When we think of entrepreneurship, we tend to think of working 60+ hours a week and being “on” all the time. But money coach and founder Bernadette Joy reach your money goalswas able to grow his business into six figures while working just 20 hours a week.
Here’s how she did it, and her best advice for scaling up while working less.
Don’t expect overnight success
Joy was able to scale her business to six figures, but it took her a long time to get there, she said, during which time she worked more than 20 hours a week.
“I never became an overnight success,” she says. “I’ve been doing this for seven years, and it’s only been the last three years that I’ve been able to really get traction. Her first four years were like— [it is for] Many entrepreneurs don’t know what they’re doing, they’re just trying to figure this out. ”
Before launching her money coaching business, Joy started a local dress rental business, but changed course when she realized her first business idea was taking too long.
“For me, the idea of working 50 to 60 hours a week made sense.” [wasn’t what I wanted]”I didn’t quit my day job just to go make monsters,” she said.
When she decided to leave her first business, she didn’t know what to do next.
“I realized that what I love most about the business is helping women save money,” Joy said. “At the same time, I started paying off my student loans and started learning more.” [about money] It’s for my own personal finances. ”
Joy began sharing what she knew on a podcast she started, which later evolved into her current company, Crush Your Money Goals.
prepare to pivot
Joy launched Crush Your Money Goals in January 2020. As a professional money coach, Joy planned to earn most of his income through large-scale speaking engagements.
“Of course, what I didn’t expect was the 2020 pandemic,” she said. “I needed to come up with an alternative business model urgently, so I started teaching online and classes. It forced us to think more creatively about how to provide [remotely]”
Create a system that gets more done in less time
When Joy launched Crush Your Money Goals, she knew she didn’t want to work the 50 or 60 hour weeks she had at her previous venture.
“I always thought if I could do the same amount of work in less time, I would find a way to do it,” she said. “One specific thing that has helped me is to have a systems and task mindset.”
Instead of focusing on day-to-day tasks and to-do lists, Joy focuses on overarching business goals.
“after that [I figure out], how do I build a system to achieve that goal, or do I have to?” she said. “When we moved into our current Crush Your Money Goals, we started with the idea of how can we achieve this in 20 hours a week?”
For Joy’s first year or two, she worked full-time, with a goal of only working 20 hours a week.
“Have that as the end goal and start building your business that way rather than relying on your energy all the time,” Joy said.
At first, Joy was forced to reduce her hours due to a tragic personal event.
“Two years ago my father passed away and I had to take almost a month off work,” she said. “That’s what got me thinking about how I could serve people without having to physically attend a meeting.
“Since then, I’ve created courses, sequenced emails so people feel connected to me without physically emailing them, and doing simple things like scheduling. I’ve started to really start doing more things, like getting things done, tools to make sure people don’t have to wait to sign up on my calendar,” Joy continued. “Building these systems really helped.”
Automate as much as possible
Joy recommends automating as much as possible, but doesn’t believe you have to automate everything at once.
“Sometimes when people try to automate the whole process it’s just too much work and they end up doing none of it,” she said. “For example, we are doing a 90-day bootcamp, and if we were to automate all the emails sent to all of our students each week, she would have to automate at least 20 emails from the start.”
The idea seemed overwhelming, so Joy focused on taking small steps, starting by automating just the first three emails.
“Even if you’re trying to create an entire process, don’t get hung up on the idea that you have to automate or streamline everything at once,” she said. “You can do it bit by bit over time. For myself, this course now has been repeated for the past three years, and every year it gets a little better, a little bit more streamlined. If I had tried, I probably wouldn’t have started at all.”
Remember that your non-work hours are also valuable
Joy says that working just 20 hours a week can be enough to make you financially successful, but sometimes you wonder how much you work. more If you work longer hours, you may succeed. When this happens, you have to remember that there are trade-offs.
“At some point, you start sacrificing your mental health,” says Joy. “Another reason I aim to work 20 hours a week very efficiently is that it gives me more room to focus on other things to maintain my mental health. We can continue on this road for a long time.”
This is a lesson Joy says she should often remind herself of.
“I may not grow up as fast as others,” she said. “But for me, I know I can probably continue down this path longer.”
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