July 23, 2024 • 35 mins
What if you could break free from the endless grind of entrepreneurship and find true balance between your business and personal life? Today’s episode of The Business Guide podcast promises just that. I share my personal journey from the structured world to the unpredictable life of a business owner, peeling back the layers of what it truly means to balance these two demanding aspects of life. Discover how the transition to entrepreneurship challenges your time management skills and reshapes your perspective on financial growth and professional development.
Ever felt overwhelmed by the need to control every aspect of your business? You're not alone. In this episode, I explore the power of delegation and its role in business success. Drawing from my own struggles with letting go, I reveal how entrusting tasks to employees can lighten your load and drive growth. Learn about the importance of training a key employee to uphold your business standards, freeing you to focus on crucial tasks like networking and accounting—all while maintaining a healthier work-life balance.
Finally, I offer practical strategies for managing your time effectively and prioritizing your personal life. From avoiding late-night business emails to structuring your day for peak productivity, these insights are designed to help you thrive both at work and at home. Hear about my own time management evolution and the significance of taking vacations to prevent burnout. Tune in to gain valuable tips that can help you succeed, and don’t forget to share your feedback and support. Thank you for being a part of The Business Guide community!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey guys, thanks for joining in.
It's Jonathan Wagner and thisis the Business Guide podcast,
where we are gonna dive into theins and outs of everything
business I originally started by.
The whole purpose of thispodcast was for me to create a
vessel to get the informationthat all business owners are
(00:23):
struggling with at some point intheir small business career
Most of the issues talking toother friends that are in
business.
Together we deal with a lot ofthe same issues and so really
wanting to craft a podcast wherewe can talk about these issues
you are not alone For anyinspiring entrepreneurs out
(00:44):
there.
No-transcript, and also I don'twant to edit it.
(01:16):
So if you bear with me there, Ipromise I will deliver nothing
but quality episodes to youwhere I hope you get the answers
that maybe you have questionsand you're getting the answers
you're looking for.
So on today's episode, we aregoing to be talking about time
management, specificallybalancing our business and
personal life.
I know, as a small businessowner, this is a huge deal for
(01:41):
most of us.
Now I think once you're inbusiness for a while, you have
gotten, I would say, you kind ofget a hold on this specifically
time management.
But if people go their wholecareer and will either dive
themselves into their businesslife and not have much of a
personal life, and vice versa.
You dive too much into yourpersonal life and don't put that
(02:04):
ever into your business, youmay not have a business that
thrives and succeeds.
So today I specifically want totalk about time management and
personally how I balance it.
This you know obviously we'vegone through a couple episodes
already If you've been on thejourney.
Those were kind of crafted toget the podcast going.
This is now diving intohonestly some issues that I deal
(02:26):
with and kind of my experienceand how I navigate them through
or, excuse me, how I navigatethrough those experiences.
So, without further ado, timemanagement, balancing your
business and personal life.
Thank you for joining us.
So you know I think it'sinteresting as a you know, a
business owner been in business.
(02:46):
You know a little over 12 yearscoming from the world of, where
I was an employee.
You know you clock in at youknow 8 am or whatever it is, and
you leave at you know 5.30 orwhatever your clock out time is.
And you know you giveeverything you've got during
(03:21):
those, you know eight hours ofwork.
You know, for the most part.
Once you clock out, you can gohome and just kind of forget
about what you're dealing with,saying that you know some
employees absolutely you know,care about the business that
they're in and you know willbring some work home or bring
some stress home.
This is specifically thebusiness owner standpoint on
that.
Not necessarily, you know,maybe I've got a bigger workload
and I'm just bringing it home.
But you know, this business lifecan really consume us and who
(03:43):
we are.
I know it can affect and hasaffect personal relationships,
especially with, you know,friends in the industry where
maybe they weren't dedicatedenough to their home life and
you know their home lifesuffered and vice versa not too
much dedication to the businessand the business suffered, so
(04:04):
vice versa, not too muchdedication to the business and
the business effort.
So for me, getting out of theworld of, as I mentioned before,
walgreens, I think one of thethings when I wanted to start my
business was I knew I wanted tomake more money and I remember
(04:25):
being a manager on call for onenight that the Walgreens got
broken into and this was kind ofleading up to when I was going
to make my exit and go intobeing a business owner.
But I got a call one night thestore was broken into and I
don't know.
It was probably broken into at2 am and I went in and my normal
shift had started at about 7.45that morning anyways, and by
(04:47):
the time the police were doneand the board up crew was done
and the cleanup was done, it wastime for me to still stay at
work.
So I obviously was there at 2am.
I then proceeded to work myentire shift and I remember at
the end of the evening you know430, or five o'clock, whenever
it was quitting time, I remembermy manager that was coming in
to relieve me had said you know,you've cleaned up quite the
(05:08):
overtime we normally don't getthat.
You know, you should be prettyhappy with your paycheck and I
remember that just sticking inmy mind.
And you know, of course mypaycheck comes through and it
was a couple extra bucks and Ijust thought that, no matter
what I did as an employee inthis situation, I was never
going to be able to make moremoney than what I was making.
(05:28):
Of course, with this occasionalovertime I made a couple
hundred dollars extra, but therewas really nothing else that
was really going to left on thetable for me to elevate my life
and grow as a person.
So this was one of the buildingblocks into finally making the
decision to go into business.
But this resonated with me ofI'm not going to make a ton of
(05:50):
money Now.
I think that you know, in mysituation of being an employee,
yeah, it was nice being able togo home, it was nice being able
to kind of clock off work andnot have to deal with it as a
business owner.
You know some of the firstthings you do.
Like when I wake up in themorning, one of the first things
I do is I'll check my email,I'll go through my email, see
(06:11):
what needs to be replied, andthen I kind of get up, take a
shower, maybe checking someemails there, just depending on
how busy the day is, and, youknow, kind of proceed with the
day there.
So literally, from the moment Iam waking up, I am I mean, I'm
not on the clock, but I'm on theclock and I'm checking emails
and getting back to people orwhatever it may be.
You know, obviously we gothrough the workday.
(06:33):
We completely are working,we're busy there, we're doing
what we need to do during theworkday and then, of course,
when you get off, you know whoknows what's going to be, you
know what wrench is going to getthrown in your night.
(06:53):
Now you know, for me I doattempt to set some rules and I
will bring those rules up kindof in my personal life.
But I'd love to share thosekind of tips with you of when
and when not to do the business.
But I find myself I have to bethe creative person in my
obviously my business.
I have to be the creativeperson in my obviously my
business.
And when you're the creativeperson and you're thinking of
different things that come toyou and services that you need
to add on, or customers that youneed to watch, you know reviews
(07:17):
, there's so many differentthings You're watching, you know
if customers are coming inafter hours so many different
things.
So for me, maybe I'll bewatching TV and something will
spark my idea or spark an idea.
Or I'll be walking in the parkwith my wife or I'll be making
dinner and I really feel theurge to work.
I feel like that creativitycannot be contained, and so me
and my wife have a goodunderstanding.
(07:38):
We have talked about it that,to the best of my ability.
I will just jot that I mightjot something down.
If we're cooking dinner andI've thought of an idea for
something, maybe I'll jot itdown, but then after dinner I
will politely excuse myself andgo in and talk about or start to
research or whatever I need todo for the business.
(08:00):
Obviously, small business ownerswe don't have huge accounting
firms, so I do find myself goingin and doing financials at
night, doing some check-in ofQuickBooks, things like that,
really keeping tabs on thebusinesses that I have.
