April 9, 2025 • 25 mins
Are you slowly killing your business by failing to set boundaries?
In this essential episode, we reveal why the real cause of many business failures isn't competition or the economy – it's boundary issues that lead to financial depletion and burnout.
Discover the four critical boundaries every successful business needs:
-
Time boundaries that protect your most valuable resource
-
Service boundaries that create focus and expertise
-
Financial boundaries that ensure sustainable profitability
-
Communication boundaries that allow for proactive growth rather than reactive firefighting
We also tackle common objections from entrepreneurs who fear setting boundaries will cost them clients or opportunities, with real-world examples showing how proper boundaries actually attract better clients willing to pay premium rates.
Key Quote: "Boundary-setting isn't about building walls. It's about creating systems that allow your business to serve others without depleting its most valuable resource: you."
Whether you're struggling with clients who don't respect your time, difficulty maintaining work-life separation, or challenges charging what you're worth, this episode provides practical strategies for establishing boundaries that protect both your well-being and your bottom line.
Get our complete "Business Boundary Blueprint" in the Wealth Wisdom Financial Community today: wealthwisdomfp.com/community
00:00 The Hidden Threat to Small Businesses
01:09 Welcome to Wealth Wisdom Financial Podcast
01:47 The Importance of Setting Boundaries
03:20 Statistics on Business Failures
05:54 Types of Boundaries for Business Success
14:30 Overcoming the Fear of Setting Boundaries
19:35 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/twO_IOMVViI
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
What is the number one killer of small
businesses?It's not competition.
It's not the economy. It's not tariffs or
lack thereof. It's
burnouts and financial depletion
often caused by the business owners who
fail to set proper boundaries. Yes, I
went to all of those places, and today
(00:23):
we're exploring how boundary setting can
be the difference between a thriving
business. And one that's destined to
close its doors. So I know we don't want
to set boundaries. Boundary setting is
really hard. We don't want to be. Who was
that?Henry Nouwen that wrote the book
Boundaries. Good book. But none of us
want to think about that kind of stuff.
Well, today we're going to be really
(00:43):
quick and we're going to give you some
really powerful things you can do with
this that then set your boundaries.
They're done. You don't have to keep
thinking about them. Deal. OK, here we
go. In a
world where chaos seems to reign supreme.
Where uncertainty lurks around every
corner and financial markets are now
more unpredictable than ever, there's one
(01:05):
place you can turn to to find clarity and
control. Welcome to the Wealth Wisdom
Financial Podcast. Hey, I'm Brandon.
And I'm Amanda. Join us as we dive deep
in the world of personal and business
finance to assist you in navigating
through the chaos and building the
financial future you deserve. We believe
(01:25):
when conventional financial. thinking
doesn't get you where you want to go. You
need Wealth Wisdom. So if you're ready to
take control of your financial destiny,
tune in to the Wealth Wisdom Financial
Podcast. Because in a chaotic world, your
money shouldn't be. Subscribe now and
never miss an episode.
(01:47):
All right, so Amanda came in
hot talking about tariffs
and boundaries and
work life, whatever. Um, really, I
mean, sometimes it, it can be a, a
challenge and, and you know, we're always
worried about those tariffs, right?Uh, or
something. Something Um, but today we're
(02:08):
exploring how entrepreneurs build
successful businesses. Like, that's what
I want, right, uh, without
sacrificingwhat matters
most. How do those super people do that
is what I wanna know. Um, because it
seems like, man, they are amazing. How do
they, how do they do that?So today we're
(02:28):
talking about something critical for
business survival, setting
healthy boundaries. And I know we
hate the word boundaries, but, uh, it is
helpful forall kinds of things. Yeah.
And so this is the second episode in the
series that we're doing called Work
Life Reset. And if you missed the last
(02:50):
episode, that's okay, but we encourage
you to go back and listen to it. We
talked about managing your energy as a
business owner and, you know,
some mindset shifts, some systems that
you can put in place to free yourself up
to do some really great things. Today
we're going to build on that foundation
by exploring how boundaries protect not
just your well-being, although that's
(03:11):
really important, protect your
well-being, but those boundaries also
protect the very existence of your
business. You ready for this?Let's go.
So the statistic on business failures
are sobering. According to
studies, roughly 20% of small
businesses fail in the first year.
(03:32):
That's That's a lot, 20%. Don't
even make it right. And nearly 50%
don't make it past five years. So that
means one out of two isn't going to make
it after five years. But
what's behind those failures?Yeah. So
while cash flow problems are often cited
as the primary reason businesses close,
(03:53):
and yeah, that's true, cash flow is a big
issue. We're a big fan of managing cash
flow. Yep. If you dig deeper, it reveals
something really important. Many of those
financial issues that we attribute to
cash flow stem from boundary
problems. Business owners without clear
boundaries typically experience two major
(04:14):
issues that lead to their closure. They
run out of money and or they just burn
out completely. Yeah, I think that's a
big, big deal. The financial
depletion happens though in various ways.
Many entrepreneurs undercharge
because they're uncomfortable setting
financial boundaries for somebody else.
(04:36):
Others allow scope
creep, right?What does that mean?Scope
creep?It's providing additional
services without additional
compensation. And so so they start
expanding their scope, they start doing
more, and they don't increase the
prices. I thought you were asking me. I
(04:57):
don't know. I was. Maybe I was. I don't
know. You're fine. Some take on
clients who aren't an ideal fit because
they need the money. Have you ever heard
that one before?I just need to sell, so
I'm going to do whatever. requiring more
time and resources than they're worth.
