Can you afford to take a day off in your business?

I had a different blog post in mind for today - it was called “Who has time for social media anymore?”

And it will be live on my website later this week and it’s a good one.

It is kind of related to what I am sharing here instead. So bear with me.

Yesterday, my daughter needed me to be at home with her as she finalised her HSC personal interest project. We have not had a great HSC year. She is a bright girl, with a great future but a massive procrastinator, so getting started is the issue and then there is a great flurry of activity at the end.

Anyway, I spent the day with her at home and apart from a Facebook Live where I spoke about seasons in business, I was completely available to her.

Is this a big deal?

Well yes cos I know about 4 years ago that would not have been how I handled things in business.

I know where I would have been and it is a terrible thing to admit and contrary to one of the key reasons as to why I wanted to go into business 18 years ago.

Flexibility.

To do what I wanted to do, when I wanted to do it. If I needed to have the day off to be at a family event, school event or chat to a friend, I could.

For a long time, this was not the case at all. Business was too often what came first. Cashflow dictated what I worked on and whether I could take time off or even work a normal workday.

This was not a strategic or seasonal approach to business at all. I was not focusing my energy where it was best put. I was letting cash dictate action.

I spoke about the ultimate result of this approach in the past here.

I am now a big believer in a seasonal approach to business. Sometimes you are in creation mode, sometimes growth, sometimes change and sometimes rest. We also need to recognize when other factors (i.e. a personal life) will come into play and will impact our business seasons and just let that happen.

This is where having a overarching plan can help sustain your business when you need to pull back from being ‘on’ all the time.

I am reclaiming one of the reasons I started in business 18 years ago.

I challenge you to reclaim your why too.