I was born in a family of small business owners. The problems they faced then are still around these days. The time they spent trawling through paperwork every month end was phenomenal. The whole family suffered during month ends and year ends as a result of our parents burying themselves in paperwork. They thought they were saving time and money by doing this compliance work themselves, but what they really missed out on was quality time with their kids. One day my parents were forced to retire due to ill health. Dad realised that his children (all four of us) were strangers to him.

Small and medium business sized owners have opportunities to avoid alienating themselves from their loved ones. I know this may sound a bit of a cliché but time is premium these days. Spending one’s time appropriately will reap benefits all round. Look around you! There are experts who can assist you in achieving a balanced business and personal life. I have been a member of a business owners networking group and after 3½ years in the group I’ve more or less outsourced most of my ‘non’ core work. I have a bookkeeper, an accountant, a Sales and Marketing manager, an IT specialist helping me to grow my business. Outsourcing these activities has given me time to work on my business, and more importantly spend quality time with my wife, kids and friends. For once I’m not rushing to complete that quarter end tax man’s compliance task my trusty bookkeeper is.

These days I’m focussing on setting and fine tuning my work and life goals. How? Well I have been able to reclaim some of my time through outsourcing the tasks that I’m not good at.

Stand back and review where you are at this moment in your life. Ask yourself a question, are you doing what you are trained or gifted to do at this present moment?