Balancing Small Business and Family Life

I run my small business from home, or wherever I have electricity and an online connection. Sometimes I feel like I’m always working. I’m not complaining, because I love owning my own business, and I love the flexibility I have. BUT… sometimes it’s hard to walk away for a little while.

There’s always one more thing I think I can get done in a day. But some days I have to admit it’s exactly the opposite. Because I work at home family and friends think I can drop everything and help them out, or run errands. They don’t understand that I have deadlines, and work I have to get done daily.

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Summer is the hardest time, maybe that’s why I’m writing this now. There are more parties, weekend getaways, vacations, and just plain busyness during the summertime. My son’s out of school during the summer, and even though he’s old enough to entertain himself for several hours at a time, he still thinks I’m his main source of entertainment. I’m not complaining about that either, one day soon he won’t want to spend time with me, because I’ll no longer be cool.

So how do I create a balance between family life and my small business. I struggle sometimes just like anyone else, but I do have some guidelines set up. I have definite work times set aside, where I set a timer and during that time I work on my business. Unless there’s an emergency I work and focus on my business. I usually try to work for a couple hours at a time, then take a break and either do something with my son, or work on something around the house.

My work times vary each day, but I usually try to knock off several hours of work first thing in the morning (2-3). Then I take a few hours off to be with my son if he’s home. Then it’s back to work for a couple hours(usually 1-2). The evening is family time, and usually run time when my son’s in sports, or one of us has a meeting. The night is usually another work time for me, and I get a couple hours work done when the family settles in for the evening.

How do you balance work and family life?