Balancing Work Life with Personal Responsibilities: 4 Approaches to Try

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Finding an effective way to balance a successful small business while also being present in your personal life is no small matter. Whether you’re just trying to enjoy life while you’re younger, or you’re coupled up with kids in tow, it gets harder as the years tack on to balance it all.

Here are 4 approaches to different aspects to get them to work well both separately and in combination for a better life. 

Managing a Business Team Successfully

When running a small business, it’s particularly important to work with a solid team of people. The smaller the team, the more problems you’ll have when there’s someone on the team who’s not pulling their weight.

Work with each person’s strengths and weaknesses to get the best out of them for the good of the business. Ensure that customers are given top service levels, so they become repeat customers, which avoids the expense of promotion or advertising to find new customers to replace any lost due to low customer loyalty.

Paying Attention to the Critical Business Matters

Drill down to the essential actions that must be taken to keep everything running smoothly while not falling foul of requirements or regulations.

As an example, there are requirements in the UK regarding the licence an HGV driver must have to drive a truck of different weight and classification, which should be thoroughly understood. The insurance for an HGV vehicle is broken down between trucks that weigh less than 7.5 tonnes and those above that level. So, it’s important when talking with an HGV insurance arranger to get the correct type for each of the HGV vehicles used in the business. Use a comparison site to find the best quotes.

By paying attention to the details, you can avoid falling foul of legislation and red tape.

Finding the Elusive Work/Life Balance

Running a business is a time-consuming, often stressful, and an all-consuming thing. Finding any work/life balance is a challenge and that’s putting it mildly. Unlike with a 9-5 job, the work often begins before 9 am and continues well after 5 pm if you let it.

It’s necessary to plan your day carefully, reduce distractions, and focus heavily on the most important tasks to get them completed. Delegate supervisory responsibilities and less important tasks to other people on the team. Don’t micromanage because not only is it bad for morale but it’s not effective for your productivity either.

Keeping a Straight Head Despite Your Busyness

Make progress towards efficiency in how you work and operate the business to avoid becoming ragged and stressed out. While you may head to the gym to work off some of the stress, that’s not the best approach.

Pace yourself with the workload. Avoid taking too much on your shoulders. Know your limitations, especially if you’re an older business owner. Be ruthlessly efficient in your working life, to avoid needing to work late or arrive especially early either. Cut out superfluous stuff that eats time out of the business day. This way, you won’t feel as rushed, it’ll be possible to stay calmer, and make better business decisions too.  

Balancing your work life with personal responsibilities in order to be successful in the various areas of it is no small feat. It’s something many of us must continually work at. Some weeks we have better results than others but keep focusing on continual improvement. You’ll get there in the end!

Are you good at balancing work life with personal responsibilities?