PPB March 2016

WE HAVE HAD OUR PROMOTIONAL

PRODUCTS

business in our home

for the past six years, and as we

grew we had to force ourselves to

have business hours. We won't

answer the business phone line

unless it is between those hours.

I will check email but not answer

unless it is during business hours.

It seemed once clients knew we

worked out of our home, they

thought they could contact us

any time. By giving ourselves

permission to not allow the busi-

ness to run our lives, we were

able to put the computers down

and not feel guilty by doing so.

If we had events that took us

away during the day (time at

school with the children, lunch

with friends) we would be able

to “catch up” during the evening

time. We also try to make it a

point not to work on the week-

ends.

We have to give ourselves

permission to turn off “business

talk” and remember that we are a

couple and family first. If we

don’t give ourselves that time, we

lose the energy and desire to

keep doing what we need to do.

Jodi Fowles

President/Owner

Eagle Ink Specialty Printing

UPIC: EagleInk

22 •

PPB

• MARCH 2016

INNOVATE

WHEN YOUR HOME OFFICE

COLLIDES WITH YOUR

HOME LIFE

BALANCING ACT

QUEST

ION

A DISTRIBUTOR ASKS

My wife and I run a small distributor company

from home and are having a hard time separating our work from our per-

sonal lives. We talk about the company all day long, even on the week-

ends. We also work into the evenings during the week and most of the

time put in a few hours on the weekends too. All of this does not leave

much time or energy for anything else in life. We feel burnout coming on.

How are other small-business owners finding a work/life balance?