Latest / The Uplift- with Luke Pollock / #24 - Q&A - The Reality of Running a Lifestyle and Physio Business
Transcript
- Luke Pollock: Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Uplift Podcast with me, your host, Luke. I am back with another QA today from my Instagram followers. And there is going to be a theme of busyness and how I get stuff done in my one person business, which I've been running for about the last two and a half months. Well, it's been open for a lot longer than that, but I've been solely running this as my primary income, primary job. for the last two and a half months. So I'm gonna talk through some of the lessons I've learned. I sort of put out a poll asking the question, what what would you want to know if you were to go self-employed? Or yeah, if you could ask someone who's recently self-employed, which is me, what we what would you ask them? And I've come back, there's been b been more than six six questions. I think there's about eight, but I've whittled it down to five with a common theme of How do I discern what to do with my time and what are the biggest shocks and challenges about being self-employed? just a quick update on me personally. I made a podcast last week about the importance of going to see or spend your resources on sp specialies and and getting seen to and I could not agree with that more having gone and seen the the physio last week. So yeah, Rory Murray, who's the the head bath physio, I saw him for my sort of complex groin issue that I've had ongoing and it was a really, really good use of my time and I really enjoyed seeing him. Obviously it was a long day by the time I went from London to Bristol, but I am so much more confident treating groins myself now. and I had one in recently or this week actually, and I was so thankful that I invested the time to go and see Rory because he he taught me as we were going through the assessment and treatment about why we would do why he would choose to do certain assessments, certain treatments. So it was a really good use of time and it sort of reaffirmed what I had been saying in the podcast to myself earlier on. And that is ultimately what this podcast is. It's just a message to myself. a lot of the times I will talk about what I've been struggling with in the last week and speak about it as if I've overcome it. But often it's something that I'm trying to overcome at the time. So that is the theme of today's podcast as well. You'll see the theme of busyness and knowing what to focus on and knowing how to grow your business throughout the questions today. So the first question What is the biggest challenge day to day that I've found running my business in the last two months? I won't keep repeating running my business in the last two months because that's the context for the question. So what's the biggest challenge I've find day to day? so my answer to this would be it's completely knowing what to focus on. so it's waking up each day and knowing what to work on. And that might be surprising or it might not be surprising, but it is definitely the biggest challenge I find hands down. Because you wake up in a day where you might only have three clients and you know that you have to to treat those clients. So so that's fine, that time's set aside. But the rest of the day can feel like empty time where you have to fill it. And there's loads to do, but it's just discerning what is the of highest priority on which days. So which lever is like most important to pull and on which days and This is something that I thought I wouldn't struggle with because I read a lot about business. I understand business well. So I thought I would have my day for marketing. I'd have my day for podcasts. I would have my day for content. But it just doesn't work like that because some days you wake up, especially in the content side of things, and you're just thinking, I can't put anything out today. Like I'm just not feeling creative. I would rather just work on the back end side of things. And that's really worked for me, trying to listen to my body and how I'm feeling creative creativity wise and and how I yeah what what I have energy for on that given day. And that that's worked to a certain extent, but then it also allows you to ask yourself each day, okay, what do I do today? So a few things I have done to counteract that is to have a consistent theme of my week. So the W Wednesday will always be podcast day and I find that is really, really good because I've normally learned stuff from Monday Tuesday. That's top of mind, or I'm normally struggling with things Monday and Tuesday that's top of mind. And by Wednesday, I'm like, flip, I need to change this by next week or I need to implement something new. So Wednesdays work really well, but that's like my staple, staple day in the week. And then Tuesday, Thursdays, in-person treatment days and Mondays and Fridays reflexible, where I'm either a retay or seeing more clients in person or servicing my online clients as well. So that is sort of my weekly structure. but yeah, it's definitely hard to to know what to focus on in and around those times because that might only take up three or four hours of my day each time, where the podcast might only take up, you know, two or three hours by the time I think about the topic, write some notes on the topic and then upload it might only be two and a half, three hours. So yeah, it's really, really hard sometimes to discern what is important. Do I need more Instagram followers? Do I need to convert more of my Instagram followers to clients? Do I need to service my clients? Do my clients on the back end need to have a better experience? Is one of my clients really struggling? Should I go and write to a surgeon or do I need to write to another specialist for secondary advice? Like all this stuff is just you're trying to discern what is priority at the minute. What's priority today? What will