And you know those people that you're
like, oh my gosh, I can't believe I got
(05:19):
them as a client. Now I have to service
and it's annoying. Yeah. So those are a
lot of financial depletion things.
There's also just burnout, kind of the
silent business killer, working excessive
hours, being constantly available,
handling everything personally instead of
delegating. Ooh, delegation, that's what
we're going to talk about in our next
episode. Oh, I'm so excited. Okay.
(05:39):
Anyway, these boundary violationsdrain
the energy and passion that fuels the
business in the first place. And when you
don't have that energy and passion and
you're being asked to keep working more
hours and being constantly available,
you're just, you just burn out. It just
happens. Yeah, sustainable business
success requires what we're called
strategic boundaries. Clear limits
(06:01):
around four key areas. So we're gonna go
through four different kinds of
boundaries. And what it looks like to
have those boundaries for your business.
It's not just one kind of boundary.
Notice four different kinds. Yeah, and
most people only know one or two of them.
So here we go. First one is time
boundaries. To find when you work and
when you don't work. This is one that a
lot of people know about. Rarely
(06:23):
do people do. But without them, work
expands to fill all available space,
leaving no time for rest, strategic
thinking, family time, refueling, all
kinds of really good stuff that we all
need now. I wanna do a
little side note here on the time
boundaries. Okay, get, I'm getting the
soapbox out. Brandon's gonna jump on it.
(06:44):
Yeah, this gets a, a little annoying to
me, um, because as we do financial
conversations all the time and the
reschedule button is hit like all the
time or not all the time, people just, a
lot of the time, a lot of time. Or people
just don't show up, right?And So what
that tells me. is oftentimes
they are not respecting their own time
(07:06):
or their own system or the, or they
bought a program, but they never actually
implemented on it. So they put the money
behind it, but they didn't put the time
behind it. And so they, what they need to
do is to be able to make sure
time that you actually show up.
to the things that you're doing and be
all in on those things because that's
(07:27):
gonna help you move further. If I say
yes, and this is one of our mantras,
letter yes be yes and our no be no. It's
It's in the Bible actually. Um, and
so what we try and do is if if I say I'm
gonna be at a meeting,I'm going to be at
that meeting. That's an important thing
because that's showing up to yourself.
(07:48):
Yeah. So it's a time boundary, right?
Define when and when you work and when
you don't work. But also a time boundary
is when you commit the time to something,
you commit the time to something and
barring emergency, right?Like we know
those come up and people reschedule for
legitimate reasons sometimes. but
otherwise, you're there. And I will say
another quick thing um that
(08:09):
Amanda always gets me on this whenever
I'm not on work time. She'll She'll get
me and say, uh this is a work
conversation. We're at home and so we
have these boundaries that we set on
purpose. So then, our son who's
six even says, uh we're not
supposed to be talking about work um
because it's a different time. Yeah,
(08:32):
and brings up work at the dinner table,
our son will pipe up and be like, No,
dad, you can't talk about that. Okay, so
time boundaries, number one. Number two
are service boundaries. This is where you
clarify what what you will do and what
you won't do in your business.
Without them, your business lacks focus.
You become a jack of all trades and
master of none. You decide, Okay, this is
(08:53):
what we're doing. This is only what we're
doing, and we're not going to do
something else, even if someone would pay
us a lot of money to do it. Yeah. I think
this, again, as we are trying to grow a
business, we'll we'll sometimes say,
well, I could do that. I'll do that. And
we end up doing a lot of things that
aren't in our scope. Yep. Okay. Now,
(09:14):
number three, financial boundaries. I put
it in the middle here so we can end on a
positive one or something people want to
talk about more. But financial
boundaries, it's not just budgeting,
right?The curse word, budgeting. It's
about establishing your worth in the
marketplace as a business.
Without that kind of financial boundary,
this is what it costs to work with me.
(09:35):
Without that, you undervalue your
services and you struggle to create
sustainable profit. Having that boundary,
having it firmly established is really
great. And then you add to it some really
cool financial systems. Yep, so
some of those financial systems are are
like Profit First. It's a structural
framework for these boundaries by
(09:55):
ensuring business owners pay themselves
firstand maintain healthy
profit margins. Again, it's called profit
first for a reason, right?
By allocating percentages of income in
different amounts before expenses,
entrepreneurs create a built-in
boundary against the common traps
(10:17):
of paying everyone else and
they end up paying themselves last, right?
If at all. If at all and that that is a
problem and we wonder why those
businesses fail. Because they weren't
paying themselves in the 1st place, right?
So yeah, so financial boundaries
look like a lot of different things,
primarily establishing your value in the
(10:39):
marketplace and making sure you pay
yourself first. Now we get to the 4th
boundary, which is a communication
boundary. This is related to time, but
it's a little different. It's determining
how and when people can reach you.
Without communication boundaries, you
become reactive rather than proactive.
