Balancing Business Growth with a 9-5 Job: 5 Essential Strategies for Success
Are you balancing business while working a 9-5 job? Juggling both can be challenging. As, a fellow entrepreneur with a 9-5 job (active duty Navy), I had to find ways to help me overcome these challenges. So in this blog I share my 5 tips, that I have picked up along the way, to help you have an easier and more efficient time growing your business.
If you’re thinking about starting a business on the side, balancing business growth while working full-time is rough. However, it is very rewarding and overall it will benefit you in the long run. I mean you are building something that will one day hopefully run itself and generate you income. As a result, you can build financial freedom and wealth, and maybe leave a legacy for future generations.
- Start the right business
- Balancing Business Growth and a 9-5 Job
Start the right business
Find Your Passion
First things first, before you even start your business you want to make sure it is something you are passionate about. Starting and growing a business takes long hours, so you want to spend that time on something that you care about.
In addition, if you are truly passionate about your business, it will help keep you motivated. You will need it when balancing business and work. For example, if you have a long day at work, you will be more inclined to work on your business, because it is important to you. For me, I am super passionate about real estate investing and teaching personal finance. So after hard days at work, working on my business actually energizes me. It is exciting to me to build my business.
Use Your Current Skills
Additionally, you should try to start a business where you can use the current skills you have. Again, working full time, your time is very limited. Therefore, you don’t want to use up all that time trying to learn new skills. That’s not to say you won’t spend time learning new things, but it can slow your business’s growth, as you try to catch up learning new skills.
For example, wanting to start a woodworking business when you never even held a saw. That’s a huge learning curve that can hold your business back. However, if you’re passionate about woodworking and aren’t in too much of a rush to start your business, then you can learn the skills first before beginning your entrepreneur journey.
Balancing Business Growth and a 9-5 Job
Tip #1: Balancing Business and Work = Time Management
The first tip, in no particular order, to balancing business with a 9-5 job is to learn time management. I know this may sound easy or a “no brainer” but it is an important skill to build. I thought the same way, but I was humbled real quick as deadlines quickly approached and I missed them.
As a result, I had to find tools to help me manage my time and track my tasks. One tool I am currently using is Notion. It is a free workspace app and it has helped me keep track of my tasks. It allows you to set task priorities and set deadlines. However, you can create an excel or other systems to do this.
Additionally, set specific blocks of time to work on your business. This way, you can ensure that you make consistent progress while avoiding hyper-fixating on the task. You can use timers or use the the Pomodoro method where basically you work for 25 min with a 5 minute break. However, you can use other time frames.
Pomodoro Youtube current favorites:
Episode 28: The Key to Juggling a 9-to-5 and Your Business Dreams
Tip #2 Leverage Your 9-5 Job
Balancing business and a full-time 9-5 job means you may have to learn how to leverage it to benefit your business. You can use your workplace to help you develop skills that can be used to grow your business. It can be simple as learning administrative skills or learning procedures that can help you manage your own business. You can also check for trainings that your company may provide. It can be management training, time management training or other trainings.
Also, you can use your workplace to network. What’s that saying, you are only 7 people away from anyone? That means your co-worker may know someone who knows someone that can either use your service/product or help your business.
Tip #3 Balancing Business Requires Delegating and Outsourcing
For many new business owners, it can be hard to hire help. This can be difficult for those who take pride in doing things themselves, like oh you know, us First Gens! This is your business, you put in hard work for it. Therefore it can be difficult to allow others to complete tasks for you. However our role in your business is to be the CEO and help GROW our business, not be an employee. Otherwise, you have created a job for yourself not a business.
So, when it comes to balancing business and work you need to delegate. You can hire freelancers, virtual assistants, or interns. They can handle the smaller (but still important) day to day tasks like answering emails or invoicing, or doing some of the other admin stuff. However, make sure you have your procedures and systems set in place to make it easier to hire someone. This way they know how you like tasks to be done, when to do it, and so on.
Tip # 4: Automate: You have limited time with a 9-5 Job.
Automating mundane tasks is a must if you want to manage your business while working full time. Honestly, starting a business could not be easier with the huge amount of technology there is now! There are so many tools and software to automate repetitive tasks, like social media scheduling, email marketing, and even bookkeeping. Shoot with AI it is even easier!
For example, I pay the extra $10 for an the AI to automatically create chapters, the description, the transcript and even blog posts for each podcast episode on the buzzsprout hosting site. Afterwards, all I have to do is edit the description and blog to fit my voice and how I like it to flow. This takes so much less time than doing it from scratch. You can do this with email marketing and scheduling out your social media posts.
Now, many may be hesitant to pay extra for automation. However, how much is your time worth? Especially when you have that 9-5 job and you’re tired and there’s that show you’ve been wanting to binge? Or maybe spend some time with the family? Just something to think about.
Tip #5: Support and Accountability
The last tip that I have is to find a mentor or join a community of like-minded people who can give you guidance and support. Some may be paid and some may be free. I have found so many groups that meet weekly to support each other. There’s even one where you sign into zoom and each person works on their own business in silence, then there is a 30 min break at the end to socialize. So you don’t have to do it alone! Plus, people who are also balancing business with a job, can share ideas on how to do it better. In one of these groups is where I was told about Notion and Pomodoro.
Conclusion
So yes, balancing business and your 9-5 job can be a struggle, but if you have the right strategies and tools, along with your determination, you can make it. Learning time management skills, and knowing when to delegate are a must. Additionally, utilizing tools like AI or other automative system can save you valuable time. Finally, don’t forget to find support either via a coach or groups. Overall, you can have a successful business with a full-time job, with eventually growing your business enough to leave it.
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