E46: Building a thriving business without sacrificing your time with Natalie Ford

In this episode of Dream Business, Dream Life, I chat to Natalie Ford, a productivity and lifestyle coach who helps women create time and energy to run a successful business while maintaining a fulfilling personal life. 

Natalie shares her journey from being a mortgage consultant to running a cleaning business, then transitioning into productivity coaching. She discusses the common struggles business owners face, including time management, burnout, and the mindset shifts required to balance success with personal well-being.

Who is Natalie Ford?

My name is Natalie and I am a Productivity & Lifestyle Coach

I work with women who feel like their career or business has taken over their lives. From the outside, they are achieving success but inside they are struggling to balance that with living a fulfilling personal life. They have forgotten what it feels like to have the time and energy to truly enjoy life outside of their to-do list. They are stuck in default mode. 
I help them to create the time and energy to run a successful business AND live a happy fulfilling personal life.

Natalie's Links:

https://the.natalieford.co.uk/successbydesign
https://the.natalieford.co.uk/prioritiseplan
https://www.facebook.com/natalieford101
https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalieford73

Want to connect? Find me here:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamemmahine

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/behappybesuccessful

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-hine

Website: https://www.emmahine.co.uk

You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/@EmmaHineStrategy

Transcript

 Hello & welcome to Dream Business Dream Life, helping ambitious people, like you, to grow a business they love. 

I’m Emma Hine and I’m on a mission to show you that it is possible to grow a business without sacrificing your life. 

Having experienced the rollercoaster of making millions of pounds, but feeling overwhelmed, anxious, and totally unsuccessful, I know first-hand the importance of growing a business on your terms.

On this podcast I'm going to share with you lots of tips and advice that will enable you to grow a business that gives you the financial freedom to live the life of your dreams while sharing with you some inspirational growth stories from other fabulous business owners.

Ready to live the dream? Then let’s get stuck in…

Hello and welcome to today's episode of Dream Business, Dream Life. Today I'm joined by Natalie Ford. Natalie is a productivity and lifestyle coach. She helps people to create the time and energy to run a successful business and live a happy, fulfilling personal life, which you know is super close to my heart.

Hello Natalie, how are you?  Good afternoon. I'm good. Thank you. How are you? Yes, I'm good. Thank you. We were just saying how cold it was before we came on air, but other than that, good. Okay. Not going to waste any time. We're going to dive straight, straight in. So Natalie, tell us a little bit about yourself and why you do what you do. 

Okay. So, um, as you already said, I'm a productivity and lifestyle coach. So I work with successful women who feel like their career or business has completely taken over their life. Okay. Um, from the outside world, they would look like they've got everything together, they've got, um, successful life, career, but from the inside, they're just feeling like it's, um, they're just drowning under their to do list.

Every day they're getting up and it's just, they could just put their head back under the covers. Um, the amount of things that they've got to do just gets bigger and bigger and bigger. They can't remember the last time they actually had the time or the energy to do something that was just for them or something that they did just because it brought them joy or happiness. 

So I work with them to help them just recreate that harmony between running a successful business and everything that goes with that, and then actually prioritizing their time in a way that frees enough time up so that they have got the time to do the things that bring them joy and happiness and dare I say, even do things for them that just is to nourish and nurture them.

So I work with them, like I say, just to help create the harmony that goes between those two things. Because I just think there's too many women that feel that they're having to make a choice. They can either have a successful business.  Or they can have a fulfilling personal life,  but the reality of having both just eludes them and just think that no, it's a choice that they have to make and I just believe that it's, it doesn't have to be, it's just about looking at how you're using your time and how you're prioritizing that time.

to give you the time and the energy to do both.  Absolutely. And yes, Natalie did just describe my previous life.  We joked about that prior to this as well. Um, and, and you know what, I think a lot of people go through that, don't they? They, you know, we,  nobody starts a business with the intention of being busier than they were before they started the business.

