Summary

An entrepreneur reflects on the importance of work-life balance during the early years of starting a business, emphasizing the need to prioritize personal well-being and family over excessive work.

Abstract

The author of the article shares their personal journey as an entrepreneur, detailing the challenges faced in the initial years, including being overwhelmed by work and neglecting personal life and family. They recount working in various roles, from website designer to CEO, and the toll it took on their health and relationships. The turning point came with a health scare that prompted significant changes, such as closing a non-profitable business, setting strict work hours, and focusing on tasks that brought joy and profitability. The article underscores the importance of planning, outsourcing, and knowing when to walk away from projects that do not align with one's goals or well-being. The author advocates for a balanced approach to entrepreneurship, where the ultimate goal is to live a fulfilling life outside of work.

Opinions

The author believes that being an entrepreneur should not come at the cost of one's health or family time.
They express that overworking and spreading oneself too thin can lead to resentment towards the work one loves.
The article suggests that difficult changes, such as shutting down a business or restructuring one's work life, are sometimes necessary for improvement.
It is conveyed that entrepreneurship should be about creating a life that includes doing what one enjoys, not just surviving or building exposure.
The author emphasizes the importance of focusing on client satisfaction and word-of-mouth referrals over social media presence for sustained business success.
The opinion is shared that planning yearly and adjusting quarterly, along with spiritual practices, can help maintain balance in an entrepreneur's life.
The author concludes that with proper planning and discipline, it is possible to have a successful business and a fulfilling personal life.

Live To Work

What to avoid doing during your first few entrepreneurial years

If you’ve been an entrepreneur for any length of time, you’ll no doubt relate to some of what I’m about to share, but I really wish you wouldn’t.

I really hope you’re not finding yourself buried under an avalanche of shit-to-do and nightmares of low share counts and failing ROIs.

Thankfully, that’s behind me. But I do remember it…like it was someone’s story I read yesterday. I can see myself going through it but I can not believe I let myself.

LIVING TO WORK

This is what I did for quite some time.

I was a website designer, a podcaster, an SEO Consultant, a webmaster.

I was a marketing consultant and instructor.

I was the CEO and administrative office of both a courier service and a HVAC business.

I was the WAHM who tweets, pins, blogs + conquers the world while searching for blankies, correcting HW + burning dinner.

When I was sick I would schedule doctor visits around work, around publishing posts… I even refused to go to the emergency room one night because I had to get “one more thing done”.

All I had done in my first few years as an entrepreneur was work. I wasn’t as present for my family as my original intentions were.

Physically being “there” doesn’t really mean you’re present.

I was working while at the playground, I was working during school plays, I was working while cooking dinner, and many times skipped dinner to work.

For what? To survive? To build exposure?

There are better ways to do both.

WHAT’S THE POINT OF SURVIVING IF YOU’RE NOT LIVING?

To me, LIVING, means creating moments doing the things you enjoy.

So “work” should be work I love.

I loved blogging and creating how-tos.

I loved design and analytics.

I loved consulting and training clients.

I loved podcasting and having partners to bounce around ideas and come up with creative genius while having tons of laughs.

I loved having business cards that say CEO.

I loved being all woman-of-the-world-ish.

But I had too much on my plate. The work was killing me.

And at some point, I started loving these things less.

WHEN YOUR PLATE IS TOO FULL, EVERYTHING ON IT SPOILS.

Write this quote… call that vendor for a part…. get this address from the dispatcher… tweet that post… edit this podcast script… meet to brainstorm content… pinning on a bloody schedule… I was losing my mind.

I was beginning to resent all of it — all the shit-I-was-da-shit-at — because I was missing out on activities I loved doing with my family.

Trips to the beach.

Picnics in the park.

Storytime at the library.

Street fairs with bouncy houses and face painting.

Date nights with hubby.

Holiday decorating.

CHANGE AS FORCEFUL AS A TIDAL WAVE.

Many times, the only way to improve our lives is to undergo difficult change.

That might mean leaving a mediocre yet stable job.

Walking away from a loving yet overwhelming relationship.

Letting go of anything that’s holding us back from having the life we want.

Sometimes change has to be forced on us.

On my 36th birthday, after returning home from an ER visit due to having stabbing pains in my chest, I decided it was time for a change.

HOW I TURNED THINGS AROUND.

I shut down the courier service. It was the business I hated the most and had the lowest ROI.

Sometimes you just have to walk away. I haven’t regretted it once.

I limited my involvement with hubby’s HVAC business to marketing and minor administration.

I stopped working weekends.

I scheduled my workdays to be from 9 am to 2 pm. Creating a to-do list the night before, based on the week’s goals, helps with this.

Limiting social media also helps.

I invested my early morning hours into my meditation and spiritual practices, finding that they kept me balanced.

I learned how to plan my business and committed to doing it yearly, tweaking it quarterly as needed.

I learned to outsource work so I could focus on what I enjoyed doing instead of doing everything just because I know how to.

My business plan helped me to realize that I didn’t need social media shares, I needed work. So I focused on my clients. Their testimonials and referrals have kept me in the black for around 8 years now.

I learned to walk away from projects/businesses that were not serving my goals. I’ve walked away from two perfectly planned and heavily invested businesses when I realized its cost of sustainability was way more than its projected profit margins.

Old Me would have hung on due to all the investments already made. New Me knows to cut her ties. The stress isn’t worth it.

BEING AN ENTREPRENEUR IS GREAT

Life is to be lived and enjoyed. Don’t chain yourself to a desk or your smartphone as I once did. You can have a life while you build a business. You just need to plan and stick to a plan. Yes, some flexibility is required for the sake of sanity, but that doesn’t mean going completely off the plan. There’s no need to jeopardize your health and relationships. Work to live.