Written By Chelsea Lamb

When it comes to taking control of your career, there’s nothing quite like starting your own business. Entrepreneurship is a fantastic way to take life by the reigns and create a future that works for your life. Business owners set their own hours and workload, which makes it an excellent option for parents and caregivers. Moreover, you can use your skills to their full potential and get an opportunity to put your business instincts to the test.

That said, starting a business is a major undertaking. With everything else in life, it can be easy to see your well-being fall to the wayside. However, Diane Laffoon presents this guide to help you figure out how to launch your own business while prioritizing self-care.

Focus on Balance

When you’re starting a business, it’s easy to make the mistake of giving it 100 percent of your free time, especially at the beginning. However, this can often backfire and result in serious burnout, making you less likely to commit to the work you were passionate about in the beginning. Strike a balance between work tasks and self-care in order to keep yourself on track.

For example, you can reward major to-dos with a self-care treat. If you spend your day investigating Michigan LLC online filing to see if this designation makes sense for you, treat yourself to a relaxing bath that evening. When you reach a milestone such as securing office space, take the rest of the day off to do something fun. There will be points in your journey where balance is much harder, but coming back to it will help you stay on track.

Create a Positive Work Environment

If you’re working at home, make sure you have a positive, productivity-boosting work environment. Your home office should be designed to help you enter into work mode when you’re on the clock, as well as genuinely leave work behind when you’re off. Ideally, this would mean setting up an office in a dedicated room with a door. Only use that room for work, and shut the door when you’re done for the day.

If you don’t have the space for this, there are other ways to foster work-life separation. For example, you can work at a foldaway desk. Although you won’t be able to shut the door on work at the end of the day, the act of tucking it out of sight can still be pretty powerful. If it works with your lifestyle, you can also look into using shared workspaces or working at a coffee shop or cafe. This can be especially useful if you’re feeling creatively stuck – a change in surroundings can give you the energy you need to bust through those creative blocks.

Stay Honest With Yourself

Many business owners make the mistake of thinking that hard work automatically leads to success. However, you have to constantly assess your progress and adapt to ensure your business is truly thriving. A great way to assess your business health is to focus on what you’re spending and what kind of return on investment you’re getting. For example, if you hire a social marketing team, are you getting more followers online? Are they turning into customers? Pay close attention to how much you’re spending compared to how much you’re making in order to ensure you’re actually reaching your business goals and, if you aren’t, adjust accordingly.

If you absolutely can’t make things work, that’s okay. Running a business isn’t right for everyone. That said, it’s easy to get caught up in the sunk-cost fallacy and think that the time or money you’ve spent on your business so far means you absolutely must continue. Although this can be a great source of inspiration when you’re stuck at a small obstacle, don’t let it keep you from walking away from something that isn’t really working.

We hope this article helps you figure out how to get started on your own entrepreneurial journey. Remember to focus on building that work-life balance, and keep your own well-being on your radar to ensure that you and your company can both thrive.

Looking for more inspiration? Check out Diane Laffoon’s Joy Tip of the Week. 

Photo Credit: Pexels

About the Author

Chelsea Lamb is a co-founder and head tech writer at Business Pop. She uses her tech background to provide insight and advice to those tackling the tech side of entrepreneurship.

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