Ok, I’m not going to lie, if anyone had told me running my own business was going to be this hard, I probably wouldn’t have done it. It’s hard to truly switch off, your business is like having another baby, you want to look after it, always be there for it. Sometimes at the sacrifice of other more important things! If you’re also raising a family and running a household, that makes it probably the hardest gig in the world. Rewarding yes, tiring, very! That’s where self-care and a healthy well-being comes in. It’s vitally important to keep that work/life balance and look after yourself as well as your business. After all, if you’re ill what happens to your business?
It’s so easy to get caught up in things, work stuff, personal stuff. I don’t know about you, but I’ve suddenly become the household taxi. It’s never-ending. How often have you had your head down and suddenly realised it’s 3pm and you haven’t eaten a thing let alone drunk any water? Have you found yourself glued to your phone or computer until 9pm or even later at night even on weekends? If that sounds like you then you’re not alone.
Self Care
So, how do I make sure my physical and more importantly my mental wellbeing is looked after? Here are some of my tips that might help you:
- Work in spurts then take a break. This is especially important if you work at home. Make sure you go for a walk or make a cuppa and just chill, away from your desk for 15-30 minutes before getting back to it.
- Make your lunch the night before. Like you did when you were an employee. It’s far easier to go the fridge and grab something ready made and more likely as well that you’ll stop. Try and take at least 30 minutes, maybe read a book or listen to some music.
- Holidays – they shouldn’t be a luxury just because you’re self-employed. Try and budget for at least one main break or several
smaller breaks each year. We all need to recharge those batteries once in a while. If you’re mentally frazzled, you’re not going to be working at your best. - Have a contingency plan for sickness – we are all ill at some point in our lives, hopefully not seriously. However, we should make sure you have a plan in place for if and when this happens. Do you have someone who can contact your clients and let them know what’s happening? How are you going to pay the bills when you’re poorly? Do you have insurance in place to cover such eventualities? Do you have someone who can look after the business for you while you are recovering? All things to think about and consider.
- If you’re struggling with parts of your business that, well, just don’t float your boat then why not consider getting some help. A VA can help with a lot of the behind the scenes tasks that you might not enjoy doing or just might not be doing at all.
I hope these tips help and please do get in touch if you think using a VA might help with your self-care. Running a business really is an amazing experience and yes, it is hard work, but it doesn’t have to be all work and no play. I love running my business, I just need to follow my own advice more often and practice my own tips 😊