Holding boundaries is a business growth strategy

If I asked you to list business growth strategies, how long would it take you to mention knowing and honouring your boundaries?  I’m guessing a little while because our minds usually go to things to do with marketing, networking and selling.  Don’t get me wrong, these are all important areas of business growth, so important that we cover them as monthly topics inside the Find Your Vibe Business Club. 

Boundaries deserve to be on the list as well because just like marketing, networking and selling, boundaries help you to find, nurture, convert and serve clients.  If we don’t preserve our ability to do those things, how are we going to get anywhere in our businesses?  So, let’s dig into how boundaries can impact business growth. 

Boundaries: What’s The Big Deal?

Talking about boundaries - defining and standing by them - can bring up a lot of resistance in people. They worry about being mean, demanding or self-centred.  They don’t want to force rules on others and scare people away. 

That’s completely missing the point of boundaries.  Setting boundaries means sharing your parameters with the people around you so they know what to expect and how to work best with you.  These aren’t just parameters of what you’d prefer to do or not to do.  It’s about protecting yourself and your amazingness so you can keep doing what you do best.  If you feel uncomfortable, if your physical or emotional energy is drained, if there’s a disconnect, it’s going to be really hard for you to help the people who need you.  In that case, everyone loses. 

When talking business, we have boundaries with our clients, team members and associates, even leads like our social media audience and email subscribers.  Interacting with anyone involves boundaries - the parameters between your happy and not-so-happy place.  So it’s unique to you and can take all sorts of shapes and sizes, depending on what you need so you can do your best. 

For example, as business owners we need to protect our time and energy so we can do what we need to do to maintain and grow our businesses.  You may be passionate about supporting your clients but that doesn’t mean you’re willing to pick up a random phone call from them at midnight.  You need to be getting your beauty sleep!  It takes a lot of energy to support clients. 

Why Does It Feel So Hard to Hold Boundaries?

Boundaries sound great.  That is until you have to say no to someone or ask to change an arrangement to meet your boundaries.  It’s those moments that can have us running from boundaries like it’s the plague.  If you’re a people pleaser, empath, neurodivergent and struggle with Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria (RSD) like me, or anything else that heightens a sense of fear of upsetting other people, boundaries can feel really hard. 

But, that actually means they’re even more important for you.  By default you worry about other people’s needs and forget about your own, sending you on the fast track to burnout.  Being really intentional about your boundaries helps you to look after yourself too.

So, where is this resistance to hold boundaries coming from?  And how do you move beyond it to get all the benefits that boundaries bring?  

Good question.   

Just like boundaries, the belief that you can’t or shouldn’t hold boundaries is unique to you.  I’ve got a few prompts to help you explore it in a second, first here are some common causes of resistance to boundaries that you may or may not resonate with. 

Self-esteem

Looking at boundaries often leads to a look at self-esteem.  Honouring your boundaries means honouring your needs and so honouring yourself.  A lack of self-esteem can make this feel hard because we feel unworthy of it or that someone else is more deserving of having their needs met.  Some people can define their boundaries, but they need to work on their self-esteem to be able to hold them. On the plus side, honouring your boundaries is a massive self-esteem boost.

Communicating needs

In order to hold a boundary, we need to communicate that boundary to the people we’re working with.  In essence, we’re communicating what we need to be able to get the result both parties want.  For some people that’s hard.  It’s like asking for help or admitting a weakness, that we can’t do it all no matter what. They don’t like how that might reflect on them.  It could be worth exploring your beliefs around communicating your needs which will have a positive impact beyond holding boundaries. 

Unfamiliarity 

In many ways, we are an accumulation of our experiences.  Everything we have been through has shaped who we are today.  So if you haven’t seen anyone model holding boundaries, it could seem so unfamiliar that it’s intimidating.  It feels like stepping into the unknown and leaving behind how things have always been done.  Change is scary as well as an opportunity for growth.  Why not raise your awareness of your beliefs around change?  Then as you get more comfortable holding boundaries, you get to model that to other people and boost their confidence to hold their own boundaries. 

Take a closer look at your beliefs around holding boundaries by writing on these journal prompts.

What does “maintaining boundaries” mean to you?

What is your biggest challenge when it comes to saying “no” to someone?

How comfortable are you with holding boundaries to preserve your energy? 

Holding boundaries is a habit of maintenance.  They keep you feeling good and performing at your best which in turn helps the people around you, clients, enquiries and team members.  That’s not to say it’s always straightforward.  Sometimes there’s flexibility and compromise.  Sometimes it’s best to hold a rigid boundary. When you have the capability to do what you need to do in your business and do it well, you grow and improve, grow and improve. 

Where Can You Go For Boundaries-Honouring Support?

We’ve just dipped our toes into the world of boundaries here.  There’s so much more to identifying what your boundaries really are, how to communicate them to others, and how to stand by your boundaries when you feel like giving in.  We’re exploring all that, alongside identifying and honouring your values inside the Find Your Vibe Business Club in January. 

Join us if you could do with:

• A safe space for raising your awareness and doing the inner work that will allow you to become the best version of yourself
• A community of likeminded women in business who understand the myriad of challenges of navigating personal life, professional life and everything in between
• A business coach who puts you in the driving seat of your own business and encourages you to find the way that works for you
• Breaking out of stagnation and procrastination and building positive habits and routines that are just your vibe
• A good laugh - as much as we rally around each other, we don’t take life too seriously

We’d love to have you and to be part of your journey. Sign up for the Find Your Vibe Business Club this month to work on boundaries with us live, following along with the daily journal prompts, twice monthly group guided journaling workshops and other accountability mechanisms that keep you moving forward.