Losing Sleep by Choice
Download MP3Hello, and welcome to the Service Based Business Society podcast. I'm your host, Tiffany Ann Bottcher. I left the corporate world to build my own businesses, and along the way, I've learned that scaling isn't all highlight reels. It's messy. It's hard, and it's totally worth it.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:As a mom of three, the author of the data driven method, and a serial entrepreneur, I know firsthand what it takes to build something bigger than yourself. This show is where we get real about entrepreneurship. The good, the bad, the beautiful, and, yes, even the ugly. Each week, I'll pull back the curtain to share stories, lessons, and strategies that help ambitious entrepreneurs scale their success. So let's get started.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:Hello. Hello. We are back in the studio for season five. Over a 100 episodes in the books. We are starting our fifth season, and often I really don't even know how that happened.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:I'll be honest with you. I really felt some crazy amount of kind of like, how did this happen? How did we get here towards the end of season four? And even today, As we're back in the studio recording season five, it's a little bit surreal. So if you've been around for a while, thank you so much for tuning in.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:This podcast has truly become one of my favorite parts of what I do for a living. And if you're new here, welcome. This podcast is going to be a little different in season five, because as with anything, we grow. It's one of the reasons that I find business partnerships, marriages, relationships so interesting because I truly think that as we are growing in life, we're on this journey to grow. We can kind of grow together.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:We can grow apart. We can grow in different directions. We can grow at different speeds. And I honestly think that if you can successfully navigate all of those ups and downs and growths and whatever together, I think that's pretty good. So here we are at the start of season five, and I feel like as a human, as a business owner, as an entrepreneur, I've grown.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:And I feel like I've grown in ways that I wanna share about. And so I don't know if you remember back at the start of season four, I talked a little bit about being on a health journey. And I said, I promise this isn't going to become like a health podcast and it didn't. And so I'm going to say the same thing this year, but I'm going to share a little more of the real life behind the scenes. What's going on, not just for me, but for clients, guests, you know, what is going on behind the curtains in businesses?
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:What are people navigating? What are you navigating that maybe you need some support with? So I really feel like season five is going to be a little different. We've always talked about scaling success. We've always talked about tangible tips for how we're going to make that happen.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:But I think that this season for me is a little bit more about sharing not just those tangible tips, not just the things that you can find in the, you know, how to scale, how to do this, how to do that parts of business resources. I wanna share the parts that perhaps no one wants to make the video about. The parts that people struggle with and think, is this supposed to be happening? Is this what's going on for somebody else? Is this what I should be working on right now?
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:You may have noticed that we changed the intro, the podcast. It's something that I kind of struggled with, and it wasn't until this season that it felt misaligned for me. One of the things I leaned into from the very beginning of starting my businesses, my messaging was scale your business without losing sleep. And what did I mean by that? I meant automate, innovate, do things better, faster, make time for your life.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:But what ended up as the messaging evolved, that growth I was just talking about, is it starts to feel a bit like what other people are talking about. The balance. Make sure that you have work life balance. Make sure that you're buying back your time. Make sure that you're not losing sleep.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:But here's the thing. Here's why this no longer feels alignment. I often lose sleep to grow my business. And I think that my people, the people who I enjoy working with, the people who this podcast often are losing sleep over their business too. But it's usually by choice.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:And I think that's the key piece here is that it's it's okay to lose sleep over your business. If you passionately care about something, we sometimes lose sleep over it. That's not a bad thing. Do we wanna automate? Do we wanna be losing sleep over data entry or, you know, silly things like sorting email?
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:No, we don't want to lose sleep over things like that. But do we want to make the next big move? Do we want to take advantage of the opportunities that people are sleeping through? Do we want to change industries and grow and do all of these things that the average bear isn't doing? Yes.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:So it was in working with lining up some of the guests for season five, which by the way are going to be super amazing, super excited about the season. I was kind of, you know, writing some things about like, what is the podcast and what are the people and who are the and I realized that everything I was writing really kind of contradicted with some of the messaging of the podcast, which had just been the same for a really long time. So everything got a little refresh. Everything got a little facelift. Are we still scaling success?
