5 Secrets for Business Owners to Achieve True Work/Life Balance

You gave up the right to have a work/life balance when you decided to start your business.  

How long have you been telling yourself this? How often is this your default thought when things get a bit chaotic?

“I asked for this.” 

“How can I expect any different?” 

“This is how it’s SUPPOSED to be.” 

“This is a GOOD thing.”

I’m sure you have more narratives that you’ve come up with, but I’ll leave it at that.

Now, putting those narratives to the side, let’s face it- you wouldn’t be reading this article if you truly believed them to be true, and more so ACCEPTED this as your fate.

If you want to start carving out time for yourself and/or your loved ones, end the cycle of “missing out” on important personal events and opportunities, stop feeling guilty about doing things that are not business-related...keep reading...  

These 5 secrets will ensure you are on the path to finding the critical balance you need in order to show up for yourself, your loved ones, and your business.

*The Numbers Speak for Themselves…

“More than 90% of business owners admit they sometimes or often work weekends, with 37.8% spending more than six hours per weekend working.”

“69.3% often answer business-related emails, calls, and texts outside business hours.”

“25.9% say they never stop thinking about work and 22.3% say they only stop when they’re sleeping.”

However...

“91.6% say work-life balance is important to them”

If you were surveyed, how would you have responded?

Productivity Drives HOW You Work and WHAT You Accomplish

WORK/LIFE BALANCE SECRET #1: Gain awareness around what makes you productive. Productivity is personal. What makes you productive will likely differ for your team members.  

Why is it important to understand what truly makes you “tick?” Nailing down what drives your productivity gives you awareness of how you can get the biggest bang for your buck. Or, in other words, how you can get the most done in a given amount of time. Let’s use an example:

Example A: I wake up late one morning, skip my coffee, skip my gym session and drive to work feeling rushed.  

Example B: I wake up at my scheduled time, hit the gym, sip my coffee leisurely and drive to the office feeling prepared to start my day.

What’s the difference here?  

When I start my day by going to the gym, drinking my coffee, and not feeling rushed, my energy is increased, my mind is clear and I’m ready to tackle work.

When I wake up late, skip the gym and miss my morning coffee, I feel rushed and run into work feeling flustered and unable to get the ball rolling right away.

I know my productivity drivers, and I know what causes me to NOT feel productive. The days I follow my personal method I get more done than when I do not. This method drives HOW I work and WHAT I accomplish. What’s your personal method?

A few questions to consider...

• When do you feel most energized and productive? What were you doing? Be specific!
• Why do you think this made a difference?
• How feasible is it to implement this more often?
• If not 100% feasible right now, how can you implement elements of this more often, or introduce certain elements gradually?
• How often does this happen now?
• If not often, why not? What has been getting in the way?
• How can you hold yourself accountable for taking these steps you identified in order to increase your productivity and business outcomes?

It may take trial and error to determine your unique recipe for enhanced productivity, but you and your business are worth it!

No Boundaries, No Expectations

What boundaries do you have in place for yourself and your team? This could look like “no interruption” times, hard start/stop times to ensure your work doesn’t pour into family time, etc.  

Why am I asking? If you don’t have boundaries, you have set NO expectations around when and how your employees can alter your schedule or “drop-in.” If you spend 5 minutes thinking about all the office drop-ins, pop-up meetings, and casual conversations that occur on the fly, how much time is taken out of your day for these? Whatever the answer is, I can tell you it’s too much.

If you don’t have set boundaries and are struggling to think of any, take 5 minutes and go through the below exercise to help you establish some!  

WORK/LIFE BALANCE SECRET #2: Set boundaries: With Yourself AND Your Teams

• Start/Stop time: When does work start and end? Why these times (what do you plan to do before and after these times)?
• What are times that you need to be left behind closed doors (i.e. no interruptions)?
• What CAN interrupt this? We all know the unexpected can happen. What are examples of things that can interrupt this (FYI, this list should NOT be long. Do not let day-to-day hiccups get in the way of this)?
• What does the escalation or problem solving look like for your team prior to coming to you? What are the initial questions you’ll ask them before guiding them?
• How will you hold yourself accountable for this?