(10:59):
You're constantly putting out fires
instead of building for your future. You
could spend your whole day in e-mail
unless you have a boundary around e-mail,
or you could be texting at 10 o'clock at
night unless you have a boundary around
texting. I used to, and I haven't had to
do this for a long time. If somebody
texted me after 9:00 PM, I would text
them before 5:00 AM. Just because I'm
like, if I don't want you texting me, or
(11:21):
if you don't want me texting you early,
don't text me late. Anyway, go ahead.
I would also say, and I want to know who
you did that to. A couple of people.
Because that that is interesting, right?
The other thing I I think about in the
communication boundaries, again, showing
up to meetings, doing the things, right?
That's a big part, but
(11:44):
as I've worked with clients and I say,
you know, after five o'clock or orthe
Sunday thing, um, people were like, oh,
well, I can only do Sundays, uh, or
whatever. Well, I'm not gonna work, um,
with you on Sundays because that is a
clear boundary that I'm not gonna cross.
Uh, and oftentimes people respect
(12:04):
that and they wanna work with you more
because you said, this is my time
for family. You're not my 100%
priority. It is other things and
that they will value you more. And
probably show up because you say, well,
okay, if this is important to you, you'll
make time for it in other areas. Yeah.
Don't go so far though, as a lot of
(12:26):
physicians have had to go because our
healthcare system is what it is, where
you have to wait months and months to see
them and you'll get 15 minutes with them
and your solution never happens. Don't go
that far, but a little bit of boundaries
of when to communicate, how people
communicate with you, very effective.
Okay, so those are the four. The
most successful businesses aren't run by
(12:47):
owners working all around the clock,
right?They're led by disciplined
entrepreneurs who protect their
resources, establish their time and
energy, and allow for sustainable growth
rather than exhausting spurts followed by
crashes. We all kind of know this. The
people you look up to, you probably know
they are disciplined. They have guards
around their time and energy. Yeah, I did
(13:09):
want to bring up that discipline.
People hate discipline. People hate
discipline. Our kids hate it, right?You
know that. Until they find that it brings
them freedom. Yeah. Or we just look at
those memes on TikTok and we're like,
wow, those guys are amazing. And we
just see that the top half of the
success, but that success is the
(13:29):
discipline that they did over time to get
to where they're at. Yeah, and there's a
couple big fears that are the biggest
reasons most people never set boundaries.
We're going to talk about those fears
after the break.
(13:50):
Ready to take the next step towards
securing your financial future, whether
you're planning for retirement, saving
for your dream home, or you just want to
make your money work harder for you. The
team at Wealth Wisdom Financial are ready
to assist you, and now it's easier than
ever to see how we might give you a boost
on your financial journey. Schedule a 15
minute discovery call with one of us
(14:11):
today and let's discuss your questions
and your financial goals together. Don't
wait any longer. Your financial freedom
awaits. Schedule your discovery call at
www.wealthwisdomfp.com/call.
Now, some entrepreneurs
(14:32):
resist setting boundaries because they
fear they're going to lose clients.
They're going to miss opportunities. They
think in today's competitive market, I
can't afford to be unavailable or
selective. It, you know, there's too much
competition. There's those tariffs I got
to worry about, like all the things,
right?Oh, you brought tariffs. I'm
kidding. Oh, man.
Yeah. And I think about that, that fear
(14:54):
of missing out versus joy of missing out,
maybe, I don't know. But
really this, these fears are flawed on
multiple levels. First, when you're
available 24/7, you're signaling that
your time isn't valuable and clients are
going to treat it accordingly. Just like
Brandon was talking about before the
break when you fear. not being
(15:14):
available, you're actually fearing losing
clients, right?And that your clients
won't treat you as valuable if you're not
available, when actually the reverse is
true. When you're not available
all the time, clients tend to treat you
as more valuable and your time more
valuable, too. So the second thing
is saying yes to everything means you
(15:36):
inevitably spread yourself too
thin, reducing the quality of your
work and ultimately damaging your
reputation. Yeah. So when you
have this fear that if you don't say yes
to everything, you won't have any
clients, you won't have anything to do.
But when you do say yes to everything,
your quality goes down and you lose
(15:57):
clients because they're not getting the
quality that they deserve. And that
they're paying you for because you're
spread too thin. And so to fear
poor quality means you'll be more
selective in what you can actually do.
Now we've got a special pro tip for you.
If you're buying services from another
business and they're always available,
always answering your calls, ready to
(16:18):
meet at a moment's notice, the best
question you can ask them before signing
the dotted line and giving them your
money is this. If you're so great, why
are you so available to work with me?
Like, if you're so great, why are you not
in high demand?Right. See what they say,
right. They might be like, actually I am
really busy and right, like, but you're a
priority. I'm willing to take great,
(16:39):
great answer, right. Or they might just
say, yeah, I I don't have clients, you
know, who knows?But also when
you're always available, what signal are
you giving?Right. When if people asked
you that question, how would you be able
to answer?Yeah, I think
that's an important thing on time
and value. And if you
(17:00):
maybe paid them a lot, maybe then you're
like, hey, well, that's why, because I
paid for the time to meet with
that person, I don't know however much it
was. Yeah. Now we got an example.
Consider the experience of a marketing
agency that implemented strict
project scopes and communication
hours. Initially, they worried about
(17:22):
client pushback. Instead, they found that
their clients boundaries
attracted more professional
clients willing to pay premiums
rates, really big rates. Meanwhile, their
competition remained always available,
struggled with profitability and
high turnover rates. Yeah,
(17:44):
and so you might think, especially like a
marketing agency, right?They might have
this idea that my industry demands
constant availability. And while certain
fields do require like emergency response
capabilities, this doesn't mean that the
business owner personally needs to
handle every situation. I
recently was thinking about hiring
(18:06):
another business to do some work for us.