So financials super important.
So many different little thingscome up and while it may be a
(08:21):
task that you can't get toduring the business day, that
you maybe think of afterbusiness hours, nonetheless you
were working on the clock.
Nonetheless, your family isgetting that less of time with
you.
So it's important to make surethat you are really optimizing
everything you can, obviouslyduring the workday and make sure
(08:44):
you leave room for creativityat night.
And, of course, if you take anearly day or whatever it is, you
know this is giving you themental break that you need.
Now, in my time management I donot work around the clock and
you know, in consistentlyworking, but there are times
where I completely will stepback from the businesses, take a
(09:04):
day off, take some time off,take a week here or there and
really just give myself therefreshing kind of breath of
fresh air that I need.
Now I understand that a lot ofyou don't have that position.
There are a lot of you thatmight be smaller or just can't
break away from your business.
And trust me, when I decide tobreak away from my businesses,
it is very hard.
And trust me, when I decide tobreak away from my businesses,
(09:39):
it is very hard, but it is apriority for me to break away
from the business.
I try to do it once a quarterfor a.
Maybe I'll go up and work onthe computer and just kind of
play some catch up, but I haveno time limits behind that.
So specifically managing yourtime when you go into your place
of business is crucial.
(09:59):
You know, I learned early onthat once I started hiring my
employees.
I think that let me rewind alittle bit.
I think when you're finallyready to pull the trigger on
hiring an employee and you'reexcited to have them in and you
start teaching them the ways,there's also a almost like a I
(10:23):
don't want to say control issueor like controlling.
But I mean, I know I did thismyself and I know a lot of my
buddies do this and I'm probablysure maybe most of you guys
have done this, but like youdon't want to let go, so you may
teach an employee 80% of whatyou need done, but you'll hold
off that other 20%.
Now I'm not saying you know,I'm not, you know I'm not hiring
(10:44):
a guy to go out and dosomething and then having them
do my accounting work.
That's not what I mean by that.
But I find that business ownersand myself, especially when I
was new in business, like, hey,I can do, you know, I'll have
you go do 80% of this and thenI'll finish up that job 20%.
I've got a buddy that he has togo out and service homes doing
(11:05):
some testing and so when hehired his first employee,
obviously he would go out, theywould do all the driving, they
would do all that, all that theyneeded to coordinate with the
clients, all that good stuff.
So that employee did most ofthat work.
Now, when that employee excuseme, when I was talking to him
and said, hey, you know I, howdid this employee work out?
Is it really helping?
(11:25):
Now?
Oh yeah, he's really helping,helping out, but I feel like I'm
busier than ever.
I'm buried in, you know, these,these, these follow-up reports.
And so my question to him waswhy didn't you teach the
employee to do the follow-upreports for your business?
Take that workload off of youand, um, you know, obviously if
you need an additional employee,then you're able to bring in
(11:45):
that other employee because him,as a business owner, he needed
to put his you know skills intogrowing the business, networking
the business, you know,obviously, now, hr and things
like that.
So withholding information togive to your employee or
withholding what you, you know,want your employee to do, out of
kind of that control, you wantcontrol of those reports going
(12:07):
out or you want control of thefinished product.
I know, for me, when I first gotstarted on one of the things I
was a stickler for going in andcleaning up our job sites after
the fact, as I wanted them justimmaculate, I wanted them to
look good.
In my situation, any homeownersor insurance agent or adjusters
came by, I would want them tobe like, wow, this, you know,
(12:29):
this company really knows whatthey're doing, and they leave
just just a solid product behind.
And so my you know, my guyswould go in and do most of the
work and then I would always bethere for the final.
And so I mean I learned very,very early in business that my
guys were absolutely capable ofdoing that final.
I just had a control issue ofletting go of that finished
(12:49):
product, and so what that doesis it adds more workload.
Instead of me now in the officegrowing the business or dealing
with other issues, advertisingwhatever I needed to do, I was
consumed by the day-to-dayoperation of my business,
therefore kind of ruining mytime management.
Now I will say, at the time ofmy business starting it, I was
pretty much for the most part,single, and so I was able to
(13:11):
obviously dump a little bit moretime into my business.
I know that another buddy ofmine started his business and he
had a family of three at home.
So not everybody has the luxuryof maybe not having a family at
home and being able to kind ofreally grind their business, if
you will.
So that time management isimportant.
You know, moving on from there,making sure your employees are
(13:36):
assigned the task and doing thetask, are really pertinent to
you being able to do your job.
Remember I might not beteaching that employee
accounting.
That is something that maybe Iwant to go in and handle and
that is specialized by me as theowners of the business.
So that is now allowing me moretime to catch mistakes or make
sure you know we're spending themoney that we need to in the
(13:57):
right areas, things like thatand overall my business can run
successfully.
So, yeah, teach your employeeshow to do everything.
You really need to make surethat you're not withholding it
because you have a control issueand you really need to get good
at delegating.
That was another thing that asI grew the business, I was a
stickler for the product we wereputting out, and I still am
(14:18):
that same stickler.
But very early on I was able toappoint one person that really
knew the standard that I waslooking for on these projects
and that particular person wasable to go out and withhold that
standard for that business.
So, yeah, I mean just having akey employee.
If you don't have time to go inand teach every employee that
(14:41):
you hire, every single thingthat you need to do, invest the
time of that one solid personthat you know is going to be
with you, that really knows theexpectation of the product that
you expect to deliver.
So you know and I'm leading up,this is all helping to time
management.
I know when.
You know when I first gotstarted it was, I mean, and I've
(15:03):
said this before on the podcastbut there was a day of
networking where I was literallynetworking from the moment I
woke up to maybe 8, 9, 10o'clock at night, depending on
the event that week, and thatwas every single Tuesday for I
want to say at least a year ortwo years of just this grind.
I was probably about a year,year and a half, but I really
(15:25):
needed to grind the business andget my name out there, so that
really burnt me out.
And for somebody with a family,I mean, there was absolutely no
work-life balance there.
Obviously, as a business owner,there are other things that we
are worried about Sometimes.
Maybe if sales are slow, maybewe are worried about those
customers coming in, Maybe cashflow is tight, and now you are
(15:47):
worried about cash flow, maybeyou're having issues with your
employees or employee and nowyou've got some HR issues.
So, as business owners, thesethings weigh on our brain and
for me, for the longest timethey did keep me up at night, I
had no problem falling asleep,but I'd wake up in the middle of
the night and my brain wouldstart thinking and I would check
emails and yeah, that is a bigno, no, no.
(16:11):
So that is a tip that I learnedearly on is at night, if you
wake up in the middle of thenight, do not check your work
email.
So many times I had tocompletely go respond for my
computer at least start craftingthe drafts.
So right at 8 am I could sendthese things out, but these
things would bother me.
So one tip that I give you rightnow which is pretty easy, more
(16:35):
of a just completely time thisis a time management, but
definitely leave your businessout of personal life is don't
check your emails in the middleof the night.
It is not good.
Don't check your text messagesfor your business Nothing there
in the middle of the night.
You know, obviously, if you'rean emergency service business,
you need to make sure thatyou're on top of that stuff.
But uh, uh, for the most part,don't.
(16:55):
Don't go in and start surfingyour uh, you know, your, your,
your email, if you will.
Sorry, let me get a little bitmore comfortable in here, okay,
so moving on, yeah, um gosh, Ididn't know moving moving on was
(17:16):
or moving, the chair was goingto completely throw me off.
