Learning to manage business time and space have been a couple of the biggest challenges we have faced growing our small flooring installation company. At first we thought we could run an office out of our home. Isaiah, however, our firstborn son, taught us some valuable lessons about separating work from family, and building a better foundation for both.
Aside from finding various snacks and treats snuck from the cookie jar hidden in odd places in our home office, a few catastrophes were narrowly avoided. One time, my husband called me with a question about a job. I looked to the whiteboard near the desk, the one with vital information jotted down after quick phone calls, and found nothing but a clean white slate. Isaiah had cleaned the board — just like he cleaned the dinner table the night before! — erasing a week’s worth of notes.
Another time, my husband, on site with another subcontractor, opened a folder to pull out important documents about the job. Instead, he was greeted with crayon-drawn scenes from Isaiah’s imagination — the early work of artistic genius, we are sure, but exceedingly unhelpful in determining how many linear feet of wall base will be required for the project.
In a pinch, we still sometimes bring our associates — otherwise known as our three sons: Isaiah, Isaac and Levi — along on business errands. Most people understand. And I tell my husband that we should claim our mattress as a tax deduction for how much we talk shop at night.
Finding the balance between family and business is an ongoing negotiation, but we have learned that once your business, or family, gets too big, one house is not enough. Despite some reservations due to tight finances, we rented office space and — glory, glory, hallelujah! — has it changed the way we run our company.
The cost of the office was not insignificant, but the savings, in terms of less headaches, better organization, and simply the fact that I can set documents on my desk Friday afternoon and have them in the same place Monday morning, has not only made our business less wasteful and more productive, it has brought peace to our family life as well. So I guess the moral to our story might be that you can put all your eggs in one basket, but if you do, expect them to get a little scrambled.
Starting a business is the easy part; maintaining your sanity while it grows as fast as your family is a bit trickier. For small business owners, our advice is to demarcate space to work in; then try mightily to keep it from invading personal space. At times it can seem like your business is a constant 24-hour thrill ride, but if you want it, and your family, to prosper, staking out time and territory for both will go a long way toward keeping both feet firmly planted on the path to success.
