Passions That Pay

Help, I need somebody
Help, not just anybody
Help, you know I need someone, help
Lennon/McCartney

Running a small business is responsibility enough but if you also have a family to look after, it can quickly get overwhelming. The only way to avoid total burnout is to become very good at asking for help. I know many people who have great difficulty asking for even the simplest of help so if this describes you then I recommend that you take immediate action to change this.

Here are some ways to make sure that you get the help you need.

If you have a spouse, make sure that they are contributing to household chores. Just because you may be working from home does not mean you should be doing all the daily tasks. Even if you work part-time and your spouse full time, it is vital you get support and help. Do not criticize how your spouse performs the tasks but attempt to come to some sort of compromise about acceptable standards.

If children take on chores, it helps them to integrate them into their adult life. I do believe in letting children be children so would never overload them but asking them to perform a couple of tasks a day is not only reasonable but is helpful to the child’s maturity. There is a feeling of pride in having responsibilities. Be consistent but not critical of your child and enforce with both positive and negative consequences. Tying the completion of tasks with a weekly allowance teaches children a little about earning money.

Outsourcing. There are many ways to outsource various tasks to professionals. One way to help you decide what to outsource is to put a value on your time. Divide the profit from your business by the amount of hours you work to get some idea of your hourly worth. If your business is not yet making a profit you can use projected figures but be careful to be realistic about future earnings. Once you know your hourly rate, it will be easy to see that outsourcing the tasks you least enjoy can actually be a saving. If you spend several hours a week on housework, could you earn more money by paying a cleaning service? If you spend too big a percentage of time on mundane business tasks hiring a virtual assistant to take it over end up paying you dividends.

Build a professional team around you to support and help you. Members of your team could include an accountant, a lawyer, a business coach and a virtual assistant. Having access to good quality, professional help will save you money in the long run by making sure your business runs as smoothly and as profitably as possible.

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