So see, this is what I'mtalking about how I'm new and I
can't pick up on this stuffquickly, so sorry about that.
So, time management, back towhat I do.
So obviously I mentioned in themorning I will first thing wake
up, I check my email.
That's just a habit, that'skind of my, it's just kind of my
(17:42):
thing.
Right, I don't check it in themiddle of the night.
But my trade-off was I get tostart looking at it right when I
wake up and boy does it wake meup.
So, yeah, I'll start gettingback to emails, maybe right when
I wake up, or at least checkthem, see what's going on.
I will start the day early.
I always start the day early.
I'm probably rising about 5 am,my wheel starts turning, or at
(18:04):
least I lay there and startgetting going.
I like to shower.
I like to get into the officepretty early.
I'm normally there about anhour, hour and a half before my
guys.
This is definitely crucial forme.
Running the business andbusinesses that I have is
crucial to get in and get somereally important tasks done
(18:24):
first, before people startbothering you.
Now, I don't mean that myemployees are a bother, my
customers are a bother, but veryquickly in business you get
distracted or pulled into somany different directions or
your day goes into so manydirections.
So what I do is I will normallyhave throughout the day, I will
(18:45):
email my stuff, things that Ineed to do, I will set reminders
, things like that.
But if I didn't finish task orI know that I need something to
do the next day, that isactually on an email to myself
that I look at in the morningand I will start working on
those tasks that need to be done.
Important tasks Now guys get in.
Kind of business starts to open.
I'm talking with everybody, I'mgoing over the day and this is
(19:08):
really where, from you know,probably 8 to maybe 10, 30, 11
o'clock, I'm still getting donecritical things in my business.
Now one thing that I like to dois if I'm going to have any
type of meeting, I do like tohave meetings in the morning, so
probably like a 9 or 10, anytype of meeting.
I do like to have meetings inthe morning, so probably like a
nine or 10, eight, 10 o'clockmeeting.
(19:28):
That's really going to help mewith kind of that brain power,
kind of really getting through,you know, those tough questions
or the tough, the tough tasksthat I need to probably around.
You know, I don't know, maybe11, 12 o'clock, just depending
on what the day's looking like.
I'll probably go out for lunch.
I do try to kind of kill twobirds with one stone, so I'll
(19:51):
normally have a business lunchlined up where I'm meeting with
somebody that I need to meetwith and we discuss it over
lunch.
By the time I get done with thatmaybe it's about one o'clock
1.30.
I will just depending on how myday looks.
I will either go back to myoffice, I will start working on
some tasks, maybe for the nextday, any tasks that I had that
(20:15):
are kind of not as much brainpower.
So maybe there's some phonecalls of me checking in with
different advertising sources ordifferent people, different
referral sources, differentthings there I'm really talking
to kind of on the back end ofthe day.
Now I said it really depends onthe day, because sometimes
after that lunch I may go homeand work from home the rest of
the day and I find that workingfrom home separates me from the
(20:39):
office.
So if, for whatever reason, inthe morning, I got bombarded
with something that took my dayinto the right you know, the
wrong direction, I'm able topick up on my task from earlier.
I'm able to do that from home,you know.
And then, of course, you know,I think during, you know, during
COVID, we really learned whatit was like working from home
For me.
I can't stand working from home.
(21:00):
So, you know, being there for along amount of time is hard for
me.
I like being in an office, Ilike interacting with people, I
like, you know, just the humaninteraction.
So, yeah, working from home isnice because it's peace and it's
nice peace and quiet.
But that's kind of where Iutilize that, where I'm not
going to get distracted and Ineed kind of the silence, if you
(21:22):
will.
So, yeah, I mean I like to endmy day.
You know depends anywherebetween three and six o'clock.
You know, if I'm ending my daylater, like six o'clock, I'm
definitely not jumping on doinganything after hours for the
business.
I am completely checking outafter that.
If, let's say, I called it anearly day and maybe I was done
(21:44):
at three o'clock, there might bea world where I'm spending time
with the family, I'm doing whatI need to do at home, and then
maybe I'm I'm catching up alittle later, maybe eight or
nine o'clock at night.
Just depending on what I'mdoing that night, I might catch
up and maybe go into myQuickBooks or maybe go into my
websites, whatever I need to doand just and and start maybe
some easy, very easy tasks, kindof very, very, you know, right
(22:07):
at the end of the day you'rekind of burnt out.
You don't really want to bethinking so rinse and repeat.
Now, obviously, balancing thebusiness life, that's my
business side.
The personal side is, you know,obviously completely different
but intertwines with this.
So I think it's reallyimportant that you understand
what my day-to-day activitiesare, because when I mix in my
(22:29):
personal management it reallyevolves around that right.
So if I'm taking a little bitof an early day, I'm applying
that to family.
I know that.
You know, obviously, if mydaughter has something that she
needs to do, my wife hassomething that she needs to do,
I'm there for that and Idefinitely kind of pay it back
if you will in the business.
Now, so many businesses don't dothat where maybe they'll get
(22:50):
into the habit of hey, I'm goingto go into the office for a
couple hours and then I'm justgoing to leave early and my
team's got it and they do thatover and over and over again and
now your business starts tosuffer.
So I definitely like to payback my business those hours.
I definitely don't track myhours.
I'm not on like a 40-hour aweek.
I'm definitely over that.
(23:10):
So it's not like that.
But I do have some sense oflike, hey, I need to check back
in and do what I need to dobecause I left earlier, whatever
it is, and making sure thatthose tasks get done For my
personal life.
There are some things and Iwill come back with some tips
that I do.
But you know my family canreally tell when it's been a
(23:33):
little bit more of a stressfulday, a little bit more of an
easier day.
They can really kind of feelhow I was feeling.
And you know I don't reallylike that.
I like to, you know, reallyseparate the two.
I like to make sure thatthey're separate.
And it does suck when myobviously my business life comes
into my personal life, but I amso intertwined in my business
(23:53):
it happens and, like I'vementioned in the past.
My main business is an emergencyservice business, so my phone
stays on 24 hours.
So I'm sure, for those of youlistening, most of you are not
in a 24 hour business.
I envy you.
I wish I could turn my phoneoff.
That is probably something thatmaybe, at the beginning of the
(24:13):
episode I should have said ishey, turn your phone off at
night or turn your phone off atwhatever time.
It's so foreign language to mebecause my phone has to stay on
at all times, just in case myagain controlling right.
I have people in the businessthat can take the calls, but
nonetheless I am still the verylast person in line, just in
(24:36):
case something falls through thecracks there, I can still jump
on and handle it.
I mean, we talk, you know theseare big projects sometimes and
I don't want to lose that moneyand that is something that
carries with me as I've grownthe business.
I mean I probably never can'tremember the last time I
actually took an after-hour call, but nonetheless my phone is on
(24:57):
, ready for it.
So there is a little bit of ananxiety there.
Yeah, I mean, I think when youknow, as far as talking time
(25:17):
management.
But let's talk about thatseparation and I know that I
mentioned stress before, thatyou know, if it was a little bit
more check of gosh, I didn'tknow I was putting this out and
I really need to work on thatand that is something that I
like to do.
I don't want to show my familyI'm stressed If I've had a bad
day.
I don't want to show them anyanger.
I don't want to show that I'mshort, anything there.
Now it does happen.
(25:39):
It comes off where maybe I'm alittle shorter with my family or
whatever.
My wife happens to be a goodcheck of that.
She will tell me hey, you're alittle bit more stressed out
today.