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:Yes. Are we still trying to do big things and be profitable and be successful entrepreneurs and do all of the things? Yes. But are we taking a slightly different approach? Yes.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:We are leaning into the parts of business that just happened. I'm going share a few stories about some of the things that came up for me this summer, all kind of in line with a few other things that happened for a couple other business owners that I know quite well. The fact is that sometimes holidays, vacations, downtime doesn't always work that way for a business owner. Every so often things just come off the rails. And I think that's just part of it.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:Do I think that every business should outgrow that being part of it? Yes. But I think that oftentimes we have this kind of connotation, this kind of predisposed opinion that our businesses should be there sooner and it often feels like we're failing because we're not where we think we should be. And I'll be honest, there's probably a million ways why that happens. And so I think where it shouldn't be happening, like where we don't have to really kind of feel like failures where we aren't, we need to highlight those because there's plenty of areas where businesses are failing.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:Fact of the matter is, in today's day and age, there's a lot of uncertainty. There's businesses that were once very successful that are not as successful anymore. There's businesses that were never a thing that are solving new pain points. There's new issues. There's new pain points.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:There's new amazing things happening every day. I would say the biggest challenge with today aside from just the crazy uncertainty of life is the speed in which things change. If you look at things, if we if we kind of take a step back away from business and we look at how fast does fashion evolve, it's crazy how fast trends come and go. Whether that's home decor, whether that's the way we organize the fridge, whether that's fashion, whether that's the apps we use for business. It all happens faster.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:I look at what my kids have worn in their short lives and I think, I remember the first time that was in style and I remember the years that it was in style before it went out of style. And now, just however many years later, it's it's come in and out of style again so much faster. The world just goes faster. People expect faster responses. They expect you to get work done faster.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:They expect you to be more available. They expect everything. Whether that's in the drive through, whether that's at the store. Every everything happens faster. We're never going to counteract that.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:I mean, maybe we will. I don't know how to counteract that. I always say let's lean in. Let's embrace it, and let's see how we can use things for good. I was having a discussion recently with another entrepreneur, and we were we were talking about at what age kids should be allowed cell phones.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:There was a couple other entrepreneurs weighing in. And ultimately, I kind of went on with my thoughts of the matter and said, hey, my two older kids do have phones. I really lean more into how do we use something responsibly rather than restrict. I said, but that really kind of aligns with how I parent most things. That doesn't mean it's right.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:It doesn't mean it's wrong. It doesn't mean it doesn't come without some moments of like, are we sure we're doing this right? But I think that that's every parenting situation. I think that's every time you're navigating these situations where information turns over very quickly. Sometimes we start down a path thinking something is safe or something is a good idea.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:And then you quickly say, you know, perhaps I would do that differently. I mean, using that same cell phone parenting example, what works for one kid doesn't necessarily work for the other. I have three kids. I can tell you I raised them all pretty close to the same and got three fairly different results. I think that's similar for most people.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:There's so many variables to every situation. You know, when I started planning the season and looking at different guests and really writing, what is this podcast about and how does it all tie together? And I really just felt like there had been growth, there had been evolution, there had been some time that had passed, and it was time for a change. So towards the end of season four, I did share a few more vulnerable things. And I connected with some incredible people over the break and and they said, so, you know, when you're working on your marketing, is is is the podcast is that is that who you are?
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:Is that who you are? I I said, I feel like that is probably the closest, most authentic marketing, messaging, discussion. That is who I am because it's pretty raw discussion. So here we are. Over 100 episodes in.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:So much growth. So much change and evolution even in that time. Just in the business tech online space. When I got started, that was pretty much just post COVID. The world was just a different place.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:Now fast forward, things have changed and evolved again. So depending on how long you've been here, thanks for growing with us. And I hope that you're as excited about season five as I am because now we're going to be talking about all of these other parts of the business that we haven't really talked about yet. And while the messaging is very rooted in the same piece, let's start with the objective, let's keep the objective in mind, Let's focus on data driven decisions and being profitable and scaling success. I think it comes with a slightly new flavor.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:And I think you're going enjoy it. One of the more challenging sides of running a business is always timing. Without fail, if I say, I'm going away, chaos will ensue. It's interesting because what does away look like for me? It means that I am in a different location, perhaps not on my computer all day long, but I'm still very much available.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:I take my phone, I answer when I have service. More on that in just a moment. But ultimately, I'm still available. I'm not at the point where I would ever dream of being unavailable for any extended period of time. Will I hope that we get there eventually?
