What to do When Your Life Clashes With Your Business
“What do I do when my family keeps getting in the way of me growing my business? They don’t seem to respect my time or me. And it seems like I’m always the one that has to drop everything when something goes wrong.”
I get this question all the time. What do you do when life just always seems to be getting in the way of you growing your business? This happens to all of us in various degrees. It’s important that you start to build a strategy that allows you to take time off when you need to and still be able to grow your business.
Here are some steps to get you started:
1. Stop Working Alone. Let’s say you are hopping along in your business and you get 15 new clients. Then suddenly you get the flu and you can’t get out of bed or do your sessions. Are you really going to be the one who has to call every client and reschedule? That sounds awful! Especially when you are sick. That’s why you need an virtual (or non-virtual) assistant as soon as you can manage it in your business. This person can answer calls, reschedule and generally support you when you need it. She can keep the ball rolling even when you aren’t around!
2. Set Boundaries. Most of us avoid having the hard conversations with our families – the ones that go something like – “please don’t bother me unless the house is on fire (or you are on fire).”
Also the ones that go, “I need to share the responsibility of picking up mom every day because I really need time with my business. Brother, are you willing to take 3 days?”
Look – the truth is that no one really understands the time and attention and energy that you and your business need better than you. So until you start asking for what you want, chances are that your family has no idea!
Start having the hard conversations, and then make sure you upkeep the boundaries you set.
Trust me, people respect people who have boundaries. But it’s just that most of us were never taught to set them.
3. Change Your Plans Without Guilt. Sometimes when life comes up – you can’t ignore it. You have to cancel everything on your calendar and just focus on caring for a loved on or yourself.
The problem is that most of us feel incredibly guilty when this happens and we tend to punish ourselves mentally for it. Then any time we spend with our loved ones gets wasted because we feel guilty the whole time. It’s a disastrous cycle.
The key here is to DECIDE to let yourself off the hook. Move the launch to start another time. Let your clients know that you’ll make up their appointments next month. Change your numbers so that you’ll need to hit a bigger goal in 3 months to make up for this month’s low numbers. Make the decision, let the business go, and focus on the life issue at hand. And allow yourself to be OK with that decision so you can be fully present.
There is so much more to do when life gets in the way – but these are the 3 steps to get you started.
Remember, always ask your heart and your head what is most important and take heed of the answers.
Here’s to us as entrepreneurs making it all work – no matter what!
Leave me a comment and let me know what you do when life just seems to be getting in the way.