Why don't you relax or go for awalk?
That's my thing that I like todo, so I'll just kind of go walk
and wind down.
That being said, I mean I'mjust thinking of a couple tips
that you know I might startgiving now, because I mean
(26:01):
they're kind of coming out,because I mean they're kind of
coming out, they're comingthrough of what I do and I don't
know if I'm going to be able toremember everything at the end.
So I definitely want to getthem out.
So, going back to that first,you know the first tip was don't
check your phone at night.
So if you can turn your phoneoff, great, turn your phone off,
turn your emails off, don'tcheck your emails.
But, more importantly, when weare having any dinner or any
(26:25):
meals, I absolutely do not havemy phone.
I dedicate that time to myfamily.
It is very important to me thatwhile the business is important
to me, my family is moreimportant and they both work
hand in hand together.
So I need to be fair to myfamily.
So whenever I am sitting downfor dinner or a meal or
obviously having a conversation,I am all in.
(26:48):
I need to be all in, I need tobe there and I need to be
present.
I don't like it when maybe I'mhaving a conversation and I've
noticed I'll get distracted.
So I know I was going to saybut you're listening to this,
but if you're not watching thevideo, but like I cannot read
and really look at my laptop atthe same time and talk about
(27:10):
what is on the laptop, I have tobe fully focused on.
You know either talking orlooking at the camera versus you
know reading.
So that's kind of what's goingon.
When I'm having a conversationwith my wife, I have to put that
phone down.
I need to be present.
I need to make sure that whenmy daughter wants me, that I am
present.
In that you know in that lifeand I don't think that you know
(27:31):
when you're separating yourbusiness, again it's
overwhelming.
You had a stressful day.
You've got some clients, you'rewaiting to hear back from
whatever it is and you'rechecking in your email and your
wife's having a conversationwith your daughter or your son
or having a conversation withyou and you're checking that
phone and you're not fullypresent.
Look, if you can only dedicate10 minutes to your family that
(27:54):
day, have it be the best, 10minutes that are uninterrupted.
So don't give them 10 minuteswhere you're on the phone, or
five minutes of it you're on thephone or whatever it is
checking messages.
Give them that full 10 minutes,because that's the reality.
Sometimes we'll end up workinglater.
We have a long day goes outinto some networking event at
night or some business meeting,whatever it may be, and we're
not there for our family.
So we need to make sure thatwhen we are there for our family
(28:16):
, every minute is the maximumamount of time and effort that
we can give in that time.
That is really, reallyimportant.
So that is something that I doactively on a daily basis.
It could be five minutes havinga conversation with my daughter
where my phone goes on silent,or an hour conversation with my
daughter or wife, whatever it is, I wanna make sure that they
(28:38):
have that time dedicated to them.
That's very, very important.
Obviously, I mentioned thebusiness life versus personal
life and being kind of acreative person.
I'm a creative person.
I have, you know, ideas thatwill randomly come up.
So my partner happens to have avery good understanding in my
(28:58):
household of that and I think,having that discussion with them
, I've talked to other businessowners where their partner,
their significant other,whatever it is they don't
necessarily understand thataspect and they do understand
that they're in business forthemselves, but on the flip side
, they don't understand thatthat might go after hours and it
does cause a little pain pointin their relationship or their
(29:22):
family life.
So you want to make sure thatyou're sitting down
uninterrupted excuse me,uninterrupted, 100%.
All in talking about hey, I'm acreative person and I might,
you know, have an idea at dinner.
Can I, you know, jot this downand work on it after dinner,
because that's how important itis to me, have that conversation
(29:42):
, understand what that thresholdis.
Obviously, during the weekendsback in, you know, this is all
time management, family life,personal life.
But before I really had myfamily working weekends, I was
always the first person up, evenscaling the business and having
employees, I would take weekendshifts so people could be with
(30:03):
their family, hang out withtheir family.
They had their personal time.
So I'm in a business where,yeah, we get a call at you know
two o'clock in the morning, oror you know 11 am on a Sunday
morning, I mean, and you wereabout to, you know, go to church
or whatever it is, yeah, I'm ina service that kind of 180,
that so, or 180 is your day.
So being able to kind of figurethis out early on was important
(30:25):
.
Anyways, making sure now that Icompletely am disconnected
during the weekends is importantto me.
My daughter is getting older.
My wife has since gone back toschool.
So there is now where my wifeis, you know, maybe doing some
(30:46):
studying or whatever, whateverit is, and my daughter is going
to hang out with friends.
So now this is where maybe I'mworking.
A podcast episode I can tell you.
Right now I have broken awaybecause the two are busy and I
decided I wanted to get anepisode in real quick.
So it's really utilizing yourtime in your business and
personal life of hey, this comesfirst, which is, you know, for
(31:10):
me the personal life alwayscomes first and then business,
even though my business supportsmy personal life.
Yeah, you've really got to getthat taken care of and manage
the right way.
So it's really not hard.
There's really no massivesecrets to it.
But I think that if you'rededicating your time and you're
making it known hey, I want tomake sure I have time for my
(31:32):
family and I want to make sure Ihave time for my business and
you're able to separate the wordPerfect.
It's taken me years to perfectand it is still not perfect.
I mean, things will still comeup and I need to give a little
(31:55):
bit more time to the business.
But as business owners, we areso married to our businesses.
I refer to my businesses as mychildren.
Like this is something that Ireally find important in my life
and, of course, it's going togo into my personal life as just
having my daughter you know, Igot to take her to dance and
I've got to do, you know certainthings with her or whatever it
(32:15):
is.
Um, that is like the business.
We've got certain things thatwe're doing after hours.
So, uh, same kind of same samething.
But, um, yeah, just being ableto balance the two, because
obviously you don't want to dealwith burnout in your business
that is huge and you don't wantyour family to suffer from them
not having you.
You need to be there, bepresent, but being able to have
(32:35):
a balanced business life isgoing to help you thrive in
business and it is going to helpyou thrive and enjoy your
personal life.
Because, remember, why did youget this business started For me
when I was working at thatWalgreens?
I wanted to make more money, butI also wanted to be in control
of my time.
And I'm not really in controlof my time if the business is
(32:57):
taking all of my time up and Ihave no personal life.
I don't get to go on vacations,I don't get the time off.
These are all important and Iabsolutely put them like front,
you know, top of the top of thepriorities, right, and vacations
breaks, things like that.
So, anyways, I hope thisepisode helped on time
(33:20):
management.
You know, I know there were acouple.
You know loaded tips in thereon what to do.
But specifically on thisepisode, I wanted to just kind
of talk about me and you knowhow I deal with my time and
hopefully, if you're dealingwith any time management issues
and maybe you're able to pick atidbit out of this and apply it
to your life, that's what I'mhoping for.
(33:40):
We all go through it.
We all struggle with some sortof you know time management
somewhere in life and obviously,owning a business that you pour
your blood, sweat and tearsinto is obviously going to come
into your personal life.
So it's important to make sureyour personal life thrives, just
like your business.
Thank you everybody for joiningme on today's episode.
(34:01):
I really, really do appreciateit.
Please make sure to leave us acomment in the comment section
what you'd like to hear on thenext episode or what you thought
of this episode.
If you can and it's availableto you, give this a thumbs up or
a like.
I really appreciate it.
It does help out.
But again, as a reminder, thesepodcasts are to help you out.
Now I do have a ton of stuffthat I've put down, that I've
(34:23):
experienced and I want to sharewith you.
I want to have other businessowners on here and I want to
share their struggles and howthey have overcome them.
