This Podcast Is Episode Number 445, And It's About How To Get Your Life Back In A Seven-Day-A-Week Construction Business

Here are three tips for getting your life back when you operate a seven-day-a-week business. 

The next best thing to having you onsite all the time is to have a manager with authority similar to yours who can be onsite when you aren't. Invest money in hiring a manager to deal with operations so you can take days off. Train that person to deal with any issues you anticipate and make sure they know and understand the business inside and out. Give them the authority to make decisions in your absence. It might take a little time to build up trust with that manager, but they will be invaluable to you when you have them.  

As a small business owner, you have regular duties that need to be done but could be better done by an expert. Doing them yourself takes up a ton of your time and forces you to be on the job site more. Look at your tasks and determine which ones are eating up your valuable time. Could you hire a bookkeeper? An accountant? 

Virtual assistants can now be hired to deal with invoicing, collecting payments, and making phone calls on your behalf. That frees you up to deal with other tasks at your job site, which means you may get your other duties done and find you have free time. 

These outside service providers cost money, but they are worth the expense when you consider the time and energy you'll save by not taking on those tedious tasks. Especially when you factor in the extra personal time, you'll have.

3. Start slowly

The worst thing you can do is wait until you feel you're about to have a nervous breakdown before you think about taking days off. That increases the chances that you'll need a day off at precisely the wrong time—during the busy season or when there's a work-related crisis emerging. 

To get yourself comfortable with taking days off and get staff used to you being away:

• Start slowly.
• Maybe take an afternoon off during the weekday; that's typically the slowest.
• When you're comfortable with that, start taking an entire day off here and there.

After a while, you'll be fine taking two days off, even during busier periods. You may not always have a five-day-a-week job, but at least you'll be okay taking days off for yourself. 

Final thoughts

As contractors, you wear too many hats that you end up wearing yourself out from the weight of it all or from the time it takes for you to wear all of it. You don't have enough energy nor time.

It would be best if you had time away from your business to maintain your sanity and stop yourself from burning out. Having trusted staff and expert service providers in place will help you take a break from your worksite and get yourself some personal time.