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:Yes. I do. I don't think I've ever turned on a vacation responder that says I'm unavailable ever in the existence of my business. But I don't think I turned that on when I was in corporate before my business. I remember responding to emails the morning I think my middle son was born.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:I was responding to emails that day that he was more from the hospital. I always feel this sense of it's easier to deal with now than deal with the chaos later. It's it's probably a flaw in my own personality, but I struggle to just turn it off. And I I guess now I just embrace it. It's just who I am.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:But I I would like to get to the point where it it doesn't all go to chaos the second I say the word away. Because I'm not really away. That's the part that I'm like, I don't understand how this all goes. So, you know, I've been away a couple of times this year, typically around some kind of kids sports or family trip. All of which I have been available except for the one trip.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:I often, I guess, took for granted that we pretty much always have self-service. I didn't ever really think I should make sure they're self-service. Didn't cross my mind that that was the thing. I mean, I live in a fairly, I guess, population dense area. I would say though, I don't live in a major city.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:I live about an hour outside of a major city. We always have self-service, though. I didn't really think about it. As I headed off this summer, I got super brave, adventurous, ambitious, and decided that even though my husband was not able to join us for this trip, which was the downside, I was going to get a travel trailer, hook it to my vehicle, take all three kids, and go on a 2,000 plus mile road trip with multiple destinations. Clearly, I was feeling adventurous.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:We had an amazing time. We had an absolutely incredible time. I'm so glad we did it. The only thing that would have made it better is if my husband was available to join us. He was not able to get away from work, so he stayed home and took care of the dogs and did the home thing.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:But off we went. We left at 01:00 in the morning, trailer on, and headed out. I'm gonna be honest and say I had never actually driven the trailer. I have always been a passenger princess. When I was growing up, I rode horses very competitively, all over the place.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:We went to horse shows pretty much constantly. And my mom was like the best, most baddest trailer driver ever. Like, went on to do other trailer driving things. So she drove. That was her thing.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:She also makes pie. It's her other thing that sometimes people have a thing. I would love to make pie, but that's her thing. I, at that point, maybe thought driving the horse trailer was probably a good idea, but she drove the horse trailer. When we had a family trailer before COVID, my husband drove the trailer.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:Mean, could hook the trailer up, I could direct people in, but I never actually drove the trailer. I never needed to. But I'm really one of those like, we can figure this out. We got this kind of people. So when I decided we were doing this, off we went with the trailer.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:The only part that was really a problem was like when you get into Montana, there were many hours that you could go without cell service. And so as things were inevitably breaking down into somewhat chaos, Oh, self-service. So there my daughter is like reading my messages and like I'm saying like, hey, this is what you respond. And she's like waiting for service to kick in and like hitting send and then, you know, like, oh, that one didn't go through. Okay, I'll try again and like back, forth.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:Like, I mean, it passed the time. These long stints of driving through seemingly nothingness. But like stressful because all I really felt, I was like, oh my gosh, if I just like pull over and like bust open the laptop and like dive in. And ultimately, like, even once we got to where we were going, it was like, okay, well, now we're going into the national park. There's I knew there would be no cell service there.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:So that wasn't the solution to my problem. And then by the time we would get back, you know, getting the kids to bed and getting everybody fed and, getting the trailer set up and leveled and, oh my goodness. That is definitely not the time that I was like, well, I feel like getting out the laptop and working now. But business owner life, feel like it or not, sometimes we got to do what we got to do. So there were many nights on our trip where the kids were sleeping.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:I was either working at the picnic table or working on my bed, trying to stay awake, just trying to get it done because I knew that I wanted to be present the next day. I wanted to get it done. I wish that there wasn't that chaos. But as I sat there in the dark around the picnic table, I thought, here's the thing. Do I wish that my business was further along and that everyone was just in a spot where they could just make it happen and didn't really need me?
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:Yeah. But at the end of the day, we're not there. So it's kind of like, do I wish for all of these other things? It's kind of like wishing those things. Whether it's I want to be twenty pounds thinner or I wish that I could run a marathon or my business was further along or you know, when your kids are little and you just think, gosh, I wish they would be potty trained or all of these things.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:It doesn't really change anything. We went through this whole thing. Cell service. Next time, I'll do a little more research because camcorder and Wi Fi also not the fastest. We just have scaling middle management of your business between the people who are going to inevitably lead in your absence, the people who are going to grow, that is the biggest challenge.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:It continues to be the biggest challenge for so many business owners that I know, so many clients. Because ultimately, you're going to take someone out of a job that they're fantastic at into a job that you hope they can do and try not screw anything up. It's kind of like the decision to take a friend and tell them that you have a thing for them. You know, you're like, oh, they're like my best friend. I didn't want to say anything because like if they don't feel the same way, then, you know, oh, we're gonna lose a friendship and is it worth it and all these kinds of things.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:It's no different when you decide to take someone out of a job that they're good at and make them into a manager. So perhaps maybe you have like your best salesperson and you've decided they're going to now run your sales department. The person who runs your sales department actually doesn't do a lot of selling. Very little selling because now they manage a bunch of people. And the same skill set that makes them good at selling doesn't typically make them the best manager.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:It's no different if you take your lead bookkeeper. If you have a bookkeeping company and make them into a operations manager. Or if you take your lead plumber and make them into a department head. Anything that takes them out of using their best skills, skills they went to school for, skills they mastered over years and years, and you take them and you make them managers. Managing people, deadlines, accountability, communication becomes their biggest skill or their biggest deficient skill.