But, specifically, if you findsomething that you would like to
hear, you'd like to workthrough, I would really love to
hear that feedback.
I would really like to get youthose answers.
So please comment that whereveryou can.
If it's in the comment sectionor, I think, on some of the
(34:45):
links, you can text us, text us.
But again, really appreciateyou being here today.
Thank you for checking out thisepisode.
I look forward to protecting orperfecting these episodes and
making them better for you.
Every single time I record one,I think I'm going to get better
and better.
So I appreciate you and yourfeedback.
Thank you everyone.
This is the Business Guide.
No-transcript.
Hey guys, thanks for joining in.
It's Jonathan Wagner and thisis the Business Guide podcast,
where we are gonna dive into theins and outs of everything
business I originally started by.
The whole purpose of thispodcast was for me to create a
vessel to get the informationthat all business owners are
(00:23):
struggling with at some point intheir small business career
Most of the issues talking toother friends that are in
business.
Together we deal with a lot ofthe same issues and so really
wanting to craft a podcast wherewe can talk about these issues
you are not alone For anyinspiring entrepreneurs out
(00:44):
there.
No-transcript, and also I don'twant to edit it.
(01:16):
So if you bear with me there, Ipromise I will deliver nothing
but quality episodes to youwhere I hope you get the answers
that maybe you have questionsand you're getting the answers
you're looking for.
So on today's episode, we aregoing to be talking about time
management, specificallybalancing our business and
personal life.
I know, as a small businessowner, this is a huge deal for
(01:41):
most of us.
Now I think once you're inbusiness for a while, you have
gotten, I would say, you kind ofget a hold on this specifically
time management.
But if people go their wholecareer and will either dive
themselves into their businesslife and not have much of a
personal life, and vice versa.
You dive too much into yourpersonal life and don't put that
(02:04):
ever into your business, youmay not have a business that
thrives and succeeds.
So today I specifically want totalk about time management and
personally how I balance it.
This you know obviously we'vegone through a couple episodes
already If you've been on thejourney.
Those were kind of crafted toget the podcast going.
This is now diving intohonestly some issues that I deal
(02:26):
with and kind of my experienceand how I navigate them through
or, excuse me, how I navigatethrough those experiences.
So, without further ado, timemanagement, balancing your
business and personal life.
Thank you for joining us.
So you know I think it'sinteresting as a you know, a
business owner been in business.
(02:46):
You know a little over 12 yearscoming from the world of, where
I was an employee.
You know you clock in at youknow 8 am or whatever it is, and
you leave at you know 5.30 orwhatever your clock out time is.
And you know you giveeverything you've got during
(03:21):
those, you know eight hours ofwork.
You know, for the most part.
Once you clock out, you can gohome and just kind of forget
about what you're dealing with,saying that you know some
employees absolutely you know,care about the business that
they're in and you know willbring some work home or bring
some stress home.
This is specifically thebusiness owner standpoint on
that.
Not necessarily, you know,maybe I've got a bigger workload
and I'm just bringing it home.
But you know, this business lifecan really consume us and who
(03:43):
we are.
I know it can affect and hasaffect personal relationships,
especially with, you know,friends in the industry where
maybe they weren't dedicatedenough to their home life and
you know their home lifesuffered and vice versa not too
much dedication to the businessand the business suffered, so
(04:04):
vice versa, not too muchdedication to the business and
the business effort.
So for me, getting out of theworld of, as I mentioned before,
walgreens, I think one of thethings when I wanted to start my
business was I knew I wanted tomake more money and I remember
(04:25):
being a manager on call for onenight that the Walgreens got
broken into and this was kind ofleading up to when I was going
to make my exit and go intobeing a business owner.
But I got a call one night thestore was broken into and I
don't know.
It was probably broken into at2 am and I went in and my normal
shift had started at about 7.45that morning anyways, and by
(04:47):
the time the police were doneand the board up crew was done
and the cleanup was done, it wastime for me to still stay at
work.
So I obviously was there at 2am.
I then proceeded to work myentire shift and I remember at
the end of the evening you know430, or five o'clock, whenever
it was quitting time, I remembermy manager that was coming in
to relieve me had said you know,you've cleaned up quite the
(05:08):
overtime we normally don't getthat.
You know, you should be prettyhappy with your paycheck and I
remember that just sticking inmy mind.
And you know, of course mypaycheck comes through and it
was a couple extra bucks and Ijust thought that, no matter
what I did as an employee inthis situation, I was never
going to be able to make moremoney than what I was making.
(05:28):
Of course, with this occasionalovertime I made a couple
hundred dollars extra, but therewas really nothing else that
was really going to left on thetable for me to elevate my life
and grow as a person.
So this was one of the buildingblocks into finally making the
decision to go into business.
But this resonated with me ofI'm not going to make a ton of
(05:50):
money Now.
I think that you know, in mysituation of being an employee,
yeah, it was nice being able togo home, it was nice being able
to kind of clock off work andnot have to deal with it as a
business owner.
You know some of the firstthings you do.
Like when I wake up in themorning, one of the first things
I do is I'll check my email,I'll go through my email, see
(06:11):
what needs to be replied, andthen I kind of get up, take a
shower, maybe checking someemails there, just depending on
how busy the day is, and, youknow, kind of proceed with the
day there.
So literally, from the moment Iam waking up, I am I mean, I'm
not on the clock, but I'm on theclock and I'm checking emails
and getting back to people orwhatever it may be.
You know, obviously we gothrough the workday.
(06:33):
We completely are working,we're busy there, we're doing
what we need to do during theworkday and then, of course,
when you get off, you know whoknows what's going to be, you
know what wrench is going to getthrown in your night.
(06:53):
Now you know, for me I doattempt to set some rules and I
will bring those rules up kindof in my personal life.
But I'd love to share thosekind of tips with you of when
and when not to do the business.
But I find myself I have to bethe creative person in my
obviously my business.
I have to be the creativeperson in my obviously my
business.
And when you're the creativeperson and you're thinking of
different things that come toyou and services that you need
to add on, or customers that youneed to watch, you know reviews
(07:17):
, there's so many differentthings You're watching, you know
if customers are coming inafter hours so many different
things.
So for me, maybe I'll bewatching TV and something will
spark my idea or spark an idea.
Or I'll be walking in the parkwith my wife or I'll be making
dinner and I really feel theurge to work.
I feel like that creativitycannot be contained, and so me
and my wife have a goodunderstanding.
(07:38):
We have talked about it that,to the best of my ability.
I will just jot that I mightjot something down.
If we're cooking dinner andI've thought of an idea for
something, maybe I'll jot itdown, but then after dinner I
will politely excuse myself andgo in and talk about or start to
research or whatever I need todo for the business.
(08:00):
Obviously, small business ownerswe don't have huge accounting
firms, so I do find myself goingin and doing financials at
night, doing some check-in ofQuickBooks, things like that,
really keeping tabs on thebusinesses that I have.
So financials super important.
So many different little thingscome up and while it may be a
(08:21):
task that you can't get toduring the business day, that
you maybe think of afterbusiness hours, nonetheless you
were working on the clock.
Nonetheless, your family isgetting that less of time with
you.
So it's important to make surethat you are really optimizing
everything you can, obviouslyduring the workday and make sure
(08:44):
you leave room for creativityat night.
And, of course, if you take anearly day or whatever it is, you
know this is giving you themental break that you need.
