Soundbite: Our Simple Steps for Solopreneurs to Achieve True Work/Life Balance

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In today's quick soundbite episode, we're tackling a topic that's on every solopreneur's mind—work-life balance. It's easy to feel like the hustle is never-ending, but achieving balance isn't a far-off dream. 

In fact, it's completely within reach, as long as you make it a priority in your business plan. 

In this episode, we explore practical ways that we use to weave flexibility and balance into our daily routine, so you can thrive both personally and professionally.

Be sure to tune in!

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Episode Transcript

Carly Ries: 00:00

Today, we're tackling a topic that's on every solopreneur's mind, work, life, balance. It's easy to feel like the hustle is never ending, but achieving balance isn't a far off dream. In fact, it's completely within reach as long as you make it a priority in your business plan. In this short sound bite episode, we'll explore practical ways that we use to weave flexibility and balance into our daily routine, and we hope you find them useful. You can thrive both personally and professionally, Just gotta have that plan.

Carly Ries: 00:31

You're listening to The Aspiring Solopreneur, the podcast for those just taking the bold step or even just thinking about taking that step into the world of solo entrepreneurship. My name is Carly Ries, and my co host Joe Rando and I are your guides to navigating this crazy, but awesome journey as a company of 1. We take pride in being part of Lifestarr, a digital hub dedicated to all aspects of solopreneurship that has empowered and educated countless solopreneurs looking to build a business that resonates with their life's ambitions. We help people work to live, not live to work. And if you're looking for a get rich quick scheme, this is not the show for you.

Carly Ries: 01:10

So if you're eager to gain valuable insights from industry experts on running a business the right way the first time around, or want to learn from the missteps of solopreneurs who've paved the way before you, then stick around. We've got your back because flying solo in business doesn't mean you're alone. Okay. So, Joe, we talk to solopreneurs all the time, and I feel like it is very common for people to say I got into solopreneurship for work life balance. And it's funny because a lot of times solopreneurs don't have that.

Carly Ries: 01:43

It is their dream. It is what they aim for. But as they're getting started, it's like they have this thing that they think is so attainable, and then they they see it start to drift away because they start putting all of their time towards their business. So quickly today, I wanna talk about things that we have found helpful for our work life balance. And I feel like I always steal the mic first, so I wanna hear some of your tips, before I dive in with some of mine.

Joe Rando: 02:06

That's probably fair because I probably mess this up more than anybody ever. So, you know, back in the day when I first became a solopreneur, there was this ethic that I had in my head. I don't know if it was a product of just the times or whether it's a product of just when you start that business yourself, but it's this thing where the more you work, the more you feel like you're good, that you're doing the right thing. And I can remember sitting there at 8:30 at night working, you know, and thinking, Oh, I'm being really good. And it's like, you're not.

Joe Rando: 02:44

Especially if you've got responsibility to other people. And so I think it's a natural thing for people to feel like I really have to work really, really hard when I do something like, you know, take charge of my own life and my own business and my own income. But it's really important to to have that idea of work life balance be one of your core aspects of running your business because it won't happen by accident. It never does. So you really need to to set boundaries, for what you're you know, when are you gonna work?

Joe Rando: 03:17

When does when does the work day end? Which days are you off? You know, is Saturday Sunday, are they sacrosanct? Or do you work Saturdays because you wanna take Tuesdays because something cool happens on Tuesdays where you live? You know, when are you gonna respond to emails?

Joe Rando: 03:33

One of the best ways to to waste time is to jump every time an email comes in, and they come in all day long. So, you know, I have a policy of I don't answer emails all the time. I do it in the morning for a little while, in the afternoon for a little while, but I don't look at emails constantly because it's you never get any work done. Answering phone calls, same thing. If anybody still calls anybody, I don't know, but text messages, you know.

Joe Rando: 03:59

So, you know, what do you do with customers that don't respect your boundaries? So you've set up these policies. This is when I work. This is when I respond to emails, and they don't respect the boundaries. You have to have a plan for how you're gonna deal with those people.

Joe Rando: 04:11

And I think it's important to plan in vacations. Right? You have to have a time that you're saying, I'm done. I'm not working. I'm going away.