And I met someone who was an employee at
that business and I wanted to work with
that person, go through the process with
them, you know, onboarding, they, you
know, they would be the person that I was
excited to see what they would do in the
sales process and such. But the business
owner was the only one who would do
(18:26):
that part. And they didn't win my
business because of that. So you can have
well established systems, you can train
your team members, you can have clear
escalation protocols that can address
urgent matters while protecting your
time. That's what we're talking about
today mostly is your time, how you make
sure you have boundaries on it. So you
you can still have constant availability
(18:46):
without your time being there. Just
got to think creatively, yeah. Now,
many business owners claim they
can't afford to implement financial
boundaries, right?However, systems like
the Bank on Yourself system demonstrates
how establishing separate financial
resources actually creates
(19:07):
greater financial freedom and stability.
By building financial assets outside
their business, owners can gain the
confidence to set. firmer
boundaries with clients knowing that they
have the resources to fall back on if
difficult client relationships needs to
end. And so sometimes it's not about the
(19:27):
money, it's about making sure the time
and money are in
together. Yeah. So
moral of the story, bottom line, boundary
setting isn't about building walls.
You're not trying to distance yourself
from people, block yourself off.
It's about creative systems that allow
(19:47):
your business to serve others without
depleting its most valuable resource.
What's your business's most valuable
resource?You, the business owner, right?
Boundary setting is about making sure you
can be your best self within your
business. I I think that again, we often
forget about this when it comes to what
we do with the Profit First system, when
(20:10):
it comes to the banking yourself and
infinite banking system. is I want to
think about you first,
and and that's important. You're
your greatest asset. That's why we ensure
the greatest asset. And so
that time, you need to respect your own
time and values as well.
(20:31):
Okay, so let's wrap up here. The
data is clear. Businesses with strong
boundaries outlast and outperform those
without them. right?You think of some of
the best businesses that you admire,
particularly small businesses that are
growing and doing well. They're focused,
they have strong boundaries, and they are
more profitable because they charge
appropriately, don't give away free work,
(20:53):
and all those kind of things. They're
more innovative because their owners have
the mental space for strategic thinking,
and they're more sustainable because
they don't burn through their human
capital, the energy and creativity of
their founders and their team members.
I've been reading it recently, Simplified
then by Richard Kosh. He talked
(21:13):
about when they're looking at a business
that they want to invest in or see if
it's doing well, they want to see
space. time, you know, a little bit of
water, cooler, chat, things like that.
That's there's energy and creativity in
those kind of firms. When everybody's
rush, rush, rush, hurry, hurry, hurry,
do, do, do that. That's not a
sign of a healthy, thriving business.
(21:35):
Yeah. And that was Ray Dalio Ray Dalio.
Thank you. And then we have financial
boundaries. In particular, those can be
strengthened through systematic
approaches like Profit First or the
Bank Yourself systems. These systems
create automatic guardrails that
protect business owners from the
financial depletion that often leads to
(21:57):
closure, or sometimes it's even
protecting themselves, right?A business
ownerwho implements Profit First, for
instance, ensures they're paying
themselves and setting aside profits
from day one, creating
immediate financial boundaries that
grow stronger over time. And
(22:18):
again, we've been implementing this for
years and it, it is so,
um, powerful to have that. If you'd like
to learn more about Profit First or
banking yourself, reach out to us and
we'd love to help people learn more about
this without any obligations,
no strings attached, just show up to the
meeting. If you're going to schedule,
(22:39):
show up to the meeting, do the time
thing, but we would love to serve and
help you share our story of how
it's implemented and worked for us. So
remember, in final wrap up here,
implementing boundaries doesn't happen
overnight. It requires deliberate
decisions about what you will do and
won't do in your business. It
(23:00):
means sometimes saying no to
opportunities that don't align with your
values or your business model. And it
requires clear communication with clients
and team members about your expectation.
Every successful long-term business has
boundaries. They're not an obstacle
to growth, they're the framework that
makes growth possible without
(23:21):
collapse. Are you ready to implement
boundaries that will protect your
business and prevent burnout?Today in the
Wealth Wisdom Financial Community, we
published our Business Boundaries
Blueprint. Let's say that 10 times fast.
Business Boundary Boundary. I can't even
do it. A comprehensive framework
for identifying, establishing, and
(23:43):
maintaining healthy boundaries in your
business. Again, it's. Business Boundary
Blueprint. Can you say that 10 times?It
includes communication templates,
strategies for handling those difficult
conversations, which you will have as a
business owner. If you haven't, you
haven't done it long enough, and a
workbook to help you determine which
(24:04):
boundaries you need most. Head to
wealthwisdomfp.com/community,
join the premium side, and you will be
able to get access to that. Yep. The
business boundaries blueprint.
Thanks for joining us. Hit that subscribe
button. The next episode is the one you
are not gonna wanna miss. I teased this
(24:25):
last time. I'll tease it again. I had
this huge epiphany around time and
money. A lot of people say time is money.
