10 Amazing Tips for a Work Life Balance

Have you ever thought to yourself how great it would be to live the laptop lifestyle and get that work-life balance you have always dreamed of, but didn’t know where to start?

Data suggests that 62% of Americans want to own a business, according to FreshBooks
report.

While becoming your own boss may seem appealing, it may be difficult to imagine leaving the security of a steady income in the face of uncertainty.

Find the answer to this popular question as I dive into the Wealthy Affiliate program and make money with affiliate marketing.

I’m excited to share my experience and in-depth research on starting your affiliate marketing business online and finding that perfect work life balance.

But first,

How Does Building Your Own Website for Free Sound?

Have you always wanted to create an online business but have no idea where or how to get started?

Well, it turns out that these days, you can make money online from the comfort of your home for free without the need for a 9-to-5 job. Giving you the flexibility you’ve always wanted in your work-life balance.

Even if you are just like me when I first started, a complete Tech dummy!

Did you know that you can create your very own niche website for any type of affiliate marketing in just 30 seconds here at Wealthy Affiliate?

You also get 10 training lessons from Kyle.

Now, what if I told you that everything listed above is completely free for as long as you like?

You could start an online business, earning real money that could eventually take you away from the 9 -5 grind and set you up for life.

How Would You Like to Be Your Own Boss?

If you’ve ever wanted to be your own boss but felt it was too expensive, too late, too crazy, or simply too risky compared to your seemingly “secure” job.

You might not know where to start, but if you’ve been thinking of being your own boss for a few years, now might be the time to take the plunge.

Imagine Setting Your Own Hours!

How good would it feel to wake up when you feel like it and not when your alarm tells you to!

Would you like to be able to set your own working hours? Work for 30 minutes or 6 hours. You’re the boss, so the choice is yours!

Now, I am not saying you can do all this right away.

If you put in the dedication, hard work and are determined to make this business a success, you will succeed. Believe me, this will happen!

My 10 Tips for a Work-Life Balance

Do you own your own business? Are you thinking of starting your own business or working from the home venture?

Maintaining that work-life balance should be easy when you work for yourself, right?

As a work-at-home marketer myself you must be thinking I work from home, I have no one to answer to so it should be really easy for me to switch off.

I want to tell you right now, that’s not always the case, and truthfully when I first started working as an online entrepreneur I really did struggle to strike that healthy work-life balance.

I was noticing that I was spending many more hours at my computer in my small makeshift office than I ever did in my other job!

I really did struggle to find that perfect balance.

So, rather than you go through what I have, I am going to share with you my top 10 tips for achieving and maintaining that healthy work-life balance.

I am going to start with my number 1 tip, as I think this is the most important and something I struggled with when I first started, and that is:

Take A Break!

It is so important to remember a great quote when you first start your work from home business, and that is “Rome Wasn’t Built in a Day” something I live by nowadays.

I now schedule in a long lunch every day which I never allow to be less than 1 hour (Sometimes his has been a few hours) where I get out of my office and usually have a quick bite to eat and then head out with my two dogs.

It is amazing what this time away from your work can achieve. It will help you become a lot clearer, more focused, and definitely more productive.

Remember why you decided to start your work-from-home business, to give you more freedom to do what you want when you want to.

No more living and existing to a work time clock!

Have That Holiday

A little harder in our current climate, however, that will change and when it does allow your new business to afford you that time.

I always make sure I have a holiday every 3 months, my last trip to Singapore was with my wife and daughter and revitalized the whole Retired Affiliates program.

And it doesn’t need to be a holiday abroad, even a long weekend away can work wonders for your work-life balance!

Do What You Really Love

This is another of my favorites and why I love working for myself from home.

Other than making a great income online my other passion is getting out on the boat, either diving, island hopping, or fishing.

You should always make time for something you love – other than your work from home business – and make sure to give it the time it deserves.

You will be amazed at how much this will energize you and get those creative juices flowing something that is so critical to every successful business owner.

Create a Workspace that Works for You

As I mentioned earlier working for yourself will require some long hours, especially when you are first starting up and looking to get your website and brand noticed.

Invest in equipment that will support those long days.

I made sure before I even started my work from home business that I had a comfortable office chair, a workstation that I could be either seated at or stand up, an ergonomic keyboard, and once I started to get established traded the laptop for a dual-screen desktop.

A good set-up office space is worth every dollar!

Set Your Work Hours – And Stick to Them

Before you even get started on your work-from-home business, set your work hours and do everything humanly possible to stick to them.

From experience, I can tell you that if you don’t, you will find yourself working past midnight every night.

For example, I work from 8 to 12 on my Retired Affiliates and Wealthy Affiliate business Monday to Friday and have now conditioned myself that if I don’t complete something within that time, I will get back to it when I am in the office the next day.

If I don’t do that, I know the hours I need to put into my other businesses will not be met, and they will suffer as will, my clients.

As business owners, we must keep our customers happy.

Know Your Strengths

Whatever you do, don’t think you can do it all.

Focus on what you are really good at within your business and outsource the other stuff.

An awesome place I have found, for all types of outsourcing work, is Fiverr. So if you’re not crash hot at, graphic design, SEO, article, and blog writing, outsource them instead of wasting time.

Know and Prioritize Your Time

There will come a time when your new business will start getting traction and the to-do list that was only 3 or 4 things when you started has now become 60 or more!

You need to prioritize those things and what I do here is put them into four different categories.

These are:

• Urgent and Important
• Important but Not Urgent
• Urgent but not so Important
• None of the above

As you grow that last one doesn’t come up so much anymore.

Money In Money Out – Know Your Finances

This one applies even if you don’t work for yourself yet, as it is important to know where your money goes and how much you have.

I use accounting software by MYOB and have used this from day one.

Your cash flow is going to be one of your biggest challenges as you start to scale your business, especially if you start to outsource some of your work.

Start using accounting tools from day dot so as you know exactly what’s going on with your finances.

Switch Off

It’s all well and good shutting down the computer for the day and walking out of the home office, but have we really switched off.

As most online business owners will tell you, not only is their business on a desktop and laptop, but also on their mobile phones.

If you are with your family after your work hours, turn off technology.

I have a separate mobile phone for my business and that gets turned off when I am not at my desk, that way I am disconnected from all my social media platforms regarding my business and this has definitely helped my work-life balance.

Say NO!

You have made the awesome decision to be your own boss, so you don’t need to be available all the time, and you shouldn’t be saying yes to everything.

One of the biggest things I learned is to say NO sometimes.

What’s Really Important to You?

Working fewer hours doesn’t always mean a better work-life balance for all of us.

You just need to be happy with the amount of time you give to each part of your life, and if you are then you have found that perfect work life balance.

Think about what you would like to do more (or less) of? Now focus on what you need to and eliminate the stuff that doesn’t contribute to that.

This last one was a bonus tip for all those that read this far!

10 Tips for a Work-Life Balance – My Conclusion

Having worked with many people who have owned their own businesses I have seen that a poor work-life balance can cause stress, unhappiness, marriage breakdowns, reduced productivity, and people just giving up what could have been an awesome business idea

Try and implement some of (or all) our tips and be on your way t start working to live instead of living to work!

If you want to create your own website, to post your articles and blogs from Fiverr, then read about Wealthy Affiliate and how you can create a website for free.

Did you find this article useful? Feel free to share your thoughts. We would be happy to hear from you!

Stay tuned for more Work from Home Business Ideas.

Any/all links on this site may be affiliate links, and if you make a purchase through one of them, I will earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Read the full affiliate disclosure here.

Mark

CEO and Founder of The Retired Affiliates