When you decide to start your own business, you may not realize just how much time running the business will take. Many entrepreneurs don’t realize how much time is involved until they have the business up and running.
It can be easy to let the company take up all of your time, but it’s critical to have a solid work/ life balance to keep yourself from stressing out. These tips will help you keep your business from taking up every moment of your time.
Keep control of your time and say “no” sometimes
Warren Buffett advises entrepreneurs to “keep control” of their time, adding that it isn’t possible to do that “unless you say no” sometimes. The billionaire investor is extremely protective of his time and often keeps his calendar almost blank. He even has some interesting hobbies like playing the ukulele. To keep his mind sharp, he plays online bridge with Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and others.
Entrepreneurs must learn how to say “no” sometimes. If they don’t, they’ll never have time for anything. Having time away from work is about relaxing, destressing and personal development. Like Warren Buffett, you can use your free time to sharpen your mind and develop skills you don’t work on in your business.
Entrepreneurs must learn to delegate
Another part of being a successful entrepreneur is learning to delegate. You should hire an assistant as soon as you can. It should be someone you can trust and count on to pick up the slack when you need some time to yourself.
Aside from keeping your sanity by allowing for free time, delegating also sets your business up for growth. When you’ve reached your capacity, you lose opportunities for growth by doing everything yourself. By training someone to do the things you do, you position the company for future growth while also taking some of the stress off yourself.
Beware of email
No entrepreneur can get by without checking email, but doing so can consume all of your time if you aren’t careful. You should schedule times when you will check your email but resist the urge to check it outside of those times. This ensures those emails get the appropriate amount of attention without taking up all of your time.
You should also schedule time to work and personal time and not allow yourself to get sucked back into work during your off times. It may seem like you’ll never be able to get everything done if you limit your work to specific hours of the day. However, by setting time to do other things, you’ll make your work hours more productive because you won’t feel as stressed.