Joe Rando: 04:19

And, if your business doesn't allow for that, you need to start rethinking your business.

Carly Ries: 04:24

It's funny. my sister-in-law is a rock star CPA. I don't know how her brain works, but she's one of those really brilliant people where you're just like, oh, that's so cool that you have that intelligence. And she, sent she decided because she was a solopreneur, she decided to, send out an email to all of our clients right when tax season was starting, basically being like, in order to do the best job for you, I will not respond to emails at the 5 PM. I will not do this.

Carly Ries: 04:53

And she was nervous about it at first because she's she was, like, really setting these boundaries during a really busy time of year for CPAs. And, the response she got was all positive because they respected her for setting those boundaries. And and the thing is the more you take care of yourself, the better your business will be. Time and time again, I see whether it's successful solopreneurs or successful people in business, whether they're entrepreneurs or not, a lot of the successful ones are fit. I know that's not always the case, but it's because they prioritize their mental health and they prioritize their physical health.

Carly Ries: 05:30

And if you don't take time to make sure you are functioning properly, the business is gonna suffer. And so I think if you really wanna do well for your business, a part of your, like, I have to be working, consider that personal time, that me time, that family time, a part of your business in a sense because it will make your business function so much better if you focus on you.

Joe Rando: 05:53

Have you ever heard of Parkinson's Law?

Carly Ries: 05:57

No. I've heard of Parkinson's disease.

Joe Rando: 05:59

No. This is very different. So Parkinson's Law says that work expands to fill the time available for its completion. So what that means is if you give somebody a task and you say, I need this by tomorrow, you'll probably get it by tomorrow. If you say, I need this in a week, it'll probably take them a week to do it.

Joe Rando: 06:19

And not just saying that they won't get around to it till it's due, but people will take longer to do things if they're given a longer time frame. So one of the things that tells me is that it's really good to kind of, you know, set due dates for yourself and honor them and to make those due dates, you know, realistic, not crazy, but not too cushy, and that'll get the work done faster. And then you're not sitting there on Friday going, Oh, darn, I didn't get everything I needed to get done done. You know, you lay that out. You say, oh, I you know, like, your your thing about unplugging your computer and having to get it done before the battery dies.

Joe Rando: 06:57

Same idea. You know, it's just I got this deadline that's gotta be done by 2 o'clock, not because, you know, the world's gonna end, but because that's the time you've allotted to do it. And using those kinds of things and time blocking and the Pomodoro method that I know we've talked about before, maybe we can explain it again, but those kinds of things can really make you more efficient, which means that you get the work done that you need to get done. And, you know, when Friday comes, you're ready to go and, you know, take some time off.

Carly Ries: 07:25

I think another thing I hear people say a lot is that since they work from home, there's always distractions and there's that blend between work and lines of, like, where like, I am in my kitchen right now in terms of blending work, life, and everything. But I think you need to you still need to set some sort of boundaries, whether it's, if the door shut, that means you're in a meeting and nobody can disturb you, or you make sure you only have your computer like, if people know your computer's out, that means they can't be interrupted. Like, make sure you have whoever you're living with, you set these clear rules so that it doesn't blend. But also I remember when I was working at my last, full time job, from an employee standpoint. And my brother and I are 13 years apart, and I would come visit my parents and he'd still be there and we'd be watching a movie, but I would always have my computer up or I'd always have my phone up.

Carly Ries: 08:23

And I thought I was being a part of his life and he was like, you're here, but you're not here. So just, be mindful about the technology you have up and when you have it up, and, that will help to set those boundaries as well because it's kinda sad if you really think about it. We just have these devices in front of us all the time.

Joe Rando: 08:44

Yeah. Well, you know, just on that idea, turning off notifications on these devices, you know, those distractions are just horrible. It costs you so much time. my phone used to go off for all this junk, and I'd look, oh gee. You know, the weather app's telling me there's a storm coming in Florida, and I don't live anywhere near Florida.

Joe Rando: 09:03

Thanks, weather app. You know, and I turned off all those notifications and it was literally life changing. And, yeah, I miss a few things now that I wish I didn't miss. Still worth it. Big time.

