If you’re a small business owner, you took a risk and a leap of faith in starting your own business. In most instances, you’ve probably worked your way to this point. Perhaps once upon a time, you decided that working for a boss wasn’t for you. You could do much better in becoming a business owner. You kissed goodbye to the security of a regular pay cheque, sick leave when required, and the convenience of annual leave throughout the year.
So then you started a business, and all the security and benefits vanished. These were replaced with risk, more challenging work than you did previously, and the need to be good at a lot of different aspects of running a business you had never thought of before. You were probably eating into your savings and taking out loans to get the business off its feet. But as the cliché goes, if it were easy, everyone would do it. Besides, the rewards make it worthwhile.
Or do they? As a business coach and mentor, I often meet small business owners who give everything and take little back. There’s a disconnect here because you need your business to work, and you need it to work for you rather than you just working for your business. Otherwise, what’s the point of doing all this work?
A big part of my role is helping business owners respect the value, time, and expertise they put into their work and ensure they receive a reward. If not, this isn’t a business—it’s just a job, and you may as well go back to working for someone again.
How can your business help achieve personal goals? Get guidance from Sydney’s leading business mentor.
It’s OK For Your Business to Enable Personal Goals
Your business should help you live a great, fulfilling life. Therefore it makes sense to consider your personal needs and wants when you consider your business goals. In fact, I very much encourage this approach.
What do your goals look like? What sort of lifestyle would help make you feel happy and fulfilled? Perhaps they involve a comfortable overseas holiday every year, working an eight-day fortnight so you can go to the kid’s sporting events, or becoming a significant sponsor of a charity important to you. Maybe they’re focused on growing your property portfolio and financial independence, sending your kids to a good school or a beautiful home. Is mental health and work/life balance a priority? You might want to work on adopting flexible work hours so you can get other things done as well. There is no right or wrong goal here. The only thing that won’t work in the long run is denying yourself and the loved ones around you a life you deserve.
Have you permitted yourself to have personal goals you can get inspired by and excited about? It’s not unprofessional, nor is it self-indulgent. If you have never done this, now is the time to ask yourself. And remember – goals don’t have to be long-range, out-of-reach wishes. They can come in many guises. What’s your idea of the best work perks for you, the business’s most valuable team member? Even something as simple as allowing yourself to leave early one day every week to take your spouse or partner on a date night is a great goal. You’d be surprised how such a seemingly small aspiration can deliver powerful and positive benefits in so many ways.
Read more about the importance of goal setting in an organisation.
Why Your Personal Fulfilment Is Important to Your Business
A business is supposed to do many things, not least help you live a good life. If you’re pouring everything into this venture, you need to get something back in return. If you don’t, your tank will run out at some point.
Don’t underestimate your influence, either. You are a mirror to your team. When you’re content, optimistic and energised, your team will likely feel very similar. When you share your goals with family members (like our date night scenario), you create win-win situations for others you love and value. Not only that, but your goals are tangible demonstrations of just how much they’re loved and valued.
Also, what’s good for the gander is good for the goose! I’ve deliberately confused that cliché because you might already have an employee bonus scheme of some sort in place. (if not you should probably contemplate this). My point is that if you reward your team you do it because you know the value of doing so. First and foremost, you’re a human being who happens to run a business. I encourage you to apply the same logic to yourself. Think of what happens in the event of an emergency on a plane and the oxygen masks drop. You put the oxygen mask on yourself first before you start helping others around you.
My point is, if you’re good, everyone else around you is good!
My Business Mentoring Benefits Personal Outcomes
When clients come on board, their well-being becomes one of my key priorities. Why? Because a healthy business has to have a healthy head running it, and that can’t happen if the owner is a slave to their work. As a small business coach, it may sound odd that I’m so passionate about personal goals and workplace perks for business owners. I don’t shy away from this. I want to do everything I can to help your business succeed, but I want you to live your best life in the process.
We should connect if you’re not living your best life right now or could do better. My business mentoring and coaching services can help you build a prosperous bridge between your work and personal life so that both can be outstanding successes.
