Running or owning a business requires a lot of work right from the beginning until the time when your operations are automated or can run efficiently without you. Once that happens, daily direct interventions will not be required. Nonetheless, an essential part of being a business owner is to strike a fair balance between your personal and professional life. According to the WHO work-life statistics, 80% of US adults feel stressed at work, meaning that they can’t wait to get home to relax and take a break. So, how do you balance your business and home life to get the best of both? Here are some tips you should consider.
- Set regular business hours and days
Setting regular business hours and days can be regarded as one of the most important things you can do to strike a balance between your work-life and your home. Your ability to decide and stick to your availability during business days is where it all starts. It can be quite tricky to choose not to attend to important business calls outside your working hours. However, it would be best if you remembered that your life’s overall quality depends on your family connection as well. You can put your phone on ‘Do Not Disturb’ as a way to cut back on incoming business calls. You can also activate the auto-response setting on your email to inform employees or clients about your unavailability at certain times of the day or week. For some entrepreneurs, business cards provide information on when their opening and closing times are.
However, to not miss essential calls or emergencies, you can instruct employees on how this can be communicated. Or you can get a different phone number available for only such purposes.
- Set objectives and write your ideas down during non-working hours
Sometimes, the best ideas come to find you when you are relaxed and spending time with family; this would be during your non-working hours. When that happens, the best thing to do is write them down, knowing you will act upon them all when you get back to work. It is an excellent way to control your inspiration without missing out on balancing your life priorities. Apart from setting business objectives, you should consider setting up compatible family goals as well. For example, your business goal in a given month is to reach a specific profit goal. However, to achieve this would mean you must spend extended periods away from the family- which is not ideal. Therefore, always set your entrepreneurial goals by juxtaposing each with how you can involve family to strengthen the bond.
In other words, family objectives should encompass what you can do together as a unit, rather than what you can singularly do for them. Indeed, money might give some levels of comfort, but your family’s emotional needs should always come first.
- Delegate tasks and utilize assistance when you need it
As an entrepreneur, your business’ success is not dependent on your efforts alone. Maybe you have reliable employees who manage other aspects of the company, which helps relieve some of the pressure. However, if your style has always been to handle everything yourself, now is the perfect time to reconsider that stance. It may be the one most important thing you do to save your family from indifference towards you.
Personal or work assistants come in handy for business owners who have a lot on their hands. Besides, having one (or a few) assistants is a management strategy that produces excellent results when delegated tasks are carried out correctly. For example, you can outsource and find affordable bookkeeping services as a way to save time for the family.
Your customer service personnel or employees should be capable of handling mild to serious customer complaints. Your finance department should take various financial decisions, and your IT department should resolve problems on its own. By letting the different departments work, you can make more time for your family.
- Make mealtimes family time
For many entrepreneurs, spending time to have dinner with the family is a non-negotiable priority. It happens to be one of those significant bonding moments for members of the family. Suppose this is you, then that’s good! You are taking a step in the right direction of balancing your business and family life. On the other hand, if you haven’t been able to establish this tradition yet, do not despair as there is a way to make it happen. Eating together as a family builds a culture of togetherness and nurtures better psychological and emotional health for family members, especially children. Younger kids tend to do better with the presence of both parents at home. As a tip, begin with one meal time a week and then increase the frequency of often you eat together over a period.
This form of quality family time serves as a practical lesson for your children. It teaches them that a person can still dedicate quality time to family, regardless of busy schedules. Admittedly, it is logical to expect that some particular instances may make it impossible to maintain regular meal times with family. However, make it a point to recover or double up on the lost family time.
- Embrace self-care
In your bid to take care of your family and run a business, it is possible to lose sight of your health and well-being. Consider yourself as the binding agent holding work and family together. However, if you overstretch this binding agent beyond its strength, it weakens and breaks apart. That could be you. Inefficient stress management can infiltrate the normal functioning of your body and cause health problems.
For example, high blood pressure (hypertension) and insomnia are in many cases, responsible for ill-managed stress. Therefore, commit to regular health checks as a way to mitigate such medical complications. You will need a sound mind in a sound body to give your best for business and family. Find time to recharge your energies because your physical and emotional wellbeing directly affects your performance as a boss and family person.
Entrepreneurs and business owners require willpower, innovative ideas, and practical management skills to succeed. There is also a high level of discipline necessary to excel as a boss and family person. The sooner you learn these very early in your career, the better you will exercise an excellent work-life balance.
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