help the business move forward? What do I think that I want to give my energy to today? That is my biggest challenge. and a quote from Essentialism. I'm gonna give you a few quotes. So when I was preparing for this podcast, I went on my Kindle highlights. There's an app called Readwise, Readwise. If you don't have it, I've I've been using it for the last like five years, I would say, since I got the Kindle. And it's really, really cool because you can go back through your highlights of some of your your favorite books. So Essentialism, I think it's Essentialism I got this from because I read through a few books. says he he says, where is the knowledge we have lost in information? And yeah, where is the knowledge we have lost in the information? Which I think is really, really key. and it speaks to what I'm speaking about. So we are not short of information. We're not short of tasks to do. We're not short of things we should be doing. But knowledge is knowing what to focus on at what time and what levers we need to pull at that time. Okay, question two. What methods have you found to plan your work and stick to? So obviously answered this a little bit with question one, but I'm gonna get practical here. Calendar has been really essential for me. So actually taking responsibility for what what my days look like. So I don't so I I know I know when I wake up, okay, roughly this is my day structure. And then I can decide what levers are most important to pull either side of of the definites in my day. So there'll be some definites like I've talked about like Wednesday podcasts. Tuesday, Thursday in person. So those definites don't move in the week. and then other stuff moves around it. But the calendar really, really helps me with that. It also helps if I have like social events or my fiancee and I have got dinner booked. It helps me really to remember it, remember this and not book something in at the time. So we have a shared calendar, which has been a bit of a game changer. it's been something that I had to get better at working at. I think we had a very honest conversation in January. We sat down. I'm like, what what do you think my strengths and weaknesses are? And one of her things was really practical. She just said, I want you to be better at using your calendar. So easier for me to say, Yeah, yeah, I'll do that. But actually, practically implementing it, it's been quite tough. but it's been a big game changer for me because I feel like I know what's going on in my week a lot more. And being self-employed it is completely necessary in 2026, I would say. Yeah. A little aside to this, then what methods have you found to plan your work and stick to it? It's also sticking to it. So that might come from a place of, and thank you, Matt, for asking this question. I haven't shout out people who asked the question. So thank you, Matt, for asking this question. People would ask that question and think, so you make sure you get the work done in that time. But I would actually think it's more important for me being self-employed. To make sure that I plan my work and when the work is finished, I finish rather than think, okay, that's done. I can just do the next thing in the same work block. But if I finish that early, I actually use that time as finish time that I can relax and go and look into something else. or just read or chill out or go on a walk or go to the gym, not just allow the the work to keep expanding because I've given the the time for it to expand too. So work expands the time we give it. which is Prio's law, I think. I might mess that up. But yeah, and if you give it time and you finish the work, you will just keep working, okay, if you're self-employed, because at the end of the day, there's always more to do, there's always more levers to pull. So you need to be really strict with yourself. When the work is finished and the time or the time is finished that you've allotted to that work, put it down and and start something else or go and take a break. Okay. yeah, actually don't just start something else for the for the sake of it. yeah, the another essentialism quote on the back of this then. To discern what is truly essential, we need space to think, time to look and listen, permission to play, wisdom to sleep, and the discipline to apply highly selective criteria to the choices we make. So I think that's really important. your work can just keep expanding and it can impact things like your sleep, like your health. loads of different things and it creeps in slowly. So this won't be something that just hits you overnight. It'll be self employed. I'm quite enjoying the free time. And then slowly, slowly you're waking up later, you're staying up later in the night. You might miss a gym session here and then and then it just starts to affect you more and more. So I'd like to be quite disciplined with my calendar, disciplined with those hard things in my week. And then I have more time where I can be like I have time in my calendar which is just like a creative block. So this morning I just went to the a coffee shop for an hour and a half and just sort of writing, going through old highlights of my Kindle. And like that is yeah, such a blessing and a privilege to be able to do that in my week. And I understand everyone won't be able to do that. But it's actually blocking out time for that. And so I don't just get caught up in the busyness. Busyness is the enemy of being self employed. Okay. And when I say busyness, I I say feeling like you're doing lots but achieving nothing. That's how I would That's how I would describe it. Let's go on to question number three then. How do you find the unpredictability of being self-employed? So I'm gonna take this as a financial question. So the unpredictability of the schedule, for example, is fine. But let's talk about financially how do I find the unpredictability of being unemployed? Because it c it is