Welcome back to another Daily. This episode is about boundaries. I think this is like everyone's favorite topic and it's definitely one of mine and something that I have really learned the hard way over the years. And so talking about boundaries and really implementing them and seeing them through and really like having these moments of check in with the boundaries that I have set in my business has been so powerful and I am very excited for this episode.
So let's dive in. I believe that when you truly know yourself, you win. Welcome to on the Daily, a podcast where we dive real deep into human design, astrology and your subconscious mind, all with the intention of you building your idea of a big delusional life and an even more delusional business. My name is Danielle McCleary and I am a master human design astrology teacher, somatic coach, business mentor, public speaker, and seven figure entrepreneur.
My biggest gift is the ability to see beneath the surface. And I think too many people look outside of themselves for who they should be and what they should be doing. Around here, that is unacceptable. Around here, we break the matrix and really remember who the heck we are underneath all the programming.
This podcast will give you all of the tools, mindset, and practical application you'll need to be everything you came here to be in the shiniest way possible. Are you with me? Let's freaking go. I.
Okay, so bound boundaries. This is like a big topic, I think, in business, and it's. It's a topic that I think scares people or that people get really rigid with. And I don't think it's something that has to be as scary as we make it.
But I think what goes hand in hand with, with your success is your willingness to be misunderstood. And that is dictated by the types of boundaries that you are willing to set in business. Now, this looks so many different ways for so many different people. But for me, I used to think that I had to be accessible and available 247 in order to be loved, in order to have success, in order to get the things that I wanted.
This is obviously very frustrating, right? Because you are you. We're conditioned to feel this way. We're conditioned to really kind of give a lot of ourselves for the things that we want.
Now I've learned that that's not necessary. And I'm gonna share a few, like, anecdotes with you and a couple stories with you that have really, like, shaped my belief in this. But let's just. I just want you to know that the way you're gonna hear me speak about this today is very different than the way I used to speak about it.
And I think that that's, it's important to note. So. Okay. When I first started my business, I was on calls all the time.
I was giving away a lot of one on one time. I would have low ticket, low. I would have like close proximity spaces, like one on one coaching available for very little money. Like very low ticket, a lot lower than it should have been.
And so of course people were buying it up. And I was on like seven calls a day. And that felt horrible in my body, but I felt like that's what I needed to do in order to scale a big business. So eventually I was like, this isn't gonna work.
And I really started to focus on how I wanted to be spending my time and how I wanted to be spending my time. How I do want to be spending my time is quite literally not on calls all the time. And what do I need to be on calls all the time? Because I can, I can have containers like sc, where, you know, there's a Slack channel and I can connect with my clients and I can offer support to my clients without being on call with them.
Right. There's Boxer. I can be in Boxer with somebody without actually having to be on call with someone. Because when you're on call with somebody, it's like that's.
You're not able to be in your life. You have to be in front of a computer. You have to be, you know, on the phone. And that is, that's something that I didn't want to do a lot of.
So when we made, when I made that choice, that meant that my pricing for private mentorship had to go way up. And it is at a premium price now. And I do have clients, I only take a max of three, like completely private clients that get calls once a week. I only take three of those at a time.
I always have a waitlist for that container. And you know that that price point is currently set at $20,000 over three months. That will go up because I have a waitlist all the time. So now that I have a waitlist for that price point, I know that that price point can go up that.
But that is something that when that happened, I had to be, okay, out pricing current clients. People that were working with me one on one no longer could afford to. And that's okay. It doesn't, they don't need to.
And, and, and I'm sure there were people that were like. I'm sure that there were thoughts of like, oh my gosh. Well, she's just like, she's better than everyone now. It's not that I, I don't think I'm better than anyone.
It's truly that I just value my time in a way that I never used to. So raising my prices was a huge part of boundaries that I had to learn as a business owner very early on. Um, the second thing that I want to share is, you know, there, there have been clients that have left my containers early. And I used to.
And this actually it all happened because a little over a year ago, a client who came into my container, paid two payments, she chose a payment plan, she paid two payments and then container. And at that point I didn't have something in my contract that's had like a breaking of contract clause. Right. So what happens if you want to leave early?
Like, sure, technically she still owed me that money, but like, it would be really hard to chase that down and who knows what happened with that. So I ended up being out like $8,000 from that client. And that's what that was at the time. That felt a lot of money.
And so in that moment, we renegotiated the terms of my contracts, we added new clauses, we added, if you leave a contract early, you are still responsible for paying 50% of that. And that, you know, probably was misunderstood by people. But at the end of the day, my time and my value is very important to me. And so I need to be, I need to make sure that I'm protecting my business and I'm protecting the piece in my business in a way that not only protects my clients because, you know, contracts don't just protect me, they also protect my clients and it gives them all of the information that they need.
Um, recently a client left a container and now these contracts are very solid and very set in place. And there's a no refund policy because usually when you come into my long term containers, like scale to 6, you immediately get access to my course dashboard, like all of my courses and my programs and stuff. Plus you get like, you know, maybe you get a branding audit or a human design reading or something one on one. And then you also get all these, this, this dashboard of trainings and pre recorded calls, so there is no refunds.
And there was a client that left the container and left the container based on their own what was going on in their own life. I don't think that this person truly read the contract completely. And that's not on me. You know, I don't always read contracts.
But I know, like, if I'm not gonna read the contract, like, if I miss something, that's on me. And I think that what happened, this client didn't do that, and, you know, freaked out and wanted to leave. And I had asked for a refund, and I said no, because this client had already received a private call. They already received.
