By: O.L. and Sway Buckley
I was feeling overwhelmed.
Everything seemed like a priority until it wasn't.
I was experiencing extreme fatigue and burnout.
My husband had to nurse my body back to health after being put on bed rest due to toxic lifestyle habits (no rest, burnout, and unfulfilled).
It was a tough season.
But it was a necessary season.
I recall him asking me what I wanted to do in life moving forward. I didn't know. All I DID know was what I didn't want to do. So we started from there.
We wrote out a list of all the things that I no longer wanted to do in business.
It was massive. Massive, not as in a lot, but meaning significant.
Then, I asked myself what my life would look and feel like if I implemented these changes. All of a sudden, I started to feel lighter. At that moment, I knew what I needed to do. One by one, I started making the changes (and it felt SO good!)
Some of the changes were:
- Increased prices to reflect the premium services
- Shifted the business model to a subscription model only. (This low-key terrified me because I risked losing all my clients- I did it anyway, and it paid off!).
- Upleveled client communication systems. Everything went to an automated format.
These changes brought a transformation to not just my business but to my life and marriage! This lesson taught me that I had the power to shift my business to support my overall health and lifestyle. I had gotten stuck thinking I had to keep the model that once served me but now was straining me. This was when I tapped into the power of having a Dream Work Week. I thought, what else do I want to change in my business? The more I dreamt about it, the more we changed to implement it one step at a time.
It's been well over ten years since that initial discovery. We've had various seasons in our marriage that required a different focus. One season we set up my Dream Work Week to have every Friday off and to finish work by 3:00 pm. As we scaled, the outlook changed, but the principle still applied.
Today, my husband and I have different Dream Work Weeks that we are implementing, and they work together to fulfill the common goals of our marriage. We'll facilitate a virtual training on creating and implementing a Dream Work Week at the upcoming Empty Nester's Online Summit. You can get more information here.
Implementing a Dream Work Week requires consistent effort and patience (but it's worth the work). It's a lifestyle shift that aligns with your big-picture goals. As husband and wife, we stay connected through our daily legacy meetings that tie into our Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, and Annual Legacy Goals. If you're seeking a system like this, you can start with our free Checklist for Marriedpreneurs here.
O.L & Sway Buckley founded Marriedpreneur Life, equipping faith-based marriedpreneur couples with high-level systems to streamline and scale a business without strain. Take a listen to the MarriedpreneurLife podcast at MarriedpreneurLife.com.