The Set Up

Back in September, I put a lot on my plate. I agreed to speak. At the NAPO National Conference in April and I agreed to chair our local Chapters Clear you Clutter Day (CYCD) event January. Sound doable right?

It was until I realized that the deadline for the slides for the presentation were due on February 1st, the CYCD 2017 event was on January 28th. My son’s birthday was on the 18th of January. Also thrown in was a planning retreat, blogs to write, a full client schedule, an Ultimate Bundles launch, and all the shit that just has to be done every day.

My son’s birthday went off without a hitch. I did not get to bake his cake this year, but my wonderful Husband Matty Crocker ordered one and then created an excellent buttercream transfer in the shape of Sans to top the cake. My son had a blast, and I got to enjoy the party and not worry about deadlines. It was incredible.

Right now, however, is crunch time. All other deadlines are looming, and I need things to go off without a hitch so I can handle my client load.

This week is the super bundle launch, the CYCD event, and the deadline for slides. Tuesday morning I woke up and was testing my call to actions (CTAs) when I discovered they were all broke. They kept redirecting to my site. Did I mention that I was also hosting a webinar? People weren’t going to be able to sign up or get to the Clear Your Clutter Super Bundle that was launching on Wednesday.

Time to Let it Go

I discovered this at 5:30 in the morning. I had a client at 10 am, and with traffic, it was an hour drive. I had to get my son ready for school myself ready for work and get this fixed by 9:00. I had 3.5 hours.

I did everything I could think of, deactivated, reactivated, uninstalled, reinstalled. Nothing worked. I searched forums, I Googled it and came up with nothing. With time diminishing I wrote up a typo-filled email to my Father who hosts my website. I knew it was a problem with the plugin and not the site, but I hoped he had some free time and would be able to figure out what I was missing.

I then left for my client. I gave it up to the universe and let go.

While working with my client, I pulled out my computer to search for some products. The first thing I see after typing in my password was the hastily written email to my father. I had not hit send!!!

OMG!!! HOW COULD I HAVE NOT HIT SEND!

I quickly sent the email and got back to looking for products. I had to let go again and focus on the task in front of me.

I had a wonderful day with my client we knocked out three areas of her home and set a plan for the next day.

I stopped by the Container Store on the way home to buy supplies for the next day when I discovered I had left my wallet at home. I was annoyed but desperate to find out if my CTA’S were working, so I high-tailed it home. I decided to order the products online and drive by in the morning and do curbside pickup. If traffic was reasonable, I would make it to my clients on time.

I got home to find my CTA’S were not working, but my father was in the process of trying to figure it out. Pretty good response time considering I did send the email until lunch time. And it was just then almost four.

Of course, my genius father figured it out. It wasn’t straight forward at all. Do you know what he did? He changed the CTA and then changed it back. Then viola it worked. He could have called it quits then, but he changed all of my scheduled posts and changed them back so they would all be working too. Gotta love that kind of support.

Now that that was figured out I wondered how sign-ups for my webinar were going. I had a fantastic network of friends and colleagues share the event but no sign-ups. I was not discouraged. I took it as a sign from the universe that I need some free time. And I did just that. I did nothing. I zoned out and did nothing productive. I needed that couple of hours to decompress and recharge my soul for the next round of deadlines.

It Gets Better

Wednesday was a much better day. I got to the Container Store right as they opened. I pulled up my confirmation email and pressed the “I’m Here Button.” I was asked if I was in the store or my car. I pressed car and waited. While I was waiting, I pulled up Google maps to see how long it was going to take to get to my clients. How bad was traffic? To my surprise, it was only going to take me 20 minutes to get to my clients. I was going to be thirty minutes early. The universe was smiling down on me today.

While driving came across a beautiful view. Because I had the time, I stopped to appreciate it and take a picture. I found some time in the nooks and crannies of the day to enjoy the beauty around me and be thankful for all the opportunity that have come my way in the last six months.

That night I had a meeting with my presentation partner, and we made significant progress on our talk. I was exhausted, but sometimes you have to keep on keeping on. I finished up about 9 pm and then turned my attention to the boob tube. My husband has been watching Sneaky Pete on Amazon, and I must say it intrigued me.

So Thursday comes along I’m prepared for anything at this point good or bad. Early in the week, I had stretched my let it go muscle and knew I could handle whatever came my way…well it did.

One of today’s tasks was to sell some clothing for my client. I accepted the offer from the store without checking with my client. The price I got was not the price they were looking for. Unfortunately, the store will not take back transactions. Lol. I begged and pleaded, but it was a no go. They were very nice about my pleadings and took it all in good stride. In the end, I decided to buy the clothes back. 30 bucks out of my pocket to make my client happy. It’s all about customer service and client satisfaction.

After that fiasco, I returned to my client’s house. I lugged the bin of unbought and rebought clothes up the stairs. I grabbed my phone out of the bin but could not find my keys. I was certain I had locked them in my car. If my keys were locked in the car, it was going to be the straw that broke the cables back. I searched the bin could not find the keys. I went down to my car and tried peering through the tinted back window. I couldn’t see the keys, but I hadn’t seen them in the bin either. What was I going to do? I took some deep breaths considered calling my husband and then decided to search the bin one more time. This time I pulled everything out one by one. And low and behold on the bottom of the bin I found my keys. I’m surprised you didn’t hear the sigh of relief I let out.

What is the Point?

So why am I telling you all of this? It’s because I want you to know something. When you are running a business or have a lot going on in life, you have to be able to let it go and give it up to the universe. You can plan and plan and plan but some days as a friend recently said, the universe is going to test your resolve! How are you going to handle it? Are you going to let the opportunities pass you buy or are you going to take life by the horns and say “Not today universe, not today!”

I also found during this trying week that it was beneficial to disconnect.  When my head started to spin, I put the phone in another room and turned off all the blips and bling.  Not allowing anything new to come in even if only for a few moments gave me space to breathe.

Pull on your resources. Reach out to your tribe. Call on your friends to help get you through. It is amazing how much assistance is out there. All you have to do is ask.