1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:05,160 Can they contact you via email or not? Can they DM you with questions 2 00:00:05,200 --> 00:00:09,119 about your course? Can they DM you with questions about their specific situation? 3 00:00:09,679 --> 00:00:12,800 If it's a coaching client, can they DM you between coaching sessions? Can 4 00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:17,440 they email you between sessions? Is there maybe do you have access with them 5 00:00:17,440 --> 00:00:22,039 where they can message you via voxer between sessions? And if so, is 6 00:00:22,079 --> 00:00:25,920 there a limit? How long can they wait to expect a reply from you? 7 00:00:26,679 --> 00:00:32,079 All of these expectations they form a boundary that you can then communicate to 8 00:00:32,479 --> 00:00:38,560 your client or your student. Welcome to Imperfect Action. I'm Steph Taylor. 9 00:00:39,119 --> 00:00:42,560 The years I read all the books, downloaded all the freebies, and did 10 00:00:42,679 --> 00:00:47,399 all the courses, but it wasn't until I started taking imperfect action that my 11 00:00:47,439 --> 00:00:53,399 business had its first million dollars year. Imperfect action is about doing things before 12 00:00:53,600 --> 00:00:59,439 you're ready, prioritizing consistent action over perfect action, and moving forward even when 13 00:00:59,479 --> 00:01:03,479 you're not or you're doing it right. On this show, you can expect 14 00:01:03,479 --> 00:01:07,400 mindset advice, actionable marketing tips and strategies to build a business that brings you 15 00:01:07,439 --> 00:01:14,120 more profit, more freedom, and even more joy. Are you on the 16 00:01:14,120 --> 00:01:17,799 list to get my daily businesses every day? I'll send you a bite sized 17 00:01:17,799 --> 00:01:22,159 prompt designed to help you grow your business in a more intentional way. Sign 18 00:01:22,200 --> 00:01:25,920 up at Steph Taylor dot co, forward slash DBB, or at the link 19 00:01:26,040 --> 00:01:32,319 in the show notes. Hey, welcome back to in Perfect Action. This 20 00:01:32,359 --> 00:01:37,879 is episode seven hundred and ninety four. Today we are talking about boundaries in 21 00:01:37,920 --> 00:01:45,519 the context of online courses, online coaching, and any really any digital products 22 00:01:45,599 --> 00:01:49,760 that you are selling. So back when I worked one on one as a 23 00:01:49,799 --> 00:01:56,319 marketing consultant with clients, I had zero boundaries. I didn't realize this at 24 00:01:56,319 --> 00:01:59,959 the time. I didn't even really know what boundaries were at the time. 25 00:02:00,599 --> 00:02:04,599 But I was traveling and I was working, and I would take client calls 26 00:02:04,640 --> 00:02:07,800 at four am because that was the only time that would work for the client. 27 00:02:08,240 --> 00:02:13,000 I would reply to client emails in front of the Eiffel Tower because I 28 00:02:13,039 --> 00:02:16,199 thought that if I didn't reply to them within an hour of receiving the email, 29 00:02:16,520 --> 00:02:21,520 they would be mad at me. And you know, I even I 30 00:02:21,560 --> 00:02:25,120 remember being on a yacht in Greece my first that was meant to be my 31 00:02:25,159 --> 00:02:30,759 first seven days completely offline, since I had quit my corporate job and started 32 00:02:30,759 --> 00:02:35,479 a business. And even then there was a client emergency that I felt like 33 00:02:35,520 --> 00:02:38,280 I had to respond to. I also once had a client call me on 34 00:02:38,319 --> 00:02:45,039 a Sunday night to make one tiny, tiny, little insignificant change to a 35 00:02:45,080 --> 00:02:50,400 sales page, but that they thought was an absolute emergency. So I was 36 00:02:50,439 --> 00:02:53,680 feeling pretty exhausted because I was getting pulled in all of these different directions. 