Who’s the Boss? YOU ARE!
Whether it was yesterday or 20 years ago, you made the incredibly brave and exciting decision to become a full-time Instructor. You did what 85% of the UK never had the courage or opportunity to do.
You may have slowly evolved into this role or you may have just thrown the towel in at your 9 to 5 to follow your dreams of teaching Martial Arts for a living. Either way, it’s your business, you run the show, you call the shots.
So how does it feel being your own boss? No one to answer to, no one telling you what to do, no one monitoring your breaks, brilliant! Or is it?
Time Management – Who tells me what I should do and when?
YOU DO. Wasn’t it easier when you knew exactly what time to start work and exactly what time to finish. You knew when your lunch breaks were and you could structure you day and tasks accordingly. And sometimes you had to work extra hours to fit it all in but, for the most part, stuff got done. There’s one phrase I hear time and time again from Instructors….”I would do that, but I just don’t have time”. There’s an easy answer to this, make the time. You create your timetable, you manage your working day so make sure you allocate time for day to day tasks and planning that will directly affect business retention and growth (budget planning, marketing activity, student communications).
The following video link is from Grace Marshall from Think Productive and her session at the NEST Client Conference “How to be a productivity ninja”. She talks about how to manage your time effectively to produce the best results and how to remove distractions.
Grace Marshall – “How to be a productivity ninja”
Accountability – Who assigns my tasks and monitors my performance?
YOU DO. Ok so it was annoying having your boss breathing down your neck but it gave you the pressure you needed to perform well and on time. Now you have to decide exactly what needs to be done and by when. That can be daunting unless you are 100% confident that the tasks you choose to undertake will make a positive impact on your business. And if you’re not confident, then how do you know when you’re doing a good job?
And finally…
Structure – Who develops the Business Strategy, Mission, Vision and Direction?
You guessed it, YOU DO. Before, you could rely on Directors and top level Management to develop annual budgets, objectives, marketing strategies etc. But now the job is yours.
Be the Boss you always needed
- Develop a structured daily/weekly/monthly plan which indicates what type of tasks you will undertake. i.e. From 9-11: work on planned marketing activity. From 11.30-12.30: message students who have not attended class for a week etc.
- Set yourself achievable goals and targets i.e. 10 new students per month. If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll never get there!
- Learn from the mistakes. If you didn’t hit target, analyse why and make the necessary changes.
- Reward yourself for the achievements. You have the power to congratulate yourself when things go well, so do it!
- Get a Mentor. You don’t have to do this on your own. Whether it’s a professional Business Coach, a close colleague or your partner, you need someone to report to and ask you questions that keep you on track i.e. did you do what you said you were going to do? Here at NEST I see the highest business growth from those Instructors that call me regularly to discuss their business performance and report back to me about their weekly activity. They’re not always looking for answers, sometimes they’re just looking for support and encouragement.
And the great news is that we are here to help you every step of the way.