Money is time. We kind of know that's not
exactly true. And I'm gonna show you a
totally different way to think about time
and money in next week's episode that
just knocked my socks off. Can't wait to
share it with you and how and and
it'll also help. You drive more
(24:46):
delegation and boundary creation to
and have, you know, keep those boundaries
strong. In the meantime, live
long and profit. The topics
presented in this podcast are for general
information only and not for the purpose
of providing legal, accounting or
investment advice on such matters. Please
consult a professional who knows your
(25:06):
specific situation. And if you have a
problem with boundaries, there's a, I
don't know, there's a book called
Boundaries and you might. See,
sometimes there's therapists, all kinds
of things. We are not therapists.
Oh, and Ray Dalio's book is called
Principles. That just popped in my head.
There you go. Great, great book. Awesome.
We'll see you next time. Long book.
What is the number one killer of small
businesses?It's not competition.
It's not the economy. It's not tariffs or
lack thereof. It's
burnouts and financial depletion
often caused by the business owners who
fail to set proper boundaries. Yes, I
went to all of those places, and today
(00:23):
we're exploring how boundary setting can
be the difference between a thriving
business. And one that's destined to
close its doors. So I know we don't want
to set boundaries. Boundary setting is
really hard. We don't want to be. Who was
that?Henry Nouwen that wrote the book
Boundaries. Good book. But none of us
want to think about that kind of stuff.
Well, today we're going to be really
(00:43):
quick and we're going to give you some
really powerful things you can do with
this that then set your boundaries.
They're done. You don't have to keep
thinking about them. Deal. OK, here we
go. In a
world where chaos seems to reign supreme.
Where uncertainty lurks around every
corner and financial markets are now
more unpredictable than ever, there's one
(01:05):
place you can turn to to find clarity and
control. Welcome to the Wealth Wisdom
Financial Podcast. Hey, I'm Brandon.
And I'm Amanda. Join us as we dive deep
in the world of personal and business
finance to assist you in navigating
through the chaos and building the
financial future you deserve. We believe
(01:25):
when conventional financial. thinking
doesn't get you where you want to go. You
need Wealth Wisdom. So if you're ready to
take control of your financial destiny,
tune in to the Wealth Wisdom Financial
Podcast. Because in a chaotic world, your
money shouldn't be. Subscribe now and
never miss an episode.
(01:47):
All right, so Amanda came in
hot talking about tariffs
and boundaries and
work life, whatever. Um, really, I
mean, sometimes it, it can be a, a
challenge and, and you know, we're always
worried about those tariffs, right?Uh, or
something. Something Um, but today we're
(02:08):
exploring how entrepreneurs build
successful businesses. Like, that's what
I want, right, uh, without
sacrificingwhat matters
most. How do those super people do that
is what I wanna know. Um, because it
seems like, man, they are amazing. How do
they, how do they do that?So today we're
(02:28):
talking about something critical for
business survival, setting
healthy boundaries. And I know we
hate the word boundaries, but, uh, it is
helpful forall kinds of things. Yeah.
And so this is the second episode in the
series that we're doing called Work
Life Reset. And if you missed the last
(02:50):
episode, that's okay, but we encourage
you to go back and listen to it. We
talked about managing your energy as a
business owner and, you know,
some mindset shifts, some systems that
you can put in place to free yourself up
to do some really great things. Today
we're going to build on that foundation
by exploring how boundaries protect not
just your well-being, although that's
(03:11):
really important, protect your
well-being, but those boundaries also
protect the very existence of your
business. You ready for this?Let's go.
So the statistic on business failures
are sobering. According to
studies, roughly 20% of small
businesses fail in the first year.
(03:32):
That's That's a lot, 20%. Don't
even make it right. And nearly 50%
don't make it past five years. So that
means one out of two isn't going to make
it after five years. But
what's behind those failures?Yeah. So
while cash flow problems are often cited
as the primary reason businesses close,
(03:53):
and yeah, that's true, cash flow is a big
issue. We're a big fan of managing cash
flow. Yep. If you dig deeper, it reveals
something really important. Many of those
financial issues that we attribute to
cash flow stem from boundary
problems. Business owners without clear
boundaries typically experience two major
(04:14):
issues that lead to their closure. They
run out of money and or they just burn
out completely. Yeah, I think that's a
big, big deal. The financial
depletion happens though in various ways.
Many entrepreneurs undercharge
because they're uncomfortable setting
financial boundaries for somebody else.
(04:36):
Others allow scope
creep, right?What does that mean?Scope
creep?It's providing additional
services without additional
compensation. And so so they start
expanding their scope, they start doing
more, and they don't increase the
prices. I thought you were asking me. I
(04:57):
don't know. I was. Maybe I was. I don't
know. You're fine. Some take on
clients who aren't an ideal fit because
they need the money. Have you ever heard
that one before?I just need to sell, so
I'm going to do whatever. requiring more
time and resources than they're worth.
And you know those people that you're
like, oh my gosh, I can't believe I got
(05:19):
them as a client. Now I have to service
and it's annoying. Yeah. So those are a
lot of financial depletion things.
There's also just burnout, kind of the
silent business killer, working excessive
hours, being constantly available,
handling everything personally instead of
delegating. Ooh, delegation, that's what
we're going to talk about in our next
episode. Oh, I'm so excited. Okay.
