There’s nothing more exciting than starting a business. There’s nothing more exhausting than running one for years on end without any human life. Far too many entrepreneurs get stuck in the proverbial hamster wheel with business taking up all of their waking hours, personal relationships suffering, and the expected freedom of being an entrepreneur never materializing.
It’s not that these entrepreneurs are working too hard or are too ambitious. It’s that they’ve never learned how to set up their businesses to function without them operating it.
For more on this topic, check out the full Work Life Balance collection
The Owner Bottleneck
The way most businesses operate means that you—the owner—is the bottleneck. Need to get a question answered by a client? You need to be asked. Need a business facing an issue to reach out to a vendor? They need your buy-in. Need an employee to have a question answered? They need to ask you.
This is how things operate at first. It’s easier to do everything yourself and cover all the bases. However, it stretches you too thin and works against you as your business grows. Eventually, you’re working into the wee hours of the night just to keep afloat—but how many hours are in the day?
Start Documenting What You Do For Freedom
The first step towards finding freedom is documenting what you do. The majority of what exists in a business exists in an owner’s head. When information exists in a vacuum, no one can help alleviate the burden.
Document basic and repeatable tasks as simply as possible. Not by creating complex manuals that no one reads. But by creating simple step-by-step guides of how things get done so they can get done by someone else. When things can be done by someone else, they free up your time.
Don’t Be the Expert for Everything
Not everything needs your expertise. Track your time for one week. Document each task you do and how long it takes. Then qualify whether it’s something only you can do due to expertise or something that someone else could do given enough training.
You’ll be surprised at how much of your day is spent doing work that doesn’t even have to be done by you. This includes administrative tasks (filing paperwork, basic customer service, basic accounting for receivable and payable), scheduling, bookkeeping, etc.
Even marketing might fit in this realm. For example, a push notification ad campaign can go out without you sending them on a daily basis to keep in touch with your clients, especially as they can be managed by outside services. Find the areas in which you can create automation systems or systems that work with less than 100% oversight and make the effort to set them up.
Build Systems Around You
Systems are nothing more than repeatable responses for recurring situations. For example, when a client orders something, then what? What if inventory is low? Does it automatically get ordered again? What if an employee has a question? Do they need to first ask a fellow employee?
Businesses with systems have answers to these questions which do not involve you as the owner operating those systems. Systems allow for questions and answers that operate without any disruption to management.
Know When and What to Outsource
The reason businesses fail is because owners are afraid of other people being involved. They fear that hiring someone will be too expensive. They’ll hire the wrong person or not be able to keep someone on full-time.
This is where outsourcing comes into play. You don’t need a full-time accountant; you need an accounting firm that can take care of your books efficiently and effectively. You don’t need a full-time marketing team; you need marketing firms who can jump in with team members who can do what it takes without you spending time training them.
Some businesses have management agencies to oversee daily efforts instead of stressing about everything working well. Outsourcing isn’t giving up, it’s recognizing that sometimes specialists can do the job better than anyone trying to juggle several different roles within their own company.
Establish Boundaries
Business owners fail at boundaries because they feel like if they don’t respond immediately, they’ll look bad and their business will suffer as well as their reputation—and their paycheck.
A customer emails you at 9pm because they’ve got a question so you jump in there immediately and quickly. Boundaries require systems and discipline. Systems signify that there are processes and procedures in place for when you’re not available yet discipline demands that people follow those rules whether they’re implemented or not.
Set specific times to check email; if there’s something that needs appropriate escalation because it’s not an emergency, refer it back instead of being bothered right away. Take days off where your business continues without your input.
Trust Others with Your Baby
This is hands-down the hardest part for entrepreneurs because it’s their baby. They’ve developed it from nothing; nobody loves it like they do so how could they let anyone touch it?
The thing is, you won’t achieve work-life balance by taking control of everything. T
herefore, trust others to do right by you—even if it’s not necessarily the way you would do it.
It’s not about micromanaging, it’s about recognizing that there’s a different way. Maybe it’s not “wrong” but just a different way. Good employees and good contractors will work for you when empowered with the appropriate expectations, training and autonomy.
So it might not be 100% right but if you have time to think strategically or enjoy your life, it’s worth it.
Payoff in the Long Run
Setting your business up in such a way that it doesn’t need constant access from you requires intentionality over time and through various systems in the beginning stages (or even retrofitted later).
It means making sacrifices at first but ultimately results in a business that sustains itself over time without need for constant monitoring from you. If your business runs well without you there, it runs well when you’re on vacation and doesn’t interrupt family time or personal time.
You don’t have to give up your life just because you’ve started a new one through your business; instead, make this effort early on or fix it after the fact if it’s become overwhelming; there’s no reason why you can’t have it all.
For more on this topic, check out the full Work Life Balance collection
