Do you know your current capacity?
My child was in preschool when the pandemic hit. When she was able to return in person, it was limited to three hours a day. While not a lengthy period of uninterrupted work, it was a true gift to have dedicated time for my business.
As things moved forward, the amount of time she was in school or camp gradually expanded. Fast forward to today, she is in full day elementary, and I have a full work day at my disposal to service clients and build my business.
Even with years of full day school ahead of me, I know that my capacity will fluctuate year to year and season to season. The key is to review and remind myself what my capacity to deliver is at any given time.
Capacity is the amount of time available to deliver services to clients, while still having space during the week to run the business.
Knowing my capacity allows me to plan my week, my client deliverables, and my meetings. It ensures I do not get stretched too thin and am prepared for schedule changes (i.e., summer camp season).
For many business owners, capacity is a loose number. One that can be expanded for any reason. There are times to stretch your capacity to hit a deadline or plan for a transition of a client or team member. Maintaining stretched capacity, however, will typically lead to burnout and exhaustion.
When I plan out my capacity, I focus on building my business within the confines of a typical week. For me, that means when my kid is at school. Others may build their capacity plan around their workout schedule that takes up more midday time. Whatever your typical week looks like, calculate how much time you have available and determine what portion of that can be used for delivery, and how much you need for running the business.
Once you know how much time you have available, you can determine if your revenue targets are feasible based on what you’re able to deliver. If you want to grow, you can either increase your prices or add more time for delivery (which may require adding team members – a topic for another blog). The key is to remember that adding more capacity will reduce how much time is available to focus on growing the business, and reduce the time available to take care of yourself as a person.
Business owners are only human and can only take on so much. Whether your kids create your capacity limitations, or it is volunteer activities, or training for a marathon, we all have limitations on the time available for delivering services. Knowing your capacity will allow you to set realistic targets for you and your business, and move closer to personally sustainable success.