Setting Boundaries in Business: What they are and how to set them
Have you ever set a boundary, felt you were clear, then the boundary is crossed again?
Many of us are familiar with physical boundaries but often neglect the importance of creating those spiritual boundaries too. Having healthy boundaries help us to strengthen our relationships, especially in business because they allow us to meet others’ needs while being able to meet and respect our own.
And in order to function at your best and have the greatest impact on your clients, setting business boundaries are a must.
So what is a business boundary?
A business boundary is a guideline that you put in place so that you can work optimally and serve your clients wholeheartedly while still feeling rested and energised. It can be physical, emotional, mental and spiritual in nature and establishes a line of respect, value and tells others what you will allow or not allow. When you’re proactive about setting boundaries you avoid things like burnout, miscommunication and upset clients.
What happens when you don’t set boundaries in your business?
Some signs that you need to strengthen your boundaries are:
- You try to do it all, 24/7
- Your energy drops dramatically
- You get resentful of clients and others who demands your time
- You get burned out or break down
- You know you’re not serving your clients as well as you could
- Your sleep, health and other areas of your life are suffering
The benefits of setting boundaries in business
As a business owner, it’s up to you to protect your own energy and manage your relationships with your clients. And when you do:
- You nurture your intuitive, empathetic and spiritual gifts and use them optimally
- You better manage your own your time and energy — and your productivity increases
- You strengthen your client relationships and build trust by being transparent
Setting boundaries with yourself
It’s no secret: The better you take care of yourself, the better you can serve others. When it comes to self-boundary this is about learning to set boundaries with your own behaviours. This means paying attention to yourself and your needs; prioritising quality of quantity and stop comparing and “shoulding” all over yourself. Just because another business owner can go live on social media all day and pull 10 hour workdays doesn’t mean you should. You do you.
Examples of setting boundaries with yourself:
- Setting a work schedule that brings out the best in you (and sticking to it)
- Saying “no” to things that don’t make your heart expand
- Not overscheduling yourself with calls and meetings
- Not constantly giving free advice or showing up anytime you are asked
Setting boundaries with clients
Learning the boundaries of others and respecting them is easier once you understand what a boundary is, and you can take responsibility for setting boundaries with yourself. Once you understand another’s boundaries you can enjoy your relationship with them because you know what to expect and what they expect.
The key is to set expectations ahead of time, clearly communicate them, and most importantly, enforce them. This will avoid us reacting and putting us in a position needing to ask for forgiveness for not completing work or fulfilling their request at our own risk of burnout.
Examples of setting boundaries with clients:
- Communicate clear expectations. Spell out things like when to expect a response to an email, what happens if they’re late or don’t show up, and what is expected of your client throughout your work together.
- Letting clients know when a request is outside your initial scope of work and saying no if it’s something you can’t or don’t want to do.
- Keeping things in perspective. Remind yourself this isn’t life-threatening surgery! When a client has an emergency, ask yourself is this a “true” emergency? Keep your wits about you and remember you have the power to say no or not now.
Remember, you weren’t put on this earth to serve everyone’s needs, but to do what you do best. In order to do that, you must set boundaries.
Energetic boundaries allow you to show up as your highest self
These are just a few basics boundaries, but energetics can be very different. Energetic boundaries can show in the energy field as strong, resilient, or thin and weak. No matter what you might think in your head or feel in your gut as setting a boundary, it will show up in your energy field if you have the energy or not to back up what you say. Meaning, you might say no, but your energy field is weak, and then your client can sense that and they can just walk right through your energy field anyway.
So what makes the difference? Your strong intentions make the difference.
How to set an energetic boundary
To set an effective boundary, you need to:
- Clear your energy field with authority
- Set the intention to create the boundary clearly and be specific
- Test and measure your boundary and refine your intention
Ensuring that your energetic field is clear is vital to setting up the most optimal way to determine what is yours and what isn’t.
You can do this by grounding, clearing and protecting your energy.
In my experience, being well grounded is key. Deep grounding to the centre of the earth (or any other element that you resonate with), allows gravity to pull out excess unwanted energy out of your energy field. Being well grounded also draws more of your spirit into your physical body and the brightness of your own soul, radiates through the different bodies and repels negativity.
Energy protection must have a component of also being permeable. Meaning your energy field needs to filter out negative or toxic energy but your energy field needs to allow healthy, intuitive energy in as well. If you over protect yourself, you can block vital life-giving energies from coming in and toxins from getting out.
An effective option is to use sacred geometry or the rose as your boundary. The rose is sacred and holds one of the highest vibrational frequencies in plants. It holds a tremendous energetic disposition to bring love into your heart. Therefore, it can repel dark or dense energy, and enhance the frequency of love. Sacred geometry like the Merkabah or Tetrahedron also holds energetic imprints that creates better alignments with our energetic bodies.
An example of setting a boundary for business partner could be:
- Take a moment to close your eyes, take a deep breath into your heart space and imagine yourself being pulled into the centre of the earth, grounding you. Allow all the negative thoughts, stress, worries and unhelpful patterns be channelled into the core of the earth and transmuted into a white light. Draw that energy back up, through the soles of your feet and back into your heart space.
- Set the intention that your business partner and you work beside each other in a harmonious, co-creating way that allows your skills, talents and gifts be recognised, appreciated and acknowledged. That you work together for the best and highest good and for optimal efficiency and abundance. That all comparison, jealousy, envy and resentment is released and truth, honesty and love is lovingly installed. Feel the intention expand your heart space, allowing the energy to form a shield around you. Use a rose or sacred geometry to seal this intention around your energy field.
- Be an observer and take note on how your interactions with your business partner are. If you need to shift and change the wording, use a different coloured light or visualise the shield in a different (perhaps thicker) way, then do so. Know that refining the steps, readjusting the wording and effectively visualising takes time. The more you do this, the more the energetic imprint will hold in your field.
Ready to thrive in your business?
Setting boundaries in your business helps you support yourself, so that you can feel good and thrive while supporting others. This is a key part of doing the inner work to grow an aligned sustainable business.
If you’d like to learn more about supporting your business, check out my business alignment sessions.