(05:39):
Anyway, these boundary violationsdrain
the energy and passion that fuels the
business in the first place. And when you
don't have that energy and passion and
you're being asked to keep working more
hours and being constantly available,
you're just, you just burn out. It just
happens. Yeah, sustainable business
success requires what we're called
strategic boundaries. Clear limits
(06:01):
around four key areas. So we're gonna go
through four different kinds of
boundaries. And what it looks like to
have those boundaries for your business.
It's not just one kind of boundary.
Notice four different kinds. Yeah, and
most people only know one or two of them.
So here we go. First one is time
boundaries. To find when you work and
when you don't work. This is one that a
lot of people know about. Rarely
(06:23):
do people do. But without them, work
expands to fill all available space,
leaving no time for rest, strategic
thinking, family time, refueling, all
kinds of really good stuff that we all
need now. I wanna do a
little side note here on the time
boundaries. Okay, get, I'm getting the
soapbox out. Brandon's gonna jump on it.
(06:44):
Yeah, this gets a, a little annoying to
me, um, because as we do financial
conversations all the time and the
reschedule button is hit like all the
time or not all the time, people just, a
lot of the time, a lot of time. Or people
just don't show up, right?And So what
that tells me. is oftentimes
they are not respecting their own time
(07:06):
or their own system or the, or they
bought a program, but they never actually
implemented on it. So they put the money
behind it, but they didn't put the time
behind it. And so they, what they need to
do is to be able to make sure
time that you actually show up.
to the things that you're doing and be
all in on those things because that's
(07:27):
gonna help you move further. If I say
yes, and this is one of our mantras,
letter yes be yes and our no be no. It's
It's in the Bible actually. Um, and
so what we try and do is if if I say I'm
gonna be at a meeting,I'm going to be at
that meeting. That's an important thing
because that's showing up to yourself.
(07:48):
Yeah. So it's a time boundary, right?
Define when and when you work and when
you don't work. But also a time boundary
is when you commit the time to something,
you commit the time to something and
barring emergency, right?Like we know
those come up and people reschedule for
legitimate reasons sometimes. but
otherwise, you're there. And I will say
another quick thing um that
(08:09):
Amanda always gets me on this whenever
I'm not on work time. She'll She'll get
me and say, uh this is a work
conversation. We're at home and so we
have these boundaries that we set on
purpose. So then, our son who's
six even says, uh we're not
supposed to be talking about work um
because it's a different time. Yeah,
(08:32):
and brings up work at the dinner table,
our son will pipe up and be like, No,
dad, you can't talk about that. Okay, so
time boundaries, number one. Number two
are service boundaries. This is where you
clarify what what you will do and what
you won't do in your business.
Without them, your business lacks focus.
You become a jack of all trades and
master of none. You decide, Okay, this is
(08:53):
what we're doing. This is only what we're
doing, and we're not going to do
something else, even if someone would pay
us a lot of money to do it. Yeah. I think
this, again, as we are trying to grow a
business, we'll we'll sometimes say,
well, I could do that. I'll do that. And
we end up doing a lot of things that
aren't in our scope. Yep. Okay. Now,
(09:14):
number three, financial boundaries. I put
it in the middle here so we can end on a
positive one or something people want to
talk about more. But financial
boundaries, it's not just budgeting,
right?The curse word, budgeting. It's
about establishing your worth in the
marketplace as a business.
Without that kind of financial boundary,
this is what it costs to work with me.
(09:35):
Without that, you undervalue your
services and you struggle to create
sustainable profit. Having that boundary,
having it firmly established is really
great. And then you add to it some really
cool financial systems. Yep, so
some of those financial systems are are
like Profit First. It's a structural
framework for these boundaries by
(09:55):
ensuring business owners pay themselves
firstand maintain healthy
profit margins. Again, it's called profit
first for a reason, right?
By allocating percentages of income in
different amounts before expenses,
entrepreneurs create a built-in
boundary against the common traps
(10:17):
of paying everyone else and
they end up paying themselves last, right?
If at all. If at all and that that is a
problem and we wonder why those
businesses fail. Because they weren't
paying themselves in the 1st place, right?
So yeah, so financial boundaries
look like a lot of different things,
primarily establishing your value in the
(10:39):
marketplace and making sure you pay
yourself first. Now we get to the 4th
boundary, which is a communication
boundary. This is related to time, but
it's a little different. It's determining
how and when people can reach you.
Without communication boundaries, you
become reactive rather than proactive.
(10:59):
You're constantly putting out fires
instead of building for your future. You
could spend your whole day in e-mail
unless you have a boundary around e-mail,
or you could be texting at 10 o'clock at
night unless you have a boundary around
texting. I used to, and I haven't had to
do this for a long time. If somebody
texted me after 9:00 PM, I would text
them before 5:00 AM. Just because I'm
like, if I don't want you texting me, or
(11:21):
if you don't want me texting you early,
don't text me late. Anyway, go ahead.
I would also say, and I want to know who
you did that to. A couple of people.
Because that that is interesting, right?
The other thing I I think about in the
communication boundaries, again, showing
up to meetings, doing the things, right?
That's a big part, but
(11:44):
as I've worked with clients and I say,
you know, after five o'clock or orthe
Sunday thing, um, people were like, oh,
well, I can only do Sundays, uh, or
whatever. Well, I'm not gonna work, um,
with you on Sundays because that is a
clear boundary that I'm not gonna cross.
