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Effortlessly Productive
Welcome to Effortlessly Productive with Annie Veblen McCarty, where we dive into the art and science of mastering your time and boosting your productivity without the burnout.
Join Annie as she explores practical tips, strategies, and mindset shifts to help you streamline your tasks, prioritize effectively, and get more done with less stress.
Whether you're juggling work, family time, or just trying to find more time for what matters most, our conversations will empower you to work smarter, not harder.
Tune in and discover how to make productivity not just a goal, but a way of life!
Effortlessly Productive
From Burnout to Breakthrough: Scaling Your Business Beyond $5K
Are you stuck at that frustrating $3,000-$5,000 monthly income plateau despite working harder than ever? The problem might not be your marketing strategy or work ethic—it's likely deeper structural issues holding you back.
This episode dives into the powerful connection between nervous system regulation and business systems, revealing why these two elements must work in tandem for entrepreneurs to break through plateaus. When we're trapped in fight-flight-freeze responses to everyday business activities (like checking messages or creating content), we sabotage growth regardless of our strategies or intentions.
I share my personal experience with extreme burnout where my body physically shut down to force rest, and how this wake-up call revealed the importance of widening my window of tolerance. You'll learn practical nervous system regulation techniques while understanding that the goal isn't constant regulation but establishing a sustainable baseline.
The second crucial piece is implementing business systems that truly support your unique working style. Unlike rigid, one-size-fits-all strategies, effective systems multiply your limited time and energy without demanding more hustle. We explore content organization systems, client onboarding processes, and other structures that free you to focus on growth activities instead of manual tasks.
When these two elements align—regulated nervous system and supportive business systems—you finally escape survival mode. That new program you've been dreaming about, the audience you want to reach, or the income level you've been chasing become possible without burnout or endless hustle. Ready to break through your business plateau? Listen now, and reach out to learn about my upcoming System Seer Playbook that addresses both components in a comprehensive, step-by-step guide.
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Welcome to today's episode of Effortlessly Productive. Have you ever felt like you were doing all the things in your business but you are just stuck? Maybe you are stuck with new clients coming in. Maybe you feel like you're just talking to the same people over and over and over again. Maybe you are somebody who is stuck at that $3,000 to $5,000 a month mark and, no matter what you do, it just feels like you cannot get that income to budge. I know that I have had times in my business where, month after month, or even year after year, I was capped at an income and it felt like, no matter how hard I worked, I could work harder and harder and harder. It felt like, no matter how hard I worked, I could work harder and harder and harder and I would get the same results as maybe working less, maybe not being as intense, and I just couldn't break through that plateau. So we are going to talk today about a few of the reasons this might be happening. Now, obviously, there are lots of things that we could dive into. This would be something that, with a one-on-one client, we would spend a few months deep diving into all of this. But I just want to share with you some of the common things that I see with some of my clients and also some things that I have experienced in my business as well.
Speaker 0:One of the main reasons why people get stuck in their business is because of actually a dysregulated nervous system. When we show up for our business, that energy that we have, that reaction that our body has to what is happening, dictates a lot of what happens, result wise, in our business. We can approach this from more of a life coach perspective where if we have a certain belief that, no matter what I do, I am only making this much money, I'm just stuck, that is actually going to manifest, that's going to make us feel a certain way. That belief is going to make us feel a certain way which is going to make us take certain actions, create us taking certain actions or also not doing certain things in our business, which then actually creates that story. Also, when our nervous system is dysregulated, that looks like being in fight or flight mode. So a little bit of feeling excited in our body can be a good thing. Right, there are certain times where we want that slightly elevated nervous system response. However, when that gets taken to an extreme, that can look like any time you get a message from a customer Sometimes even I will see this where sometimes it's a good message from a customer. Sometimes even I will see this, where sometimes it's a good message from a customer it's somebody saying hey, I want to sign up with you for this contract, and because our nervous system is so dysregulated that sends us completely off the charts, running for the hills, right, that looks like that flight mode, right, where maybe you don't open that message and respond to it for a week, maybe you go do other things instead, or maybe you do open it and you have the thought or the belief where you're like I don't know what to say, I don't know how to respond to this, and so we can get into these modes of self-sabotaging. Because our nervous system is dysregulated and because we want to actually avoid all of that, we want to bring it back down into regulation. But we get stuck right. We get stuck in that dysregulated state and that makes it so we have a really hard time actually coping with and responding to in a more intentional, mindful way. We tend to respond from that place of fight or flight or another nervous system response that we can have is freeze. Freeze is where we've actually taken it a whole other step beyond fight or flight, and we are now stuck. Freeze or fawn mode is where this looks like burnout.
