Maintaining a Healthy Work-Life Balance as a Small Business Owner

Owning and running a small business can be stressful, there is no doubt about it. Businesses all have their natural ebb and flow; There are busy and slow seasons, staff turnover, opportunities, and unexpected issues. Despite the current flow of the business it is important to remember that you run the business, the business shouldn’t run you. Easier said than done, right? Let’s take a dive into maintaining a healthy work-life balance to keep you performing at your best.

Stress Buckets

There are two kinds of stress: distress and eustress. Distress, or negative stress, is the one most of us are familiar with, and what typically comes to mind when you think of the word “stress”. These types of stress bring feelings of anxiety and general unpleasantness. Distressors may be outside the person’s ability to cope and can lead to a decrease in performance and attentiveness. 

Eustress, or positive stress, is motivating and energizing. Big life events such as changing jobs or having a baby are examples of eustress. This can also include the anticipation of a job well done or achieving a difficult task or goal. While these stressors are  Balancing out the negative with the positive is an important part of finding balance. 

When it comes to maintaining a healthy work-life balance, it can be useful to think of it as a bucket. This bucket can be filled to overflowing with invigorating energy. This energy can be gained by doing an activity you enjoy, getting needed rest, relaxing, pampering, or any activity that brings joy. The possibilities are endless, but when negative events or feelings occur, they take energy from our bucket. 

You give up energy when you get frustrated in traffic, receive bad news, forget an appointment, or any event that causes anger, frustration, or other unpleasant feelings. In a healthy work-life balance, the bucket may fill and drain, but it is consistent and never empties. When your bucket is empty we have no energy left to give to our friends, family, or career.

The Importance of Maintaining a Healthy Work-Life Balance

A healthy work-life balance can prevent burnout. Most everyone has felt burnout at some point in their life and it affects every part of it. No one likes having a cranky boss that isn’t approachable and, if not left at work, it can also bleed into your home life and personal relationships. Preventing burnout shows the people around you that you are in control and can ultimately lead to less turnover.

This can also lead to fewer mistakes, accidents, and injuries. This goes for everyone, from owners to employees, no matter the business. Avoiding avoidable mistakes can save your business money on insurance, workers’ compensation, and can increase overall morale in your workplace.

A proper balance can make you feel happier at work and at home. Who doesn’t want to feel happier?

Better physical and mental health is a direct result of maintaining a healthy work-life balance. The role of a small business owner can be mentally and physically exhausting. As a business owner, you owe it to yourself and your business to protect your mental and physical health in order to perform at your best. The people around you will notice.

Balancing work and life in a healthy manner can also increase productivity. When you’re feeling refreshed and firing on all cylinders, you can take on the world. Energy is needed to keep your brain and body moving smoothly.

As a leader, others are looking to you for cues. When you feel energized and more productive, your employees will too.

Further, properly managing the negative stress in your life can prevent illness. Stress weakens the immune systems and can cause psychosomatic symptoms. Chronic stress can put you down for the count and you’ll wish you had taken the time to relax.

Getting Started

So how do we achieve this lofty goal? The same way you eat an elephant. One bite at a time.

First, accept that there will always be stressors as a small business owner. Aim for consistency over perfection, ignore the haters, be proactive not just reactive, and understand that you can’t fix others. If you can keep these in mind and you’re already on the right track. 

Then, you can set boundaries and consistently stick to them. This is a lofty task and will probably require help from friends, family, work colleagues, and other supporters. Rely on your support system to help you stick to your goals and set an example for maintaining a healthy balance between your work and personal life.

“Just because no one else can heal or do your inner work for you doesn’t mean you can, should, or need to do it alone.”

-Lisa Olivera

Work these changes into your life and experiment with what works and what doesn’t work. The options below may be dependent on the situation also.

Tips for Maintaining a Healthy Work-Life Balance

1.) Make a schedule to include work, personal time, and family time.

Time management is an important skill to have as a small business owner, as well as a leader. Make a schedule to organize your work hours and make room for yourself and others in your life. If there is a hobby or activity that you love, be sure to make time to enjoy it to help refill your bucket.

