One of the main reasons I set up a business was to enable me time freedom. You know, the freedom to be with my family when I wanted, the freedom to indulge in my hobbies or secret dreams. The time to really discover my own passions and pursue them rather than settling into a life I did not enjoy.
However, in the early days of running my property business, time freedom was certainly not something I had.
Building a business, Juggling the children, my house keeping duties, home educating the children, going to my job as a pharmacist as well as making love to my husband and spending time with him became a constant, endless, struggle to keep things going.
I spent a lot of that first year in tears! I am sure some of you can relate to that.
So how did things begin to change? How did I learn to take time off?
I am somewhat behind the times in sorting this out. I love what i do at the moment so though my property business still grows in the background, (thanks to an amazing team) I find it really hard to stop and smell the roses.
Here are the two things I have done over the last year to ensure I take time off my business.
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I schedule it in.
Most of my lfe is run from Google Calenders so tloml and I decided since last year sometime that we would take off at least a long weekend every three months so we do.
Simple to do and simple not to do. I must admit tloml takes the lead in planning the time away but I am committed to freeing myself to ensure it happens.
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I have a great team.
Whether I am here or not, business carries on. This certainly took some doing as my business was my baby and I was certain it would all fall apart without me so I had to deliberately get people in place to keep things moving forward. In property, managing the tenants and the properties is essential. Also chasing up rents if late as that is where all the profit comes from. Having a system that anyone can follow is absolutely essential and it meant that (with a little trepidation the first time), the business kept going without me and it still does. Also that first time away enabled me improve my systems and gave me the confidence that it was possible.
So now you know how to take time off. I would suggest you start with the second tip while ensuring the first one is done so it gives you a deadline. Time off is essential for the growing business owner so do whatever it takes to make it happen.
Do you have any other tips?
