Most people start businesses to improve their lives—whether the goal is to make more money, have a more flexible lifestyle, or pursue a particular passion. But business ownership can also be all-consuming. It can easily consume the majority of a person’s time and attention and negatively affect an individual’s marriage, family life, and physical and emotional well-being.
Fortunately, there are steps that business owners can take to strike a healthy balance between their business and their personal lives, but there is a catch. The catch is that the steps must actually be taken—they can’t just be thought about or put on a to-do list. The following is a list of three practical tips for starting a business and maintaining a healthy personal life. Candidly, it’s been my observation that people who start businesses and end up with miserable personal lives don’t do any of these things. Don’t let this happen to you. Take these tips to heart, and search for additional tips and advice.
Establish a routine
Many business owners suffer because they don’t place boundaries on their business life. The enviable result is working long hours because there is always something that needs to be done. The way to solve this problem is to set a routine and stick to it. Depending on the nature of your business, you could set your hours for 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on weekdays. If that isn’t a realistic approach, you could commit to being home every evening by 6:00 p.m. or commit to not working on Saturdays and Sundays.
Many business owners suffer because they don’t place boundaries on their business life.
While you’ll have to find a schedule that works for you, the overarching point is to establish a routine and stick to it. This approach will provide you time to unwind and will allow your family to reliably schedule activities during your free time.
Get help
There is no reason to “go it alone” as a business owner. Virtually every city and midsized town has an active SCORE chapter, and access to Small Business Development Centers and other sources of counseling and advice are either available or just a stone’s throw away. You should also align yourself with mentors and set up a board of advisors, as suggested in Truth 32, “Board of advisors.” The ability to share the pressures of your business with others relieves burnout and typically leads to a brighter and healthier disposition. As your business grows, you may also be able to shift some of the pressure to partners or employees.
An example of the positive influence that a mentor or advisor can have is provided by Oron Strauss, a business owner who received funding from a business angel. Recalling an experience with his angel investor, Strauss said,
“About a year ago, when I was having a particularly bad week, I fired off a long, heartfelt e-mail message to my angel. I explained, in great detail, the difficulties I faced and my thoughts about them. His response was succinct: ‘All sounds normal. You’re handling it well. Keep up the good work.’ My first response was disappointment over what struck me as a curt response. Then I realized that the angel had given me the best possible response. He understood what I was going through was normal and that I would make it.”[1]
Imagine how advice like this positively affects a person’s personality disposition and self-esteem. One of the best ways to maintain a successful business and a healthy personal life is to remain emotionally healthy yourself.
One of the best ways to maintain a successful business and a healthy personal life is to remain emotionally healthy yourself.
Set up systems and procedures
A third way to find the right balance between your business and your personal life is to put in place systems and procedures that help the business run without your being physically present. This is a step that takes time and experience to implement but is vital. One of the worst predicaments to get into, as a business owner, is to open a restaurant, store, or similar business and base so much of the success of the business on your physical presence that you feel you can’t leave while the business is open. This type of setup traps a business owner into a life of long hours, week after week, with no end in sight. It’s hard for anyone to run a successful business and maintain a healthy personal life under these types of circumstances.
A much better approach is to carefully document every aspect of how the business is run and then develop systems, policies, and procedures that others can follow while you aren’t physically present. This scenario is what allows a business to run smoothly and reflect all the positive attributes of the owner, even when the owner isn’t physically present. It’s also the only way a business owner can maintain a normal life, especially if the business is open 70 to 80 hours a week, which is normal for a restaurant or retail store.