Building Balance

✨ 3 lessons I’ve picked up in 2022 that I want to carry over into next year and beyond ✨ This time of year, there tends to be a lot of pressure to reflect on alllllll the things we wanna change. While I’m all for a fresh start, it’s important we give ourselves credit for what we’ve already learned – because we tend to forget. For each of the categories of my ecosystem, I challenged myself to hon...

There’s a nuance that’s missing in the conversation around the trendy revenue numbers we’re supposed to hit – so I thought it might be a good thing to talk about it this time of year. Something that drives me a bit bananas is that the messaging out in the online business world is really focused on trendy revenue numbers. Your business finances are about more than just revenue, and there’s a lot to...

If you’re feeling really excited about all the changes and plans you have in mind for next year, this episode will hopefully help you follow through on them in a sustainable way. On the other hand, if you feel overwhelmed at even the thought of making big sweeping changes for the business just because a new year is coming up, I think this episode will help you feel better about wanting to take sma...

What if we didn't view balance as something we need to achieve? The concept of work-life balance is often talked about in a way that’s unhelpful and makes it feel unattainable – especially for business owners.  Viewing balance in a different way might make it easier to experience. In the episode, you'll hear about 1. Two unhelpful "facts" about work-life balance that make it seem impossible 2...

If you’ve ever felt like making tweaks and pivots in your business makes others see you as flaky, inconsistent, incompetent, or like an imposter, this episode is for you. In the episode, I share - the story of how I got that judgmental voice in my head - all kinds of things I’ve tweaked in my business(es) despite that voice - two benefits of regularly tweaking and experimenting in your business (a...

Does the thought of making space for a holiday break from your business make you sweat a little? Don’t worry, you can totally step away from your business without having to sacrifice all the hard work you’ve done so far; it just takes some planning and prep ahead of time. The 5 tips I share in this episode help you - reduce your workload in the week(s) leading up to your holiday break - reduce wor...

It can be surprisingly hard to let go of things that you’ve put a lot of time and effort into, even when they aren’t currently serving you. So I wanna talk about something that I did earlier this fall - I removed ALL but two of my Youtube videos. We’re talking over 100 videos that I created over the course of about 1.5 years, starting in fall of 2019. I thought that sharing why I did this might he...

What do you do when you want to show yourself that working less doesn’t have to mean a decrease in revenue, but your monthly numbers don’t always help you out with that – and you're tempted to work a bit more to hopefully avoid a dip in your numbers, instead of stepping away from your laptop? Let's talk about a few ways that you can look at your numbers differently. I recorded this episode as a re...

So, how do you keep showing up for your business when you’re burned out? It depends. If you’re a regular listener of Building Balance, you know that I don’t like to share super prescriptive advice here since I feel like I need to know you and your situation better before I can start to tease out solutions with you. But what I can do here is share what are the kinds of things I’d keep in mind, or t...

If you’ve ever felt frustrated about a “proven” strategy or framework not working for you, this episode can help you understand why they haven’t worked – and in which cases it might be better to work with someone who customizes their approach or the strategy to you. In this episode, Cassie Widders of The Social Self podcast and I break down: - why "proven" cookie-cutter strategies, frameworks, and...

What if it’s just normal not to be able to give your business 100% of your attention all the time? We all go through periods of time when *big life stuff* takes priority, while the business might not get as much love as it usually does. It doesn't mean that you're not doing a good job, that you're not amazing at what you do, or that you don't care about your clients. If you go through seasons in y...

If you feel like you’re being pulled in a million different directions right now, and you're busy all day but don't see the progress or success you’d like to, it might be time to reduce your workload. In this episode, I share the many, many benefits of a reduced workload – and you might be able to enjoy them without sacrificing revenue or the quality of your services. Go here for a transcript: htt...