Now, in my time management I donot work around the clock and
you know, in consistentlyworking, but there are times
where I completely will stepback from the businesses, take a
(09:04):
day off, take some time off,take a week here or there and
really just give myself therefreshing kind of breath of
fresh air that I need.
Now I understand that a lot ofyou don't have that position.
There are a lot of you thatmight be smaller or just can't
break away from your business.
And trust me, when I decide tobreak away from my businesses,
it is very hard.
And trust me, when I decide tobreak away from my businesses,
(09:39):
it is very hard, but it is apriority for me to break away
from the business.
I try to do it once a quarterfor a.
Maybe I'll go up and work onthe computer and just kind of
play some catch up, but I haveno time limits behind that.
So specifically managing yourtime when you go into your place
of business is crucial.
(09:59):
You know, I learned early onthat once I started hiring my
employees.
I think that let me rewind alittle bit.
I think when you're finallyready to pull the trigger on
hiring an employee and you'reexcited to have them in and you
start teaching them the ways,there's also a almost like a I
(10:23):
don't want to say control issueor like controlling.
But I mean, I know I did thismyself and I know a lot of my
buddies do this and I'm probablysure maybe most of you guys
have done this, but like youdon't want to let go, so you may
teach an employee 80% of whatyou need done, but you'll hold
off that other 20%.
Now I'm not saying you know,I'm not, you know I'm not hiring
(10:44):
a guy to go out and dosomething and then having them
do my accounting work.
That's not what I mean by that.
But I find that business ownersand myself, especially when I
was new in business, like, hey,I can do, you know, I'll have
you go do 80% of this and thenI'll finish up that job 20%.
I've got a buddy that he has togo out and service homes doing
(11:05):
some testing and so when hehired his first employee,
obviously he would go out, theywould do all the driving, they
would do all that, all that theyneeded to coordinate with the
clients, all that good stuff.
So that employee did most ofthat work.
Now, when that employee excuseme, when I was talking to him
and said, hey, you know I, howdid this employee work out?
Is it really helping?
(11:25):
Now?
Oh yeah, he's really helping,helping out, but I feel like I'm
busier than ever.
I'm buried in, you know, these,these, these follow-up reports.
And so my question to him waswhy didn't you teach the
employee to do the follow-upreports for your business?
Take that workload off of youand, um, you know, obviously if
you need an additional employee,then you're able to bring in
(11:45):
that other employee because him,as a business owner, he needed
to put his you know skills intogrowing the business, networking
the business, you know,obviously, now, hr and things
like that.
So withholding information togive to your employee or
withholding what you, you know,want your employee to do, out of
kind of that control, you wantcontrol of those reports going
(12:07):
out or you want control of thefinished product.
I know, for me, when I first gotstarted on one of the things I
was a stickler for going in andcleaning up our job sites after
the fact, as I wanted them justimmaculate, I wanted them to
look good.
In my situation, any homeownersor insurance agent or adjusters
came by, I would want them tobe like, wow, this, you know,
(12:29):
this company really knows whatthey're doing, and they leave
just just a solid product behind.
And so my you know, my guyswould go in and do most of the
work and then I would always bethere for the final.
And so I mean I learned very,very early in business that my
guys were absolutely capable ofdoing that final.
I just had a control issue ofletting go of that finished
(12:49):
product, and so what that doesis it adds more workload.
Instead of me now in the officegrowing the business or dealing
with other issues, advertisingwhatever I needed to do, I was
consumed by the day-to-dayoperation of my business,
therefore kind of ruining mytime management.
Now I will say, at the time ofmy business starting it, I was
pretty much for the most part,single, and so I was able to
(13:11):
obviously dump a little bit moretime into my business.
I know that another buddy ofmine started his business and he
had a family of three at home.
So not everybody has the luxuryof maybe not having a family at
home and being able to kind ofreally grind their business, if
you will.
So that time management isimportant.
You know, moving on from there,making sure your employees are
(13:36):
assigned the task and doing thetask, are really pertinent to
you being able to do your job.
Remember I might not beteaching that employee
accounting.
That is something that maybe Iwant to go in and handle and
that is specialized by me as theowners of the business.
So that is now allowing me moretime to catch mistakes or make
sure you know we're spending themoney that we need to in the
(13:57):
right areas, things like thatand overall my business can run
successfully.
So, yeah, teach your employeeshow to do everything.
You really need to make surethat you're not withholding it
because you have a control issueand you really need to get good
at delegating.
That was another thing that asI grew the business, I was a
stickler for the product we wereputting out, and I still am
(14:18):
that same stickler.
But very early on I was able toappoint one person that really
knew the standard that I waslooking for on these projects
and that particular person wasable to go out and withhold that
standard for that business.
So, yeah, I mean just having akey employee.
If you don't have time to go inand teach every employee that
(14:41):
you hire, every single thingthat you need to do, invest the
time of that one solid personthat you know is going to be
with you, that really knows theexpectation of the product that
you expect to deliver.
So you know and I'm leading up,this is all helping to time
management.
I know when.
You know when I first gotstarted it was, I mean, and I've
(15:03):
said this before on the podcastbut there was a day of
networking where I was literallynetworking from the moment I
woke up to maybe 8, 9, 10o'clock at night, depending on
the event that week, and thatwas every single Tuesday for I
want to say at least a year ortwo years of just this grind.
I was probably about a year,year and a half, but I really
(15:25):
needed to grind the business andget my name out there, so that
really burnt me out.
And for somebody with a family,I mean, there was absolutely no
work-life balance there.
Obviously, as a business owner,there are other things that we
are worried about Sometimes.
Maybe if sales are slow, maybewe are worried about those
customers coming in, Maybe cashflow is tight, and now you are
(15:47):
worried about cash flow, maybeyou're having issues with your
employees or employee and nowyou've got some HR issues.
So, as business owners, thesethings weigh on our brain and
for me, for the longest timethey did keep me up at night, I
had no problem falling asleep,but I'd wake up in the middle of
the night and my brain wouldstart thinking and I would check
emails and yeah, that is a bigno, no, no.
(16:11):
So that is a tip that I learnedearly on is at night, if you
wake up in the middle of thenight, do not check your work
email.
So many times I had tocompletely go respond for my
computer at least start craftingthe drafts.
So right at 8 am I could sendthese things out, but these
things would bother me.
So one tip that I give you rightnow which is pretty easy, more
(16:35):
of a just completely time thisis a time management, but
definitely leave your businessout of personal life is don't
check your emails in the middleof the night.
It is not good.
Don't check your text messagesfor your business Nothing there
in the middle of the night.
You know, obviously, if you'rean emergency service business,
you need to make sure thatyou're on top of that stuff.
But uh, uh, for the most part,don't.
(16:55):
Don't go in and start surfingyour uh, you know, your, your,
your email, if you will.
Sorry, let me get a little bitmore comfortable in here, okay,
so moving on, yeah, um gosh, Ididn't know moving moving on was
(17:16):
or moving, the chair was goingto completely throw me off.
So see, this is what I'mtalking about how I'm new and I
can't pick up on this stuffquickly, so sorry about that.
So, time management, back towhat I do.
So obviously I mentioned in themorning I will first thing wake
up, I check my email.
That's just a habit, that'skind of my, it's just kind of my
(17:42):
thing.
Right, I don't check it in themiddle of the night.
But my trade-off was I get tostart looking at it right when I
wake up and boy does it wake meup.
So, yeah, I'll start gettingback to emails, maybe right when
I wake up, or at least checkthem, see what's going on.
I will start the day early.
I always start the day early.
