Before we start, let us make one thing very clear – IT IS POSSIBLE! And we will tell you how.
Building a business is not a piece of cake, as you would have guessed. Just like a plant, a growing business also needs a lot of nurturing and nourishment. That is your time, money, and best efforts.
However, it does not mean sacrificing your whole life, along with your family and friends. After all, you must be establishing a business to secure your future, spend more time with your family, and take care of yourself, right?. So, why put everything aside in the first place?
Now, we know what you must be thinking, “How is it possible to build a business from scratch while taking out time for my family and myself?”. Well, you are not alone. Everyone who wants to build a business goes through this phase. We did too!
What you need to do is introduce balance in your life. That is what successful entrepreneurs do to manage their life. So, if they can do it, you can too, and don’t worry, we are here to help.
Best Practices To Build A Business Without Sacrificing What Matters Most
When you start building a business, it is easy to fall into the trap of giving up everything else, including self-care. It may leave you more time on your hand, but a little extra time is not worth all that sacrifice. We have a much better idea that is actually fruitful – work-life balance. All you have to do is to adopt the following five practices.
1. Set Up Business Systems
First and foremost, you must create documented business systems. You can think of them as procedures that define how to carry out certain tasks necessary to get certain results to achieve the defined business goals. You can establish a business system for one or multiple areas of your business, including cleanliness. Just make sure everyone on the team has a copy of that.
Business systems help teams perform core tasks and activities even with minimal training. Additionally, they help improve efficiency, keep things consistent, connect departments, scale better, streamline activities, and ensure everything is going as planned even in your absence.
In short, business systems allow you to take some time off without worrying about business workflows, operations, and tasks.
2. Stick To Your Routine
With time, your business will start to grow, and so will its demands. It would require you to invest more money, put in extra effort, and most importantly, give more time. The first two are simple and may even be easy, but the third part is a bit tricky. Since the time is limited, recklessly spending more on the business will leave less of it for your family, friends, and yourself.
You can avoid this trap by creating a proper schedule. Carefully divide the whole day in a way that you can easily manage your business and get enough personal time. Also, don’t overburden yourself during work hours to avoid burnout, and include some leisure activities in personal time to support your physical and mental wellbeing, like sports or gym. Lastly, make sure to stick to this new routine, no matter what.
3. Keep Work And Personal Life Separate
We are living in a digital age, surrounded by all sorts of technology. Indeed, it has many benefits, but at the same time, it has some drawbacks as well. The technological advancements have enabled hyperconnectivity, and even when we are on off hours, a work message, call, or high-priority notification can pull us back into work mode.
There are a few things that would help you avoid this. First is to learn to say “NO” whenever necessary. It does not mean to turn a blind eye on business or personal stuff, but to schedule things according to allocated time. The second thing is to disconnect yourself if things are getting overwhelming. For example, use focus mode during work hours to avoid distractions and turn off Wi-Fi during personal time to avoid getting pulled back into work.
4. Focus On High-Impact Tasks
If you start thinking about everything you can do in a day, a million things will pop up, like ideas, theories, techniques, and projects. Ultimately, you will find yourself dwelling on such stuff, failing to do anything at all.
Therefore, make a list of things that are most important and will yield the best possible results, and leave things of little value. It will keep your mind clear during personal time as well as work time, while improving the results.
5. Create Work Hierarchy
Running a business does not mean doing everything yourself. If you don’t want to sacrifice personal or family time, choose people who can handle duties as effectively and efficiently as yourself, even in your absence.
Since you will be the CEO of the company, you will need an assistant, vice president, director, managers, team leads, and team members. So, find people who are fit for the job description of respective positions and train them for your business. Next, provide them with the tools and things they need to fulfill their duties.
Once that’s done, you will be able to take some extra time off for yourself or your family and friends. You can ask your assistant to keep you in the loop and integrate a project management tool in your business systems to keep an eye on everything.
Final Takeaway
Most people forget about themselves in pursuit of building a successful business. However, profits alone do not define success. Success is about leading a comfortable and satisfactory life, in which you have time to do things you love, have a nice meal with your family, and enjoy with your friends.
Don’t prioritize your schedule, make a proper schedule of your priorities. Focus on tasks that bring the most value to your business and learn to pass the torch. Remember, no matter what, you will be the sole owner of your company. Therefore, turn your attention towards things that matter the most in life, because at the end of the day, only your family will feel and remember your absence, especially the kids.
