The Do’s and Don’ts of Business Boundaries
Let’s face it…business owners need boundaries.
Family time AND personal time are so important as are the boundaries that protect those two things. If you don’t have boundaries in place sh*t can get out of hand real fast!
For me, my husband and I both sit down to talk about my schedule. If I tell him that I’m going to ONLY work Saturday morning and it’s noon, I have him remind me so that I don’t overstep that boundary. This might be an old-school approach, but believe me, it helps!
There are some things you should and shouldn’t do when it comes to boundaries. Let’s discuss those DO’s and DON’Ts.
DO
Respond on your time and make sure you think about the tone of your response before answering. This prevents mistakes or misunderstandings.
Respond during office hours only. Your clients and customers will respect you that much more if you set those boundaries into place.
DO
DO
Thoroughly read messages and take notes of the messages being sent. I like to mark the message as unread until I get to it later or I add a note on my Trello board so that nothing is missed on my end.
Hold yourself accountable. Maybe have a family member that can make sure you stay on task and set those boundaries into place? Ask them to do so and make sure you stick to it.
DO
Respond to everyone right away. Let’s face it - most of us get messages, emails, texts, etc…constantly ALL DAY! Are you an instant responder? I’m about to blow your mind. You don’t need to be!!!
DON’T
DON’T
Respond to customers or your team members late at night or on the weekends. All that shows is that you work all hours. Little tidbit… people will not want to join you or work with you if they think it’s nonstop.
DON’T
Read messages without taking notes. This will come back to bite you, believe me! I’ve learned my lesson on that one. If you don’t take the time to take notes, then you might miss important things!
