The most important priority for every business owner

It takes a couple of years, maybe three, to establish your business. This is often a crazy period of working long hours and learning new things every day. We learn by doing. As you take action daily, you are learning what works for you in your business. Once you know that your business is viable, you move beyond the start-up phase. During this next phase, the most important thing to do, among many other important things, is to answer the following question:

HOW DOES MY BUSINESS SERVE MY LIFE?

I believe that your work, your business, must serve your life. And one of the most important things you do as a business owner is to work at making sure that the business you own does exactly that. Your challenge is to develop your business, day in and day out, so that it serves everything else in your life.

I don’t know about you, but I do not live so I can work. I work so I can have a life.

There’s a danger with work because work can be very motivating. If you’re passionate about what you do, it’s a good thing, but the danger with that is that it can grow to dominate everything in your world. It has the power to overtake everything. Your identity and self-worth can become linked to your business success, and you can become driven in an unhealthy way.

You can become pre-occupied with your business.

When you are a business owner there are so many things in your head all the time. There are details that you’re working through. The to-do list is never ending. And you can get inspired about all kinds of things. There are problems to solve. You can be inspired during the night. You wake up thinking about a problem you need to solve. Or you can be out with your partner, trying to relax and watch a movie. Something in the movie can spark an idea for your business. You can be talking to somebody, and it can get exciting for you as they start talking about things that could help you in your business. All these kinds of things can stop you being fully present with those you love. Unless you learn how to switch off and disengage you can become preoccupied all the time with your business.

There are so many things that are great about running a business. If you’re passionate about it, that’s fantastic and I want you to be successful. As a business mentor I help business owners be successful and make a lot of money.

Business success can be undermined when you neglect important areas of your personal life.

The danger I find is that you can be spending 60,70, 80 hours a week involved in your business, never letting down, feeling like it looks exciting. It’s an adrenaline rush. Some tell me, “I don’t need to let down.” Or “It’s okay but I don’t need other things in my life. I love my business.”

Well, you do need your health – both physical and mental health. And ideally, you’ve got a partner and a family that you’re doing it for. You’ve got key relationships that are important that you want to invest in. You’ve got your parents if they’re still alive. You want to make sure you enjoy time with them while they are on the earth. I know mine are both passed on now. I am so grateful to have been able to spend the last few years really giving them a lot of time and attention and focus.

I have learned there’s so much more to life than work. Work is a big part of life and it’s wonderful, but it can dominate your life. You’ve got to find a way to integrate your world of work with the other things that are precious in your life. The things that you neglect in your personal world are likely to be the things that sabotage or undermine your business success over time.

So, how does your work serve your life?

Would you like to have a conversation about that? I love to help business owners think about how they can build a successful business that enables them to create a great lifestyle for themselves and their family. If you’ve got a level of success already, there will be things you already have that you can leverage. I can help you develop those things that will enable you to have more time to have a great life. Your business can go even better with you doing less in it. That’s true. I can help you to become one of those relatively rare individuals who do discover the freedom, flexibility, and fulfilment you were looking for when you first started your business.

To book a free consultation with John click here.

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Over the years I’ve written many articles about priorities in your business and in your life! Here are a few of my favourites to help you integrate your work into all other parts of your life.

The most important priority for every business owner