37 00:02:54,400 --> 00:03:00,680 I was pretty resentful, and I didn't know that there was anything else I 38 00:03:00,680 --> 00:03:02,639 could do. I didn't know that there was a different way to run my 39 00:03:02,680 --> 00:03:07,199 business. I didn't know that I could say no right. I thought I 40 00:03:07,280 --> 00:03:10,639 just had to say yes, and I thought that I had really painful clients, 41 00:03:12,120 --> 00:03:15,280 But in reality, it was me who was not setting boundaries with them 42 00:03:15,800 --> 00:03:21,080 that was making them quite painful clients. Now, let me just say there 43 00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:23,159 are clients out there. If you are dealing with a painful client, it 44 00:03:23,199 --> 00:03:27,680 does not necessarily mean that it is your fault. There are some clients out 45 00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:31,159 there who can be quite painful and demanding. However, a lot of the 46 00:03:31,199 --> 00:03:35,960 time, what we perceived to be a painful client we can actually fix, 47 00:03:36,400 --> 00:03:42,120 or we can, I guess, not eliminate the situation entirely, but we 48 00:03:42,159 --> 00:03:45,719 can really smooth the situation out A little bit by setting some boundaries. And 49 00:03:45,759 --> 00:03:50,280 this goes with one on one clients as much as it does for online courses 50 00:03:50,280 --> 00:03:53,879 and group programs, and I don't think enough people talk about the importance of 51 00:03:53,919 --> 00:03:59,039 setting boundaries in those contexts. Now, boundaries teach others how to interact with 52 00:03:59,120 --> 00:04:03,000 us. And if your clients know that they can expect you to answer their 53 00:04:03,039 --> 00:04:06,919 calls at eight pm on a Sunday like mine did, guess what they will 54 00:04:06,960 --> 00:04:10,280 do more of. They will call you at eight pm on a Sunday because 55 00:04:10,280 --> 00:04:14,919 they know you're going to answer same within your online course. If your students 56 00:04:14,919 --> 00:04:17,839 in your course know that they can DM you on Instagram and ask you any 57 00:04:17,920 --> 00:04:24,040 questions about their business or about their situation, then they're going to keep doing 58 00:04:24,079 --> 00:04:29,839 that. And it's actually doing them a bit of a disservice because rather rather 59 00:04:30,040 --> 00:04:34,839 than you teaching them how to think for themselves, they are now just learning 60 00:04:34,879 --> 00:04:39,839 to rely on you to give them the answer. And then as soon as 61 00:04:39,839 --> 00:04:43,839 they finish your course or as soon as their access to you runs out, 62 00:04:44,600 --> 00:04:48,480 they're exactly where they started off because you haven't actually empowered them with the skills 63 00:04:48,519 --> 00:04:51,199 to go and figure it out themselves. They've just learned. Oh, I 64 00:04:51,199 --> 00:04:54,879 can ask a question, I get my answer, and now'll you know, 65 00:04:55,000 --> 00:04:57,600 that's what I'm used to doing. I don't need to go and figure it 66 00:04:57,639 --> 00:05:00,439 out. So when I started letting go of clients, when I started going 67 00:05:00,480 --> 00:05:04,879 from one to one to more of a one to many style business where I 68 00:05:04,920 --> 00:05:09,000 was selling more digital products, I had a membership, I had a couple 69 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:15,720 of courses, I didn't realize just how important boundaries would be in selling and 70 00:05:15,879 --> 00:05:20,959 in delivering my one to many offers. Okay, so let's backtrack. What 71 00:05:21,079 --> 00:05:27,680 actually is a boundary? Boundaries are a bit of a hot topic at the 72 00:05:27,720 --> 00:05:30,920 moment in the insta psychology kind of world. I know, there have been 73 00:05:30,959 --> 00:05:36,399 a lot of psychologists on Instagram who have shared a lot of carousels and you 74 00:05:36,399 --> 00:05:41,759 know a lot of really catchy posts around the importance of setting boundaries. But 75 00:05:42,240 --> 00:05:46,879 what actually are they? So Nedra Glover tawab and I'm no idea if I'm 76 00:05:46,920 --> 00:05:50,920 pronouncing that right, I really hope i am. She's a licensed therapist and 77 00:05:51,079 --> 00:05:54,759 author of Set Boundaries, Find Peace, which by the way, is an 78 00:05:54,879 --> 00:05:58,079 awesome book, and she calls a boundary. She says, a boundary is 79 00:05:58,079 --> 00:06:01,120 something that keeps you safe and comfortable in your relationships. Now, obviously this 80 00:06:01,360 --> 00:06:05,319 applies to