone where personal and work activities rarely crossed. 18 months later, I could afford to move into a two-bedroom apartment, where I turned one of the bedrooms into a dedicated office. I even got myself a bigger desk.

Keeping these two parts of my life (work and personal) separated within the space I lived in prevented work from spilling into the rest of my home.

Keep distractions at bay. Back then, I purposefully kept the TV off, and even though there is one in my office, I rarely turn it on now that we can stream content right to our monitors. Even so, I resist the temptation to launch Netflix in my browser today. If anything, I’ll play music when I’m not on a call (Vivaldi is excellent for doing creative work, Daft Punk for repetitive production). My desk is typically clutter-free (well, clutter-lite), and work files are organized in folders. In fact, I’ve tried to go paperless as much as possible, so all of my files are organized digitally.

Work in sprints. Interruptions happen, especially when working at home. And let’s be honest, the laundry and dishes still need to get done, the dogs walked, and some chore that is nagging at you too. Just because you work from home doesn’t mean you need to work from 9 to 5. When you work from home, you get to break up your day any way you see fit, so that you are the most productive you can be.

Are you an early riser? Then wake up at 5 and get the bulk of your work done by 10 and then take a break. Come back a little later, tune out the world again, and focus on getting things done for a couple of hours more. During that break time, you can handle the dishes and laundry, walk the dog, run an errand, etc.

Besides, that downtime actually refreshes you and allows you to be more focused when you do get back to work. It’s no wonder there are studies about how much more productive people are when they work remotely.

Me, I’m a night owl. My most productive work is done when everyone else is sleeping. When do you think I wrote this piece anyway?

What works for you? These are just some of the ways I have found to be productive working from a home office, where there are plenty of distractions. I’m always looking for new ideas, though. So please let me know what your secret is for working from home.