When you start a business, it’s not a job and you started it so you can work for yourself and have the freedom to be, do and have what you want in life. But there’s a blurred line between business owners and people that are self-employed.
Business owners scale their income. Self-employed people trade dollars for hours
Business owners leverage the skills and talents of others. Self-employed people rely only on their own skills.
But don’t be discouraged because most business owners start out self-employed. They key is to not stay there and start focusing on creating a sustainable business because it’s not a job.
Don’t Try to Do It All Yourself
Building a sustainable business requires that you leverage the talents and time of others. While it might seem cost-effective to simply do everything yourself—especially in the start-up phase when you likely have more time than money—it’s a path to burnout and stress.
Instead, separate your tasks into those that you love and are especially suited for (such as marketing) and those you dislike and aren’t good at. Then make a solid plan to get those that you aren’t good at off your list of things to do. If you feel like you can’t afford to outsource it all right now, start with what you tend to procrastinate the most on, even if it’s just a few hours each month.
Don’t Allow Yourself to Work All the Time
The trouble with working at home is that you live at work. And that means that there’s no clear line in the sand between your work day and your home life. Since there’s always work to do, it’s easy to find yourself working every available moment—often to the detriment of your family relationships.
You can help avoid this by:
- Setting—and maintaining—clear work hours – so no answering emails, phone calls, or social media messages that relate to business outside of those hours.
- Having an office with a door you can close when you’re done!
- Scheduling time for family and other activities and don’t forget to go on vacation.
- Take time for yourself whatever that means for you.
Vacations and Downtime Are Important
Don’t create a business that requires you to be “in the office” every day. At the start, you may need to be available more, but you should definitely be planning for the day when you can be “off the grid” for extended periods of time.
- Have trusted contractors who can handle things when you’re not available
- Leverage automation tools such as autoresponders and systems
- Create repeatable systems so you’re not always re-inventing the wheel
While you might not be able to hit the road with no internet access for weeks at a time, at the very least you should be able to reduce your workload to a daily check-in.
Is sound impossible? It’s not. When you can get into the mindset that it’s not a job but a business, you can create a team—and the systems they need—to successfully run your business without becoming overwhelmed and overworked.
Plan it & Launch it is my business program to help you map out your business and create a framework for your success.
