According to Merriam-Webster, equilibrium means:
- a state in which opposing forces or actions are balanced so that one is not stronger or greater than the other
- a state of emotional balance or calmness
When you run a solo business, the lack of definition 1 tends to lead to a lack of definition 2.
Rarely do client projects arrive and progress at steady, predictable rates. Some stretches client work is a deluge, and sometimes you feel like you’re wandering through the desert.
Some of this is just the nature of the business. Sometimes we do it to ourselves– slacking on follow-up when we get a little busy or a little scattered, which means more time in the desert later.
Achieving equilibrium is hard. Anytime more of something flows in than flows out, you get a traffic jam. And anytime more flows out than in, the pool drains.
Staying close to equilibrium means balancing those inflows and outflows, at least within a manageable degree.
It doesn’t make sense to do a bunch of lead gen activities if you can’t follow up with the leads you already have. Work through the backlog first (and you may also learn how to define and target leads better, so you get better quality and better results, with lower quantities).
The follow up cadence that worked when you weren’t busy with client work becomes unsustainable when you’re slammed. (And vice versa.)
Mimiran now provides a Backlog report to see where overdue Tasks and Conversations are piling up.
You can see your trends over time, get into details about what’s driving your backlog so you can take action, and work through the backlog itself…
Hopefully this can help you achieve more of both kinds of equilibrium.