Speaker 0:I have experienced extreme burnout myself in my business and in my life. I have so many clients who are at one level of burnout or another. The burnout that I experienced was actually to the level where my body started to have symptoms where I literally could not show up to work. I was so sick and I felt so terrible. I was literally at a point in my business where things in my business were affecting me so strongly and probably things in my personal life as well. Right, this is usually not isolated to one thing, but I was so heavily in that burnout mode that I was actually having physical symptoms that were making me slow down. I physically could not show up and work to the level that I wanted and that I had been accustomed to. My body was shutting down because that was a sign that was the only way that it knew to get rest.
Speaker 0:Now, that is a pretty extreme case. However, I do know other entrepreneurs who have experienced that as well. Where they go into the shutdown. They literally are getting physically ill, physically sick, that dis-ease right, because of how hard they've pushed themselves and how far into that burnout state they are. However, this can also look like more mild burnout, where you're just exhausted all the time, where the littlest things in business come up and literally send you into that area where you're like I'm done, I'm just done for the day. Right, I have to unplug. I have to go do something else. Done for the day. Right, I have to unplug, I have to go do something else. I just physically cannot make myself do this, and so what this looks like when our nervous system is dysregulated in these other states is part of why our business plateaus, but also our income gets capped right.
Speaker 0:So we do need to regulate our nervous system, and there are lots of different nervous system regulation techniques. There are a lot that I teach my clients and teach the people that I work with. Some of them are as easy as just some breathing practices. So we can do kundalini, we can do breath work, we can do meditation, we can do lots of different things, even just sometimes standing up from your desk taking a sip of water, getting outside breathing some fresh air. Those can be things that can start to regulate our nervous system, but we have lots of different strategies and techniques that we can use on a daily basis to help us regulate before we get to those places of the burnout or the fight or flight mode. So that is a really important thing that I suggest, especially if you are at a place where you are plateaued start to introduce some nervous system regulation techniques into your daily routine, into your rituals. If you are interested in diving more into that, I actually have a program that is about to start called R&R Rituals, where it will be like a monthly membership. So definitely reach out to me, come reach out on social media, at the system seer on Instagram. I would love to share more about.
Speaker 0:That is going to be all about having those techniques to regulate as well as widening that window of tolerance, because a lot of the time, what's happening is people are really good at actually regulating their nervous system. The problem is their window of tolerance of where they are regulated is so narrow that they have a really hard time being in that place of regulation. Now, this is not to say that we want to even have a goal of being regulated all the time. That's just not realistic and, honestly, we want to be a little bit excited sometimes. We want to be in that heightened nervous system state sometimes just not to the extreme. So we can work on widening that window of tolerance so that we are more frequently in that place of regulation. Then we actually don't need to do the regulation techniques quite as frequently and it can become more of a place where you do some regulation techniques as an ongoing ritual and then on an as needed basis.
Speaker 0:But it's not like I open my messages and I have to regulate. Now I'm going to post social media content and I have to regulate. And somebody messaged me and I have to regulate. And I got a text message and I need to regulate. And I need to build this website and I need to regulate. Like we're not constantly regulating. I'm hopping on to teacher call and I need to regulate. I have a one-on-one with the client and I need to regulate.