I think that's a fair statement, isn't it? Yeah, absolutely. So when I look back at, so I, um, started my business in 1999, which I'm absolutely aware makes me sound like a complete dinosaur. Um, but so previous to that, I was a mortgage consultant and I honestly thought that I would do that job forever. I loved doing it, really enjoyed what I was doing.

And then just needed to go part time for a short period of time until both of my children were at school.  And targets. I was hitting all my targets. I was doing well at the job. Um, and back in the nineties, flexible working just wasn't a thing. So when I asked them to go part time and they said no, um, I was still in my 20s.

So young enough to tell them to stick their job left and then kind of thought. Oh, what shall I do now? I hadn't got a second plan. Um,  so I set up a cleaning company. No idea where that idea came from, but I think I just thought that there would always be people that wanted a cleaner. Um, and very, very quick.

So I, the intention of starting that business was for more time and flexibility and freedom to work. Up around home  and then within two years of starting that business, exactly as you were just saying, um, I got the complete reverse. I was working more hours than I'd ever worked in my life, um, no time to do anything else and definitely no energy to do anything else.

Um, so yeah, I think we start a business with an idea. I don't think anybody starts it thinking, right, I think I want to work 24 7, feel stressed and overwhelmed by the number of things that I need to do each day. Nobody starts with that intention, but very, it's almost  it happens without us realizing until we get to a point of thinking, actually, yeah, when was the last time I did something for me?

Or, um,  why do I feel so tired? Why do I feel so stressed and anxious all of the time? It almost creeps up on us. And I think there's so, so many women that are, have almost become used to living in that default mode. And I think that's the key, isn't it? We just get used to it. It becomes a habit. It becomes the thing that we just, we get up in the morning and we go into autopilot in effect, don't we?

And we just do the things that we need to do and keep going, keep going, keep going until we reach a point when. We can't keep going anymore.  Yeah, there comes a point where you can't, I know I used to think to myself, okay, I need to just get up earlier, or I need to work later, or I just need to work faster.

There comes a point where how sustainable is that?  because you will reach a point that you can't get up any earlier in unless you're going to literally just never go to bed.  There is going to be a point where you can't get up any early, you can't possibly be working any more hours.  And that's when I think people start to look and go.

Is this really it? Is this what running a business is about? And it does, it just becomes a habit and I think we've just got used to associating being busy with being successful. The busier that we are, the order, when we're looking at other people, they must be successful because they're busy.  Yeah. And I just don't think that those two things are necessarily, um, best friends.

No, and there's a big difference, isn't there, between busy and productive, you know, you can be busy,  but you're not necessarily being productive. And I think it's, it's, it's learning that, isn't it something that we, we have to learn once we step into being a business owner, because once we're a business owner, you know, if you've come from corporate, for example, you haven't got, you know, HR department to ring or a service department to ring when your computer decides to not switch on first thing in the morning.

And you know, all of these things that we have to take all these extra tasks on. So therefore we shoo. I've got to do all this stuff, so I've got to just keep going and keep going and keep going. Yeah, and I don't know anybody on the planet, we can always find more to do. Always. So if we've, if we've got an hour, we can't just sit there and think, Oh gosh, I've got an hour, what shall I do to increase my energy levels or what shall I do for me?

We don't, we just think, oh, okay, what's on the to do list, I'll fill it.  And again, that just becomes a habit and we can always find more to do. I don't think I know anybody on the planet that gets to the end of the day and go, I literally have nothing else.  That I could possibly do. Absolutely not. And I think there's a phrase that always sticks in my head from people once they reach a retirement age.

They retire and the first thing they say is, I don't know how I had time to work. Yes. Because suddenly they've gone from, you know, no longer working 35, 40 hours a week, but they're busier than they were before they were disabled. You know, before they're retired. Um, and that hits home and that proves that point, doesn't it?

