There is no denying that running your own business is hard. Of course, it has many positives, otherwise no one would do it, but it’s not for the faint-hearted; it takes hard work and determination, as well as many a late night and early morning to get it all done. It’s a demanding choice when it comes to work.
Having a family is also demanding. They will want to spend time with you, and you with them; and you’ll certainly want to avoid feeling guilty because you’re spending too much time on your business and not enough time with your partner and children. Yet this is often what happens, especially at the start—and often long after the business has been launched and is running. After all, if you were to take your foot off the pedal at that point, it would be easy for competitors to get past you and leave you in the dust.
So what can be done? Is it actually possible to have a family and run a successful business; or will you have to choose one over the other? The answer depends on how good you are at planning. The fact is, you can have it all if you are careful and prepared to plan ahead. With that in mind, here are some of the steps you’ll need to take to balance your business and home responsibilities.
Planning
As we’ve said, planning is crucial if you want to be able to balance everything in the right way. To begin with, this might seem impossible, but if you start by listing out all your commitments for home and the business, you’ll see exactly what needs to be planned for. Once you have done this, you can also think about your major life goals. You won’t want to compromise on them, so you need to have them in mind and keep them safe where you can.
You’ll then need to think about how you currently spend your time doing all the tasks you’ve listed. How many hours a day do you devote to each item on the list? Having an accurate idea of how you spend each moment of the day will be helpful, as it will immediately show you where you’re doing too much of one, not enough of another, or wasting time that would be more usefully put to better use performing other tasks.
Once you can see what you’re doing right now, you’ll see which areas you need to change to have a better work–life balance, which is what you’re ultimately aiming for. Then change the timings to what you consider would be a better way to go about your routines. For the next week or two, try these new timings and stick to them as much as you can. Does it work better? Are you happier or more stressed? Keep adjusting what you’re doing until you reach the right balance.
Spend Time At Home
Although you might run your business by yourself, and you might think that you’re the one who has to do all the planning, getting your family involved is a good idea. Not only will it take the burden off you, but it will give you an insight into what they want from you, as well. What if your children are coming up to school age or perhaps are on the verge of leaving home? You might think they need you to be around more, but do they? Ask the question, because it will make a big difference to the plan that was mentioned above. There are other examples of why asking others what they need from you is a good idea, and you may not be able to factor everything into your plan, but unless you know, you won’t even be able to try.
When it comes to work and your family, letting them know what’s happening or what is going to happen is always important. Perhaps you have a particularly busy week coming up so you won’t be around too much; or maybe you don’t have a lot of work on, so you want to know what they want to do together with you. Keep them informed because you’re not the only one who has plans—they will also need to plan their lives, and the older they are, the more important and necessary this is. Plus, we’re not just talking about children; if you live with a partner, for example, they may need to work around your plans or let you know theirs. It’s crucial to all work together so that everyone gets everything done.
It’s wise to have a contingency just in case anything comes up that you need to change plans for. It might not always be possible, but an emergency dental appointment or a meeting at school could be necessary, and when it is, you’ll have to have a plan B to move to.
Quality Over Quantity
When you are running a business, and particularly when you are just starting up, it will take up a lot of your time. If you’re truly taking it seriously and also studying for an online MBA, you’ll have even less time. Taking care of your business and studying for this degree that will help you understand more and stand out in a crowd is vital, but what about your family?
There is no way to create unlimited time, and sometimes, as already mentioned, you won’t have a lot of time to devote to your kids and spouse. However, it’s not always about how much time you have; it’s about what you do with the time you do have. Think quality rather than quantity. What is the point of having hours and hours of free time to spend with your kids if they want to be with their friends or watch TV or read books, and don’t necessarily need or want you with them? You might as well be working on your business. However, if you just have a weekend every other week, you can plan a special and fun activity and make it into an event for everyone to look forward to. You’ll be using the time you have wisely, and the people you spend it with will remember it fondly. Over the years, this is what will count most.
Think About Childcare
Having it all is the ultimate dream, and sometimes it can be done, depending on the kind of business you run, how much work you want and need to put into it, and how old your kids are. However, there will be times when you need outside help, either within the business (outsourcing can be ideal in this regard) or at home.
In terms of help at home, childcare springs most readily to mind. Having good childcare in place means you can relax and focus on your business when you need to without the worry of where your children are and who is going to collect them from this place or that.
Childcare can be a formal arrangement if you want it to be. This might mean taking the children to a nursery and collecting them at the end of the day, for example. Or it could mean having a nanny or childminder come to your house to take care of the kids while you work.
Alternatively, it can be a much more informal arrangement. You might ask a family member to take care of the little ones while you get a report done or have a meeting. Perhaps you’ll arrange for playdates so that your children are happy and occupied. No matter what you do, if it means everyone is happy and you can get your work done so that later on you have time to spend together as a family, then it’s worthwhile.
Reduce Your Workload
This article has already mentioned a number of times how hard it is to run a business, and especially how hard it is right at the start. It will certainly take up a lot of your time, taking you away from family and friends and making you very tired when you do have time to spend with them. There is a simple solution, even though you might not like the idea at first; reduce your workload.
Life is short, and running a successful business is important, but is it as important as enjoying time with your family? Once they are grown up and have moved on to have their own lives, you won’t want to regret spending too much time at work. Although this won’t worry everyone—and for some, business must come first—if you are someone who knows they would regret not spending more time with family, that’s what you’ll need to do. Scale your business down or hire freelancers to help you, for example. You don’t have to give up on your dream, but stepping back a little could be exactly what you need if you want to be happy; and being happy is so important.
