Whether you are starting a new business, launching a new website, or taking your side gig to the next level, it can be challenging to learn how to find balance in your personal and work-life. When you’re wearing so many hats (like marketing, branding, and promoting your business), it’s easy to feel overwhelmed.
Finding Balance
It’s important to set boundaries between your personal and work time, so your business commitments don’t take over your life.
- Schedule time with your partner to do things you both love.
- Listen to your body, and remember to take time off for self-care.
- Unplug when you need to.
I caught up with the founders of LUX BOX, a company that creates personalized gifts for any event. This business is a family affair, and mother and daughters, Anne-Marie, Chloe, and Olivia Blatchford, know first-hand how to strike a balance between work and personal life.
Here are their tips for launching a business, and how to prioritize your time.
1. How do you find a balance between your personal and work-life?
OLIVIA: It’s hard! The beauty of owning our own business is that we’re able to make our schedules and be flexible, but the downside is that we never fully “turn off” our work. I find it helpful when we have set schedules for the week, which gives me guidelines of when I’m working and when I’m doing things in my personal life. Scheduling gives me structure, it boosts my productivity, knowing I have a limited amount of hours to get my work done.
ANNE-MARIE: I find that it’s very easy for work to take over my schedule, especially working from home. I have to pay extra attention to my personal time, like dates with my husband, lunches with friends, monthly gatherings–I work hard to make sure those activities are set.
CHLOE: My advice is to plan time-off! It can be hard to step away from work completely because it’s so easy to do ‘one more thing’ when you work from home. During busy seasons (weddings and holidays), it’s important to make plans ahead of time for personal life. I do this by looking out my spin classes and date nights with my husband ahead of time. It may only be in 45 minutes to 2-hour windows, but this helps keep me sane during back-to-back busy weeks and working weekends.
2. What have you learned about running a business and making time for your partner/family?
OLIVIA: The most important thing is to make concrete plans with your partner so that you never go too long without having time just the two of you to catch up and spend time together. There are many nights that we work late in our studio. I’m lucky to have such a supportive husband that doesn’t mind having me work late, but we try to have a date night every 1-2 weeks so that we are always on the same page.
ANNE-MARIE: We need to plan, and we make time for family dinners and weekends where business discussions are not allowed. It’s hard to do, but we always try! It is also important to share our journey with our family, so they know they matter during our busy schedules. My husband has a lot of business and life experiences he shares with us, and it is so helpful. Our family is our biggest support system.
CHLOE: It’s important to make the most of your time together. Even if it’s just watching TV on a Thursday night. My husband and I live in Portland, ME, but I work in Wellesley, MA. I am gone most of the week, so when I get home, I try to stop working at a reasonable time so we can have dinner together and catch up on our shows. It doesn’t always work out that way -especially in the busy season – but my husband is so supportive!
3. What’s been the greatest lesson you’ve learned about being an entrepreneur and working with your family?
OLIVIA: I would say prioritizing communication with one another. Whether it’s working with new suppliers, networking, or working with my mom and sister–I find that my communication skills are the biggest lesson I have mastered and continue to work on.
ANNE-MARIE: It’s okay to disagree and see things differently. We have the best discussions and brainstorming sessions when we come with different angles. I love that because it always makes it a more enriching experience.
CHLOE: Set guidelines! It’s important to find the balance, and be able to shift from business partners to family members, especially during weekends and holidays. Also, not carrying over business disagreements to everyday life together. We’re very good at this since we have always been very close and communicate constantly.
How do you find balance in your daily life? How do you balance you’re personal and work-life?
Originally published on alexcerball.com.