While many of my blogs tend to be more on the informational side, I also really love hearing back from other people about how things are going for them running their own home businesses. One of the topics that comes up again and again with people I know who have their own businesses is around taking time off–when, how much and IF they ever get time off at all…
I imagine it’s pretty common in the early stages of building a business to work a lot of hours. I hate to admit it, for fear I’ll be turned in as a work-a-holic (I’m really NOT, by nature, but more by circumstance–single parent, three kids, no child support, no trust fund, just me) but I don’t think I’ve had a vacation in over five years. And, I also have to admit that I work every single weekend and pretty much do some sort of work seven days a week–at least for the past year.
It’s not that I wouldn’t love to take time off, take a cruise, or even a long weekend at a nearby beach, but every day spent NOT working, means a day spent not generating income, so, I just keep saying…Some day!
I do know other people who run their own businesses or work from home who are far more established than I am or who don’t have families to support–they seem to have more regular hours and have worked out a little saner work and play schedule. I think some of them actually take vacations (Imagine that!). I do tend to be a bit flexible in my working since I have kids (this afternoon, for example, I’m off to my daughter’s jazz band festival), but that generally means I work harder in advance or after the fact to make up for time spent taking care of other family things. All in all, I prefer working overtime for myself and my own business and my own family than doing it for some other company–but still, I’m searching for more balance.
I would love to hear from some of you others–do you wrestle with getting some time off or are you good about balancing work and family? Are your businesses set up to be more flexible or does your income directly reflect the amount of time you actually work? I imagine we could all benefit from some words of experience and advice from other home business owners!