June 20th is Father’s day! Last year I started my own business and my podcast and had the chance to speak with a lot of cool entrepreneurs who also are fathers. Here are some lessons that I learned from them on how to have family and business life in balance.
Define ME TIME for each other
Pierre Biege is CEO of ETREFORT and lives in Switzerland. His wife and he define for each week “me time”. These are blocks of time where they just do what they want to do, in the case of Pierre Parkour sessions or creating videos for his business. They define me-time individually and they also define a time in the week where they do something as a couple. Another rule that Pierre is living in is not using his mobile at home, he turns on the flight modus when he is at home. “I just want to focus on my family”, he says.
You can find more information about Pierre on his website: https://etre-fort.com/
Say more often NO to people
From my own experience as a business owner saying more often and disciplined no is a really good way to leverage my own time. All the time people are coming, this can be also other family members or people who want to work with me or want something. Saying more often no keeps your own life healthy and helps you to focus on the main thing. This also means that I say no to potential clients that are not a good fit for me (includes f.e. People who are asking for a discount on the first conversation that we have or saying I’m too expensive or just thinking in a transactional way) or saying no to family members which can be heartbreaking for some of them. I’m responsible for my own time so I have to be very proactive with my scheduling!
You can find more information about me on my website: https://www.contentmentoring.com/
Working ON the business rather than IN the business
According to Norman Müller, Founder of Genius Alliance, the role of fathers changed within a few years and will continue to change. More and more fathers want to have more family time but this also brings the responsibility to be more in charge of their own business. As an entrepreneur, you can decide how to invest your time but this also brings pressure to bring new clients and projects, so Norman Müller. Norman recommends, therefore, use digitalization tools for automatization of the own business. “Work ON the business, rather than working IN the business”, so Norman Müller. Some of the things that he uses are:
- Asana: Project Management Tool
- Calendly: Organizing your calendar and scheduling your time
- Pipedrive: Customer relationship management tool
- VA: Hiring a virtual assistant for specific tasks to save you time in your daily business
Norman recommends if you do a task two or three times in a row then automate it. “When I write an email two or three times to different people but with the same message then I create a template that I can reuse next time. Or I’m also using keyboard shortcuts on my desktop for email sentences that I use in all emails like With best regards.
You can find more information about Norman on his website: https://genius-alliance.com/
Don’t ask for advice! Find your own way!
Luis Camejo is the founder of BizBros and explains that his world completely changed when his son was born. “My focus changed related to my business because now I was forced to execute!” His own family was a great support in this time and Luis doesn’t think about work-life balance but rather wants to integrate business and family life. When he is working he is really enjoying what he is doing and doesn’t really see it as work. For him, it is very important to be at home when his son is waking up and also sleeping in the evening. In the beginning, he also decided NOT to ask other people for advice and find their own solution because of the many different opinions that people have and instead find their own way of doing things.
Book recommendations:
The Energy bus by John Gordon
Living with a seal by Jesse Itzler
The one thing by Gary Keller
You can find more information about Luis on his website: https://www.contentisprofit.com/
Eat regularly with your family for dinner
John Lawson is an award-winning entrepreneur and best-selling author and also a father. He shared three lessons also in this video:
- You need to let somebody else do it. Don’t micromanage everything in order to free yourself and have time for the real important things in life: Your family life!
- Schedule your day and have routines! Have your routines but at the same time be flexible during your day. Create your business so that you can free yourself and enjoy family!
- Eat regularly together! The family is the fuel that keeps us everything going and on track! Spend time together!
You can find more information about John Lawson on his website: https://johnlawson.com/
Teaching your kids life lessons so that they become responsible human beings
Brian Bogert teaches his kids “I am “ statements in order to show them a growth mindset (I am strong, capable, strong …). This is normally for very young people very hard to do but this is something that Brian shows his children. Another very important lesson that Brian teaches his children is that he focuses more on the process instead of the outcome. Oftentimes we only look on the results but instead focus on how you show up and what you really do.
? Book recommendation by Brian Bogert: Mindset by Carol Dweck
You can find more information about Brian on his website: https://brianbogert.com/
Focus on revenue producing activities
Tiji Thomas is very structured throughout the day and uses his google calendar also for family events! He doesn’t believe in work-life balance and makes sure that you really have to structure your day! He is also blocking time for RPA: Revenue Producing Activity like creating and shooting videos, creating an email for an autoresponder.
? Book recommendation by Tiji Thomas: One Thing by Gary Keller
You can find more about Tiji on his website: tijithomas.com
Strengthen your discipline muscle also for family events
Use a booking tool for your business AND family events. How many meetings do you have in the next two weeks with your family? Create discipline not only for your business but also for your family life and add breakfast with your family or family tours also into your calendar. If it is not in the calendar it is just a dream! This means focusing and including family events also into your calendar and also saying more often no to other business opportunities. Accept the things that make you smile and book them into your calendar.
You can find more information about Steve on his website: https://www.stevedsims.com/
Prioritize the right things in your life
Richard Mulholland is the Founder of Missing Link and he recommends ensuring your priorities are set straight. “The best place for us to start is to treat interactions with our family with the same respect we’d treat the interactions we have with our biggest customers, if you wouldn’t prioritize an email when speaking to that client, don’t do it when chatting to your kids”, so Richard. He also uses his calendar in advance not only for meetings but also for doing things on a daily business. “If I know I need to write a talk, I add that. Once that’s all done, people can book meetings in what’s left. If you don’t do that then you need to spend your nights and weekends catching up, thereby stealing time from your family and yourself.”
You can find more information about Richard on his website: https://msnglnk.com/
Family time over work time!
Justin Breen is the founder and CEO of BrEpic and he mentions this topic at the beginning of his book Epic Business: Prioritize family time over work time! „If your someone who believes that family shouldn’t come first, please put down this book. I can’t help you.“ Everything starts within you and if you don’t focus on what matters most for you then all hacks and tricks will not help you!
You can find more information about Justin Breen here: https://www.brepicllc.com/
Working hard doesn’t mean working smart
According to Brandon Straza Founder of The Success Finder, it comes back to see the full picture of your day. What are your daily habits when it comes to your own business?
- Stop browsing or checking social media channels
- Ask yourself: How can I design my business so that I can travel with family in a way that is most convenient for all of us?
You can find more information about Brandon Straza here: https://thesuccessfinder.com/
You can listen to the full episode with Brandon Straza here: https://lnns.co/skEWn8Kp6CO