Carly Ries: 09:15

Yeah. Well, the last thing I wanna say, and this is where I will end at least my portion of this, is if people are like, I can't have work life balance because I have so much to do. I'm busy all the time. I guarantee you if you look at your phone and where you've been spending your time that week, on your phone, you will find areas that you could save time.

Carly Ries: 09:34

Get off the social media, get off Reddit, maybe that's considered social media, and you will see that you do waste time in certain places that can be better spent with your, with quality time during your personal life. So I'm going to end my spiel there.

Joe Rando: 09:49

Well, I got a couple more things. You know, if you're doing too much work, it might be that you really do have too much work and you need to think about outsourcing and automating. And that's something that can really help you to reduce that workload and, you know, have more work life balance. And so really important to do that. I don't know if we can toss that little tool into the show notes, Carly.

Carly Ries: 10:11

Yeah, absolutely.

Joe Rando: 10:12

The one that helps you decide what to outsource. And doing what matters, we do spend a lot of time doing work that, is fun, but doesn't really move the needle. I'm guilty of it, you know, but the Pareto principle, the 80/20 rule is, there are like 20% of the things make 80% of the difference. And if you can try to find a way to focus on those things that are really gonna make a difference for your business, it can really, really, really help. And one thing that, you know, I have literally pondered the idea of writing a book someday called The Power of Procrastination.

Joe Rando: 10:54

And the reason for that is, a lot of times, I'll have something I'm supposed to do, somebody's asking me to do, and I don't do it because it's not important, and I just delay it, and all of a sudden, it goes away. And, you know, so sometimes if it's unimportant, doesn't really matter in any way, shape, or form except maybe somebody wants it for some dumb reason, you know, hold off for a while. It might just go away. I know that's weird advice, but it's really worked for me. and then the last one is to allocate some time to work on your business, not in your business.

Joe Rando: 11:30

And what I mean by that is probably if you've heard me talk at all, you've probably heard me talk about Quadrant 2 and the Eisenhower matrix. And the idea there is there are things that are important and things that aren't important, and those things are also either urgent or not urgent. So obviously, the not important, not urgent things are those things I told you to delay and avoid doing. But, the things that are important but not urgent, those are the things that, you know, that can really help your business. So the idea, you know, you've got this important urgent thing.

Joe Rando: 12:04

A lot of times, that's firefighting. Something went wrong and you've gotta fix it. And that costs you time, but if you take a look at that and say, Hey, you know what? I can fix that if I do this over here. And you set some time to make a change to your business that's not urgent and nobody's screaming for it, but it's gonna make a difference in how the business runs in the future.

Joe Rando: 12:24

That can be a really great investment of time to then reduce the amount of time that you have to use to run the business. Does that make sense?

Carly Ries: 12:31

Yes. Very good points. I am still on board, but I will say the next time I miss a deadline of yours, I'm going to throw the procrastination Back at you.

Joe Rando: 12:45

No.

Carly Ries: 12:45

That's good. Take it back. Take it back. That's why I didn't fall back.

Joe Rando: 12:51

You didn't really need that.

Carly Ries: 12:52

No. No. No. But, listeners, we really hope you found this helpful. Work life balance can be attainable.

Carly Ries: 12:57

You just have to put some effort towards it. And, if you want, we would love to hear some of the tips that you have for work life balance, how you got there. Just, comment on our show notes on lifestarr.com, and we would love to hear what you have to say. Otherwise, we will see you next time on The Aspiring Solopreneur. Do not forget to subscribe.

Carly Ries: 13:17

5 stars, all the above. We so appreciate it, and we will see you next time.

Joe Rando: 13:22

Thank you. Bye.

Carly Ries: 13:26

You may be going solo in business, but that doesn't mean you're alone. In fact, millions of people are in your shoes, running a one person business and figuring it out as they go. So why not connect with them and learn from each other's successes and failures? At LifeStarr, we're creating a one person business community where you can go to meet and get advice from other solopreneurs. Be sure to join in on the conversations at community.lifestarr.com.