When you start running a business it takes a lot of hustle. If you’re being smart you’re not quitting your job right away. You’re working extra hours in the evenings and weekends to get the business going.

Maybe you’re working extra hours after your regular job to make your freelance business a reality.

You’re working ridiculously hard and a stupid amount of hours.

How you start

That hard work and those long hours are what the few people who really are going to win running their own business do to win.

That hard work puts them in the 5% of people that are really awesome. The 5% that don’t just own a job, but truly run a business.

The easy/hard thing is that how you start running your business is likely how you’ll continue to run it.

You’ll look up 5 years later and find that you’re still working crazy hours and giving up weekends.

For only marginally more money than you were making last year.

Working weekends just became what you did.

Missing birthdays was the norm.

80 hour work weeks are common place.

The fact is later always becomes tomorrow unless you have a specific plan.

There is a time

My November was hugely busy. I worked early and late many days. We planned that so I could take 2 months off when our new baby comes.

I currently have no official client projects going. Yes I have some things to clean up and get some emails on smaller tasks for existing clients, but nothing major.

I worked hard in November so I could be more available for my wife now when she needs the most help.

Working late and early will not be my norm. Later is now and I choose to work responsibly now.

I choose to work smarter not harder.

I refuse to look back in 10 years and regret no spending enough time with my family.

Do you have a plan to ease back? What is your metric/goal? Who knows about it that will hit you with something heavy when you keep working way too much?

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