Monday, March 17, 2014
Small business owners often struggle with the need to find the correct balance betwixt their businesses and the other facets of life which everyone needs in order to be a complete person.
Sometimes if feels as though rather than owning the business, the business owns you.
This sensation is often magnified as a result of the necessity to perform tasks that are outside your area of expertise, or simply do not mesh well with your temperament. A creative person or one skilled at networking that exudes an extroverted personality may chafe and procrastinate when faced with some of the necessary administrative duties that are part and parcel of running a small business.
Likewise, an introvert who is happy writing computer code might experience a feeling akin to panic at the prospect of attending a conference of fellow business owners and the mere suggestion of a public speaking engagement results in an almost catatonic response.
Add to this dilemma the desire of having relationships with family and friends, and it might often seem as though you are a business prisoner instead of a business owner.
The reality is that short of hiring a staff to assume responsibility for all the areas of expertise for which you have no aptitude, in other words going from a small business to a large corporation, it will be necessary to find a way to cope with the areas that are unpleasant, outside your natural skill set and frankly, repugnant.
There are many ways to go about this, but the initial step is to establish a system that permits you to work on your most onerous tasks when your level of energy is at its peak, and then do what comes easily at times when you do not need herculean will power to persevere.
The key to this is knowing when your energy levels are at their highest.
If you are the type of person who hits the ground running in the morning, this is the time to at least begin to undertake tasks at which you have little enthusiasm.
Others may start slowly and hit their stride later in the day, which would be the ideal time for them to jump into the less than idyllic tasks of their business.
For some people, the simple process of self-discovery that identifies the ebb and flow of personal energy is a major step in the pursuit of developing a nice work/life balance.