For a lot of small business owners, they can’t remember the last time they have had a holiday. Entrepreneurs are notorious for not taking time off but this can cause issues with your work/life balance. For business owners, their passion is their business and they find it hard to step away from it, even if it’s just for a short time.
Key reasons why small business owners find it hard to take a break:
- They need to be available 24/7 within the business
- They don’t have any other workers or feel they can’t leave employees to run the business while they are gone
- They get “too busy” to take holidays
- They can’t relax/enjoy their time off if they don’t know whats going on in the business while they are away
- If they do take time off, they end up taking their work with them defeating the purpose of taking a holiday
Working long hours and not taking breaks can take its toll on your mental and physical wellbeing as well as the productivity of your business. Not taking a break can cause problems at home and impact on your relationships, fatigue, and even change your mood. Stress can build up and cause you to not run your business effectively so stepping away, even for just a short time, can help to improve business efficiency.
Related Article: Why Stress Management is so Important for Small Business Owners
The key to taking time off from your business is planning and delegating. You may decide to put in extra work before you take time off so you can afford to close your business. Or you may need to prepare and organise procedures for your staff to run the business efficiently while you are away. Make sure you are organised and have a detailed plan before you take time off. Don’t be reluctant to delegate to your staff as well. You may be surprised how well your staff can support you; after all, you hired them for a reason. Another thing to do is make sure your clients are aware of your time off, you don’t want to lose clients because they can’t get a hold of you.
A lot of business owners don’t take time off on public holidays and keep working straight through. You can feel guilty for working and not being with your family or feel guilty for being with your family when you could be working. Having a work/life balance is vital for your own sanity.
Business owners can improve your work/life balance by doing the following things:
- Make sure to organise meetings during working hours
- Delegate
- Prioritise your time
- When it’s time for lunch, have lunch away from the office
- Making sure to take regular breaks throughout the day
- Limit the time you spend working after hours
- Not saying yes all the time
Related Article: Common Issues When Working From Home
Taking a break can be a hard thing to do but it’s definitely something to consider doing for your own health as well as the health of your business. Whether that means going on a holiday or simply stepping away from work for a few minutes, this will benefit you in the long run.
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