If you operate a business out of your home, you may find it a challenge to block off time for yourself. You are constantly thinking about propelling your business forward, and there are no hours that are off limits.
But maintaining this type of lifestyle for long can cause you harm and impact your personal life. It’s important to find a healthy work-life balance, where you make sure you clock out for a portion of the day, just like a traditional job would have you do.
To help you create a healthy work-life balance with an at-home business, we asked members from YEC Next this question:
What is your top tip for maintaining a healthy work-life balance while running a business out of your home?
1. Focus on priorities, maintain harmony
As someone working from home, you know it’s crucial to understand whether you are “at home” or “at work.” Some people work from a different room, but I don’t mind working from bed, either. What is important to me is realizing what has the highest priority: Sometimes, it’s a task for work that requires me to work longer; sometimes, however, it’s myself and time spent my wife. —Milan Steskal, Mentegram
2. Don’t let your calendar hustle you
My number one piece of advice to all entrepreneurs balancing life and work is to take control of your calendar as soon as possible. I have four email addresses with four calendars, and I use Calendly and Gmail to monitor and manage my time. When time is blocked off on one calendar, it blocks that time off all of my calendars. My personal and professional life has done a complete 180 since taking back my calendar. When you own your time, you get a better understanding of your own bandwidth and personal limits. —Melissa Rautenberg, Latin & Code, LLC
3. Run your business; don’t let it run you
There are significant advantages to running a business from home, but they can be lost without discipline. At one extreme, you have many distractions, unless you have designated working areas and times. At the other extreme, you can easily become a workaholic who is working all hours. Run your business with set business hours and days. Make sure to schedule personal time with the same priority. —Ryan Meghdies, Tastic Marketing
4. Keep tech away from the bedroom
In my home, I have to separate the tech from the bedroom. It may sound funny, but it’s true. I leave my phone (and computer) out of the bedroom. This helps me to sleep better, and I’m less likely to check my phone as soon as I wake up. In the morning, I can focus on journaling, meditating, and preparing for my day without being interrupted by notifications. I wake up feeling more rested and calm. —Uchechi Kalu Jacobson, Linking Arts Web Design & Development
5. Make space and get out
I ran my first business from home for its first 18 months. My advice would be to have a separate space for working—the trip across that imaginary line in the living room can make all the difference at the end of day to switching off—and to make sure you have time out of the home office each day to ensure you can clear your head when required. —Tom Chalmers, Legend Times Group
6. Block time for yourself
One of the key benefits of working for myself is the flexibility of being able to take midday breaks to go for a hike or meet a friend for lunch, but it doesn’t happen if I let my calendar get overcommitted with client and prospect calls. I try to structure out my week in advance, leaving space for my own pursuits, so that I can take a break from a work project and come back feeling refreshed and ready to focus. —Kathryn Hawkins, Eucalypt Media
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7. Set boundaries
The space you designate for business should only be about business. Letting your home life dip into this space will hurt your business, which in turn will hurt your home life. If you have family, remind them of this fact. Defining and respecting your workspace is only going to make you a more diligent worker. Remember that working from home is an opportunity not afforded to everyone. —Bryan Driscoll, Think Big Marketing, LLC
8. Manage and delegate
Managing and delegating are the keys. As an entrepreneur, business owner, and mother, I have mastered managing my time to get the best results. I’ve learned how to delegate tasks and share my work, and I create real-time updating and collaborative to-do lists, which help me to keep track of activities and who is responsible, potential issues, and deadlines. I make sure to take small breaks to clear my mind, as well. —Jessica Baker, Aligned Signs
9. Practice mindfulness
A few of the advantages of working from home are space, privacy, and tranquility. With brief sessions of transcendental meditation spread throughout the day, I find it easy to stay on top of what matters most on a given day. One of the techniques used in meditation is called noting, whereby you move your focus away from breathing to something else, and you note what that was before going back to the breathing. —Shan Rizvi, Just Ads International AB
10. Take that lunch outside
Whether working from home or being a desk jockey putting in long hours, it’s important to strike a balance between your desire to work 24/7 and the appropriate time to decompress and reflect. Getting in the habit of breaking out is key, and there’s no better way to do this than removing yourself physically from your desk for lunch. Try it out—it may just open your eyes to new ideas and possibilities. —Kam Diba, Reverge
11. Give yourself some structure
Have a strict rule against bringing your laptop to bed. Designate places around the house where you allow yourself to work and others where you do not. Wear real clothes. Block time to step out into the fresh air and have contact with other people. Join a group fitness studio that has scheduled class times. Plan to work from your favorite remote spot(s) a few times a week. —Grant Leonard, The Grant Leonard Group, LLC
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