friendships, it applies to romantic relationships. It also applies to your 81 00:06:05,439 --> 00:06:12,560 client relationships, your team, contractors, anybody who you are working with in 82 00:06:12,600 --> 00:06:15,959 your business. And we chatted quite a bit about boundaries in the episode that 83 00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:19,680 I did back in Oh Oh My Goodness. It was quite a while ago 84 00:06:19,759 --> 00:06:26,240 with Monarcha Yates. We did a really deep dive into setting boundaries and upholding 85 00:06:26,279 --> 00:06:29,920 those boundaries. If you want to go back to find that episode with episode 86 00:06:29,959 --> 00:06:32,480 four ninety nine, the easiest way to find it is if you DM me 87 00:06:32,639 --> 00:06:36,439 on Instagram at Steph Taylor dot Co. Just send the numbers four nine to 88 00:06:36,519 --> 00:06:41,720 nine to me and you'll get a direct link to this episode back automatically. 89 00:06:42,519 --> 00:06:46,439 Now, what boundaries might you set in your online offers? Obviously, when 90 00:06:46,480 --> 00:06:51,680 you are coaching, that's a slightly different container, slightly different relationship to if 91 00:06:51,720 --> 00:06:56,519 you have fifty students in a course or one hundred students in a membership or 92 00:06:56,519 --> 00:07:00,240 more than that. So here are four key boundaries that you might want to 93 00:07:00,319 --> 00:07:05,079 set in your online offers. The first one is around how much support that 94 00:07:05,160 --> 00:07:12,000 someone can expect can they contact you via email or not? Can they DM 95 00:07:12,079 --> 00:07:15,800 you with questions about your course? Can they DM you with questions about their 96 00:07:15,839 --> 00:07:18,959 specific situation? If it's a coaching client, can they DM you between coaching 97 00:07:19,040 --> 00:07:23,800 sessions? Can they email you between sessions? Is there maybe do you have 98 00:07:24,439 --> 00:07:29,160 access with them where they can message you via voxer between sessions? And if 99 00:07:29,199 --> 00:07:31,879 so, is there a limit? How long can they wait to expect a 100 00:07:31,920 --> 00:07:38,680 reply from you. All of these expectations they form a boundary that you can 101 00:07:38,720 --> 00:07:43,360 then communicate to your client or your student. The next one to set is 102 00:07:43,480 --> 00:07:46,879 interaction in the community. So, if there is a community component to your 103 00:07:46,920 --> 00:07:51,199 offer, is that community there for them to ask you questions or is it 104 00:07:51,240 --> 00:07:56,920 there for them to interact with the others in the community. There's no right 105 00:07:57,000 --> 00:07:59,639 or wrong, but one of them is going to be a lot more hands 106 00:07:59,639 --> 00:08:03,319 on for you. You. Can they expect you to reply to every single 107 00:08:03,360 --> 00:08:07,759 post in the community or is it more of an expectation that they will reply 108 00:08:07,839 --> 00:08:11,800 to each other's posts. Maybe they can expect somebody in your team to reply, 109 00:08:11,839 --> 00:08:13,839 but they can't expect you to reply. What is that going to look 110 00:08:13,839 --> 00:08:20,319 like? Set those expectations, then the third one is response times. So 111 00:08:20,839 --> 00:08:24,920 this goes for any offer that you are selling online. But what time frame 112 00:08:24,920 --> 00:08:30,639 can somebody expect a response to a support query? So if they are emailing 113 00:08:30,680 --> 00:08:35,279 your customer support inbox because they've lost their password or they can't find a particular 114 00:08:35,360 --> 00:08:39,240 lesson or whatever, what time frame can they expect a response? Twenty four 115 00:08:39,320 --> 00:08:46,279 hours, forty eight hours, even just having that expectation communicated to them. 116 00:08:46,279 --> 00:08:48,960 If it takes forty eight hours but they know it's going to take forty eight 117 00:08:48,960 --> 00:08:54,039 hours, they're much more likely to be comfortable with that. Then they've just 118 00:08:54,080 --> 00:08:56,919 sent this email to a support inbox and they've never heard back, and they 119 00:08:56,919 --> 00:09:01,240 don't know when they're going to