Tips for Managing Your Work-Life Balance as a Business Owner

Paramount Pictures - The Big Short. Photograph: Everett/Rex Shutterstock

Time management has been a topic of discussion since the dawn of humanity. As workplaces differ so greatly from on-site, to hybrid, and now remote, the work-life balance has been a massive conversation for discussion in recent years. This blog is dedicated to helping business owners decide how to operate and manage their time to live a successful life.  

Decide How You Want to Operate

Decide the way you want to operate your business including whether your employees need to work in the office or can be remote. By communicating standards to your business, your employees and you will have proper expectations for work-life balance and how to operate. For example, someone who works at a construction site agrees to work the dedicated hours on site and will live their personal life for the remaining hours of the day. When making this decision for your business, you should focus on what is best for your business, and what is best for your employees including yourself as a manager for more technologically driven companies where hybrid and remote become options, the decision becomes more challenging. As an owner, I encourage you to create a pros/cons list for your business and use feedback from your team members in part of creating your decision. In deciding, it is vital to understand and balance what is good for each team member individually, and what is good for the long-term strategic goals of your business. In our opinion, the best format is to find the workplace style that will help your company succeed in the long term while accommodating your employees to retain your top talent. While this may mean considering a day or two of hybrid work, it can also mean implementing work structural changes such as Patricia Boral who we talked to and the implementation of learning days.

Once you have come to a decision and find value in how and where to operate your business it is time to figure out how to balance your life within that schedule. The reason why workplace balance is such a difficult topic to talk about is because the question is inherently personal in a sense. Some of the best young entrepreneurial stories have featured individuals working 100-hour work weeks oftentimes from less than ideal work environments such as their garage. For others, the idea of dedicating that amount of time towards work and not having any time for family sounds irrational to them. As a business owner, it is important to be introspective and understand what your priorities are in life. If building the most successful business in your area is the most important thing to you, then it will become your life. For others, building a moderately successful small business with time to spend with family, and friends, and pursue other interests in life will make them happier. An easy activity to help you decide is to write down your first three to five priorities in your life. I want you to rank your priorities in order of importance. That will tell you where you need to spend most of your time in your life, giving you a rough understanding of how to balance your business. 

Our Experience With the Covid-Pivot

Covid was a game-changer. We had to pivot from in-person to fully remote at the start. My experience was that the people who were working when we were in the office for the most part kept up productivity when they were remote. Not surprisingly, the people who weren’t working in the office didn’t work when they were remote either. Accountability and motivation are key.  Remote employees need to be professional and get their work done, even with their new flexibility. Some of our lowest-paid workers had huge benefits from working at home. Where they used to have 60-90 minute commutes each way, they could now use this time to hang out with their family and use the money they saved by not commuting to invest or pay off debt. We could quantify their work based on their output online. It was a win-win as we got to keep great employees and they improved their lifestyle significantly.  That said, ideation and collaboration in person is still the best. 

Insights From Local Business Owners

As part of our interview series with local business owners, we asked a few about how they manage their time to create a work-life balance. For Roberto Coello at the Premium Advantage, planning ahead is the most effective way to manage time. By scheduling his days and activities using a calendar, he can take his time in both his work and personal life without letting the activities interfere. One way he suggests planning is by accounting for lag time (i.e. travel time, time spent on projects, etc.) so that he can complete everything he needs to without feeling rushed. On the opposite side, planning and separating the two, Kameel Gaines, business owner of Rig on Wheels, told us about how she integrates life with work. According to Gaines, she does not “believe in work-life balance”. Instead, she believes work comes first, but chooses to live life within it. One example she shared with us, was how she was able to attend events for her kids, but brought work to the event and was productive when she found the time. The biggest piece of advice Gaines shared with us for this approach is to be intentional and present with your time. For example, she does not work at the dinner table, she encourages her kids to turn off their devices and be intentional and in the moment during family time. The same approach applies to work, don’t try to be present in your life aspect, be devoted and concentrated. 

One Size Does Not Fit-All

No approach to work-life balance is ever one size fits all nor is one better than another. While we may lean more towards separating and planning the two different aspects of work and life, the best approach toward work-life balance is the style that best fits your business and your personal goals. As a business owner, productivity and retaining effective team members should always come first. Some companies are more successful in one setting than another, while others have embraced a hybrid environment to get the best of both worlds. The best work-life balance strategy for you is the one that matches your business and lifestyle objectives.

If you are still struggling with balance and time management with your business we are here to help! Please feel free to reach out here at Sugar Land ActionCOACH and schedule your free business consultation.