Striking a healthy work-life balance is a constant struggle for small business owners. With constant pressure to keep up with competitors, the expectation to work all the hours under the sun, and never-ending to-do lists, free time can start to feel a bit like a far off, out of reach dream.
But the truth is, if you’re not running at full capacity, neither is your business, which means stepping back and readjusting that work-life balance can make all the difference. If running your small business is starting to feel a little overwhelming, there are things you can do to help take some of the pressure off. Let’s explore…
The Work-Life Balance Struggle
The average employee works roughly 37.5 hours per week. Small business owners? More like 50, minimum! That’s a whole lot of your time, your brain space and energy to be constantly expending. And it’s not always sustainable for long periods of time. Overworking as a small business owner can lead to feelings of stress, burnout, and lack of motivation – not ideal when you’re trying to make a success of your passion.
So, why the struggle? It’s simple. Running a small business comes with a lot of pressure. As a small business owner, you’re relying solely on your actions, your decisions to make your business a success. There is no one else to fall back on, no one else to help out – or, at least, that’s how it feels. This pressure can cause us to ramp up our hours, working late into the evening to get things finished, allowing admin to creep into weekends, emails to slip into our early mornings and late nights. It can become all-consuming and overwhelming very quickly, and switching off becomes an impossibility. It’s well intentioned, but in the end, it’s not what is best for us or our business.
But what can you do about it?
Can a Virtual Assistant Help?
When it comes to striking a healthy work-life balance, investing in a Virtual Assistant can be a useful tool. Virtual Assistants are experts in supporting small business owners, in small ways, and big ones, to ensure their business can run smoothly without the risk of burnout and overwhelm. VAs work alongside you to carry some of the weight of your business, taking on tasks you don’t have time for or perhaps fall outside of your area of expertise.
Their sole purpose it to manage some of your workload so that you have more energy and brain space to work on the parts of your business that you love, without giving up every second of free time you have. And the best part? Virtual Assistants dance to your tune – they’ll support you with as much or as little as you need them to, are flexible and quick to adapt and can ramp up support or tone it down whenever necessary. It’s not a cure-all solution, but it can certainly help improve your work-life balance.
Here’s how…
Admin
As a small business owner, admin takes up a huge chunk of your time. Emails and paperwork, scheduling and data entry – it’s all time-consuming and tedious, a necessary evil. Many Virtual Assistants specialise in administrative support, meaning they can step in to take a couple of these tasks off your hands. For example, you may ask your virtual assistant to manage your inbox, categorising new mail and flagging those that need your attention. That’s ten minutes of your day you gain back already. Or they may step in to scan and save all your invoices in date stamped files – a time-consuming task that needs doing, but not necessarily by you. Having someone else take this off your hands means the task is completed efficiently and to a high standard, without it eating into your own time.
Removing some admin tasks from the equation will free up some of your working hours, and in turn, help you keep your free time, free.
Content Creation
Content creation takes time. It’s one of those tasks that is never really off your to-do list. It requires consistency and thought, from coming up with post ideas to creating the content to scheduling – it all takes time. And if it’s not necessarily within your area of expertise, it can take even longer and become a bit of a chore. Virtual Assistants who specialise in content creation can step in to create and schedule content for you, ensuring you’re posting consistently and thoughtfully across your platforms, helping to engage your audience and save you time in the process.
Content creation is one of those tasks small business owners often take home with them. A LinkedIn post in the evening, blog writing at the weekend. You know the drill! Having a Virtual Assistant on hand to take control of your content means gaining some of your personal time back for rest and relaxation.
Credit Control
Credit control is always a priority, which means it’s always on your to-do list. And, if you’re not careful, it’s one of those tasks that can eat into your personal time – sending remits in the evenings, raising invoices on a Saturday morning, making quick payment chasing calls whenever you can. It really does creep into every aspect of your life, tipping the work-life balance scales in the wrong direction.
Virtual Assistants experienced in credit control can step into take the process off your hands. They’ll work closely with you to understand your procedures and requirements, and then they’ll be able to effectively manage your credit control process so that it doesn’t eat into your time. Keeping your accounts healthy and restoring your work-life balance at the same time? Sounds like a win, win to us!
The Benefits of Delegation
Handing over any part of your business as a small business owner can feel incredibly daunting, making delegation feel like a big step. Loosing the leash on some of that control can make you feel uneasy, but rest assured, delegating will only have positive benefits in the long run. Not only does it help you manage your work-life balance, but it can also improve productivity, efficiency, and the smooth running of your business overall.
So, if your work-life balance has become unmanageable lately and you’d love some of your free time back, please do not hesitate to get in touch with our fab Virtual Assistant team. We’ll discuss your requirements and our capabilities with you before stepping in to relieve you of some of those time-consuming tasks.