That you always, always fill your time. Um, yeah. And I, I personally don't think that having a lot of spare time, if that's the right word to use, is necessarily always a good thing.  I think it's, well, there's that same, isn't there? If you want something to do and ask a busy person,  um, and a lot of, I think one of the, the  most common thing that women come and work with me is that, uh,  feel overwhelmed.

They feel like they're drowning under this,  um, this to do list.  And  when we actually look at the breakdown of what they're trying to do, if you think we've got 168 hours in a week, all of us have got exactly the same number of hours. Um, try as you might, you can't increase that number. I've tried more than once.

Um, but it is, it's 168 hours. Well, when we start, when Women come to work with me and we'll start looking and go, okay, what does an average week look like for you now? And we'll break that down.  The most common thing is that we'll add it up and we'll think, okay, we've got 185, 192 hours worth of stuff going into this 168.

It's no wonder that you're feeling overwhelmed, like you're, you're burning out, you're, you just can't.  think straight because you've got too much to do. That, that's a really common thing is, is just over scheduling and just cramming all of those, um, those things in. But then it's like you say, is if you've got too much spare time,  then things will take. 

that amount of time.  So if you've got two hours to do something, it'll take you two hours. If you've got seven hours, it'll take you seven hours. And that's actually scientifically proven. There's a, it's called, um, Parkinson's law. And that's exactly what it is. Is you fill the amount of time that you've got available for that task. 

Yeah. And I can hand on heart say there's been times when I know I've done that, you know, I've got one task to do for the day, but I've got all day to do it. And you find yourself just doing things. That you don't need to do, don't you? Like flicking in between or scrolling a little bit in between or doing all of that stuff. 

So, so the cleaning business, did you  go from the cleaning business into what you do now, the productivity stuff, or was there something in between? So I ran the cleaning company for 18 years. Um, and so  easily 15 years, 15 of those years was spent feeling like I was literally drowning. Um, and then I got to a point of thinking, I cannot see that this is sustainable for the next 30 years.

I need to look at  doing something else because it started to affect my health. I'd got stress eczema. I'd got, I didn't know it at the time, but they are, there were panic attacks in the middle of the night.  Um, so I started looking, thinking I can't keep this up for much longer. Um, so then actually I got invited,  um, introduced to network marketing. 

Which I got no clue, never been introduced to personal development, personal growth before. Um, so I, for 12 years, I ran a network marketing business alongside the cleaning company. Um, and kind of almost one, phased one out and phased the other one in. And then in 2017, I had a hysterectomy and had to basically sit on my bum for eight weeks. 

Um, and then. kind of thought the thought of going back into that again just filled me with dread. I didn't want to do it. But the one thing that I love doing within the network marketing business was actually sitting with the people in my team and helping them to prioritize and plan and map out their week so that they could see.

that they had got the time available. It wasn't about  doing more. It was about prioritizing really effectively how they were using their time. And I loved that part of it. So I started looking at how can I  grow that area and work with, um, more people than just network marketing, because once you start looking on social media and realize how many women. 

are struggling with that, um, time management, prioritizing, um, it's not just network marketing, it's across the board. So then, yeah, so since I've been working with women in business since 2005, which is when I set up their network marketing, but then, um, solely helping them with their time management and, um, organization since 2017. 

Yeah. I don't think you'll bang into many business owners who say they've got too much time. You know, I think most will say,  it'd be nice to work a little bit less. You know, I think most will say that way. Even the ones that are super productive. Cause I think there's, you know, there is always so, so much to do and we have to be honest about that, don't we?

We can't magic time, as you say, out of the week, but, uh, we certainly can become better at managing it. But as. As you've said already, when we're in the thick of that, we don't realize that's the problem, do we? We just think we need to make more time. I need to make more time. Yes. Um, no, no, not at all. Not at all.

So when, when you started your business, what would you say were the things that you found most challenging?  When I started the cleaning company? Any, just generally what you found challenging when you've started businesses?  boundaries, I think,  I think, and that goes across all of them, whether it be, um, the cleaning company, the network marketing, I've got, um, rental property.

