Flexibility is a must-have in the modern workplace. The flexibility that allows you to work remotely, on your terms, and for yourself will enable you to be more productive and happier. It also allows your company to grow with the times without outsourcing or relocating its operations elsewhere.
Flexibility helps you grow as an individual and prepare yourself for success in whatever field of work you pursue after college graduation. This guide will walk through all critical aspects of achieving and maintaining flexibility as an entrepreneur to establish your flexible schedule from day one of starting your new business venture!
How to Be a Flexible Entrepreneur?
As an entrepreneur, you’ll likely find yourself working long hours. There’s no way around it. But flexible hours are essential for family life. Entrepreneurs often work from home and can set their schedules. This allows them to spend more time with their loved ones and less time commuting to the office every day.
However, when unexpected things come up in their personal lives—like a sick child or parent—it’s often necessary to adjust your schedule accordingly so you can be there for them (or vice versa). If you have fixed work hours, this could cause significant problems when managing your responsibilities as an entrepreneur and as a caretaker of family members who need help around the house.
Being flexible can help you be more productive overall because it gives us greater freedom over our lives than having rigid schedules would allow in most cases!
Hire a Personal Assistant
One of the best ways to get more flexibility in your life is to hire a personal assistant. Personal assistants can help with all sorts of tasks, from booking travel and making reservations to running errands, doing laundry, and cleaning up after you. If you’re having trouble finding time for everything that needs to get done, it’s worth hiring someone full-time so that you don’t have to be responsible for every aspect of your work or daily life.
Hiring a personal assistant doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive; there are several ways that you can find someone online who will do what you need them to do at an affordable price. The easiest way to find a top-tier executive personal assistant is by relying on recruiting agencies.
Manage An Off-Time
When running a small business, it can be tempting to get everything done in one day. If you work hard and long enough, you might think that you’ll produce all the results your business needs. And while this mentality can work sometimes, it’s not sustainable.
The truth is that there are only 24 hours in a day—and no matter how much of those 24 hours we spend working on our businesses, there will always be more things we could do with them. So instead of trying to get everything done in one day (or even one week), use this formula:
1) Schedule activities based on how much time they require; 2) Reserve the rest of your “off” time for friends and family; 3) Enjoy yourself!
Define the areas of your day that you want to keep flexible and let go of those you don’t.
Now that you have a better understanding of how to approach your day, it’s time to start defining the areas of your week that are most important to you. It’s important to note that while flexibility is a great goal, there are times when being rigid is just as valuable.
For instance, if there’s a meeting at the office every Monday at 8:00 AM and you’re always late because traffic always sucks on Mondays and sometimes even worse than usual because it’s raining, then maybe taking less time getting ready or leaving work early would be more beneficial than trying to push through traffic over lunch or an early morning coffee run so that you can show up precisely at 8:00 AM every Monday without fail.
Use Technology to Your Advantage
A calendar system like Google Calendar makes it easy for others to see when someone is available for meetings, appointments, and conferences—allowing them flexibility when planning times with other people who also have busy schedules. It’s also helpful in ensuring no one books overlapping time slots between multiple parties who all depend on each other being present at the same place at once!
Project management systems such as Trello allow teams working together remotely through different mediums such as text messaging or video conference calls; keeping everyone synchronized on projects while respecting their deadlines/commitments makes interdisciplinary teams more efficient overall.
Time tracking apps like Toggl help employees track how much time they spend doing certain activities so that they don’t overwork themselves trying to get everything done in less than 24 hours each day.”
Maintain Healthy Boundaries With Your Team and Clients
To maintain a healthy balance in your life, it’s essential to keep your work life separate from your personal life. Don’t feel obliged to do everything yourself. As an entrepreneur, it’s tempting to take on every task that comes along—but if you’re not careful, this can lead you down a path of stress and burnout.
Instead of constantly overworking yourself and taking on tasks at all day hours, use tools such as an online calendar or project management software to better manage your clients’ expectations and create precise schedules for yourself (and others) with deadlines and milestones.
This will allow everyone involved with the project to know when they need to get things done while still allowing them some flexibility within those deadlines if necessary.
Don’t Feel Pressured to Say “Yes” Every Time Someone Asks Something of You
On the flip side, if someone asks you to do something and your immediate reaction is “yes, of course!”, it might be because the pressure is taking onto you. Try to say no if you are not ready to accept the task.
Suppose the person asking for your help has been in your life for a long time and generally respects your boundaries around saying yes/no and helping them out. It might be fine if they ask again—or even offer an incentive like dinner out or new equipment if they’re asking for something significant.
However, if they don’t respect those boundaries or only want their way all the time (even when it doesn’t work out well), then let them know that too! You can always tell them that while you would love to help this time around, etc., you won’t be able to say yes until further notice due to some other commitments.
This will allow them some time/space to work on their solutions and let them know that this isn’t just another “no” coming from you because it makes life easier or better!
You should always keep in mind that flexibility is a broad concept, and there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. It will take some time to figure out what works best for your business, but it’s essential to know where you want to go and how to get there.
I hope this guide has helped me learn more about achieving flexibility. If there are topics you’d like covered or if I missed anything, let me know!