Speaker 0:Right, we can get into that pattern If our window of tolerance isn't wide enough. We can get into that pattern where we literally every single thing we do in our business sends us into one of those other states of nervous system status and we have to just constantly be regulating. Much better if we can just widen that and then just stay in that more regulated place and have those more emergency techniques, but it's not a constant throughout the day. So that is number one. Is that nervous system work right? Number two is having business systems, having a structure that supports you.
Speaker 0:Now, when I talk about business systems and structure, a lot of people where their mind goes to is all the strategy that they have been taught. And strategy is an amazing thing. We need strategy for our business. We need to learn how we can go post on social media in a way that is compelling and brings clients with us. Maybe they're interested in the programs we're putting out, maybe they're downloading a freemium that we have to offer Like. All of that is strategy. But until we can start to have the structure and the systems in place, all of that strategy in the world is not going to matter. And the reason is because the strategy is just work, work, work, effort, effort, effort.
Speaker 0:And if it's not organized, if it's not structured, if we don't have a plan for it and as we start to grow our business, the reason why I put that magic income level of about three to 5,000 is I have found so many entrepreneurs they can get to that three to five thousand dollar mark Not easily, not without any effort, but it's more sustainable to get to that level without having the systems and the structure in place. So, without having those things, we can get to $3,000 to $5,000 pretty easily just by hustling and working hard. However, when we get to that $3,000 to $5,000 mark, that tends to be a place where for most entrepreneurs, most coaches, most spiritual entrepreneurs and creatives, we hit that mark and we're doing that every single month and that's a decent amount to make every single month, right? However, when we start to look at scaling past that, if you don't have those business systems in place to start to automate some of it, if you don't have a structure or a system, could look like you hiring somebody else as well, hiring team members, to help you. So if we don't start to have some of these things in place to support us, we are doing literally every single thing in our business manually. It's taking a lot of time, but it's also taking a lot, lot, lot of energy, and that energy expenditure that is part of what is tapping our nervous system right, and this is why this is all related. This is why I teach all of this together because it's all interconnected. We can't do work on one without working on the other. When we work on them both at the same time, that is where that magic happens. That's where we can push past these plateaus. That's where we can start to scale. That's where we can take our business to another level.
Speaker 0:When we look at some of these business systems and the structure that we want to put in place, this can look like organizational systems and I don't mean like you have to be somebody who has your spreadsheets and your planners and all of that. That doesn't necessarily need to be what the structure looks like. For some people they're going to love spreadsheets and planners and time blocking and all the things and that's great. But if you're somebody who is running for the hills, as I am saying that, that doesn't have to be what structure looks like. It can be maybe a flow of your day structure. It can be a structure of when I get into my DMs here is the way that I like to have these conversations and the flow that happens.
Speaker 0:It can look like a content plan, so we can look at our strategy behind the content, which is more like what we are posting and the messaging that we have, but how are you making sure that you are posting on all the places that you want to on social media and maybe doing email marketing? How are you keeping all of that organized? How are you making sure that your message that you are putting out there is unified and cohesive and makes sense to the people who are watching you and is not just scattered all over the place? That's an example of a structure that we can put into place to make sure that our business makes sense to the people who are out there, because what we're posting across all of our different platforms and email marketing is now organized in a certain way. And again, the organization is up to you of what works for you.
Speaker 0:I have things that work for me and I help my clients put in systems and structure that works for them as well. However, it doesn't have to look like everybody else's, and that's kind of the difference with strategy. When people teach strategy, it's often this is what worked for me. Go do this exact thing and this is how you do that. When we talk about structure and systems, we want to make sure that it's supporting us, that it works the way our brain works, that it is a system or a structure that is going to be sustainable for the long haul. So that could be an example of a structure that you put in place is how do you keep your content organized? How do you make sure that you're posting on all the platforms that you want to and doing the marketing in all the places that you want to with that cohesive message? How do you repurpose content? What is the plan for that? Do you even do that? If we can get a structure into place that could help us stay more consistent with that, and actually we create one piece of content and then it gets repurposed many, many, many times, that one outlay of time and energy that we put into creating that one thing can then be magnified right, Because we're duplicating it and using it over and over and over again. That's how we magnify our limited resources of energy and time.
