“Do what you can, where you are, with what you have.”
–Teddy Roosevelt
It’s been one of those weeks, for the past few weeks! Not complaining, lots of work is good but it can sometimes feel like “how am I ever going to get this all done!’
A critical point for many small businesses is at this very point. That point between not busy enough and way too busy … the point where you wonder if you can do it all and you begin to drop a few balls, disappoint a few clients (never fun!) by missing a deadline, by over promising and under delivering.
That happened to me this week, and thankfully it is a long term client and they were gracious in giving me an extension. But I wasn’t happy about having to tell them I wasn’t going to meet my deadline.
This is actually a crucial point in my business and not meeting deadlines can happen when you’re at the tipping point in your business. The trick is, I think, to make sure you’re thinking through the deadlines you’re placing on yourself! It’s better to tell a client you’ll deliver a project in 3 weeks and deliver it in 2, than it is to tell them you’ll deliver in 2 weeks and you deliver in 3.
(Sigh) Time to start making my deadlines a more realistic and building in time to handle emergencies that can and do come up from time to time.
Recognizing the problem can help take you a long way towards solving the problem.