So I've got tenants that I look after as well. Um, and then obviously with this business, I think, yeah, boundaries learning to say no. And, um, basically just feeling like I have to do it all.  Yeah, yeah, completely. And, and, and from a, um, you know, working with your clients point of view, what would you say is the biggest challenge that you get thrown at you when, when you're trying to help them with their productivity to cut things back? 

I think it is that starting point of let's look at an average week right now, because most people would come to me and say, um, I want, want you to help me to be more productive.  And the normal version of being more productive is I want you to show me how to get more done.  Whereas, as I've already said, I just think you get to a limit of you can't physically impossible unless you are literally never going to sleep.

It is impossible for you to get more done.  So it's that. Changing women's view on, it isn't about getting more done.  It's about looking at what you're doing and why you're doing it.  So, yeah, so for me, I think the biggest challenge is changing the mindset of, I'm not going to show you how to get more done. 

What I am going to do is show you a new way of looking at your time and putting it through a new filter of  why am I doing what I'm about to do is what I'm about to do, going to move me closer.  To achieving the life that I want to live.  And if it is, crack on. If it isn't, then question.  Why? Why are you doing that?

Is that a boundary issue? Is that that you're, um, just saying yes to things that you really should be saying no to? Is that a people pleasing? Um, that you're fearful that if you say no,  then what will people think? Um, and I struggled with  both of those things really. So yeah, it's, it's, um, changing the mindset of what productivity actually means.

Yeah, yeah. And I, and I think, you know, we, we all experience that at some point, don't we, we just naturally think that you physically can't do any more. And I think we also some, and it's something that I personally know I've done in the past is I haven't really thought about. When I'm looking at what I've got to do in a week, I'm not taking into consideration some of the things either.

So, you know, the things that you just do, like answering your emails or  putting stuff in your diary or planning for the next week, the things that, I mean, other people might not just do those things that I would just do automatically, but you don't realize that that is also taking up some of your time.

So I think it's a real eye opener, isn't it? When you sit there with your list of tasks and you literally write down it. Every single thing that you do in a day, a week, a month and all the rest of it and start to add it up, I think, I think it's a shock, isn't it? Sometimes for people. Yeah, absolutely. And it is and that's it's such a powerful exercise when we actually sit down and we break it all the way down as to, you know, exactly like you say, it's like, I know it sounds silly, but you probably spend 10 minutes a day brushing your teeth. 

How much time does it take you to cook and eat dinner? How much time are you spending having a shower and getting ready?  Um, standing there waiting for the dog to come back in or wipe its feet when it comes back. It's all of the things that you can't do exactly like you say is that you just do without thinking that you think well I can't put that on a time map because well I'll just do that but it's still um eaten into your time so if you think a hundred and and I work with my clients on a 168 hour basis because I just think by working in a 24 hour time frame that puts so much pressure on the day that then if let's say Monday doesn't go to plan like you say the computer's not working or you can't get a website to work the day falls apart that then has such an effect on oh well Monday didn't go to plan let's throw the whole week out. 

It puts so much pressure on that 24 hours. So by us working in a, um, a time block of 168, what do we need to achieve by the end of this week? That gives you so much more room for flexibility, but it also allows you to look at the week as a success, because as long as these things get done by the end of the week, it's a success. 

Yeah. And I think that's really important, isn't it? To actually be able to look at something more holistically than just very granular. And it's the same principle with goals. You might have this great big goal, which is effectively a day, isn't it? But you need to break that down into smaller chunks because the day on its own or the goal on its own looks quite big and scary.

So I'm massively in favor of breaking things down too. Yeah, but it's amazing how quickly those hours, like if you think we're all told that you're supposed to be sleeping eight hours a day, but if you think eight times seven, that's 56,  that's coming off your 168. So you're already, before you even do anything at all, if you're getting the proper quota of sleep, you're down to 112 already.