Uh, and oftentimes people respect
(12:04):
that and they wanna work with you more
because you said, this is my time
for family. You're not my 100%
priority. It is other things and
that they will value you more. And
probably show up because you say, well,
okay, if this is important to you, you'll
make time for it in other areas. Yeah.
Don't go so far though, as a lot of
(12:26):
physicians have had to go because our
healthcare system is what it is, where
you have to wait months and months to see
them and you'll get 15 minutes with them
and your solution never happens. Don't go
that far, but a little bit of boundaries
of when to communicate, how people
communicate with you, very effective.
Okay, so those are the four. The
most successful businesses aren't run by
(12:47):
owners working all around the clock,
right?They're led by disciplined
entrepreneurs who protect their
resources, establish their time and
energy, and allow for sustainable growth
rather than exhausting spurts followed by
crashes. We all kind of know this. The
people you look up to, you probably know
they are disciplined. They have guards
around their time and energy. Yeah, I did
(13:09):
want to bring up that discipline.
People hate discipline. People hate
discipline. Our kids hate it, right?You
know that. Until they find that it brings
them freedom. Yeah. Or we just look at
those memes on TikTok and we're like,
wow, those guys are amazing. And we
just see that the top half of the
success, but that success is the
(13:29):
discipline that they did over time to get
to where they're at. Yeah, and there's a
couple big fears that are the biggest
reasons most people never set boundaries.
We're going to talk about those fears
after the break.
(13:50):
Ready to take the next step towards
securing your financial future, whether
you're planning for retirement, saving
for your dream home, or you just want to
make your money work harder for you. The
team at Wealth Wisdom Financial are ready
to assist you, and now it's easier than
ever to see how we might give you a boost
on your financial journey. Schedule a 15
minute discovery call with one of us
(14:11):
today and let's discuss your questions
and your financial goals together. Don't
wait any longer. Your financial freedom
awaits. Schedule your discovery call at
www.wealthwisdomfp.com/call.
Now, some entrepreneurs
(14:32):
resist setting boundaries because they
fear they're going to lose clients.
They're going to miss opportunities. They
think in today's competitive market, I
can't afford to be unavailable or
selective. It, you know, there's too much
competition. There's those tariffs I got
to worry about, like all the things,
right?Oh, you brought tariffs. I'm
kidding. Oh, man.
Yeah. And I think about that, that fear
(14:54):
of missing out versus joy of missing out,
maybe, I don't know. But
really this, these fears are flawed on
multiple levels. First, when you're
available 24/7, you're signaling that
your time isn't valuable and clients are
going to treat it accordingly. Just like
Brandon was talking about before the
break when you fear. not being
(15:14):
available, you're actually fearing losing
clients, right?And that your clients
won't treat you as valuable if you're not
available, when actually the reverse is
true. When you're not available
all the time, clients tend to treat you
as more valuable and your time more
valuable, too. So the second thing
is saying yes to everything means you
(15:36):
inevitably spread yourself too
thin, reducing the quality of your
work and ultimately damaging your
reputation. Yeah. So when you
have this fear that if you don't say yes
to everything, you won't have any
clients, you won't have anything to do.
But when you do say yes to everything,
your quality goes down and you lose
(15:57):
clients because they're not getting the
quality that they deserve. And that
they're paying you for because you're
spread too thin. And so to fear
poor quality means you'll be more
selective in what you can actually do.
Now we've got a special pro tip for you.
If you're buying services from another
business and they're always available,
always answering your calls, ready to
(16:18):
meet at a moment's notice, the best
question you can ask them before signing
the dotted line and giving them your
money is this. If you're so great, why
are you so available to work with me?
Like, if you're so great, why are you not
in high demand?Right. See what they say,
right. They might be like, actually I am
really busy and right, like, but you're a
priority. I'm willing to take great,
(16:39):
great answer, right. Or they might just
say, yeah, I I don't have clients, you
know, who knows?But also when
you're always available, what signal are
you giving?Right. When if people asked
you that question, how would you be able
to answer?Yeah, I think
that's an important thing on time
and value. And if you
(17:00):
maybe paid them a lot, maybe then you're
like, hey, well, that's why, because I
paid for the time to meet with
that person, I don't know however much it
was. Yeah. Now we got an example.
Consider the experience of a marketing
agency that implemented strict
project scopes and communication
hours. Initially, they worried about
(17:22):
client pushback. Instead, they found that
their clients boundaries
attracted more professional
clients willing to pay premiums
rates, really big rates. Meanwhile, their
competition remained always available,
struggled with profitability and
high turnover rates. Yeah,
(17:44):
and so you might think, especially like a
marketing agency, right?They might have
this idea that my industry demands
constant availability. And while certain
fields do require like emergency response
capabilities, this doesn't mean that the
business owner personally needs to
handle every situation. I
recently was thinking about hiring
(18:06):
another business to do some work for us.
And I met someone who was an employee at
that business and I wanted to work with
that person, go through the process with
them, you know, onboarding, they, you
know, they would be the person that I was
excited to see what they would do in the
sales process and such. But the business
owner was the only one who would do
(18:26):
that part. And they didn't win my
business because of that. So you can have
well established systems, you can train
your team members, you can have clear
escalation protocols that can address
urgent matters while protecting your
time. That's what we're talking about
today mostly is your time, how you make
sure you have boundaries on it. So you
you can still have constant availability
(18:46):
without your time being there. Just
got to think creatively, yeah. Now,
many business owners claim they
can't afford to implement financial
boundaries, right?However, systems like
the Bank on Yourself system demonstrates
how establishing separate financial
resources actually creates
(19:07):
greater financial freedom and stability.
