Work-Life Balance: Can You Prioritize your Business when "Life Happens"?

byTDenise

5.7K followers

Updated 5 years ago

It's been a couple days since I posted to let you know about my Youtube challenge, but I'm currently on day 10. For those of you just meeting me, I've been a member of WA for one year (14 months). I started out like many people with unrealistic expectations of online business (especially those who only use organic methods), but being a member here has given me a realistic view of what's required to succeed online.

After 13 months of publishing nearly 5 days per week, I decided to take on a 90 day Youtube challenge where I publish one video per day every business day following the Affiliate Bootcamp strategy.

I've been working from home full-time on my digital publishing business since January 2019 because my husband agreed that this is what I should focus on. He pays the bills and I'm building an additional income--that's our mutual agreement.

Prior to January, I was publishing content, but getting majority of my income from marketing services. It was tough having two service based businesses: my husband's construction business and my marketing services business.

Whenever the kids would get sick, have breaks from school or daycare, or "life would happen", I would take off and I felt so behind! I didn't want to let my clients down so I would constantly think about what I should or could do, and I also didn't like changing deadlines or rescheduling appointments. It was a little more stressful to regulate in my opinion, and I didn't really realize that until late 2017.

My son had gotten very sick in November 2017 where his heart rate went down to 30 BPM and he was 10 years old. It was VERY scary.

At this point, my perspective shifted completely, and I no longer wanted to base my business on services. I wanted to build an asset that could eventually operate more independent of me, and I felt that affiliate marketing was a good vehicle to fulfill that goal.

We have one rental property and I grew up with parents in the real estate business. It's so nice to have income producing assets that free your time! Of course, you have to maintain the assets and that takes time, but the nice part is when the asset is operating and you're getting paid without the direct time for money exchange.

Now, I'm still working towards that goal with my blog and overall business, and I've learned alot along my journey! It's not my goal to make a passive income blog. In fact, it's actually my goal to build a full-fledge enterprise (several authority blogs and possibly over 100 employees) over time! I know you're wondering "how's that going to be more passive, right?"

To answer that... It probably won't be for awhile, but I find meaning in that goal and the increased amount of people I'll be able to help this way. Of course, I'll do services here and there along the way, but I'm infatuated with the affiliate marketing business model and I'm not sure if that will ever go away!

In order to grow, I'll be following my 10-step strategy and building systems along the way (creating training manuals that will govern activity, choosing good technology and people, and so on) in hopes that eventually my intellectual property will direct the "machine" I call my business.

It's pretty ambitious, but that's my goal.

I work from home, and while many people say it's "their dream", there are lots of interruptions working from home from time to time. It can impact your productivity alot if you're not careful. For the most part, I handle this very well, but last week my mom came into town from Ohio (to Texas) and my baby girl got sick towards the end of the week.

With my mom in town until last Friday and my daughter having a seasonal cold, it was a challenge to maintain my productivity, but I still managed to publish videos and blog posts on my site.

To give you a little context...

My house isn't huge to where everyone can be in separate living quarters. No. We're in close proximity, but because I believe in what I'm doing, I had to be assertive and communicate that I still need to perform despite the circumstances. It was't easy.

I only get to see my mom once or twice per year, but if I believe what I'm doing with my blog can help lots of people (and make a good income and life for my family), then I have to prioritize it even in the face of a high-priority like spending time with my mom.

Added onto that, my daughter was running a fever on Friday and coughing really bad yesterday. In fact you can see it in my video from yesterday, "Why Start an Affiliate Marketing Business?". Haha. My face is very disturbed at points in the video. Haha. You have to do what you have to do. This is a priority for me and hopefully, you believe in yourself enough to make it a priority for you as well.

This business can give us (you and I) major returns on our investment if we prioritize it! I'm sure I can give myself a higher return from my business than any IRA, stock account, or even real estate because I believe this (Internet Marketing) is where I'm supposed to be.

Do you?

In fact, despite caring for a sick child, yesterday, I posted two blog posts and 1 40-minute video, so I was feeling like super woman! I am sticking to my goal of focusing on authenticity over perfection, so I decided that even with my daughter home, and the possibility of being disrupted and imperfect, I would still post my video and get my blog posts out.

People may laugh at me because of my video yesterday because motherhood was in full force at points, and it kind of interrupted my "groove", but it definitely showed authenticity all the same. For those people who are looking for authenticity, that's where I think I can stick out.

From my experience yesterday, I had a bundle of thoughts and emotions. Included was:

• Gratitude for finding a career that enables me to maintain my values and income as a mom, wife, and overall nurturing person
• Boldness because I decided I won't care if people say something about the imperfection of this video. I'm determined and I'm persisting past the circumstances. It is what it is.
• And excitement because my brand can be one where I don't have to hide my truth. People will either like it or they won't, and I'm okay with that.

Life happens. Family members get sick, people have special events, and sometimes, personal life can't be brushed aside. It's exciting that our careers as Internet Marketers doesn't get in the way, but instead, adds some positive flavor in times like that.

I'm loving internet marketing more and more everyday (and I haven't arrived yet). Haha.

Yesterday was day 9 and today is day 10 for my Youtube Challenge...I think.

If you'd like to see my progress so far, you can check out my Youtube channel here or my blog here.

My question for you....How much do you believe in your dream? Will you prioritize your business above other high-priority events or will it be in the backburner?

Sometimes (especially in the early startup phases), we have to make our businesses a high priority--not because we don't love our family or our friends, but because we believe in our mission and the future it can bring us.

Do you believe in the business mission you're carrying out thru your online business?