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Recently, I decided to build a customer relationship management system (CRM) for my solo business. It started as a simple list of my contacts. Then I integrated my Google Drive and my calendar. Then I decided to add a pretty interface in my brand colors, along with some behind-the-scenes automation.
The problem? That was hours of time I hadn’t planned to spend. Nobody was going to use it except for me, and the first version would have served my original purpose.
While it was certainly a fun project, it wasn’t necessary. Large organizations have project managers who set limits. Working solo, that responsibility falls to you, whether it’s for an internal project or client work. You’ve got to hold the line so that you don’t end up putting more effort into a project than it’s worth.
Decide what “done” looks like before you start
It’s easier to set boundaries around client work because your contract should outline the scope. But even a signed agreement can’t protect you from yourself. If you’re a perfectionist, it’s easy to turn a defined deliverable into something bigger. You keep tweaking and putting in more time, even though you had a version that would have made the client happy hours ago.
If you can’t describe what a finished deliverable looks like, it will keep going as long as you keep having ideas. You’re putting in more time for the same pay—which “costs” your business.
Write down what “done” looks like for a client project before you even start. You may have some additional back-and-forth with the client, but you need to determine the point at which a deliverable passes into their hands for review.
For internal projects, outline exactly what you plan to work on and what “v1” looks like so you don’t keep making the project bigger than it needs to be. Hold yourself to that boundary in the same way you would with client work.
Set time limits around any project
Time limits can do the work when sheer willpower falls short. Work expands to fill whatever amount of time you give it, so a cap forces you to stop.
On most days, I use time blocking for specific projects and client work. A project doesn’t get “however long it takes”—it gets the amount of time I’ve set aside in my block. When I get to the end of a block, that’s my cue to assess where I’m at. Do I legitimately need more time to finish up, or have I reached the “done” point?
A self-imposed time limit can also keep your internal projects in check. Outside of my CRM project that ballooned out of control, I usually block off time for internal projects. At the end of 30 minutes or an hour, I need to stop, put it aside, and determine if I need to return to it later.
Get comfortable with the end result
I’m a professional writer, and I’ll never forget the editor who told me, “It’s a blog post. Not the next Nobel prize winner.” That framing was invaluable because it put a project into perspective. I shouldn’t agonize over every word because that wasn’t the goal.
Quality is the last boundary, and perfectionism makes a project expensive. If you consistently want to deliver more than you agreed to, then perhaps you need to change how you scope projects or your pricing.
Plus, different projects need different bars. An internal tool you create for yourself doesn’t need client-level polish. A functional result is usually fine when you’re the only one who will ever see it.
Boundaries give you more flexibility
After spending countless hours on my CRM, I was both pleased with what I’d created… and dismayed by how much time I’d put in. The amount of value I’d get would never offset the “cost” of the project.
The hours you don’t spend overcomplicating a project or chasing perfectionism are hours available for the next client. Or time you save for yourself and your life outside of your business. You get the flexibility by deciding where the work ends before you start.
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