I got the idea for this post a couple of weeks ago, but it took me a while to actually write it. You see, I couldn’t figure out how I wanted to express what was going on in my life, how it was impacting my business, and what tips I could share for others who were experiencing the same.
My initial idea was to write a post on how to manage your business when you have a chronic illness (more on that in a minute). However, I didn’t want it to seem like I was making a huge deal out of my health issues when there are people dealing with much worse all over the world. Then, I thought about writing a post about how to get things done even when you don’t feel like it. It turns out I had already written that post.
So, I decided on this topic. I decided to share some tips on how to manage your business when your personal life takes over. I felt this was an accurate description of what’s going on in my life and I knew I could put together some useful tips for any of you who struggle to balance your business tasks with everything going on in your personal life.
A Glimpse Into My Personal Life
If you follow me on Snapchat, you may have heard me mention my health issues once or twice. And I literally mean once or twice because it’s not something I’ve talked about a lot. It has been mentioned in maybe two of my monthly goals posts now, but that’s it really. I felt like it was best to keep my health concerns to myself because it didn’t have anything to do with my business. Right?
Well, that’s not exactly true. This health issue has had a pretty big impact on my business.
Late last year, I was diagnosed with an auto-immune disease known as Hashimoto’s Hypothyroidism. Hashimoto’s essentially means two things: 1) I have Hypothyroidism, which means my body doesn’t have enough thyroid hormone and 2) there are antibodies attacking my thyroid, destroying the thyroid hormone it’s trying to produce.
Getting this diagnosis was surprising to me because I never expected to go in for routine blood work and discover there was a problem going on inside my body. And because this was the first time I had gotten proper blood work done in all of my adult life, I’ve likely been unknowingly living with this disease for a long time.
My physician started rattling off a list of common symptoms you experience with this disease. I had been experiencing a few of the symptoms, but not all of them. In fact, she was surprised when she asked if I ever felt fatigued and I told her no. It wasn’t until I went home and started doing my own research on this diagnosis that I started realizing, maybe I was fatigued.
I realized that I often felt tired, unmotivated, and just blah. I always thought those feelings were just my personality and that I was doomed to feel that way for the rest of my life. It never occurred to me that it was an auto-immune disease causing the issue.
Although my thyroid stimulating hormone level (TSH) and my antibody level had been going down and I was feeling better… Both levels went back up recently, which means there’s still work to be done when it comes to lowering my TSH level.
So, what does all of this have to do with my business? Well, there are days when I feel like absolute crap. There are days when I have zero motivation or energy to get things done. So, I wind up abandoning my to-do list.
It makes me feel bad because I go on social media and see all these other people hustling and there are days when I just can’t. I can’t bring myself to stare at my laptop for another moment, choosing to watch TV in bed. And that only makes me feel worse because I didn’t get enough work done.
And I shouldn’t feel guilty for not hustling all the time. You shouldn’t either. Because the reality is, sometimes our personal lives will take over. We might get sick, have things going on within our families, or just need to take a day off for the hell of it… That’s totally okay, but we often worry about spending that time away from our businesses. That’s why it’s important we have systems and strategies in place for the times when things like this happen. And that’s what today’s blog post is all about.
How to Manage Your Business When Your Personal Life Takes Over
I’ve divided this up into categories with simple tips you can implement to ensure your business runs smoothly, no matter what’s going on in your life. Whether you’re dealing with health issues, family drama, taking care of your kids, or anything else… These tips will help you stay in control and manage your business.
Managing Business Tasks
As business owners, there is a lot that needs to be done. We have emails to respond to, invoices to send, content to create, and so much more. Here’s what I do to efficiently manage my business tasks, no matter what may be going on in my personal life:
- Plan your week in advance. Take some time every Sunday to plan out the week ahead. Make a to-do list of all the things you need to get done that week and schedule it into your calendar. Block off time for all of those bigger tasks so you can ensure you give yourself ample time to complete each one. When you do this, you can schedule your days according to your most productive times and around other important events.
- Boomerang your emails. What if you decide to take a personal day and you wind up completely ignoring your already out-of-control inbox? That’s totally fine! But what if you suddenly get a burst of energy and feel prepared to tackle those emails at midnight? That’s cool, but everyone doesn’t need to know you’re working late. You can use Boomerang to schedule your emails to send at a later time. With this Gmail add-on, you can reply to emails when it’s convenient for you.
- Outsource tasks if you can. If you need to take some time away or you could use daily help, consider hiring a virtual assistant to help you out. Having someone to take the work load off of you will make all the difference.
Handling Content Creation
It’s no secret that creating content takes a lot of time, but there are a couple of ways to ensure you’re staying on top of your deadlines and maximizing your productivity. Try doing these things:
- Use an editorial calendar. Plan out your content in advance so there’s never any question about what you need to post on your blog, send to your email list, or share on social media. When everything is already planned out, it’s one less thing to worry about when things get crazy in your personal life.
- Batch write your content. The tactic that has been most helpful for me when it comes to creating content is batch writing. I love to batch write my blog posts because it puts me ahead of schedule and it’s easier to create once I get into that writing groove. (I love to schedule Fridays as my day to batch write my blog posts.) When you batch write ahead of schedule, you’ll have posts ready to go no matter what comes up in your life.
- Always have a few blog posts ready to go. If you ever have a day when you’re feeling inspired, it helps to have a few blog posts ready to go at a moment’s notice. So, if you have one of those “Oh, crap! I didn’t write a blog post!” moments, you have a post you can schedule to go live.
Making Money
When you need to take time away from your business, you may wonder how on earth you’re going to make money. Well, having passive income streams sure do help! Here’s what you need to know:
- Create a digital product. When you have a digital product, it can sell on auto-pilot without any additional effort from you. All you need to do is put it up for sale and watch the cash roll in. This ensures that you can safely take some time off from working on your business and still have income. However, you will need a way to promote those products, so…
- Have sales funnels in place. When you have sales funnels set up for your business, you allow yourself more opportunities for passive income. It won’t matter if you take time off because your sales funnel is doing the hard work of promoting your product for you. If they’re done right, you’ll continue to make money no matter what.
Working With Clients
If you run a service-based business, you probably spend a lot of time working on client projects or having Skype calls. And when you have things going on in your personal life that requires time away from those tasks, it can really take its toll on your business. But be sure to keep these tips in mind:
- Don’t be afraid to be honest with clients. You should never feel like you have to hide things from your clients. In fact, they’ll appreciate you being honest with them if something major is going on in your life. If you know you won’t be able to respond to their emails right away, let them know what’s going on and they’ll likely understand. And hey, they just might be there to support you in a time of need!
- Reschedule client calls if needed. If you run a business that requires you to have calls with your clients, you can always reschedule if it’s absolutely necessary. If something is going on in your life that’s preventing you from being at the top of your game, you should reschedule. Your clients paid for your time and they expect to get you at your best. If you can’t deliver, reschedule and make it up to them when you finally do have your call.
Remember, It’s Your Business
One of the most appealing aspects of running a business is that you’re in control of your schedule and how you manage things, right? Right! So, you can set your business up in a way that things continue to run smoothly even when you aren’t at your best. No matter what is going on in your personal life, you can efficiently manage your business when you implement these tips.