hear back, and they feel like maybe they've 120 00:09:01,240 --> 00:09:07,879 been ripped off. And then the final boundary to consider setting is around any 121 00:09:07,960 --> 00:09:11,480 calls that you have. So if you have Q and A calls, if 122 00:09:11,519 --> 00:09:13,480 you're doing one on one, if you have the one on one calls, 123 00:09:13,759 --> 00:09:18,279 group coaching calls, how long should they expect the calls to be? Can 124 00:09:18,320 --> 00:09:22,639 they expect them to go overtime or under time? How much time can somebody 125 00:09:22,759 --> 00:09:24,679 expect from you in a group situation, You know, if somebody's asking you 126 00:09:24,759 --> 00:09:28,080 a question in a Q and a call or in a group coaching call. 127 00:09:28,399 --> 00:09:31,559 How much time can they expect? Do they get every single question answered? 128 00:09:33,120 --> 00:09:35,879 Is it that everybody is guaranteed a certain amount of time each call? Or 129 00:09:35,919 --> 00:09:39,600 is it a first in, first served? Is there a limit to how 130 00:09:39,600 --> 00:09:41,879 many questions they can ask? Is there a limit to what the questions should 131 00:09:41,919 --> 00:09:46,159 be about? Where should they ask the questions? Is it something that they 132 00:09:46,360 --> 00:09:48,159 unmute and ask on the call. Is it something they put in the chat? 133 00:09:48,480 --> 00:09:52,159 Is it something they need to submit ahead of time to be considered? 134 00:09:52,960 --> 00:09:56,799 These things I've really been learning as I do more and more smaller group things, 135 00:09:58,200 --> 00:10:01,039 I'm really learning the importance of having done boundaries in those calls. But 136 00:10:01,120 --> 00:10:05,879 even with your one on one clients, right, setting an expectation of hey, 137 00:10:07,320 --> 00:10:09,600 I book my calls back to back, so our one on one calls 138 00:10:09,679 --> 00:10:15,360 cannot go more than one minute overtime? Great. Now the client has that 139 00:10:15,399 --> 00:10:18,360 expectation communicated, They're not going to be resentful if you have to cut them 140 00:10:18,360 --> 00:10:22,360 off mid sentence because you have a call to run to. Okay, because 141 00:10:22,399 --> 00:10:26,919 they know that is part of what is involved with working with you. Okay, 142 00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:31,120 So setting boundaries in your business. That is one thing, and it's 143 00:10:31,320 --> 00:10:35,120 hard enough setting them, I know, But how do you then communicate those 144 00:10:35,120 --> 00:10:39,679 boundaries to your students, to your clients. I personally, I've learned the 145 00:10:39,679 --> 00:10:43,960 hard way that I think the easiest way to communicate them is proactively if you 146 00:10:45,039 --> 00:10:48,799 can. Okay, So if you've got a course, having a welcome video 147 00:10:48,159 --> 00:10:54,240 where you talk about the expectations and what is required of them and what is 148 00:10:54,480 --> 00:10:58,480 expected from you, maybe if you're doing one on one a welcome kit for 149 00:10:58,519 --> 00:11:01,399 your clients, or an email even that just sets out those expectations for both 150 00:11:01,440 --> 00:11:05,600 parties, what you can expect from them, what they can expect from you. 151 00:11:05,519 --> 00:11:11,759 Some bigger boundaries you might actually communicate in your services agreement or contract. 152 00:11:11,799 --> 00:11:13,440 If you have a coaching contract, for example, you know, if they 153 00:11:13,519 --> 00:11:18,120 cancel a coaching session less than twelve hours before the session, then they forfeit 154 00:11:18,159 --> 00:11:20,840 that they pay for that one and they don't actually get to rebook that because 155 00:11:20,879 --> 00:11:26,159 that's you know, messed up your calendar. But most of these boundaries can 156 00:11:26,200 --> 00:11:28,720 be communicated in the onboarding process. They don't need to be in a formal 157 00:11:28,759 --> 00:11:35,840 contract, but definitely you know runs around like free funds cancelations. Put those 158 00:11:35,000 --> 00:11:39,120 in a contract or terms and conditions on your website if it's a course, 159 00:11:39,840 --> 00:11:46,120 so that it is