Does hitting a revenue goal matter, if the way you made it happen isn’t sustainable? $10k months (or 6-figure businesses) are talked about *a lot* in the online business space. In this episode, I share the cautionary tale of the first $10k month in my photography business. I'll talk about two things that made it unsustainable in terms of replicating it over and over, as well as whether or not I ne...

What do you do, when there’s a marketing activity you love doing in your business, but it takes up more time than you’d like it to? If you’ve been around for a while, you know that I like to declutter tasks and activities in my business that aren’t making an impact. So today I thought that I’d share the three questions that are helping me make a decluttering decision I’m making in my business, whi...

When we struggle with following through on what we want to do, we tend to ask ourselves "What's wrong with me?" In this episode, I walk you through why focusing on that question often isn't helpful, and what you could ask yourself instead to find better answers – and solutions. Don’t forget to grab a screenshot of the episode and share/say Hei on IG: https://www.instagram.com/thejennahellberg Find...

Are you setting goals – or making wishes? That's what I'll dive into in today's podcast episode. You'll learn 3 reasons why traditional goal setting can set us up for disappointment, and a different way to set goals that you have more control over. Don’t forget to grab a screenshot of the episode and share/say Hei on IG: https://www.instagram.com/thejennahellberg Find mentioned/current resources h...

What if instead of feeling bad about not being productive on your first days back from vacation, you’d take the opportunity to improve how you operate? In this episode I talk about a couple of things that can make it hard to settle back into work, even if you're generally someone who's ambitious and gets things done. Then I'll share 8 ideas for how you could ease back into work while preparing for...

This week I’ve got something special for you – I’ve asked a few fellow business owners to come on the podcast to share a tip that helps them spend their work time more productively, so that you can pick up what sounds good to you and save yourself some time. You'll hear from... KINSEY STRIBE, social media marketing expert and host of the Feel Good Social podcast**** Website: W https://feelgoodsoci...

What if there was a simple way you could shift your thinking, so that you would feel more capable as you grow your business? Psychologist Jenna is by the mic today! I’m going to share a mindset tool that you can use to set yourself up for resilience in your business – and well, in your life. And in case you’re worried that this will be one of those icky toxic mindset things… Well, this is not that...

I’m going to share a few things that I wish I had known about being a solopreneur. I probably still would’ve started my photography business even if I knew these things up front – but I would’ve approached business differently. At least knowing these things now helps me think about business and the things I do differently – and I hope they’ll be helpful to you too. Mentioned in this episode: Episo...

This episode is part 1 of a conversation I had with Stacie Mitchell (Something Even Better podcast). In part 1, we discuss how social media marketing is costing small business owners in a few other ways than just time. Read shownotes here: https://jennahellberg.com/blog/social-media-marketing-and-the-true-costs-for-small-business-with-stacie-mitchell In part 2 we talk about how you can figure out...

If you often find that things don’t go to plan, or that you’re not getting to the work you’d actually *like* to do, there are a few little things you can shift in the way you plan that could make a big difference. I didn’t want to bring you just another episode with planning or productivity tips that you’ve heard a bazillion times before or that you can easily find on Google. I wanted to instead t...

Feeling the pressure to get things done can actually make us less productive, not more. So what can we do to reduce the pressure? In the episode, you'll learn an uncommon approach to batching, tips for making your to-dos feel manageable, and a trick that helps you feel less pressure even if you don't change anything in your plans as a result. Don’t forget to grab a screenshot of the episode and sh...

So far in the summer refire, I’ve talked about how you can create a schedule that works for you, and I’ve hopefully helped you shift our thoughts from feeling like schedules and plans are boring to seeing just how helpful they are in making it possible for you to spend time on the things you actually want to spend time on. I wanted to bring in this episode, as I 100% believe that it’s important fo...

In the last summer refire, I walked you through how you can create a schedule that works for you, your life, and your business. For some, creating a schedule might actually feel pretty fun and exciting, BUT following through on it might be hard, or it might feel boring to have your weeks planned out. In this episode, I’ll walk you through 8 ways that planning and routines and schedules and structu...