This Small Biz Owner Has a Life/Work Balance Now

It seems lately that there has been a lot of conversation around the topic of having a life and work balance if you are a business owner. And one aspect of being able to make the balance work is to set boundaries within your business. The boundary concept was put best in Vickie Turley’s recent blog posting, How does a Small Business Owner Have a Work/Life Balance? But what I want to focus more on is not necessarily the boundaries you make, but the kind of schedule you can create for yourself that will allow you to work at a certain time of day and still have time to spend with family, particularly your children if you have youngsters in your life (like me!).

What makes a usual work day productive for me is to have a set daily schedule of the number of hours I work that day, the clients that I will be working with and times within the day that I can take breaks, especially a lunch break. It is important to also nourish and take care of yourself so that you are a productive and happy biz owner. I cannot stress that enough. Sometimes you catch yourself skipping breakfast, followed by a sparse lunch and you wonder why you feel so sluggish and lethargic by the end of the day. It doesn’t make for a great attitude towards your family when you haven’t taken care of yourself. Trust me…I’ve been there.

One other thing I want to add about having a set schedule (and it can be as simple as a Word or Excel document you create) is that it cuts off at the same time my office closes. Before I stop working on client tasks at the end of the day, I go ahead and answer any emails that need my attention before the following business day. It sure cuts down on emails I need to reply to first thing the next morning! That also means that I do not work on client tasks in the evening. That time is my family time. It allows me to prepare meals, help my children with their homework, make sure they are fed and bathed each day and it allows me to relax after a busy day working with clients. And sometimes, I need to have that “away” time as I attend women’s meetings or prayer meetings at my local church.

So being a business owner doesn’t mean you have to work 24/7 to make your business work. You will find the time to continue to work your business AND build your business. But it also means you take care of what is really important FIRST: that’s you and your family. They come first whether you have a business or not. Succeeding at the life/work balance is not a science. It’s like a see-saw. It does have its ups and downs! But once you start to take action and make subtle changes in your schedule and set the boundaries that Vickie speaks of, you will start to see that see-saw balance out and you will see the difference it makes in your daily interaction with your clients.

I would love to hear from you if you have success stories (or horror stories) that have challenged your life/work balance. There’s not a wrong answer here. Your comments and questions are welcome!