2.) Identify your goals

Start with short-term goals. Each day, make a list of the objectives you want to accomplish that day and stick to that list. Don’t fret if an emergency arises and you don’t get to everything, but you may find this helps you be more productive and know how to start each day. Long-term goals should be written down and edited as needed. Having them physically written down can help you use them as your motivation to get through the hard days.

3.) Don’t overcommit yourself

Identifying boundaries is necessary. I’ll say it again, identifying boundaries is necessary! There are but so many hours in the day and you are but one person. Overextending yourself can lead to fatigue and can pile on the stress. Assess your schedule and your Stress Bucket, learn to make compromises, and sometimes just say “no”. Being everything to everyone is a hard habit to break and you will need to lean on your support system.

4.) Find a good sounding board

This can be a spouse, friend, family member, colleague, business partner, another business owner, or some other professional. Talking to a therapist or other mental health professional can help you productively deal with the stress that comes along with owning a small business. Relying on the support of others to help you work through issues or having them as sounding boards for projects can help relieve stress.

5.) Ask for help

The most successful leaders understand that they don’t know how to do everything and need support from others to be successful. As amazing as you are, you aren’t good at everything. Sometimes you just need to ask for help, and that’s ok! It’s never too early to start widening your circle of supporters by making connections with other business owners. This can be accomplished by joining online forums for small business owners, going to conferences or trainings in your field, reaching out on social media, or interacting with others at a coworking station (like The Wright Village).

6.) Take care of yourself

Ensure that your body’s basic needs are being met and your mental health is sure to follow. Physical exercise can be as simple as a walk to calm your mind or as strenuous as pumping iron to work off frustrations. Eating healthy and getting enough sleep can help with increasing energy and productivity, as well. Yoga and meditation can help you to be mindful and present in the moment, which can also increase creativity and inspiration. Most importantly, do what works for you.

7.) Play to your strengths

Take on the hardest or most tiresome tasks when you are feeling your best and most productive. If you are a night owl, don’t plan to work on the finances at 6 am. Assign yourself the roles that you are most comfortable in. If you enjoy talking to others, be the face and voice of the company or stay behind the curtain if you prefer handling the business side of the venture.

It’s also possible (and advised) to find others that have different strengths than you to fill the roles you find undesirable. It is best to create a team around you that complements your strengths, as well as your shortcomings.

8.) Make your workspace inspiring

If your workspace feels uninviting, there is less motivation to use it. If you work from home, it can be hard to focus when the house needs cleaning, the kids are screaming, and the dogs are being needy.  An easy solution is to use a coworking space. They are pleasing, comfortable, and affordable. These spaces have very few distractions and include other business owners that you can use for your support circle.

Coworking is not an option for all small business owners, so it’s important to make the most of your workspace.  If working from home or in an on-site office, make sure your designated workspace is at a comfortable temperature, distraction-free, clean, and motivational. 

When you are in your workspace, only focus on work. This is the best way to ensure that you separate your work goals from your personal life goals.

9.) Network with other business owners

Those coworking businesses are always a great place to find hard-working, like-minded people to connect with. Networking can be valuable in many ways. It’s a support group, a sounding board, and an opportunity to learn something new or teach someone else. Oftentimes, Coworking spaces have small group training sessions on business-related skills, like budgeting, marketing, and creating goals.

10.) Unplug

You are so inundated with screens and technology on a daily basis that sometimes you just need to ditch the devices. Drive home in silence, turn off your cell phone for an hour, have your phone on do-not-disturb during sleeping hours, or just walk away from the hustle and bustle for a few minutes.

Constantly monitoring social media or e-mails can steal from your non-work time. Set boundaries, such as not being available from 7-8 pm each night or don’t jump every time you get a call. It’s ok let it go to voicemail. If they don’t leave a message or text then it wasn’t that important. 

Maintaining a healthy work-life can be one of the most challenging tasks in your path as a small business owner, yet arguably the most important. While the tips above may be simple, they are not easy and you cannot succeed at maintaining a healthy work-life balance on your own. The key is to surround yourself with a strong support system that believes in your vision. It takes a village!