So, you are still in your 9 to 5 or day job. Maybe you are even a stay-at-home mom but regardless of where you are, you are struggling to carve out time to become an entrepreneur and finally start your business idea or start growing your business.
You wonder everyday how you are going to make this thing work, right? How are you going to work 40 hours a week or more outside the home or in the home and still run a business?
Let me help you by sharing some tips on how you can carve out time to become a boss while you are still in your 9 to 5 or day job. As a mom of four that worked as an English Instructor and Instructional Designer, I learned quickly how to make time for my business because I knew my business would fuel my dreams and give me the life I desired.
First you must get clear on the time you have. You must get clear on the time you have. Let me say this again; you must get clear on the time you have! A lot of us make the mistake of deciding to start a business and nothing ever gets done or accomplished because we don’t really know the time we actually have to put into our business.
We don’t know because we have never “audited” our day. And what does that mean? We have never taken a true account of what we do during a 24 hour period. From the time we get up, until the time we lay back down at night. We don’t know. So if we don’t know, we don’t know how much time we have to work on our business. That’s why we have to get clear. We have to try to schedule as much as we can and even schedule for when things don’t go the way we plan. So start writing this down. You want to begin by subtracting from the 24 hours you have.
1. Subtract the time you need for your daily routine. And if you don’t have one, I want you to create one. It’s proven that successful people have routines. So subtract your morning routine. That may mean you get up pray, mediate, journal, drink a glass of water or cup of coffee, and just prepare for your day, whatever that looks like, I want you to subtract it from your 24 hours.
2. Subtract how time you spend at work. So how many hours does it take you to get in the car drive to work and drive home? For some that could be 10 hours. If you are not in a 9 to 5, subtract the hours your “work”. Whatever that works looks like, subtract it. Look at the amount of time you now have, it seems like most of your take is already accounted for, right…but we have more to subtract.
3. Subtract your other responsibilities to your family, kids, and spouse or significant other. Those could include the time you spend cooking, cleaning and spending time with the important people in your life. We don’t want to start a business and completely ignore our responsibility as moms and spouses. And I started my business because I wanted to spend more time with my family and not have to worry about having vacation days or not. How many hours is that?
4. Subtract the amount of sleep you need to function (because now that you are becoming a boss, self-care is extremely important and without energy you won’t be able to do the things you need to do). So you need to get your rest. I typically feel great sleeping at least 7 hours.
Now how many hours do you have left? Notice, I didn’t mention hours to watch TV, being on social media, or anything else because whatever you have remaining I want you do devote exclusively to your business. There is no more love and Hip-hop Hollywood, no more Sandal, or Queen Sugar, lol…it’s all gone, bye bye!
You may only have five hours or even less left in a day. But that’s okay because now you know what you are working with and you are not creating a business with unrealistic expectations which could cause you to become frustrated, overwhelmed, or stressed. You know exactly how to take that time left and put into your business. And that’s how you carve out time in your 9 to 5 or day job to become a boss.
This, however, can change as your children get older or if you start working less or go part-time. Your “free time” could increase. And we didn’t even talk about the weekends or days you may have off from work during the week. The success of your new business venture, it going to be determined by how much time you put into it and how you utilize that time. The key to becoming a boss is knowing what you have and utilizing that time strategically.
If you would like to know more about what to do with the time you have now carved out go listen to the training Becoming a Boss Master Class that will teach you:
How to get clear on the time you have to create a business
How to balance work, family, and life while working on your business
How to overcome distractions
How to use your current resources to be successful
Start creating your dream life now by starting your profitable business!