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:I know myself, management often is so much people ing. My husband and I often talk about this. So much peopling. You know, it's often whatever that person about their role or their job, they don't really do anymore. And that's okay as long as the growth goes in that direction.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:But what can happen is you take someone out of a role that they're amazing at, put them in this new role, and then they're not that great at it. And you're like, It's hard to walk it back. It's not really working. And now my star insert role is not happening. We go back to that salesperson role.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:Maybe that person was your best salesperson. They thought they wanted to get into management. Now they're not really a great manager. And so sales are down. And the person is unhappy, super stressed out.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:And you are now paying more for some kind of middle management role and nothing is working. That is the toughest part. And sometimes people just get it wrong. I can think of a couple people that I've known in my career that that next step just wasn't the right step for that person. Inevitably, it changed the course of their career.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:Sometimes promoting that person, maybe, hey, I really want that. I mean, I want that on my resume. That's what this person is thinking. Gosh, that would be great. The problem is that person isn't really great at that role.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:So now they have that role on their resume and they're like, Well, I had this fancy title of manager, but I didn't really like it. I wasn't really a great manager. I actually just want to go back to like doing what I was good at. I mean, sometimes it does work out, obviously. But it's that risk of kind of walking it forward and then deciding how it works.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:So, I mean, me, we made some changes. We are making changes. We've done some amazing promotions. We've changed a few roles within the team. And ultimately, we are growing again.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:We are adding great people. And I hope that at one point I will be able to leave without some kind of chaos happening. Or the more realistic, I hope that when chaos does happen that there's more people that can help solve it. And that is really the scaling is not only creating bigger challenges, but also creating more problem solvers. And I am cautiously optimistic that that is exactly what's happening.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:I spoke to someone else recently and they they had this amazing week vacation plan. No cell service for the whole thing. And I thought, oh my goodness. I'm stressed for you. But the business was a little smaller and they said, I'm just gonna put a vacation responder on and that's it.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:I'm out. And I thought, okay. I mean, that is possible for some businesses and other businesses that not. Last year, at the start of season four, I shared that I mentioned it again earlier that I was wanting to take my health a little more seriously. And I shared it on the podcast because I wanted to say, hey, making time for your health, whatever capacity that is actually really challenging around because I always find it's my own commitments to myself that are the first to go.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:But I'm like, hey, you know what? Need to get back to this email. I need to get back on this deadline. I need to meet with this team member or this client. I'll do it later.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:I'll do it later. Last year I said, Hey, you know what? I actually am at the point where I just can't do that anymore. I need to make this a priority. I was chatting with someone just last week and I said, Hey, they said, Hey, like, I feel like, you know, you've been doing a little more like exercise.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:I follow you on social media. It was somebody I hadn't tracked with a while and I said, Hey, like, I feel like maybe you lost a little weight. Like, I don't want to comment. But I said, totally have. Thank you.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:Thank you for noticing. And I said, it was actually a year ago at the beginning of season four that I said, hey, I guess it wasn't quite a year ago. But in the beginning of season four, my life kind of goes through podcast seasons at this point. And I just said, I really want to make a bigger priority out of this. And I the grass is greener where you water it.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:And so I have been putting more effort into that. And so I'll continue to share those kinds of things. It is not without stumbling. It is not without challenge. But I would say that in my adult life, I feel like I finally have a better handle on it.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:I feel more in control of my health, more in control of what I'm doing there. It feels less willy nilly and more structured. And I mean, with anything, more structure, more planning, it's better. Am I meal prepping every meal? Am I eating only greens and this and that?
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:No. Have I found something that works for me in my life the way that I run my life? Yes. And I think that that is the best way. There's no right or wrong answer here.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:It is whatever works for you and gets you to your end objective. If you are running a business, worried about your health, worried about how to find time for anything, whether that is more exercise, whether that is meal prepping, whether that is going for a walk, stretching, getting to the massage therapist, the counselor, whatever that is, I'm here to say we all and any person that tells you they don't struggle a little bit to fit this in, I feel like that person cannot be telling the truth. That's just my own thoughts. Everybody's here. We're all in that adult phase of life where sometimes it just feels like there's not enough time and it's easiest to just say no to yourself.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:So we'll continue to chat a little bit about it this season only because I have some solidarity in that mission. Ultimately, this episode marks the September, the end of summer chaos, the beginning of what just feels like that kind of new year energy. I often say September is really the new year more than even January is when it comes to kind of the business cycle, the hustle, the grind. Everybody kind of gets that little bit of downtime over the summer. Whether even if you don't take any downtime, often people you work with take downtime.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:And so it just takes that little bit of reprieve to just give you a second to grab your breath before September hits and we grind it out to the end of the year where you're hitting goals, you're scaling success, you're doing all the big things. That's all the time we have for today, but the conversation doesn't stop here. Be sure to subscribe to the service based business society podcast on all of your favorite apps. And if you're hanging out over on YouTube, search for Tiffany and Botcher. Your likes, comments, and shares don't just help the show, they help more entrepreneurs find the real stories and strategies that they need to scale.
Tiffany-Ann Bottcher:Until next time, keep pushing, keep building, and I'll catch you in the next episode.
Creators and Guests