there and it's legally communicated. And then if someone doesn't 160 00:11:46,200 --> 00:11:50,320 listen to boundaries, then what do you do? Well, I definitely still 161 00:11:50,320 --> 00:11:52,200 get this, like I'll have, you know, a student's dm ME and 162 00:11:52,240 --> 00:11:56,639 ask me a question, and I generally I'll give them the benefit of the 163 00:11:56,120 --> 00:12:01,440 doubt and I will assume that they forgot or that they weren't paying attention to 164 00:12:01,480 --> 00:12:05,120 the onboarding process, maybe they didn't watch the video, and I'll communicate the 165 00:12:05,159 --> 00:12:07,679 boundary again. So if somebody from launch Magic dms me with a question about 166 00:12:07,679 --> 00:12:11,759 their launch, I will usually reply and I'll say something like hey, like 167 00:12:11,840 --> 00:12:16,720 thanks for asking this. Unfortunately, I can't answer questions via dms as we 168 00:12:16,879 --> 00:12:20,039 have hundreds of students and if I answer one person's question, then I have 169 00:12:20,080 --> 00:12:26,159 to answer everybody's questions. And you know that's not fair on me because I 170 00:12:26,200 --> 00:12:28,600 only have a limited number of hours in the day. But here's the link 171 00:12:28,600 --> 00:12:31,759 where you can go and submit it for our next Q and A call and 172 00:12:31,799 --> 00:12:35,559 I will answer it at the start of the call. That's that's all. 173 00:12:35,639 --> 00:12:39,159 It is. Nice and simple. I've never had anybody push back or get 174 00:12:39,200 --> 00:12:41,480 angry about that. They're always like, yep, that's great, thank you 175 00:12:41,480 --> 00:12:43,360 so much. I didn't know. I didn't understand that I wasn't allowed to 176 00:12:43,399 --> 00:12:48,039 DM you, okay. So there you have it, a couple of couple 177 00:12:48,039 --> 00:12:52,720 of boundaries to set around support, community response times, and the calls that 178 00:12:52,799 --> 00:12:58,960 somebody can expect. You might also notice that, depending on the particulars of 179 00:12:58,039 --> 00:13:01,919 your own care, also your own program, your own coaching, there might 180 00:13:01,960 --> 00:13:05,320 be other boundaries that you need to set as well, and you might start 181 00:13:05,360 --> 00:13:11,000 to notice some as well. Like in an episode with Monica back in episode 182 00:13:11,039 --> 00:13:15,279 four nine nine, I think she mentioned that one of the ways to identify 183 00:13:15,279 --> 00:13:16,960 where a boundary needs to be set is if you're starting to feel a little 184 00:13:18,000 --> 00:13:20,799 bit resentful. Right, So, if you're feeling resentful towards a student or 185 00:13:20,799 --> 00:13:24,480 a client, there's a boundary that needs to be set there, and you 186 00:13:24,519 --> 00:13:26,799 need to do a little bit of digging to figure out what that needs to 187 00:13:26,840 --> 00:13:31,440 be. All right, if you've learned anything from this show so far, 188 00:13:31,519 --> 00:13:35,879 i'd really appreciate it if you took thirty seconds to leave really quick rating and 189 00:13:35,919 --> 00:13:39,639 a review. I read every single one of them, and I've been noticing 190 00:13:39,639 --> 00:13:43,600 a few of you have been leaving more more ratings and reviews lately, and 191 00:13:43,679 --> 00:13:48,679 I'm loving, absolutely loving reading them. It takes a lot of work behind 192 00:13:48,720 --> 00:13:52,080 the scenes to create the show. I know they're quite short episodes, but 193 00:13:52,120 --> 00:13:56,879 you have no idea how much work goes into actually producing them. So honestly, 194 00:13:56,080 --> 00:13:58,720 every little bit of feedback means a lot to me. It means a 195 00:13:58,759 --> 00:14:03,279 lot to my team as well, so please do leave those reviews, keep 196 00:14:03,279 --> 00:14:07,000 them coming, and if you're not already subscribed to the show, hit follow 197 00:14:07,039 --> 00:14:11,039 in Spotify or the little plus in Apple Podcasts and you'll just get every new 198 00:14:11,080 --> 00:14:15,799 episode straight to your podcast app every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Thank 199 00:14:15,799 --> 00:14:16,600 you so much for listening. Catch you next time.