If you have no boundaries in place right now, this will take getting used to. However, it will force you to be more productive during your “work time” and allow you to unplug with more ease during your “off time.”

Work Smarter, Not Harder

Heard this saying before? It’s true. Too often I hear individuals say they are SO busy and overwhelmed, never enough time in the day, etc. Could this be the case at times? Of course. However, how you plan your day, week, month and year will help you determine how to focus on what NEEDS to be done. In other words, working smart on the things that are most impactful at that time, and saving other tasks for a later date.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE SECRET #3: Prioritize so you CAN work smarter

• What is the highest priority?
• What other items need the most focus today? (This should never be more than a handful/day and needs to include personal items as well.)
• What will you plan for another day? Take it off today's list so you don't get caught thinking about it.

How you show up for yourself directly impacts how you will show up for others and your business.

When You’re Accountable for Everything, You’re Accountable for Nothing

As a business owner, you are accountable for the overall success of your business. However, what are you holding your teams accountable for that will help drive this success? 

You may own the whole pie, but you want your leaders to own a piece as well.

Accountability drives ownership and productivity- without it, your leaders may either not be driving the right outcomes or they may not be putting in their full effort.   

WORK/LIFE BALANCE SECRET #4: Hold Your Teams Accountable For Their Work

• Their work slipping should NOT cause you to jump in and fix their mistakes. If this is your go-to, your employees are used to you saving the day, therefore decreasing their feeling of ownership and accountability for their errors.
• How can you coach them to work through challenges? Don't just tell them what to do unless you want them to continue seeking your guidance for everything.
• Set expectations that work should be done completely and on time unless there are special circumstances- in which you should know in advance (these should be few and far in between).
• Break the cycle of last-minute submissions/approvals/feedback. Respecting your time will help you find balance and not be bombarded with last-minute requests due to their poor time management and planning

Jack of All Trades and Master of None

When you look at your schedule over the past few months, what do you see? Do you see high-level tasks and projects that support future business growth and strategy, or do you see tasks along the wide spectrum of operational/tactical to strategic? Does each day’s work support the next day/week/month/year, or does the work just support whatever was going on that day?

WORK/LIFE BALANCE SECRET #5: Stop being the jack of all trades and start being the business owner

• When you are juggling multiple roles because your leaders are not strong enough, you are leaving a lot on the table. High-priority initiatives get pushed to the side in order to support daily operational needs. This will be the crux of your business and stunt its growth because you are not focusing on what needs to be done to set your business up for future success.
• Don’t try to do things that you are not skilled in. A lot of business owners will try to do bookkeeping, payroll, etc themselves to cut costs...however they are not only spending their time on transactional tasks, but they are also jeopardizing their business by potential errors they could make which will be costly!
• Not trusting your leaders to fulfill their roles (or acknowledging that they may not be fully competent in them) is not a reason to jump in and take it on! Have clear conversations around performance gaps and areas of opportunity. If the individual is still not performing well, determine whether the role is the right fit for him/her and plan the next steps accordingly.

Mastering the art of work/life balance as a business owner takes time, but utilizing the 5 secrets above will help get you on the right path forward!

Drop a comment below to let me know which of these 5 secrets you will commit to trying out!

P.S. Are you ready to turn your managers into confident leaders so you can spend more time working ON your business than IN it? If so, be sure to download The Small Business Owner’s Surefire Guide to Developing Confident Leaders. You’ll receive:

• Key information as to how you, the business owner, are enabling your leaders to rely on you more than needed.
• Case studies that show the results of empowering your managers to become confident leaders.
• Action items to try so you can immediately begin instilling confidence in your leaders.

Richelle Jessey, CPC, ELI-MP is a leadership coach helping business owners turn their managers into empowered leaders who engage their teams with confidence. Her end goal is to enable business owners to be able to spend more time working ON their business than IN it. 

*Statistics taken from a survey conducted in 2019 by Small Biz Daily