You are working hard to ensure a success for your small business. You may discover along the way that separating your business life from your home and personal life is full of challenges. Nuage Digital this week provides a few strategies to help you find a balance between work and life.
Defining Boundaries:
Each personality is different, having different challenges and different goals. It all comes down to flexibility Which means you can decide when to unplug, take off that weekend, or even take a holiday to relax and refresh. Prepare to depend on and trust your employees to take over so you don’t have to do micromanage and have the option of taking off for a day or a weekend. If you are running a home business on your own, setting job limits and sticking to them is even more critical.
When it comes to time spent at work and how you work, you describe your own limits. Along the way, consider your physical, mental, and emotional health. Constant stress, anxiety, or depression are not good for your health and could lead to serious physical problems such as cardiovascular disease or diabetes.
Make Rules to Follow
You have many responsibilities as a small business owner. its recommended that you create rules and then stick by them. Build a dos and don’t list that helps set your personal and professional limits.
Don’t take business calls after closing times, for example. Set open and close hours for the company, whether you are running a brick and mortar business or a home-based online business. Resist the urge to speak unnecessarily with family after work about your workday issues. Make your rules and adhere to them to avoid similar work-life balance issues which prove to be the most challenging for small business owners.
Prioritize Tasks
Small business owners often work more than 50 hours a week, it is common knowledge. There are many who work well in this. However, Joe McCann, writing for Forbes, suggests key factors such as prioritizing and delegating to help you find the elusive distinction between work and personal life in his article. Identify the most critical and important work considerations, such as those which require a deadline. Focus on those first tasks and assign remaining tasks to someone else for the day. If you’re working from home, and you don’t have time for personal activities like cooking, cleaning, or dining, try hiring a part-time student or friend to do those tasks. Consider hiring a virtual freelance assistant for business needs, or pass marketing and promotion on to a freelance copywriter. It does not have to cost an arm and a leg.
Nuage Digital knows it’s not easy running a small business. Find ways of sharing the load, still. Tune in next week for more tips for successful small business.