Wellness is a word that is bandied about quite a bit these days. I think we all agree that a healthy body is important, and many of us take the steps to make sure we are eating well or exercising on a semi-regular basis.
But wellness doesn’t encompass only the body. It implies that the mind must be healthy. And to tend to your wellness on both fronts requires a deliberate effort.
Many of the clients we work with have taken a huge leap into gaining balance in their lives. They are small business owners, entrepreneurs, and sole-proprietors. Independence is a large part of how they define themselves and a major step to their overall wellness.
The other major contributor to their wellness is the passion they have for their companies and their work. Doing what you love means working at what energizes you. That energy, that passion, is another crucial factor of going into business for yourself. It’s been said that if you love what you do, then you never work a day in your life. There is some truth in that.
But the reality of running your own small business is that you have to wear many hats. And parents, if you are a micro business or sole-proprietor, running your business from your home, you wear ALL OF THE HATS (and then some). You are every position in a large corporation, from the CEO to the janitor, plus the caregiver to your children. It’s too much.
Your wellness depends on you to consciously maintain a healthy body and a healthy mind. Work with that, expand that. Outsource those energy-draining tasks, or the tasks that interfere with you doing even more of what you love. Remove from your plate those time-suckers that interfere with you being the face of your business and growing your passion, your business, and your wellness.
The equation is simple:
- Figure out what your time is worth.
- How much time do you spend doing the tasks that exhaust you, OR how much time would you spend if you had the time?
- What would your cost be to outsource that time? Remember, if a task is essential to your client’s business, work it into your pricing.
- Put a cap on your monthly outsourcing budget.
- Set a timeline for a trial run. Reassess the value of services at the end of that trial, and adjust accordingly.
If outsourcing boosts your energy, and your productivity gains better long-term results for your business, make it an annual or quarterly necessity to reassess your budget, evaluate your time, and catalogue the tasks you’d love to take off of your plate.
Doing what you love feeds your wellness. Cultivating the time to tend those tasks will grow your business, your body, and your mind.