After starting your own business you may have faced a somewhat unexpected additional pressure that didn't exist in quite the same way when you were employed. As you start to comprehend the scale and breadth of the tasks involved in realising your aims, this pressure can become overwhelming at times. You may be wondering how you're going to get everything done? How to progress? It can feel like you're getting nowhere fast and oftentimes this results in working longer hours, with no time to relax in the evenings or at weekends. Furthermore, technology has enabled a permanently connected state, where it's more difficult to 'leave work' and consequently, you frequently feel that you need to justify any downtime. It's an exhausting and unsustainable way of life and achieving a balance between work and the rest of your life becomes increasingly difficult. That of course has negative knock-on effects to your business, as you cannot operate at your best, cannot serve your customers properly, will likely lose profit, and aren't able to create the business that you've always dreamed of. But what can you do to improve your work/life balance in this situation?
Find What's Important to Your Work/Life Balance
How you approach your business and more importantly, how you approach your downtime can have a huge impact on your work/life balance and ultimately your business. But what does your dream work/life balance look like? It might be organising work around your family, allowing time for a hobby, or creating the freedom to live abroad. Know what you want your work/life balance to look like on a daily basis.
Work
There will always be a great deal to do, and you have three choices on each task - forget it, do it, or delegate it!
If you chose to carry out the task it's worthwhile exploring ways to work smarter and save time. Are you working efficiently? Improving processes and making better use of online systems can free up a large amount of time at a very low cost.
Outsourcing as much as possible is a great way to gain momentum in your business by freeing yourself from the tasks that slow your progress. Your VA can take responsibility for tasks or entire roles within your business, such as administration, customer service, content marketing, social media management, website development and project management to name a few, giving you time to focus on your core business tasks, especially those within your specific expertise that create revenue, subsequently increasing your potential profit whilst improving the overall operational capacity of your business too.
Life
We have a few mindset tips to help you make time for 'life'...
Set boundaries with everyone - your family, your business partners, customers and suppliers. Try to manage their expectations, communicate your work hours and stick to it wherever possible - don't reply after hours!
Be kind to yourself - don't beat yourself up, try and reduce the negative self-talk, take a breath and chill... you are where you are!
Put time aside to take care of yourself. Down digital and go running, relax in the bath, do something creative - try and do something that shifts your focus away from work.
Work smarter, because following our mindset tips and delegating the support tasks in your business to an expert VA will help you free up an incredible amount of time each week, which will allow you to either increase your earning potential or spend more time having fun - or perhaps a combination of the two!
For all of the benefits and none of the hassle, look no further. Our virtual team can staff your office.
Interested? Contact Angel Virtual Assistants today to learn more about how we can assist your business with the tasks you need to delegate.
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