You know, they already started taking some of the courses in my program. And out of respect for my business and also. Also out of respect for my other clients, Right. If you start offering exceptions and, you know, leniency to one client, like, that's not fair to clients who are actually there and paying you full price and staying and honoring their contracts.
So it's not just for you. It's not just for the client in question. It's also for all of your other clients. It's for the integrity of your business as a whole.
So this client was very upset that I wouldn't offer a refund and said something to the tune of, you know, if you make as much money as you claim to, why wouldn't you just grant a refund to somebody who's struggling financially? And, Danielle, six years ago, y' all would have definitely been like, oh, my gosh, like, no, I'm not unreasonable. Here, let me prove it to you. I've given you this refund just this once, but just this once was.
Was still sucking my soul. It was still feeling awful in my body. So, you know, it's like, I just. I decided, like, that's not.
I'm not doing that. And, you know, it was very easy because now I have a team, so I have an executive assistant. I have a chief operations officer in my business, my company, and they were. They handle all of that.
They handle all my client questions. They handle all payment stuff. They handle hr, like, that's their job. So it really does get to create this kind of, like, separation where I'm not having to be so personally involved with the, like, logistics of the business, which is how most companies run, by the way.
Right. Like, the CEO is not offering you a refund. It's the HR department. It's the sales team.
It's whoever and so. Or off, you know, dealing with your refund request. So this client was very upset, and I can understand that. I can understand why somebody would be very upset.
That makes sense to me that somebody would be very upset. And that does not mean. Just because I understand, it does not mean that I need to bend the boundaries of my business in order to accommodate that person. And I didn't and, you know, a lot of really mean and, like, inappropriate things were said in my DMs.
I did not respond. Like, at that point, I disengage. Right. Like, one thing I have very strong boundaries around is I have a zero tolerance policy for disrespecting my business.
If there's disrespect either to someone else in my containers or to me or, you know, in some way, if there's disrespect, it's a zero tolerance and you will be escorted out of the building. Because I just, I don't have, I don't have time for that. They don't have time for that. My other clients don't have time for that.
And I, I, it's just something I have a zero tolerance policy for. So, you know, this is, all this is to say, like, don't be afraid to set really strong terms and conditions in your contracts. That's what they're there for. And it's not just for you, it's for them as well.
So, you know, if this client would have read the contract in full, then they probably wouldn't ask for a refund because they would have known that that wasn't happening. Right. Or they wouldn't have, they wouldn't have join the container in the first place. You know, another place I've really set boundaries is around social media.
I used to kind of coach the DMS for free. Like, people would come, they pick my brain, and I would give them feedback, thinking like, oh, if I give them feedback, then they'll want to join my programs. Wrong. If you give them coaching the DMs, why would they pay you?
Like, your, your programs now are watered down. And again, that's not in integrity with your current clients. With my current clients, people who were paying me, if I'm coaching for free in the DMs, then that's out of integrity for the people that are not, that are actually paying me. So I don't answer questions in the DMs anymore.
I don't, I don't coach in the DMs anymore. And I certainly don't allow disrespect in the DMs anymore. So if somebody comes, slides in my DMs and they say some, like, hateful shit or some, you know, inappropriate things, either in the DMs or a comment on my post, like, I used to, like, respond in the comment, I don't do that anymore. There's no responding.
Again, zero tolerance policy. People get sorted out of the Building like that's just how it is. That's just how I am. That's just, that's protecting my peace.
My peace and my freedom are number one priority. And that's what I try to model for my clients so that they can be the same. And if I'm off, if I'm bending my own boundaries, then that energy is going to be reflected outward. And that's what my clients are going to think they need to do in order to be successful.
And then I am not doing my job as their mentor. So if you are in a position of leadership, either as a coach or in the corporate world or wherever you're in a position of leadership, it is the best thing you can do to set really strong, rock solid boundaries in your business. If you're not willing to do that, then that energy is going to be reflected back to you either in the way that people deal with you or the way that your clients then act in their own business. Right?
If you are a client, if you are somebody who has not transcended the need to be needed or transcended the addiction to outside validation, if you're in a position of leadership and you have not done that, then the only type of person you will attract into your business is people who need everything from you, who put you on pedestals. And then when you don't meet up, like, you know, if you don't meet their expectations once, because they don't even meet their expectations, they're gonna try to tear you down. And so it's really important you're paying attention to your energy in your business. It's really important that you're paying attention to the boundaries you set in your business and really being clear on why you have them in the first place.
Because if you're not willing to do that, then you're constantly going to be attracting misaligned clients, you're going to be attracting misaligned people. And that energy that you have in your business is going to transcend the way you are with your friends, the way you are with your family, the way you are with your partner, your kids. So really getting clear and really honoring the type of existence, the type of life that you want. And then, and then setting boundaries that reflect that is going to be the best thing you do in your business.
And you know, people always go, well, how, how do I set boundaries? How do I do this? Well, that's why I teach inside of maintainers. And that is like, that's one of the reasons why you should definitely be with a coach who has done it and has had these tough conversations and has been through these tough, you know, I can't imagine not having my mentor, because I know that she's been through things that I haven't been through.
When I go through them, I know that she's been able to give me really solid advice. So you should definitely have a mentor if you're building a business, if for no other reason than they've had to set the boundaries that you're feeling really uncomfortable with setting right now, raising your prices, solid contracts, no refunds, you know, not coaching the DMs, not having a tolerance policy for inappropriate behavior, the ability to have the tough conversations. Right. Like, these are things that you do need mentorship for.
I do believe that. And that's a hell I'll die on. So, on that note, I will see you next week.