This Is How You’ll Know Boundaries Are Your Biz Blind Spot—And What To Do About It

Your client canceled a call at the last minute…again. You’re ready to draw a line in the sand. That’s it! You’re charging her for the call next time!

If you’ve found yourself in this situation, you might already have a clause in your client contract that you charge for last-minute cancellations—but you’ve never enforced it. Which is why drawing a line in the sand is a problem. Those lines are too easy to erase.

Boundaries in your business must become a way of operating—not just an empty statement here or there. 

Too many entrepreneurs, especially those who work closely with their clients, think that enforcing their boundaries makes them mean or difficult to work with when the opposite is true. Clearly, setting and maintaining boundaries in your business is kind to yourself and your clients and makes you much easier to work with. When you’re consistent, people know what to expect. And certainty breeds serenity.

Let’s explore some additional signs that boundaries might be the cause of your business frustrations, what boundaries can do for you, and a handful of boundaries you should have in place to make the most of your time and energy at work. 

Biz Boundary Red Flags

Because boundaries are an undercurrent that is carrying your business along, pinpointing the issue can be tricky. You may be tempted to attack an issue with a quick fix that doesn’t go deep enough.

These biz boundary red flags are glaring signs that there’s more going on than just a rogue client who slipped through your filters or a rough patch in your motivation.

Your boundaries are likely the problem if you find yourself:

• Complaining to your biz bestie about ‘flaky’ clients 
• Stalling projects because your client hasn’t gotten back to you in weeks
• Holding spots in your program, coaching schedule, or client roster (without a deposit) only to get a ‘no’ when it’s too late to sell the spot to someone else
• Feeling bitter about your business and how it’s taking over your personal life
• In a cycle where you’re on the brink of burnout every few months 
• Overworking and overgiving to keep your clients happy
• Procrastinating things you used to enjoy doing in your business

Of course, there are a ton of different symptoms you could be experiencing when your boundaries are off, so when you hit a bump on Business Boulevard take a moment to reflect on the deeper issues that might be at play.

The Benefits of Boundaries

Keep Your Conscience Clear

When you consistently say what you’re going to do and then follow through on it, you build a deep self-trust that translates into others trusting you, too. Operating with ethics and equality requires boundaries that you enact consistently, too, so you can keep your conscience clear and know you don’t have to play favorites or be flexible to your own detriment. 

Reduce Decision Fatigue

When clients ask for an exception, cancel sessions, request refunds, or want to expand the scope of a project’s boundaries, make answering with a clear ‘yes’ or ‘no’ very simple. Think of boundaries as your pre-made decisions. What level of flexibility are you comfortable with? When does that become a compromise?

Save You Time and Make You Money

Your time is a precious and limited resource. The more of it you spend chasing down payments or following up with people who have gone MIA, the less revenue your business will earn in the end. Leverage boundaries to protect your profit margin is key.

Filter Out ‘Vampire’ Clients

When you stick to project parameters, take a professional approach to communications, and aren’t available 24/7 to clients—the ‘vampire’ clients who feel deserving of all of your attention will simply ‘self-select’ out of your world. Eventually, you’ll recognize what boundaries you need to communicate upfront (i.e., I only communicate via email) and which ones you can simply act according to (i.e., I don’t answer business emails after 5 pm). People will reveal the type of clients they are when they encounter no-nonsense boundaries.

Build a Stronger Team

As you expand and scale your business, you’ll need boundaries more than ever. Not just boundaries with your team members, but boundaries they can help you enforce with your clients. The more explicitly you can detail how you run your business to your team, the better off you’ll all be!

Five Business Boundaries Every Entrepreneur Needs

Let’s put this boundary wisdom into action. Get out your pen and notebook and jot down your first top-of-mind thoughts about these five business boundaries. Then, pick one you could clarify and start enacting this week.

#1: What Your Work Is

Defining your scope of work is crucial whether you provide 1:1 coaching, freelance services, retainers, or even digital courses. For each of your current offerings, look at where you have experienced or are likely to experience scope creep. Scope creep is reeeeaaally sneaky because it starts as just a small ask or favor, and before you know it, you’re doing an extra hour of work every week for a client. If you’re a service provider or freelancer, you’ll also want to determine the work you do and don’t do. For instance, you’ll design all of someone’s social media posts, but you do NOT, under any circumstances, post those to the client’s social media accounts. 

#2: When You Work

Outlining exactly what hours you work each day and what type of work you do on certain days or at certain times of the day can go a long way in making your work life feel like it actually fits you. Consider when you’re willing to bend these boundaries. For example, if you take a long weekend off, maybe you’ll carve out one evening the next week to catch up on what you missed. Or, if you’re falling behind, maybe you can put in a couple of extra hours on Saturday morning. Maintaining this boundary can be uncomfortable because sometimes you have to say no or let someone know you need an extension to get something back to them. With proactive communication and planning, this usually doesn’t create big issues.

#3: Where You Work

It can be tempting to coffee-shop hop, answer emails from your phone, and take calls from your car when you’re waiting at your kid’s bus stop, but is that really how you do your best work? Consider where you’re most focused and how you really can make the best use of your time. Don’t let work take over every spare moment you have in a day. Just because you technically can work somewhere doesn’t mean you should.

#4: How You Work

This boundary category includes things like communication style, file management, delivery of assets, and work cadence. A friend of mine keeps email to a minimum by requiring each client to reply to one email thread for all communications. Another has all of her clients on Slack and loves how that streamlines complex project communications for her and her team. Set expectations early, no matter how you want to connect with your clients. In addition, set up file sharing and your expected schedule for meetings, calls, and service/asset delivery in onboarding. 

#5: Who You Work With

Last, and maybe most importantly, create boundaries around who you work with. This should include the type of businesses or clients you best serve and the character qualities you expect in your clients. How do you want to be treated? How do you want to be valued? And how do you want to feel when you’re working with someone? Answering these questions is a great way to connect with the boundaries you need around who you work with. 

I may be biased, but OBMs are boundary masters who can help protect your time, focus, and profits in so many ways. If you notice things slipping through the cracks because you’re stretched too thin, maybe it’s time to explore the power of having one (aka moi!) on your team. Just contact my team here and we’ll be in touch soon!