Creating a reduced-hour workweek

Measuring your capacity is a game-changer

Mindset Mastery is a weekly newsletter about the psychology of self-employment from Jenni Gritters. If you’ve been reading this newsletter for a while and you receive value from it, I’d encourage you to sign up for a paid membership! Paid subscribers get special benefits, and you’re also helping me sustain the writing of this newsletter, which is meant to make business coaching for self-employed folks more accessible to all.

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Today I’m launching something special — and I’m sharing it with y’all first, before I post on social media or email my list. But before I tell you about it, I (of course) want to tell you a story about my semi-broken coaching business model.

I recently hired a new coach, Amber, (she’s amazing!) to help me take my coaching business to the next level. I’ve been running two businesses simultaneously for a while (coaching and writing) and I know I need to focus my energy on my coaching business if I want it to grow (which I do!). But in truth, I’m scared. Coaching has never been the most lucrative part of my business and I’m in charge of supporting my family financially in this season of life.

But I knew, last month, that it was time. The thing that’s been holding me back is my mindset, my own fear. I needed someone to interrupt that and hold me accountable to my dreams.

Interrupt it, Amber did. Within 10 days of working with her, I’d generated $10,000 of income in my coaching business and filled up every single coaching slot I had available for the next two months. I have more free intro calls scheduled in December than I’ve ever had.

Why? I believe it’s because I’m saying: “I’m all in. I’m here. I want this.”

And people can feel that energy.

But here’s the other part: During our first session, Amber invited me to audit my capacity. Basically, she was asking me how much space I had available for coaching in my workweek.

If you’ve followed me for a while, you know I work limited hours. After having kids, I (very unexpectedly) realized that I liked hanging out with them and hated putting them in childcare full-time before age 3. So I adjusted my work schedule to match, spurred by the pandemic (which made finding childcare tough anyway) and my own mental health struggles. After my son was born, I had a grand total of four hours of childcare every week. At present, my daughter (who’s 18 months old) is at a nanny share for about 20 hours each week.

I work less than a “full” 40 hours because I want to be able to pick my kids up from preschool. I want to have energy to play with them on the playground. I want to sit in the sauna and walk in the woods. I want to go on day-dates with my husband.

And it turns out, all of this “other” stuff makes me a much better worker.

Amber’s challenge was apt because it revealed some important information: I have not been pricing my coaching offerings to match my capacity — which is 16 sessions per month — nor have I been structuring my coaching packages in a way that works for me. If I can only work with people for 16 hours each month, my pricing and packages will have to change to match, based on my ideal income. I need more consistency and higher rates.

The long and short of this is that my coaching business model was broken. It wasn’t making enough money — but not because coaching doesn’t work for me. It wasn’t making enough money because the business wasn’t the right size and shape for my current capacity.

2024 is going to look a whole lot different over here, friends. (I’m excited and scared, and will of course keep you posted as I dance with this edgy fear).

Here’s my news for today: I rarely talk about this 20-hour workweek I’ve created. I rarely talk about how I’ve built a writing business that does match my capacity, that requires about 10 hours per week of my time and brings in 6 figures. I rarely talk about how in tune I am with my capacity, especially as it shifts so often with my kids. I don’t often talk about how I built SUSTAIN, my membership program, to exactly match the current season I’m in.

Why don’t I talk about it? In short, I know it’s a little bit revolutionary to say that I need all the other hours in the week to be a human being, care for my family and keep myself well. I feel guilty when I’m too loud about how much space I’ve created for myself. And I don’t believe that my exact situation will work for everyone else, either.

But the truth I’ve come around to is that we need to see different ways of working to believe they’re possible. So I put together a limited-run podcast about how to set up a reduced-hour workweek, with information about measuring your capacity, implementing a 3-stack business structure and auditing your finances. I tell my story, and invite you to re-think yours.

It’s been a while since I’ve been on the mic, and I’ve missed it! It felt really, really good to hear my voice coming through the airwaves again — so much so that I’m dreaming up other ways to bring you more audio content in 2024, too.

But in the meantime, I hope you’ll take the time to listen to Your Guide to a 20-Hour Workweek, a limited-run podcast produced and edited by my husband, Sean Gritters, and hosted by me.

There’s so much more coming for all of us next year; I can feel it. Let’s give ourselves permission to think about what might actually be ideal.

xo,

Jenni

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Curious about my background? I’m a writer and business coach based in Central Oregon. I have two small children and I work part-time so I can spend a lot of time with them. Lately, I’ve been obsessed with non-linear business building and teaching people how to build successful businesses that support their human needs first. Check out my coaching offerings here, and follow me on Twitter & Instagram.

By the way: In December, my membership program for freelancers, SUSTAIN, is focused on building passive or value-based revenue streams (meaning, something you design once and offer over and over again). SUSTAIN members also get access to a complementary end-of-year business audit workshop (happening tomorrow!), and we’ll hear from passive revenue pro Damon Brown this week, too. Come hang out with us?