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Being your own boss has its perks. You get to make your own schedule and pick who you want to work with.
But while there are perks to being self-employed, it can also be stressful. All the responsibility falls on you. And you want to be successful and provide for your family.
If you let it, running a business can consume your life and lead to burn out. Work-life balance is important for your health and maintaining good relationships.
But is it possible to be self-employed and not always be thinking about work?
Here are 3 tips to help you achieve a better work-life balance.
1. Make a Schedule and Set Your Work Hours
The flexibility of making your own schedule can be great!
You can take your kids to school or go to the gym when you want.
But a flexible schedule can get in the way of time that should be spent on work.
An employer gives you a one-hour lunch break. You have to decide how to use it. Run errands, go to the gym, or have to lunch with your co-workers. That hour is precious! Being your own boss doesn’t create extra hours in the day so you have to schedule your time wisely.
Creating a schedule and sticking to it will help you to get more work done during work hours. Use a tool like Google Calendar. Most self-employed people find working while others are working to be the most productive and have the least distractions.
2. Set Boundaries and Minimize Distractions
When you’re self-employed or work from home, friends and family often think you’re available during the day for various activities. You should set boundaries and limit non-work activities during scheduled work time.
Keep in mind this is all about balance. You have to decide what’s best for you when it comes to non-work activities and how flexible you can be.
Avoid working outside scheduled work hours. Set boundaries with your clients and co-workers. Likely, they don’t want to think about work outside work hours either.
Often very little work gets accomplished with emails you send after hours. People don’t pay close attention to emails they read away from their desks.
They often even forget about emails they read the day before. This means you’ll end up sending another email the following day. So, you didn’t accomplish anything!
It’s better to wait until everyone’s back at their desk and focused on work. Keeping communication to work hours is more productive and shows respect for your colleagues.
Having a designated work area helps keep work and home life separate. A separate work area will also minimize distractions.
Turning off your phone alerts or leaving a device in a different room may help you stay focused on work.
3. Be Reasonable and Balanced
Being your own boss means you only get paid when you work, and there is no paid vacation or sick time.
This can create more financial pressure and the responsibility to not take time off. Not delivering on time for a client falls on you and could result in losing business.
But it’s still important to take breaks and time off!
Stress from work can lead to burnout and affect your business and personal relationships. Balance is important for your mental and physical health.
To help balance your workload, set goals and decide on your income needs. Turn down extra work or hire help if you have too much work.
Take breaks throughout the day, go on a walk, step away from your computer for lunch. Take time off and spend time with family and friends.
Work-life balance is not something you can achieve overnight, nor will it ever be perfect. Set some work-life balance goals for you and your business. You are likely to see results in your overall happiness, health and relationships!
Do you have too much work and need extra help? Hire a virtual assistant to get some of those tasks off your plate!
Call Heltzel Virtual at (352) 477-1877 to book your free consult!