Illinois
When you began your journey in entrepreneurship, you were likely aware of and actively seeking to avoid the imbalance between working and home life that is so often associated with corporate careers.
As a small business owner, you get to make your own schedule and control your own working hours. But without experience or a knowledgeable business coach, many entrepreneurs fall into the trap of putting too much on their own plate. If you’re more motivated to work because of the level of responsibility you’ve taken on and the passion you have for success, you’re more likely to deprioritize non-work needs to the detriment of your quality of life and overall wellness.
It doesn’t take an expert leadership coach to see that businesses run better if their leaders are feeling energized and fulfilled in their lives both inside and outside the business. As leading small business coaches, we are happy to offer helpful tips to keep your personal and professional lives working in equilibrium.
1. Assess Your Personal and Professional Needs
You need to spend time in your business—that’s a given. But be careful: it’s so easy to get swept up in the pursuit of growth and success and neglect what you need. You’re a person before you’re a business owner.
With that in mind, take inventory of your business’ daily, weekly and monthly tasks and how long it should take to accomplish them. Determine how many hours you need to spend on the business versus how many hours you can spend on the business. We are not advocating for you to do the bare minimum… but having an idea of that minimum can help you set more realistic and healthier goals.
Then, do the same for your personal life. What do you need to do each day, week and month for you to feel like you’re living the life you want and deserve?
2. Be Aware of Quality and Quantity
Being cognizant of your time is crucial as a business owner but it’s not always the number of hours spent that’s most important. What you do in that time can mean the difference between you feeling accomplished and feeling unfulfilled.
When accounting for your business’ needs and your personal needs, don’t leave quality out of the equation. Often, business owners feel they should spend a minimum of 40-50 hours a week in their business. If some of those hours aren’t being used effectively, ask yourself whether there’s a more efficient way to run any aspects of your business or whether you can reappropriate some of those hours to your personal pursuits.
3. Get Help From Experts Where Possible
You don’t have to figure any of this out alone. Companies like AdviCoach train expert small business coaches to help entrepreneurs like you get a leg-up on strategies to improve your approach to leadership, business management and more. Our goal is to empower you to find solutions within your business that help you improve your life outside of it. A cost-free conversation today could be the start of a life-changing relationship with a small business coach at AdviCoach.
4. Establish and Maintain Healthy Boundaries
Once you work with a leadership coach or work out your needs and goals on your own, you can begin to establish boundaries. That may look like making sure work stays in the office, making sure you schedule and prioritize regular time for a hobby or activity you love, planning breaks or giving yourself a hard stop time each day. Our small business coaches can help you set those goals and boundaries, too.
If you are ready to take better control of your work/life balance, reach out to us. We will match you with a coach who will help you meet your goal of earning new business.