If you work for yourself the most valuable asset in your business is you.

I was working through this with a client who was struggling to do all that he wanted in his business. If that’s you too I hope this helps!

How much time do you set aside to take care of your own physical, mental and spiritual needs?

– Regular exercise, play and relaxation as well as feeding the soul not only keep you functioning at your best but make you better at maintaining perspective and making decisions, essential to growing a business and building a varied network.
– It’s absolutely essential to look after your own wellbeing first otherwise you’ll become a burden on someone else.
– Schedule your self-care activities in your diary.

How much time do you spend taking care of the significant relationships in your life?

– Having flexibility for this is often the reason people decide to work for themselves but they can get squeezed out or resented when things get busy. If this is the main reason you started your business make it a priority because your business will never be as important as the significant people in your life.
– Earmark this time and add it to your schedule.

How much time do you have left to run your business?

– Yes, this comes last and has to fit into your life, not the other way round. Whether you have 40 hours or 20 hours or less a week, multiply that by the number of weeks you want to work, taking account of holidays, allowing for illness and unexpected events and keeping it real.
– Schedule your business activities into the time you have left.

How much do you need to earn?

– Work out how much you need to earn in the time you have available and make sure you’re charging a rate that covers all the expenses related to running your business: equipment, subscriptions, insurance, services, outsourcing, tax, pension fund, etc.
– Then add at least 10% for a rainy day fund.
– Knowing exactly how much you need to earn and how much time you have to do it will help you set your prices and choose only the activities and clients that make this possible and prevent you from running around feeling that you’re always not quite doing enough and getting frustrated and stressed.

Running a business and being your own boss should be fun and satisfying. It should give you choices and advantages that being an employee never will.

If you’re going to be your own boss be a great one!

If you’d like help figuring out how to make this work or staying accountable and keeping on track just let me know!