By building financial assets outside
their business, owners can gain the
confidence to set. firmer
boundaries with clients knowing that they
have the resources to fall back on if
difficult client relationships needs to
end. And so sometimes it's not about the
(19:27):
money, it's about making sure the time
and money are in
together. Yeah. So
moral of the story, bottom line, boundary
setting isn't about building walls.
You're not trying to distance yourself
from people, block yourself off.
It's about creative systems that allow
(19:47):
your business to serve others without
depleting its most valuable resource.
What's your business's most valuable
resource?You, the business owner, right?
Boundary setting is about making sure you
can be your best self within your
business. I I think that again, we often
forget about this when it comes to what
we do with the Profit First system, when
(20:10):
it comes to the banking yourself and
infinite banking system. is I want to
think about you first,
and and that's important. You're
your greatest asset. That's why we ensure
the greatest asset. And so
that time, you need to respect your own
time and values as well.
(20:31):
Okay, so let's wrap up here. The
data is clear. Businesses with strong
boundaries outlast and outperform those
without them. right?You think of some of
the best businesses that you admire,
particularly small businesses that are
growing and doing well. They're focused,
they have strong boundaries, and they are
more profitable because they charge
appropriately, don't give away free work,
(20:53):
and all those kind of things. They're
more innovative because their owners have
the mental space for strategic thinking,
and they're more sustainable because
they don't burn through their human
capital, the energy and creativity of
their founders and their team members.
I've been reading it recently, Simplified
then by Richard Kosh. He talked
(21:13):
about when they're looking at a business
that they want to invest in or see if
it's doing well, they want to see
space. time, you know, a little bit of
water, cooler, chat, things like that.
That's there's energy and creativity in
those kind of firms. When everybody's
rush, rush, rush, hurry, hurry, hurry,
do, do, do that. That's not a
sign of a healthy, thriving business.
(21:35):
Yeah. And that was Ray Dalio Ray Dalio.
Thank you. And then we have financial
boundaries. In particular, those can be
strengthened through systematic
approaches like Profit First or the
Bank Yourself systems. These systems
create automatic guardrails that
protect business owners from the
financial depletion that often leads to
(21:57):
closure, or sometimes it's even
protecting themselves, right?A business
ownerwho implements Profit First, for
instance, ensures they're paying
themselves and setting aside profits
from day one, creating
immediate financial boundaries that
grow stronger over time. And
(22:18):
again, we've been implementing this for
years and it, it is so,
um, powerful to have that. If you'd like
to learn more about Profit First or
banking yourself, reach out to us and
we'd love to help people learn more about
this without any obligations,
no strings attached, just show up to the
meeting. If you're going to schedule,
(22:39):
show up to the meeting, do the time
thing, but we would love to serve and
help you share our story of how
it's implemented and worked for us. So
remember, in final wrap up here,
implementing boundaries doesn't happen
overnight. It requires deliberate
decisions about what you will do and
won't do in your business. It
(23:00):
means sometimes saying no to
opportunities that don't align with your
values or your business model. And it
requires clear communication with clients
and team members about your expectation.
Every successful long-term business has
boundaries. They're not an obstacle
to growth, they're the framework that
makes growth possible without
(23:21):
collapse. Are you ready to implement
boundaries that will protect your
business and prevent burnout?Today in the
Wealth Wisdom Financial Community, we
published our Business Boundaries
Blueprint. Let's say that 10 times fast.
Business Boundary Boundary. I can't even
do it. A comprehensive framework
for identifying, establishing, and
(23:43):
maintaining healthy boundaries in your
business. Again, it's. Business Boundary
Blueprint. Can you say that 10 times?It
includes communication templates,
strategies for handling those difficult
conversations, which you will have as a
business owner. If you haven't, you
haven't done it long enough, and a
workbook to help you determine which
(24:04):
boundaries you need most. Head to
wealthwisdomfp.com/community,
join the premium side, and you will be
able to get access to that. Yep. The
business boundaries blueprint.
Thanks for joining us. Hit that subscribe
button. The next episode is the one you
are not gonna wanna miss. I teased this
(24:25):
last time. I'll tease it again. I had
this huge epiphany around time and
money. A lot of people say time is money.
Money is time. We kind of know that's not
exactly true. And I'm gonna show you a
totally different way to think about time
and money in next week's episode that
just knocked my socks off. Can't wait to
share it with you and how and and
it'll also help. You drive more
(24:46):
delegation and boundary creation to
and have, you know, keep those boundaries
strong. In the meantime, live
long and profit. The topics
presented in this podcast are for general
information only and not for the purpose
of providing legal, accounting or
investment advice on such matters. Please
consult a professional who knows your
(25:06):
specific situation. And if you have a
problem with boundaries, there's a, I
don't know, there's a book called
Boundaries and you might. See,
sometimes there's therapists, all kinds
of things. We are not therapists.
Oh, and Ray Dalio's book is called
Principles. That just popped in my head.
There you go. Great, great book. Awesome.
We'll see you next time. Long book.
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