When Personal and Professional Collide…
We regularly have conversations about the smushiness of work and personal life when you are a small business owner. For most of us the line is constantly blurred. This is especially true for the soloprenuer. If you aren’t working, the work isn’t happening. Chaos in our personal life can have a huge impact on our business and vice versa.
I have personally felt this so much lately. During tax season, I would regularly be answering emails well into the night, just to keep my head above water. At the same time, I was navigating parenting a teenager, mourning the sudden loss of a much-loved dog, and trying to negotiate a tense co-parenting relationship. It was intense and I constantly felt like I was failing at everything.
This month we are going to tackle how to strive for a healthy work/life balance and how to navigate challenges that can come up when you can’t keep everything in the work/personal boxes. Here are just a few things we will look at:
How to communicate appropriately with customers and clients about personal circumstances that will affect your work. Today I am sending an email to a dozen potential clients who should have received a proposal a month ago. I will apologize, explain how my personal life affected my ability to deliver and check in to see if they would still like a proposal. I feel like it's important to acknowledge my failure to follow through, but also the fact that prioritizing my personal life in that time frame took precedence in order to keep my work/life balance in check.
How to find team members to support you so that you can do the most important work in both your business and your personal life. This can include virtual assistants, bookkeepers, and marketers. But it also includes house cleaners, lawn mowers and child care providers. We can 100% not do it all without sinking under the weight of the responsibility. We need to delegate and prioritize the highest value work.
How to prioritize your family and friends despite a crazy workload. Burnout is real and a lot of us are experiencing it coming out of the past two years. What activities or experiences give you the most peace and fulfillment outside of your work & family? Find 3-4 of varying time and financial commitment and prioritize at least 1 a week to give yourself a much needed recharge. This can be a walk by the river or a weekend of camping and hot springs. Whatever it is, schedule it into your life.
How to balance the financial intricacies of business ownership. Looking at your business and personal finances to find the sweet spot for income. Planning for long term financial success in your business and personal life. And working with your financial team to strategize how to get there in a sustainable way.
How to use your unique personality and circumstances to be a strength in your business relationships. I love the fact that the small businesses that I buy from or get services from are run by amazing humans that I get to know directly. I love seeing your values and personality shine through in your products, social media, and emails.
Join us this month in looking at the balance of work and personal and share with us your own challenges and strategies!
One of our core values is self care and improvement, so soaking up a good podcast on the subject is something we do on the regular. Click here MB Spotify Podcast Playlist to see a few of our favorites. For this month’s topic, we specifically recommend “Terrible, Thanks For Asking”, “Good Inside” and “Doing It All”.
What is your favorite podcast? Let us know at angela@missoulabookkeeper.com
Trying to do it all and expecting it all to be done exactly right is a recipe for disappointment. Perfection is the enemy.
