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The Chef Alliance
Balancing Your Business with Life
BY: CHEF SONIA, SUCCESS MANAGER AT THE CHEF ALLIANCE
DATE: JANUARY 2020
As a Chefpreneur, you may not have anyone else to fill in for you should you fall ill or suffer from burnout or fatigue. Here are some tips to keep you healthy and your business on the path to success.
START OUT RIGHT
Morning routines are a great way to lower stress, as your body and mind go into automatic mode. This is especially good if you are not a 'morning person.'
Organising some things the night before is also helpful, especially if you have to adhere to a strict schedule and setbacks at home are frequent (such as helping the kids find their gloves!).
Exercising early in the day may also help to reduce stress levels throughout the day and improve energy levels.
SCHEDULE FUN TIME
To break the monotony of work and home life, it's important to slot in some fun activities, such as date-night with your spouse or partner, a family outing, time with friends or take up a new hobby/activity.
DISCONNECT
This can be as simple as turning phone notifications to 'do not disturb' from 9pm to 7am, ensuring that you are not woken up throughout the night by clients who may be insomniacs!
Mealtimes should also be tech-free for everyone, giving families time to reconnect after a long day at school or work.
In today's tech-heavy lives, with access to texts, calls, emails and from our smartphones, just because we can be reached 24/7 doesn't mean we need to be 'at work' 24/7.
FORGET THE TRADITIONAL 9-5 WORK DAY
As an entrepreneur, you may not run a traditional 9-5 business or service. Having flexibility means that you can take advantage of off-peak times for shopping, such as weekday mornings. This saves time finding parking spots and queuing up!
Some fun activities may also be cheaper for off-peak hours, such as Tuesday movies. Take advantage of non-traditional work hours whenever possible to help keep you sane!
LOOK AFTER NO. 1
If you're a sole proprietor or run a small business, getting sick may not be an option as there may be no one else to fill your shoes. Disability or Key-Person insurance may be required if the financial effects or time off work would be drastic.
UNDERSTAND YOUR ENERGY LEVELS
We're not all built the same, and for many entrepreneurs, they have lots of energy at the beginning of the day, and for others, they are slow to get started but finish strong. Knowing how your energy levels work, you can try to schedule various aspects of your work life to work to your advantage and be your most efficient.
DRINK WATER & DON'T FORGET TO EAT!
This is one thing that many busy entrepreneurs forget about. Drinking water will keep your body functioning well. Remember - the brain is a muscle and if you're dehydrated, the brain won't function optimally.
Eating healthy food throughout the day will also keep your energy and mood levels high.
RESPECT YOURSELF & CHARGE WHAT YOU'RE WORTH
By undervaluing yourself and charging less than you are worth may keep you busier than you would otherwise be, but may also take the enjoyment or passion out of what you do. If you start to resent your customers or your business because you don't have time for family life or fun, then you're defeating the purpose of why you started a business in the first place - to turn your passion into a successful business venture.
The Chef Alliance is the leading organisation of Private & Personal Chefs & Caterers in Canada offering Chefs a place to locate jobs, meet new clients, grow their business, benefit from peer support, discounts to lower their business costs, marketing services & much more. This allows Chefs concentrate on what they do best - cook great food!