I'm probably rising about 5 am,my wheel starts turning, or at
(18:04):
least I lay there and startgetting going.
I like to shower.
I like to get into the officepretty early.
I'm normally there about anhour, hour and a half before my
guys.
This is definitely crucial forme.
Running the business andbusinesses that I have is
crucial to get in and get somereally important tasks done
(18:24):
first, before people startbothering you.
Now, I don't mean that myemployees are a bother, my
customers are a bother, but veryquickly in business you get
distracted or pulled into somany different directions or
your day goes into so manydirections.
So what I do is I will normallyhave throughout the day, I will
(18:45):
email my stuff, things that Ineed to do, I will set reminders
, things like that.
But if I didn't finish task orI know that I need something to
do the next day, that isactually on an email to myself
that I look at in the morningand I will start working on
those tasks that need to be done.
Important tasks Now guys get in.
Kind of business starts to open.
I'm talking with everybody, I'mgoing over the day and this is
(19:08):
really where, from you know,probably 8 to maybe 10, 30, 11
o'clock, I'm still getting donecritical things in my business.
Now one thing that I like to dois if I'm going to have any
type of meeting, I do like tohave meetings in the morning, so
probably like a 9 or 10, anytype of meeting.
I do like to have meetings inthe morning, so probably like a
nine or 10, eight, 10 o'clockmeeting.
(19:28):
That's really going to help mewith kind of that brain power,
kind of really getting through,you know, those tough questions
or the tough, the tough tasksthat I need to probably around.
You know, I don't know, maybe11, 12 o'clock, just depending
on what the day's looking like.
I'll probably go out for lunch.
I do try to kind of kill twobirds with one stone, so I'll
(19:51):
normally have a business lunchlined up where I'm meeting with
somebody that I need to meetwith and we discuss it over
lunch.
By the time I get done with thatmaybe it's about one o'clock
1.30.
I will just depending on how myday looks.
I will either go back to myoffice, I will start working on
some tasks, maybe for the nextday, any tasks that I had that
(20:15):
are kind of not as much brainpower.
So maybe there's some phonecalls of me checking in with
different advertising sources ordifferent people, different
referral sources, differentthings there I'm really talking
to kind of on the back end ofthe day.
Now I said it really depends onthe day, because sometimes
after that lunch I may go homeand work from home the rest of
the day and I find that workingfrom home separates me from the
(20:39):
office.
So if, for whatever reason, inthe morning, I got bombarded
with something that took my dayinto the right you know, the
wrong direction, I'm able topick up on my task from earlier.
I'm able to do that from home,you know.
And then, of course, you know,I think during, you know, during
COVID, we really learned whatit was like working from home
For me.
I can't stand working from home.
(21:00):
So, you know, being there for along amount of time is hard for
me.
I like being in an office, Ilike interacting with people, I
like, you know, just the humaninteraction.
So, yeah, working from home isnice because it's peace and it's
nice peace and quiet.
But that's kind of where Iutilize that, where I'm not
going to get distracted and Ineed kind of the silence, if you
(21:22):
will.
So, yeah, I mean I like to endmy day.
You know depends anywherebetween three and six o'clock.
You know, if I'm ending my daylater, like six o'clock, I'm
definitely not jumping on doinganything after hours for the
business.
I am completely checking outafter that.
If, let's say, I called it anearly day and maybe I was done
(21:44):
at three o'clock, there might bea world where I'm spending time
with the family, I'm doing whatI need to do at home, and then
maybe I'm I'm catching up alittle later, maybe eight or
nine o'clock at night.
Just depending on what I'mdoing that night, I might catch
up and maybe go into myQuickBooks or maybe go into my
websites, whatever I need to doand just and and start maybe
some easy, very easy tasks, kindof very, very, you know, right
(22:07):
at the end of the day you'rekind of burnt out.
You don't really want to bethinking so rinse and repeat.
Now, obviously, balancing thebusiness life, that's my
business side.
The personal side is, you know,obviously completely different
but intertwines with this.
So I think it's reallyimportant that you understand
what my day-to-day activitiesare, because when I mix in my
(22:29):
personal management it reallyevolves around that right.
So if I'm taking a little bitof an early day, I'm applying
that to family.
I know that.
You know, obviously, if mydaughter has something that she
needs to do, my wife hassomething that she needs to do,
I'm there for that and Idefinitely kind of pay it back
if you will in the business.
Now, so many businesses don't dothat where maybe they'll get
(22:50):
into the habit of hey, I'm goingto go into the office for a
couple hours and then I'm justgoing to leave early and my
team's got it and they do thatover and over and over again and
now your business starts tosuffer.
So I definitely like to payback my business those hours.
I definitely don't track myhours.
I'm not on like a 40-hour aweek.
I'm definitely over that.
(23:10):
So it's not like that.
But I do have some sense oflike, hey, I need to check back
in and do what I need to dobecause I left earlier, whatever
it is, and making sure thatthose tasks get done For my
personal life.
There are some things and Iwill come back with some tips
that I do.
But you know my family canreally tell when it's been a
(23:33):
little bit more of a stressfulday, a little bit more of an
easier day.
They can really kind of feelhow I was feeling.
And you know I don't reallylike that.
I like to, you know, reallyseparate the two.
I like to make sure thatthey're separate.
And it does suck when myobviously my business life comes
into my personal life, but I amso intertwined in my business
(23:53):
it happens and, like I'vementioned in the past.
My main business is an emergencyservice business, so my phone
stays on 24 hours.
So I'm sure, for those of youlistening, most of you are not
in a 24 hour business.
I envy you.
I wish I could turn my phoneoff.
That is probably something thatmaybe, at the beginning of the
(24:13):
episode I should have said ishey, turn your phone off at
night or turn your phone off atwhatever time.
It's so foreign language to mebecause my phone has to stay on
at all times, just in case myagain controlling right.
I have people in the businessthat can take the calls, but
nonetheless I am still the verylast person in line, just in
(24:36):
case something falls through thecracks there, I can still jump
on and handle it.
I mean, we talk, you know theseare big projects sometimes and
I don't want to lose that moneyand that is something that
carries with me as I've grownthe business.
I mean I probably never can'tremember the last time I
actually took an after-hour call, but nonetheless my phone is on
(24:57):
, ready for it.
So there is a little bit of ananxiety there.
Yeah, I mean, I think when youknow, as far as talking time
(25:17):
management.
But let's talk about thatseparation and I know that I
mentioned stress before, thatyou know, if it was a little bit
more check of gosh, I didn'tknow I was putting this out and
I really need to work on thatand that is something that I
like to do.
I don't want to show my familyI'm stressed If I've had a bad
day.
I don't want to show them anyanger.
I don't want to show that I'mshort, anything there.
Now it does happen.
(25:39):
It comes off where maybe I'm alittle shorter with my family or
whatever.
My wife happens to be a goodcheck of that.
She will tell me hey, you're alittle bit more stressed out
today.
Why don't you relax or go for awalk?
That's my thing that I like todo, so I'll just kind of go walk
and wind down.
That being said, I mean I'mjust thinking of a couple tips
that you know I might startgiving now, because I mean
(26:01):
they're kind of coming out,because I mean they're kind of
coming out, they're comingthrough of what I do and I don't
know if I'm going to be able toremember everything at the end.
So I definitely want to getthem out.
So, going back to that first,you know the first tip was don't
check your phone at night.
So if you can turn your phoneoff, great, turn your phone off,
turn your emails off, don'tcheck your emails.
