How to Adjust Your Business to Achieve the Work-Life Balance You Crave

Want to know how to adjust your business to achieve the work-life balance you crave? Did you start your business with the dream of having a great work-life balance and it has stayed just that – a dream! If so, firstly I want you to know you aren’t the only one. Lots of business owners find themselves not initially achieving the work-life balance they crave. And usually, it comes down to a lack of structure. Keep on reading to find out how to adjust your business to achieve the work-life balance you crave.

 

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HOW TO ADJUST YOUR BUSINESS TO ACHIEVE THE WORK-LIFE BALANCE YOU CRAVE

 

1. Define what your ideal work-life balance would look like

 

One of the reasons why it is easy to end up having the work-life balance you crave is because work-life balance means different things to different people. Therefore, the first thing you need to do is  work out what your ideal work-life balance is.

Here are some things to consider when trying to define your ideal work-life balance.

How many hours would you like to work (over a set period of time)? The first thing you can look at is the total number of hours you want to work. It might be that you have an idea of how much time should be spent working versus how much time you have the rest of your life.

Do you have specific ‘life’ things that you want to be able to do? Right now it not be that you are working too much, but that you are working at times that mean you aren’t able to do specific life things and that makes your work-life balance feel off. There are endless ‘life’ things that could be vital for you, but to get you thinking here are some examples:

• Go on holiday for 2 weeks (without the laptop)
• Spend every school holiday with your children
• Partake in a regular hobby – like a choir, dance class, running club etc
• Attend sports day or school play
• Go to the spa or to the theatre midwek
• Meet up with your friends
• Train for a marathon
• Go to the gym in the middle of the day when it’s quiet

Are there specific times when you don’t want to work? Whilst all hours are created equal in terms of how long they are, they absolutely can feel different. If you are working the amount of hours you want to work, but at times that you don’t want to work then it can feel like you are working more than you actually are. For example, do you want to work early in the morning or late at night? Do you want to keep weekends free from work? Do you want to not work the school holidays, religious holidays or your birthday.

Do you prefer a rigid schedule or flexibility? For some people flexibility is everything. Opening their diary and seeing them having a work schedule that is the same week in and week out or month in and mouth out freaks them out. Or maybe you are fine with that.

There are lots more questions you can ask, but hopefully these will get you started so that you have an idea of what your ideal work-life balance is like.

 

2. Review, and adjust if necessary, your offerings

Now that you’ve got a clear idea of what your ideal work-life balance is like it’s time to review your offerings and see if they enable you, at least technically on paper, to achieve that work-life balance.

There are so many ways for you to package up your expertise and get paying customers or clients, but your offerings play a huge role in what is possible from a work-life balance.

Here are some common offerings:

Courses and Digital Products – These are great if you are looking for total flexibility over your schedule. Since you have no active involvement with customers you are free to create when you want and then make available for sell. Yes it might be that you have to have a few dates in the diary if you are hiring a filming crew or something like that but on the whole it requires very minimal commitments in advance.

Membership – A membership will usually have a bank of content that people can access whenever (so offers the same flexibility as a course or digital product) and then there may be some interaction with the membershpi. It might be that you engage in a community hub (Facebook Group, Telegram, WhatsApp, Slack etc) or you might even do some virtual calls. This on the whole is an option that has very minimal time commitment so will give you a large degree of flexibility.

Group Programme / Live Course – These involve live interaction and usually calls will be scheduled in advance so people can attend them. However, in many cases they don’t happen all year round. So they can be great if you are happy with a bit of commitments in the diary, willing to work with some flexibility, and then be able to take chunks of time off. For example, these can be perfect for a parent who who can do a 6-week course that is aligned with a school term. Or could be great for someone who wants to take a few months off every year.

Mastermind – The level of commitment is usually similar to a live course or group programme, but this is an ongoing commitment. So this works well for people who do well with routine and doing the same thing for a long period of time. But on the whole they do offer a decent degree of flexibility

1:1 Ongoing Services (Done with you) – If you offer a one-to-one service like coaching, mentoring, therapy etc where it is done with you then this will be an ongoing active way to work with someone. You’ll have to commit in advance to meeting people. For some this will mean having to keep to the same time/day for an ongoing period of time, but that doesn’t have to be so.

1:1 Ongoing Services (Done for you) – If you offer ongoing done-for-you then this work can offer you regularity for example a certain amount of work and money per month, but you’ll have control of when you do that work.

1:1 One-off services or short-projects – Working one-to-one with some will mean that you have to make commitments to when you’ll be working or meeting them. However the short nature means you can open up your diary at times that suit you. This can be great if you want to have different times of the year when you do and don’t work. Or you want to be able to vary the amount of work you take on.

