This post may contain affiliate links for more info visit my disclosure page.
Work and home life frequently collide when you’re starting a business, and it doesn’t matter if it’s your first business or your opening another storefront there are always disruptions to both sides of life.
These methods can help you maintain sanity through the first few months of entrepreneurship!
1. Bribe the Kids (and Spouse) at Home
Reward coupons for home are a great way to buy some time for both family and work. While keeping a strict schedule to divide the two worlds is ideal, it’s not reasonable though that you won’t need to deviate from a schedule sometimes. Giving coupons to kids at home gives you the perfect excuse to fulfill a promise!
2. Draw the Line
While it’s easy always to be a phone call or quick text away, you’ll need to draw the line between work and family. It’s best to set some ground rules which might include that you won’t employ family during the early days of your business. Separating the two allows some balance. Unfortunately, if you mix the two, you’ll find that you’ll end up being all life and all work with no rest.
3. Eliminate the No-Value Activities
When you’re at work, you might want to eliminate social media that’s not related to setting your business up for successful content management. But, when you’re at home, you’ll want to cut down on the no-value activities as well. You’ll feel like you’re operating at full speed all the time, but years down the road a bedtime story or day out is more important than watching the game and calling it “TV time” or relaxing.
4. Schedule Dates
While you might have a standing date with your spouse, you should consider setting dates with your partners or close business relationships as well. Too often people involved with an entrepreneur that has a family are constantly put onto the back burner. Business relationships are valuable to any entrepreneur. Schedule recurring lunch dates or other social activities for your work relationships as well as your spouse.
5. Plan for Healthy Ways to Cope with Stress
Being an entrepreneur is stressful, and having a family is stressful. So, when you add the two together, it’s just a matter of time before you should start to worry about your blood pressure. So, having a plan on how to handle this stress before it sets in can help you handle work, your family and establishing a balance between them.
Many couples have rules such as “no talking about work after work” or eliminating talk about work from meal periods. But it’s healthy to keep the rules that are the reverse as well. Don’t bring up family mattering into business meetings or dates with clients. While it’s fine to discuss your family generally, it can make it difficult to focus on work.