But, more importantly, when weare having any dinner or any
(26:25):
meals, I absolutely do not havemy phone.
I dedicate that time to myfamily.
It is very important to me thatwhile the business is important
to me, my family is moreimportant and they both work
hand in hand together.
So I need to be fair to myfamily.
So whenever I am sitting downfor dinner or a meal or
obviously having a conversation,I am all in.
(26:48):
I need to be all in, I need tobe there and I need to be
present.
I don't like it when maybe I'mhaving a conversation and I've
noticed I'll get distracted.
So I know I was going to saybut you're listening to this,
but if you're not watching thevideo, but like I cannot read
and really look at my laptop atthe same time and talk about
(27:10):
what is on the laptop, I have tobe fully focused on.
You know either talking orlooking at the camera versus you
know reading.
So that's kind of what's goingon.
When I'm having a conversationwith my wife, I have to put that
phone down.
I need to be present.
I need to make sure that whenmy daughter wants me, that I am
present.
In that you know in that lifeand I don't think that you know
(27:31):
when you're separating yourbusiness, again it's
overwhelming.
You had a stressful day.
You've got some clients, you'rewaiting to hear back from
whatever it is and you'rechecking in your email and your
wife's having a conversationwith your daughter or your son
or having a conversation withyou and you're checking that
phone and you're not fullypresent.
Look, if you can only dedicate10 minutes to your family that
(27:54):
day, have it be the best, 10minutes that are uninterrupted.
So don't give them 10 minuteswhere you're on the phone, or
five minutes of it you're on thephone or whatever it is
checking messages.
Give them that full 10 minutes,because that's the reality.
Sometimes we'll end up workinglater.
We have a long day goes outinto some networking event at
night or some business meeting,whatever it may be, and we're
not there for our family.
So we need to make sure thatwhen we are there for our family
(28:16):
, every minute is the maximumamount of time and effort that
we can give in that time.
That is really, reallyimportant.
So that is something that I doactively on a daily basis.
It could be five minutes havinga conversation with my daughter
where my phone goes on silent,or an hour conversation with my
daughter or wife, whatever it is, I wanna make sure that they
(28:38):
have that time dedicated to them.
That's very, very important.
Obviously, I mentioned thebusiness life versus personal
life and being kind of acreative person.
I'm a creative person.
I have, you know, ideas thatwill randomly come up.
So my partner happens to have avery good understanding in my
(28:58):
household of that and I think,having that discussion with them
, I've talked to other businessowners where their partner,
their significant other,whatever it is they don't
necessarily understand thataspect and they do understand
that they're in business forthemselves, but on the flip side
, they don't understand thatthat might go after hours and it
does cause a little pain pointin their relationship or their
(29:22):
family life.
So you want to make sure thatyou're sitting down
uninterrupted excuse me,uninterrupted, 100%.
All in talking about hey, I'm acreative person and I might,
you know, have an idea at dinner.
Can I, you know, jot this downand work on it after dinner,
because that's how important itis to me, have that conversation
(29:42):
, understand what that thresholdis.
Obviously, during the weekendsback in, you know, this is all
time management, family life,personal life.
But before I really had myfamily working weekends, I was
always the first person up, evenscaling the business and having
employees, I would take weekendshifts so people could be with
(30:03):
their family, hang out withtheir family.
They had their personal time.
So I'm in a business where,yeah, we get a call at you know
two o'clock in the morning, oror you know 11 am on a Sunday
morning, I mean, and you wereabout to, you know, go to church
or whatever it is, yeah, I'm ina service that kind of 180,
that so, or 180 is your day.
So being able to kind of figurethis out early on was important
(30:25):
.
Anyways, making sure now that Icompletely am disconnected
during the weekends is importantto me.
My daughter is getting older.
My wife has since gone back toschool.
So there is now where my wifeis, you know, maybe doing some
(30:46):
studying or whatever, whateverit is, and my daughter is going
to hang out with friends.
So now this is where maybe I'mworking.
A podcast episode I can tell you.
Right now I have broken awaybecause the two are busy and I
decided I wanted to get anepisode in real quick.
So it's really utilizing yourtime in your business and
personal life of hey, this comesfirst, which is, you know, for
(31:10):
me the personal life alwayscomes first and then business,
even though my business supportsmy personal life.
Yeah, you've really got to getthat taken care of and manage
the right way.
So it's really not hard.
There's really no massivesecrets to it.
But I think that if you'rededicating your time and you're
making it known hey, I want tomake sure I have time for my
(31:32):
family and I want to make sure Ihave time for my business and
you're able to separate the wordPerfect.
It's taken me years to perfectand it is still not perfect.
I mean, things will still comeup and I need to give a little
(31:55):
bit more time to the business.
But as business owners, we areso married to our businesses.
I refer to my businesses as mychildren.
Like this is something that Ireally find important in my life
and, of course, it's going togo into my personal life as just
having my daughter you know, Igot to take her to dance and
I've got to do, you know certainthings with her or whatever it
(32:15):
is.
Um, that is like the business.
We've got certain things thatwe're doing after hours.
So, uh, same kind of same samething.
But, um, yeah, just being ableto balance the two, because
obviously you don't want to dealwith burnout in your business
that is huge and you don't wantyour family to suffer from them
not having you.
You need to be there, bepresent, but being able to have
(32:35):
a balanced business life isgoing to help you thrive in
business and it is going to helpyou thrive and enjoy your
personal life.
Because, remember, why did youget this business started For me
when I was working at thatWalgreens?
I wanted to make more money, butI also wanted to be in control
of my time.
And I'm not really in controlof my time if the business is
(32:57):
taking all of my time up and Ihave no personal life.
I don't get to go on vacations,I don't get the time off.
These are all important and Iabsolutely put them like front,
you know, top of the top of thepriorities, right, and vacations
breaks, things like that.
So, anyways, I hope thisepisode helped on time
(33:20):
management.
You know, I know there were acouple.
You know loaded tips in thereon what to do.
But specifically on thisepisode, I wanted to just kind
of talk about me and you knowhow I deal with my time and
hopefully, if you're dealingwith any time management issues
and maybe you're able to pick atidbit out of this and apply it
to your life, that's what I'mhoping for.
(33:40):
We all go through it.
We all struggle with some sortof you know time management
somewhere in life and obviously,owning a business that you pour
your blood, sweat and tearsinto is obviously going to come
into your personal life.
So it's important to make sureyour personal life thrives, just
like your business.
Thank you everybody for joiningme on today's episode.
(34:01):
I really, really do appreciateit.
Please make sure to leave us acomment in the comment section
what you'd like to hear on thenext episode or what you thought
of this episode.
If you can and it's availableto you, give this a thumbs up or
a like.
I really appreciate it.
It does help out.
But again, as a reminder, thesepodcasts are to help you out.
Now I do have a ton of stuffthat I've put down, that I've
(34:23):
experienced and I want to sharewith you.
I want to have other businessowners on here and I want to
share their struggles and howthey have overcome them.
But, specifically, if you findsomething that you would like to
hear, you'd like to workthrough, I would really love to
hear that feedback.
I would really like to get youthose answers.
So please comment that whereveryou can.
If it's in the comment sectionor, I think, on some of the
(34:45):
links, you can text us, text us.
But again, really appreciateyou being here today.
Thank you for checking out thisepisode.
I look forward to protecting orperfecting these episodes and
making them better for you.
Every single time I record one,I think I'm going to get better
and better.
So I appreciate you and yourfeedback.
Thank you everyone.
This is the Business Guide.
No-transcript.
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