The Biggest Drains On Your Time As A Dadpreneur (And The Formula To Make It Work For Everyone)

One of the biggest challenges when you’re a dad and trying to start a business is the struggle of making the next leap up every rung of the ladder. While you might consider your work-life balance to be firmly in the position of the former, every considerable change in your business means you’ll have to put extra time in just to make sure these teething problems go without additional fuss. But what are the biggest drains on your resources every time you climb up the ladder?

Technology Changes

Technology changes, in all its forms, require so many different hats for you to wear. The changes in the market dictates that we need to say head of the curve for us not to fall behind, whether this is changing our software for the most up-to-date version, implementing software patches, or finding different ways of creating new platforms. App development is one such approach that is vital to keeping contact with the customer, and for all the iOS and android app development companies out there that can do your bidding, you will find that the constant back and forth with each aspect, from the design team, to the marketers, will be a significant drain on your resources. So, when it comes to making these technology changes effective enough, but not to a detrimental effect on your family life, outsourcing is always one of the best options. But if you are running a start-up company, this isn’t an option; compartmentalizing your time, and working within office hours is only going to be the most suitable option. Creating that boundary between work and home life is important, but when you have so many different aspects to sign off, from the design, to the layout, to the content, every part of it demands your complete attention. So, making sure that it all happens within the working hours will benefit you, but also, in communicating the culture of a balanced work and home life, this will serve you in good stead for the business.

Moving Into An Office

As every business gains significant traction, the considerations of having a bigger space in which to do business is a necessary undertaking. If you have started your business modestly and work from home, and had employees do the same, moving from remote working to an office is a method to solidify your grand plan. However, moving into an office causes a lot of shake ups in the business as a whole, especially if you have many remote workers. The overall concerns relate to productivity, and if your staff can maintain this productivity, but also, you might have so many people jump ship because of the fact that you are now in an office environment. The change from remote working to a physical space where you have to clock in and clock out and do the nine to five really isn’t for many people now. This is why the modern worker demands a lot of flexibility, and part of this includes flexible working arrangements. Of course, you can’t please everyone in moving from remote working to an office, this was probably part of the plan all along, as long as you communicated it with your workers. This goes back to the idea of the bigger picture. But when making the move, it can be a big undertaking, and can result in a few hours away from home. The best approach in this is to communicate the fact that it’s something that will be a small sacrifice now, but will have a much better outcome for everyone concerned, including your family.

Making Your Leadership Better

This is not a quick fix. It is something that can take a long time to get right. And whether you need to learn by doing, or by delving into appropriate research, it’s important for you to put in the 10,000 hours needed. Making your skills as a leader a vast improvement, can be a testing time, not just for you, but for those close to you. While you can check the balance family in favor of your family, you do need to ask yourself if you are doing everything you can for the benefit of your company? This is where some sense of compartmentalizing comes in handy, but by being rigid and sticking to the allocated time with each area of your life, from business, to family time, to self-development, as well as rest, it is really the only solution to ensure that you are putting as much time as you physically can. Another approach would be having a personal assistant, so they can keep your life on track for you, but for those entrepreneurs who are not financially able to do this, being extremely organized is going to be the way to help. This can be an emotional undertaking, because of the drains on your resources as a person, but there are sacrifices you have to make in this respect, but your body and frame of mind are not sacrifices! Instead, by making room in your life for the big 4: work, life, rest, and self-improvement, you should have everything you need within these four categories.

As an entrepreneur, but also as a father, time is one of those resources that you can never get enough of. It’s vital for you to understand how you can make the most of your time, but also understand what the biggest drains are on your resources, in business, but also in life. While so many people push the work-life balance, it’s not just about those two, by adding in self-improvement and the time to rest, only then will you be fully functioning in every area of your life. And, of course, it’s not the simplest of equations to work out. But, once you understand where you can make allowances in life, and figure out ways to cut corners without it impacting negatively on certain areas of your life or work, your overall quality of life will improve significantly as a result. We could all do with more time, but do you want to make more time to the detriment of your health, or do you want to make it beneficial to every area of your life, from your employees, to your children, to your overall frame of mind? Climbing the ladder each time shouldn’t be a drain, it should be a celebration. Make it so.

This post is a collaborative effort by St. Louis Dad.

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