I recently had a sales call with someone who checked all the boxes I like:

knew she needed the help
signature service priced between $10-15k
at least 3 of those services sold in last 90 days (she said 6)

Match made in heaven, right?

Notsomuch..

I knew this 35 seconds into our zoom session. How?

She was visibly stressed.

First words when I asked, "soooo what brings you here this evening"?

"I'm about to lose my mind and my business".

at that point, I knew there wasn't going to be a sale.

But I let her talk. And talk some more.

And the no sale coming was confirmed.

Because the more she talked, the more mess I was able to see.

And it was a hot, burning, smelly dumpster fire.

She's very good at what she does.

She devotes time and skill to social causes.

Seems like a halfway decent person.

The better she got at her craft, the more the systems she doesn't have dragged her under.

She couldn't keep staff.

And also going through a whole lot personally. Like. A LOT.

You know what happens when you're a one-woman show, and things are going well but you're burning out?

You become a not so nice person to the people you need most.

You don't rest.

Your nutrition is shit.

You're a meanass mahfugga.

If a crisis happens, you fold.

A really big opportunity comes up, you can't take it.

So you become an even meaner mahfugga.

Cuz you tired, mad at missing out, and "surviving" off red wine & coffee beans.

And then your personal life starts to crumble? AND you have to move? IN A PANDEMIC????

At one point we chuckled about "thank goodness I don't have to homeshool on top of all this".

But I was misty on the inside for her.

Her inquiry was about me setting up Dubsado for her.

As good as I am, there was no amount of Dubsado setup or systems strategy I could give her that would give her the relief she needed...

...especially since she was hell bent on keeping the moneymaker, that she hates doing

instead of doing more of the work she loved, fed her soul and helped underserved communities, where she wouldn't make as much initially but could really parlay the new visibility she would receive (and she would have given what she was working on).

*le sigh*

All I could do was put her on to the really good wine at Aldi for $3/bottle.

Still sent the proposal as requested.

It expired, with no sale, as I expected.

See...

the time to put on your life jacket is before/when you get in the boat.

not when you're underwater drowning.

it's much less effective that way.

people brush systems off because it's not sexy.

can't put glitter on it.

they don't have the special people in their lives who geek out over process steps, efficiency and SOPs... (that's so sad to me)

if you want to ease into getting your systems right, I actually put a snazzy planner together... you get the physical copy to hash it out, digital templates, & a companion guide that's like having me coach you via PDF.

the biz organizeher™ http://aunteerik.com/tbo 

but even if you work with someone else, don't leave getting your business in order something you only think about when you're about to lose your business.

I definitely don't want you to lose your mind.

Cuz I luhs you, sugar