Speaker 0:An example of a system a lot of the time when I talk to entrepreneurs and we start to dive into what systems they have, people are often very familiar with something like I'm going to say, the word lead magnet. You know I really don't like those super market-y terms, but that's what people are familiar with Basically a way to get new people into your world to get to know you. Do you have a freemium? So that's an example of a system. Let's say you have a free guide that you give away. Do you have a system where people can fill out a form and get that delivered to them automatically, where you're not having to manually send that to them? So that could be an example of a system.
Speaker 0:Another system that a lot, lot lot of entrepreneurs are lacking is a client onboarding system. When somebody joins your program or joins your one-on-one container or wants to work with you, how do you make sure that they know what resources you have available? How do you make sure they know where to book their calls with you or what time the calls are for the program that they are doing? Is it an evergreen program where they need to be able to log in? How do they know where to find that? So if we are onboarding people manually every single time, that can be a ton of time and energy expenditure. That could be time and energy that we were using somewhere else instead, and that's an example of something that is so easy to create a system for. Now it could be an automated system, but it also could be a system where we have a team member who it's their job to onboard all of our clients and reach out to them too. This is where, again, one size does not fit all, and this is going to look different for everybody's business, but we can put some of these more common systems in place in a way that works for you and supports your business.
Speaker 0:So once we're able to regulate our nervous system and we're able to have in place some structures and systems for our business and the two working hand in hand together, that's where we're able to come out of that survival mode. We're able to have more time and energy to keep growing our business, to keep growing ourselves, to maybe take that course that you wanted to take, to do that certification, to put all the certifications that you've gotten into practice, to create that new program that has been on your heart for the last three years that you just have not had the time and energy to do. That's how we do this. So I want you to start to think about, especially if you're somebody who is capped at that three to 5,000 mark in your income or you're like I just it's the same people over and over. I'm not really growing, I'm just kind of sustaining.
Speaker 0:Let's figure out what we can do to put in place to break through that plateau. When we are able to break through those plateaus, when we are able to regulate our nervous system and grow our business systems and structures, is when we can then start to scale our business. Scale our time and energy right. Multiply that time and energy. Without us actually putting more time and energy into those same things over and over, we can output our time and energy into new things that are going to expand our business. So when we are able to scale, that's where we finally start to bust through those income plate scale. That's where we finally start to bust through those income plateaus. That's where we finally start to bust through those plateaus of us just again working with the same people. That's where we can start to bust through those patterns of living in that burnout state of feeling like we need to just hustle, hustle, hustle harder, and that's where that magic starts to happen. So I hope this episode helped today If you are interested in diving deeper into both the nervous system regulation and the business systems and structure, because, like I said, the two are so intertwined.
Speaker 0:When we can do both together is where that real magic happens. That is why I am currently in the process of creating the System Seer Playbook. So this is going to be a step-by-step playbook where you can go through and learn how to regulate both your nervous system and build those business systems hand-in-hand both at the same time to support both. Reach out to me, go on my website, drop me an email, send me a DM on social media. I can get you hooked up. I am having a special pre-sale price. Once this thing launches, it's never, ever, ever going back to that price again. So I am super excited and we should be ready for launch in a few weeks.
Speaker 0:So if you're listening to this episode a few weeks out, you might also just go onto my website and see that it's there and it's ready and you can download it right now. So I hope this helps you so much. I cannot wait to hear what the most impactful part of this has been for you, where you feel like maybe you're the most stuck or maybe it is the combo of the two. So thank you so much for tuning in today. I will catch you on the next episode of Effortlessly Productive. Have a beautiful, beautiful rest of your day.