completely like it is unpredictable. Even though I'm a physio and I have clients and you would think the the revenue is predictable, it is unpredictable. And I am still coming to terms with that. So month one was so much better than I could have imagined. I won't show the exact figure because I don't I don't think that's necessary, but I made a lot more money than I would have imagined in my first month of being self employed. Month two, last month, a little bit worse. And this month's looking a little bit worse again. And that is not because my business is dying, which I've had to tell myself. It's just knowing what season you're in at the minute and what you're actually dealing with in that season. So obviously as my wedding and honeymoon gets closer, I'm giving more of my attention and time to that and I'm wanting to take on less clients because I know I won't be able to fulfill as much work during the month of July because I'm away a lot. So as my energy dissipates for that and goes into something else. I have to I have to recognize that and not get too frustrated. my I'm making less income this month. It's because that's not where I'm putting all my energy right now. It's like the podcast, like I can't be frustrated. the podcast isn't growing because I give one day a week to it at the minute and then sort of leave it and let it sit for the rest of the week. and it's something I'm enjoying. It's not s it's not something that I would expect there to be loads of growth from. So it's the same goes for business. You don't have to expect month on month to be growing all the time. You can be growing personally and in different ways and your energy might just be placed in different places as well. So I think it is just knowing what season you're in. Is this a season of financial growth in the business? Is this a season of building up the back end? Is this a season actually of my life where I'm really busy with rugby or I'm getting married, which I'm only gonna do once, or I'm on honeymoon, know know the season you're in and it gives you so much more relief when you're looking at things like finances. Another another point to the finance situation, it was important for me that I didn't feel like this was a huge risk for me and Catherine for our future. So what I've done is set up like direct debits to student loan, also set up direct debits to my lifetime ISA, which I didn't even have when I was employed. obviously the the student loan I did, but the The LISA I didn't. And for me, that just knows that I'm actually being responsible and preparing for my future and that any money I make, I'm not just spending at the other side. So it puts a little bit of pressure on because I know there's mi minimum requirements, just rent and then student loan and lifetime ISO payments, as well as food, et cetera. So like my baseline for how much I need to earn each month has gone up, but also allows me to feel more at peace and more at ease because I am putting something away for the future. And saving money is so powerful. I've talked about that on on the podcast before, but it gives you energy, it gives you leverage because you're not living month to month as much, which is a really, really nice place to be. Also being dual income is is great. Catherine and I now share share an account. So that's really helped with the unpredictability of being self employed because at least someone is predictable in a relationship. But the other flips flip side to that is I don't have someone else to consider. So if I was single, for example, the risk and the expectation to bring in a certain amount would sort of just be on my shoulders. And I it would be I would feel less pressure. Now the pressure's welcome and I'm grateful for the pressure, obviously, but That's just something to know. There's pros and cons to being in it with someone else. Obviously, the pros far, far outweigh the cons, but yeah, just being honest about that. yeah, and the the quote I have on this point, which is really, really encouraging. I found this quote and I was like, this just is so relevant for so many different things in my life. The counterfeit innovator is widely self-confident. Sorry, I will start again. The counterfeit innovator. Is wildly self confident. The real one is scared to death. And that's from The War of Art by Stephen Pressfield. The counterfeit innovator is wildly self confident. The real one is scared to death. War of art, Stephen Pressfield. Read that book if you haven't read it. I think that is so, so good on so many ways. So ultimately, I am an innovator right now and I'm not ashamed to say that. I'm creating my business how I see it, how I want it. Yes, I have other people to copy from and steal from. Book Steal Like an Artist Austin Clayon will will teach you about stealing art from other people and making it your own. That's pretty much what creativity is. That is what art is. It's just other people's ideas in made made your own. So I'm innovating right now and it scares me to death. Every month I'm scared that I'm not gonna make the same income. Every month I'm scared about the unpredictability. But living in that fear and getting comfortable in that is where the real growth happens. And I've just kind of got comfortable in the discomfort. I know that sounds kind of cliche and cringe, but it's completely true. The longer I'm here, the more used to the unpredictability I get. And the more confident I know that the end of the month will come good because it it has so far for the last few months. And I'm just putting in the processes and it will come good. And I think it's a more worrying position. If I was three months self employed, t sitting here and saying there's no unpredictability, it's great, my life has only got better. And I was wildly self confident. That would make me a bit of a counterfeit and a bit of a a fraud I would feel because I either I wouldn't know that there's a