So then you start to think, oh, hang on, I've got to get a bit focused here because the hours are slipping by doing things like you say that you don't even think about. That's it. You know, even, you know, the  eating lunch and  having a wash and brushing your teeth and getting a drink and answering the door if you're working from home, all of these things eat into your time, don't they?

So it's super, super important to be productive. And I think the more productive you are in the day, the more your business will grow. Yes.  Yeah, but I think that productivity has got to be started with,  um, what are the priorities.  So what are you busy doing?  Yeah, absolutely. So are you being busy being busy?

So if you're, um, I don't know, let's say you're working towards you want to,  an income goal of 5k a month, or reorganizing your filing cabinet is probably not going to get you there. How much time have you spent doing the things that are directly going to move you closer to achieving your goal? Whether that be. 

Working a two  day week or whether that be earning 5k a month or being able to go and live abroad or whatever it is,  how much of the week is actually being spent directly on tasks that are going to move you closer  to that goal. Yeah, absolutely. And I think coming, coming backwards, the more planned and organized you are with your time, the less likely you are going to spend time wasting time working out what you're supposed to be doing, procrastinating over the thing that you're supposed to be doing.

It's like a vicious circle, isn't it? So, you know, you've got to have all of the, all of your ducks in a row or whatever you want to call, uh, you know, whatever you want to call it. Yeah. Yeah, it's a funny old thing, isn't it, time? I think it's, it's a bit like money, isn't it? We assume that it's bottomless until it's not anymore. 

We think, you know, when we're kids, we think the money just keeps on coming. Yeah, absolutely. But I think, again, like time, like money, you start looking, how are you looking at time? Are you looking at it as an enemy that you've got to manage and you've got to control within an inch of its life? Or are you looking at it as your friend of, actually, my time allows me to live the life that I want to live, if you use it wisely.

Exactly, exactly and I think, you know, there's,  we're all individual and we all like to work differently, don't we? So, you know, not everybody can work by time blocking, for example. That doesn't necessarily work for everybody because some people don't like that restriction. But there is always another way, isn't there, of enabling you to manage your time effectively, even if some of the, the things that a lot of people talk about don't work for you.

Um, the trick is actually starting, as you say, with what you're using your time for.  Yeah, and I think you're right. I think what works so, um,  One of the things that I do my one to one clients is helping them to map out their time. Some clients want that mapped out within an inch of its life. Nine o'clock I'm doing this, ten o'clock I'm doing this, eleven o'clock I'm going to the toilet, twelve o'clock I'm doing this.

And that works for them because it gives them the accountability. Whereas I've got some that, that would just fry their brain. Um, and it's about, okay, how can we  ensure that you're getting to the end of the week and you're getting these things done.  But in a way that gives you the freedom and creativity to be able to, um, be a little bit more flexible with it.

Yeah, absolutely. So if anybody out there is struggling to make use of the time, look Natalie up because she will be able to find a way to help you to do that. Right. We literally could sit and talk all day, but we do unfortunately have to run out of time at some point. So at the end of every episode, I ask my guests to share with us a top tip.

So what would your top tip be?  Ask yourself, um, what are you busy doing? Are you busy being busy? Or, um, what are you actually busy doing? And is how you're spending your time? What does the best version of your life look like? And actually do an analogy over the last week of how much of that week was spent directly helping you to get to that. 

Excellent. And then finally, if our listeners want to come and learn more about you or to connect with you, where's the best place for them to do that?  You can find me on Facebook.  I'm Natalie Ford 101.  Um, or you can come and find me on LinkedIn, uh, Natalie Ford 73.  Super. And I will share all of that in the show notes for everybody as well.

So thank you so much for joining me, Natalie. It has been fantastic chatting with you today. And thank you to everybody else for listening. We will see you next time.

You have been listening to Dream Business Dream Life with Emma Hine. If you want to know more about how I can help you to build your dream business and your dream life, then visit my website emmehine.co.uk. Until next time remember you really can have it all!