In-person events – These require you physically committing to be somewhere at a specific moment in time and usually will involve a lot of planning and logistics in advance.

Look at what you are offering and ask if based on your the work-life balance you crave whether it is possible to create that work-life balance. In some cases it will be that it is possible, but maybe with more structure and boundaries. Or it might be that it isn’t possible. If it is the latter then you’ll need to think about what in the future would be your ideal offer suite and then create a plan for how you can go from your current offer suite to that offer suite.

 

WANT TO CREATE A BETTER WORK-LIFE BALANCE IN 2025? Your offerings play a huge role in the work-life balance you can achieve. And as part of a 2025 Strategy Day we’ll review and revise your offer suite to ensure it’s designed to ensure you achieve the work-life balance you crave, and that it will enable you to achieve you income and impact goals too.  For more information and to book a 2025 Strategy Day click here.

 

3. Set clear boundaries

One of the things I swear by is the more structure you have in your business the more freedom you’ll have in your life. You are the boss and it is time now with a clear picture of your ideal work-life balance in your head to set the necessary boundaries.

 

Here are a few techniques you can try:

 

Block out periods you don’t want to work – If you’ve decided you do not want to work certain times whether that be evenings, weekends, school holidays, the whole of December etc block it out of your calendar now. If it less you don’t want to work at certain times, but you don’t want to miss certain things then as soon as get information about those things put them in your diary so it blocks out anything else going in.

Time yourself – If you want to limit the amount of time you work then you can time yourself. I use a tool call Toggl, which you can use on desktop or mobile so I can record when I am working and look back on a weekly or monthly basis.

Communicate your boundaries with clients and others you work with – One of the reasons why business owners have a bad work-life balance is they don’t communicate their boundaries with clients or people they work with. It is easiest to set these boundaries from the beginning, but even if you are adjusting, you can still go back to people and let them know. The clearer you can be the better.

 

4. Stick to your boundaries

Setting your boundaries is one thing, but sticking to them is a different thing. One of the reasons business owners end up having a work-life balance that is out of balance isn’t because they don’t know what they want, or that they haven’t set boundaries. It’s that they don’t stick to their boundaries. You say you don’t take client calls on Mondays but that person says they can only do Mondays so you let them. You say that you’ll take August off, but then you agree to a 3-month project in June.

 

At the end of the day it is unlikely that someone isn’t going to try and break a boundary. Don’t get mad if someone does because it is inevitable. But it is your job to stick to your boundary and say no. Set your boundaries. Stick to your boundaries.

 

5. Consider whether investing in technology or people could help you achieve the work-life balance you crave

 

Adjusting your business to achieve the work-life balance you crave might mean having to change the technology you use or the people who work inside of your business. Work needs to be done but does it have to be done by you. There is technology for virtually everything nowadays and this could free up time to mean you can work less in the business. Also, it might be that you need extra people to work in the business. This could be ongoing or for periods of time, but would mean the work gets done without you having to do it.

 

WANT 2025 TO BE YOUR BEST YEAR YET IN BUSINESS?  Booking a 2025 Strategy Day will help that to become a reality! I have a tried-and-tested process that I’ve used for years that ensures that in just one day I can help business owners to create a plan for the whole year ahead.  All you have to do is fill in a questionnaire beforehand and then turn up on the day. I’ll then lead you through the whole process and write everything down – making it super easy for you! For more information and to book a 2025 Strategy Day click here.

 

6. Do regular check-ins

Maintaining your ideal work-life balance should be something you monitor regular just like other metrics in your business. Whether you do this on a monthly or quarterly basis check in with yourself and see if you are happy with your work-life balance. If you aren’t try to establish what has happened. It might be that you what you thought you wanted and what you want is two different things. Or it may be that you’ve let some boundaries slip. The key is to work out what’s stopping you getting your optimal work-life balance and then making the necessary changes.

 

That’s it. You now know how to adjust your business to achieve the work-life balance you crave.

 

I hope this blog post has inspired you to see what is possible. It absolutely is possible to adjust your business to achieve the work-life balance you crave. There are so many examples of business owners who have a work-life balance they dreamed of, whilst still making the money they desire. It all comes down to really being honest about what you want, designing your business to allow that to happen and then reinforcing those boundaries.

I would love to hear in the comments what you biggest takeaway has been.

 

And if you are serious about creating a better work-life balance in 2025, whilst still hitting your income and impact goals book a 2025 Strategy Day. I’ll help you map out in just one day what needs to happen in your business so you can have an amazing year in business, and still have plenty of time and energy left to enjoy your life too.

For all the information, and to instantly book, a 2025 Strategy Day click here.