storm on the horizon about to come, or I was doing something that was, yeah, like snell selling snack skin snack oil, I think. Is that the phrase? Selling snack oil, which would eventually come crashing down. When you're building something real, when you're vulnerable, when you are building something that matters for the long term, it is It's scary and it is very scary and I find it scary, but I've found it like to be the most rewarding thing that I've done so far. And this quote also to be a bit more vulnerable on the podcast, because I feel like this is somewhere where I can be a little bit more vulnerable. This speaks to me a lot about my content as well. So obviously all my content on Instagram is rehab based, but on the podcast podcast you might since it's getting a little bit more self help. almost like therapy for me when I go through different books I've read and and lessons I've learned. And I want that part I want that type of content to be to be more associated with me as a person rather than just ACL rehab. And this is something that I have been thinking of over the last few months really. because this is where also my passion lies. Yeah. I want to be a good rehabber, but you can want to do multiple things and you can be good at multiple things. So I don't want to just box myself in to be only the ACL rehab guy. but it really scares me to death to go away from that because that's how I make my money. So yeah. Hopefully in the next few weeks and months, you will see more content like this on the Instagram page, more vulnerable content where I'm sharing what I've learned from the business, etc. but it scares me to death for loads of reasons. I don't feel like I've created a ST-able enough business. I'm worried that I'll attract less customers, I'm worried that followers will. go away from me if I start talking about stuff that I shouldn't be talking about, quote unquote, for like what what they don't expect me to be talking about and what they're not following me for. So but yeah this quote sort of makes me feel like I'm in the right headspace with it because I am scared and I'm not I'm definitely, definitely not wildly self confident. so yeah Stephen Pressfield is onto something and that is an amazing book which I only really remembered about when I was going back through the highlights. Question four, and we're nearly there because I'm probably gonna leave question five to be honest. So we'll just do question four because it's been twenty minutes already. and I've bundled these into two questions. Okay. So what unexpected challenges have you faced? And do you have more or less time for hobbies? I'm gonna have a drink. So what unexpected challenges have I faced and do I have more or less time for hobbies? So unexpected challenges. I've talked about a few of them already and there's been there's been loads, but I think the main one which I wouldn't have been able to foresee and no one would have been able to tell me is I will feel chronically busy, but always feel like I'm getting nothing done or nothing meaningful achieved. And one of the po one of the reasons I love the podcast is because I I feel like I have something to show for for myself at the end of it. There's real content there. I can see previous episodes, previous pieces of work, which I can be proud of, even though some of them I'm not particularly proud of, they're real, I they're tangible. I can listen back to them. They're there. But replying to WhatsApp messages for an hour and a half each day does not feel like I've done anything. I've pretty much just put out fires, I've got back to clients, updating programs sometimes feels Productive or like I've got stuff done, but it doesn't feel lasting because it will be a week before that program then needs to re-update it. But this is the reality of running an online business. Sometimes the work isn't pretty, and sometimes you can just feel busy but without getting anything done. And that is quite a frustrating place to be. And I actually think that this busyness feeling is the enemy. Like this is what we should avoid doing. I think this is where the meaningless work. really thrives and takes over. And let me give you an example of what feeling busy might be be for me. Okay. So I open up my laptop and I've got 10 unanswered WhatsApps. I start replying to the WhatsApps. My phone then digs. I go on my phone and then I go on Instagram just by default without even thinking about it. And then 10 minutes later I'm on Instagram thinking, maybe I should do that piece of content or that's really interesting. Claude prompt, maybe I should implement that. Then I go on Claude and then I go back to my WhatsApp and then I'm doing four different things at once. That's what and then I feel busy and I get up and I'm like, whoa, I've done it I've done a decent bit there, but I don't really have anything to show for it. That's feeling busy. Okay. Actually the opposite of that going on a blank page and thinking what do I want to implement for my clients this next month that would take my service from good to great. how can I implement a system which makes sure that I don't get lost in messaging? So for me, that's been fifteen minutes in the morning or half an hour in the morning replying to messages, half an hour in the evening replying to messages, and I need to be stricter with that. so it doesn't just prolong that through the day. Without great solitude, no serious work is possible. It's Pablo Picasso said this, and I got that from the War of Art as well. So without great solitude, no serious work is possible, and that's it, it's the serious work. which I wanna get done, which I enjoy doing, which moves the needle ultimately. but the feeling of being busy and the constant distractions really inhibit that from being done. Okay, question second part of this question, do you have more or less time for hobbies? Hands down, I have more time for