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Having more clients who want to work with you than you have time for is a nice problem to have. It’s certainly more fun to solve than the problem of not having enough clients. But it is a challenge nonetheless. Let’s discuss what you can do when you are at capacity and you don’t want to say no to more clients.

In the beginning of your business, you say yes to any client. Because you’re still learning what works and what doesn’t. You’re still honing your skills. You don’t have a specific, proven process on the delivery side. It’s a lot like throwing things against a wall and seeing what sticks.

So you work to get clients, which often feels like a fluke…beacuse you’re not sure which of the million things you tried actually worked. And when clients do show up, you are just happy that someone trusted you enough to give you money. You say yes and then figure it out. This is a good thing because you learn what works and what doesn’t. You get better as you flex your business muscles. In the beginning we are hustling to make things happen. In the best way.

Because it feels exhilarating to try something and it works. In the beginning we love the uncertainty and our ability to figure things out on the fly. 

As you gain traction and grow your business, you move into a new level owning a business. You have a clear or clearer process for your clients. People love working with you and they are telling their friends. There is demand for your work. You have a reputation and clients seek you out. And your schedule is full of client delivery work.

I often see my clients get to this place without actually seeing it coming. Because they were so focused on getting the work done, saying yes to clients, taking on more work and just keeping the momentum as much as possible, that they don’t look at their capacity and whether the business can support more clients.

And this usually happens when we have been hustling from the beginning and that hustle, even though we know it isn’t sustainable, worked. We got here. And so we mistakenly believe that if we stop, if we slow down, then that is going to hurt the business. We think that is what we need to keep doing to keep things running. 

But there is a point where you have or will reach your capacity and you can’t take on more clients without hurting the business or yourself or your team.

You want to, as you grow, build the structures inside your business that will support that growth and also align your identity, who you are being and how you show up as a business owner, with this new level of growth.

One of my clients got coaching recently on feeling super overwhelmed because of her client workload and when we looked at her schedule it was clear that she said yes to a new client when she literally did not have space in her calendar for the next month. She didn’t communicate this with this new client, so the expectation on the client’s side was that they are going to get started asap.

So I asked her: why didn’t you just tell her that you can help her a month from now?

Her answer was: Because you don’t say no to business. 

In the past, this was okay because she could easily just work it into her schedule. But now, she doesn't have more hours to allocate to her business. She was maxed out. 

She thought that saying no would be bad for business. This client would be upset, tell everyone about this bad experience and this would hurt her business.

Sometimes, it’s even deeper than that. Especially if your business solves something very painful for people. Like you help them stop drinking or help them in their marriage. You know you can help them. You feel responsible not to leave them in their pain or problem.

But there are consequences to not being willing to take a step back or slow down temporarily.

It means you or your team will need to put in extra hours (and there are only so many hours in a day, so you at some point come up against that ceiling).

You may drop balls with your current clients. Forget things. Miss deadlines.

So the perceived downside of saying no to one client temporarily will have a far less negative impact than saying yes and then not being able to deliver what you promised at the level of excellence you are known for.

In my client’s case there were two things she needed to work on.

Firstly her belief in the value her business creates in this world. This is the self-concept, identity, work we need to do as business owners as we grow. If we don’t expand who we are showing up as, if we don’t align who we are with the level we are at, we will actually self-sabotage back to the level of growth we identify with.

If you believe you are the best option for this client. The best to help them. Wouldn’t it be worth the wait? If they believe you are the best option…why would they not be okay with waiting?

These are great questions to answer for yourself by the way.

The second thing my client had to focus on was creating structures within her business that would support that next level of growth. You want to give every single client a consistent, high-quality experience. Because this is what protects the business ultimately.

The more clients you bring on, the more important it is for your backend systems to run smoothly. Without structure, the growth you worked so hard to achieve becomes unsustainable. Ideally you don’t want to wait to put these structures in place until you hit that ceiling. You want to do it piece by piece as the business grows.   

Both of these things, the self-concept work, and the business structures, required her to slow down a little. And this is half the battle. If you hustled your way to where you are…slowing down feels like the exact opposite of what you should do. 

But think about the benefit if you do take some time:

 You won’t have to hustle harder or work longer hours every time you sign a new client.  

Your clients will consistently have the results and experience they came to you for because there is a process for delivering a consistent experience. 

You will be way less stressed and will have the headspace and the energy to serve your clients better. Your business will be more efficient.

And as you grow, you’ll actually strengthen your business instead of stretching it thinner  because you’ve taken the time. 

That’s exactly what we work on inside The School of Less Effort.  

1. We help you identify where there are gaps in your current structure so you can strategically strengthen it as your business grows.

2. And we help you delegate or automate more of your processes so that not every single component depends on you.  This frees us so much time and gives you the space to slow down, and be more intentional.

3. You build the identity of a business owner that is aligned with the level of growth you want for your business

The right mindset and the right structure isn’t just a nice-to-have; it’s the foundation that allows you to scale sustainably.

If you are ready to do this work and design your business for its next growth level, book a consultation with me and let’s discuss how The School of Less Effort will assist you in creating the right structures.

You can book your consultation at ilonkaras.com/consultation.

Do you have a question on designing a business that can run smoothly with or without you?

Send me an email at ilonka@ilonkaras.com and I will answer it in the next episode.

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