WHAT YOU’LL LEARN IN TODAY’S EPISODE:

WHY PROTECTING YOUR CALENDAR IS ESSENTIAL

HOW TO LEAD SCHEDULING CONVERSATIONS

THE REAL COST TO OVERCOMMITTING

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Scheduling can have an impact on the success of your projects, the health of your business, as well as your sanity. It’s all about scheduling.

No matter how experienced you are or how many systems you have in place, no matter how carefully you plan out your year, you will inevitably find yourself facing some scheduling chaos. And how you handle it and lead your clients through it, how you protect your calendar, that is where the real skills lie. 

Last week, I kicked off a project that was originally supposed to start in early March.

We had been working on this for a full year, refining the vision, finding the resources, bringing in the team members, developing the plans, making sure everything aligned, you know, the norm. 

And frankly, we were ready. And then, we ran into massive permitting delays. 

We had to do a minor lot line adjustment. I was very mistaken on how the word minor could blossom into this massive issue that turned into months and months of delay, and additional team members needed. It was, frankly, completely out of my control, but very much so affecting my calendar. 

We know we need to lay out projects. We know the different stages and phases of projects. I don’t like having more than one project at the same phase. It just mentally doesn’t work for me. 

So if I’m being told, about a year out, that March is when we are going to start, and knowing that March is the ‘target’, I think March/April.

I knew approximately how long this project would run, and so I stacked my other projects accordingly. 

But as that started to slide, everything else started to slide with it. Now that it’s finally getting off the ground, it’s bumping right up against my fall schedule, which I had intentionally left lighter. 

Now, any new inquiries, I’m telling them I’m booking for late fall, and if it’s a big project, I’m telling them the start of the new year. I’m being very clear about one thing: I don’t start big projects around the holidays. I’ve tried it and I have totally regretted it every single time. 

It’s chaos for clients, it’s chaos for me, and I don’t want job site drama interfering with the end of the year.

Is that selfish of me? Probably a little, and I’m ok with that. And that’s where I want you to get to as well.

I have had those Christmas Eve installations, and if you’ve listened to my podcast, you’ve heard the nightmare stories, and I just don’t do that anymore.

It’s not just about scheduling, it’s about managing expectations and saying no even when you really want to say yes.

Ultimately, it’s about protecting your calendar, which protects the quality of your work, which protects your mental health. 

By doing all three of those things, it allows you to continue doing the kind of work that lights you up and serves your clients well.

Flexibility is totally necessary in our business, but discipline is something we overlook, and that’s where we get ourselves in our a bind. Discipline is crucial because, ultimately, there are things you can control, but there are a lot of things completely out of your control.

That flexibility has to live within a disciplined structure, because if you’re too loose, you’ll drown. If you’re too rigid, you’ll alienate good clients. The balance comes in knowing your capacity, knowing your priorities and communicating them clearly. 

Why protect your calendar?

I want you to have room for the right kind of growth. I

 hear from so many of you wanting to grow in a variety of ways. Whether that’s taking on a construction project for the first time, or moving into larger projects, or a certain area of your community, or a different price point of construction projects. 

Growth can look different for each and every one of us. But if you’re not protecting your calendar, you aren’t going to give yourself the room when the growth shows up. 

I share in today’s episode about a new client I’m starting with, and I was able to take this project on because I allow room in my calendar for opportunities like this. 

It’s not about saying yes to everything; it’s about saying yes to the right things at the right time and then having the capacity to deliver it. One way to get there is to know when to say “No.” That is just as important as knowing when to say yes. 

Setting expectations not only protects me, but it does build trust with the client. If I set expectations clearly from the start, it’s the best thing I can do, hands down, when it comes to scheduling. 

If a client reaches out to me and I say I’m booked for the next 3 or 4 months, I might hear a pause. I’ve even heard push back. 

You explain why it’s worth the wait. I say things like, “I totally get that you’re ready to get started. But to give your project the focus it deserves, I’m looking at getting started around X. That allows me to be fully dedicated to you, your project, just like I am for my current clients.”  Isn’t that what they want anyway? And assume you will be giving them? By telling them how to get that, you set a clear expectation. 

It isn’t just about defending your schedule, it’s about leading the conversation, which shows that you’re thoughtful, organized, and committed to doing things right. That builds trust. And the clients who respect that, those are the ones you want to work with.

And just because they say they’re ready, doesn’t mean we have to be. 

Not protecting your calendar also leads to massive overwhelm

When you don’t protect your calendar, you become too busy, and that’s not a good thing anymore. When you say yes to everyone and everything and you try to squeeze things in and ignore your own capacity, for me, I start skipping steps. I stop refining details. I react instead of lead. And I make mistakes, typically more than one. I don’t have enough time to double and triple check orders. I can’t be on site when I need to be because I’m frazzled and stretched too thin. And then I start to feel like I’m failing everyone, including myself. And the reality is, that’s true. 

It is not a badge of honor to be overwhelmed, it is a massive, blinking, red flag. And it’s a sign that something has to change, whether it’s your calendar, your boundaries, your message, or in my opinion, all of that. 

What we do matters. We change the way people live inside their homes. We make their homes more functional. More welcoming. More beautiful. Sanctuaries for when they want time away from whatever it is they do outside their home. 

But here’s the thing, no one dies if we push off a project. No one dies if we say no. 

If your schedule is feeling tight, or your fall is filling up way faster than you’d like or feeling pressure to take on just one more project, I want you to hear these reminders:

You don’t have to say yes.

You don’t have to justify your timeline to anyone.

And you absolutely don’t have to apologize for protecting your peace and your sanity.

I would encourage you to build your calendar around the kind of work and life that you want to have, whatever you deem is right for you. And most importantly, I want you to take care of yourself like it’s a part of the job, because it is.