5 Ways to Create Healthy Business Boundaries When the Kids are Home for the Summer (Read Time: 3 min.)

Have kids who need your attention?

Have a business that requires your time?

When the kids are home for the summer, it's a balancing act meeting the needs of both but here's where healthy business boundaries come in: you create your schedule and with that ability comes the power to make a living AND a life.

Here are 5 ways to adapt your small business productivity to a kids summer off schedule:

1. Create time chunks for business productivity and devote them to different categories of work.  For example, you might allocate 20 minutes in the morning (before the kids get up) to social media, 30 minutes after the kids have lunch to email check-in and phone calls, and 2 hours at night (after the kids go to bed) to product development.  Time chunking gives you the luxury of focused time AND time spent enjoying your children for the summer.
2. Change your business goal expectations for the summer.  So many entrepreneurs forget this one simple truth: You're the boss applesauce!  You get to call the shots.  Don't be a slave driver to yourself.  Your children only have 6-8 weeks of summer freedom, enjoyment and family time.  Stop living as if every second missed in your business is a million dollars lost.  Here's the truth: it's not.  Your clients today will still be your clients on August 25th.  Create summer goals and work hours that reflect your need to enjoy your children and then ramp up after Labor Day.  You'll feel better about it and your kids will love the fact that mom or dad isn't stressed about "working" when they're "off." 
3. Create three non-negotiable business tasks that can be performed three times a week and devote the necessary time to getting them done.  What are the 3 major tasks of your business that NEED to be done in order for your business to continue to thrive?  We all have To-Do lists a million miles long but when you're short on time, now's not the moment to create productivity schedules your time simply won't allow for.  Whether it's blogging, writing, producing, filming, or networking with clients, decide what your top 3 are and commit to doing them 3 TIMES PER WEEK.  You do not have to work on the business EVERY single day.  Work smarter, not harder.  
4. Involve your children in the JOY of your business.  The other day, I hired my 15 year old as my social media assistant and since then, he's been logging in hours looking for articles on the web about creating healthy boundaries.  In this way, he earns money (which he desperately wants so he can buy himself a car when he turns 16), gets to see what his mom does, and learns the value of a solid work ethic.  It's a win-win.  If you have younger kids, do a little presentation for them and answer the question that you're going to get asked A LOT at networking events, "What do you do?"  Practice on the kids and if you get a 7 and 5 year old who clap and who "get" it, you'll certainly do well in a networking room full of hotshots.  
5. Be okay with operating in slow motion.  Here's the thing: hyper-drive is not a constant, 24/7 state.  No one has a life who works their business 24/7.  Talk to anyone who spends more time at work than they do at home (I'm talking 80/20) and you'll find a person who doesn't have much of a home life and who's relationships are on the brink of disaster.  That, my friends, is a costly mistake lots of entrepreneurs make.  There will never be a more solid investment of your time than in your family.  Take your business slow and take your family time seriously.  Nothing has to be decided today and whatever is for you will be for you after your kids' summer break ends. 

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