hobbies. Okay. Cause I I haven't quite got caught in the trap of working like 15 hours a day that people say you'll do. I am making enough money where I'm comfortable and I can enjoy hobbies. So if someone says to me, Let's go to the sauna, I will go to the sauna with them. If Catherine wants to go out for coffee, nine times out of ten, I will go out for coffee with her, unless I already have something booked in. my gym sessions have got a lot better recently in the past few weeks, and I've really settled into it and I do have more time for reading and other hobbies. So that that's also to do with the rugby seasons off at the minute. So I've been really enjoying that and been enjoying the off season. Now a a different question, a better question is can I be fully present in those hobbies? Or is my mind thinking you need to do this, this and this and this? And that's the busy mind talking. The busy mind is talk thinking, You're not doing anything right now. You've got loads of messages and emails to reply to. You've got people that you could convert to customers if you just go back to them a bit quicker. That's the busy mind talking. But the quiet mind, the Picasso mind, where he wants solitude. For serious work to happen happens in those hobbies. So it happens over that coffee when you're talking and you're fully there, fully present for the conversation. It happens on the morning walk when you're not when you're not bringing your phone and you can process things. So yeah, that's what I want you to take away from this podcast. If you take away anything, being busy is the enemy, especially when you run your own thing. And don't get caught up in the busy trap because it won't it won't serve you well. Ultimately, it'll take you away feeling exhausted, but also making you feel like you haven't done anything meaningful. And as a like as starting out, this was me all the time. when I first started my page, I would consume, consume, consume, consume. And then I couldn't understand why I had no idea what to create. And it's because there was like 40 different things in my mind that I should create at once. The best the best way to know how to create is to start creating. I've talked about wading through the grass to find your way through. The other way I've heard it described recently, which has been really cool, is a book Bird by Bird, which I haven't read. I make it sound like I read books the whole time. A lot of these were read long time ago. But a book Bird by Bird. she talks about when you're driving at night and your headlights are lit in front of you and you don't you can't see the full journey ahead of you, but you can see enough you can see far enough ahead that you can keep going and make it home. And that's kind of what the creative work feels like sometimes and that's what I wish I did more of and I strive to do more of is just create more and then I I'll understand what I want to create and what I find more satis satisfactory. And like that that came from the rehab breakdowns. I I quite enjoyed looking at what other people were doing in the rehab journey and then I started breaking them down and then I found that my audience really enjoys this. But I couldn't have stolen that from anyone else because no one else was doing them in the same way I was. They were all short form clips which weren't as good. to be fair, Alex Morel did a few, which I did steal. But yeah, the creative the creative way is just wading your way through the long grass and finding your way out the other side. It's not it's not looking at the grass from a hundred million different angles and deciding what way you're gonna enter. It's actually just getting into the maze and figuring it out when you get there. so yeah, that's a bit bit of a waffle. Actually, it wasn't waffle. I'm gonna stop talking myself down. I really enjoyed creating this podcast. I enjoyed the questions. Thank you for answering the questions. I'm thinking about putting together a list of books because I I keep talking about books and I want to read more books. I always want to read more books and I love reading books. So if you would be interested in that, just send me a message saying, please put together that list of books because I don't want to put it together and no one actually use it. So Yeah. If you've got any questions on the back of this podcast or anything that surprised you stood out to, please let me know. Please leave a little five star review as well. It really helps me keep going with it and helps me, you know, that people are listening. But yeah, I had a question as well. Someone just said loving the podcast, been been chewing through them recently, which is really, really cool. I I love the fact that people listen to these. whatever they're doing in their life, whether they're walking or or driving or working out or whatever you're doing or just sitting there, listen to me ramble on. I really, really enjoy it. So so thank you. yeah, big thank you. And I will keep creating as long as we as long as I can. I don't see the podcast going anywhere. So it's something I really enjoy doing. Find me at at Look Pollock online. I hope to that you will see more content like this shared on my page for business owners, for people for physios, for people rehabbing. For anyone, I think it is it's helpful to look outside the work to find out how you can do the thing better, whether that is rehabbing, whether that's treating clients, treating patients, or whether that's just your nine to five job, whatever that is, I think it's good to to take different parts of information from different places and implement them into your little world. not that your world's small, but into our little world just to see to see to see things in a s slightly different light and to to be better performers at what we do, to enjoy our time more outside of our work also. So yeah, thanks again for listening and I will catch you next week.