Starting a Community interest company can feel like a lot of work and overwhelming at times.
The key is having the right mindset and working smarter.
Whether you're fitting your CIC in around your job or balancing family time, we all have limited time.
A CIC need not take up all your time. It's absolutely possible to run part time projects or just occasional activities and still achieve a high income that is enough to live on.
Here are some tips to help you achieve your dream by changing your mindset.
1.) Be confident in everything you do. Pitch your CIC and your work with confidence that you are the best people to deliver your impactful work. This should be clear on your website, social media, application forms.
2.) Choose small manageable projects that you can realistically achieve in the time you have. If you only have a day per week or you only want to work for a few days over 6 months then choose a manageable project that fits. Maybe some research and an event with a few workshops. Or an activity you run each week for an afternoon throughout the year.
3.) Develop an easy effortless social media output routine. This makes your CIC look active all the time. It helps to plan out on paper a strategy. Use Canva or similar social design templates to help you look professional. Use the same colour, font and style so your page follows nicely. Make a batch on day and schedule them to post each day at an optimum time.
4.) Have some kind of automated recurring income. Like an online course, membership, affiliate marketing or selling an online product. I recommend a Wix website or similar so you can build and manage your own website adding all these features. This will give you some extra income with very little work once it's set up.
5.) Block off time on your schedule. Compartmentalising your work into time of day blocks helps reduce stress and boost productivity. Set a date to produce something or have an hour set aside for social posting.
6.) Be brutal and cut distractions or work that is less productive. Meetings can drain time, switching from meeting in person to zooms. If an activity you're running isn't achieving results, change it. Better to concentrate on doing one social platform well then using 5 with no results (just do instagram if you just do one).
7.) Give yourself space to think. Having thinking space is essential when growing a business so you have to review and come up with new ideas. Journal, exercise, do something creative. I find my best ideas come when I swim.
8.) Early morning routine. Getting up earlier than we need to give you an extra hour or two to relax, think, plan, learn, exercise. This is proven to boost productivity and wellbeing.
9.) Stay grounded in your community you are serving. Stay connected and engaged. This will help you stay focused and driven to achieve impact. Taking time to regularly talk to your community about what they want will benefit your CIC and help you stay relevant.
10.) Manifest your future goal. Keeping in mind your future goal. Envisaging what you want your CIC to grow to and how your life will look when you get to that level goes a long way to making it happen. Manifestation is a powerful tool. What does your dream CIC look like?
Following these mindset tips will help you to stay focused, work smarter and boost your productivity.
Keep going despite knock backs from funders. Keep reviewing and learning what works. Growing towards greater impact and an easier, rewarding, happy work life for you.
Kexx 🫶🏼
I’m about to host my first event in a few hours and this is exactly what what I needed to read