When you first start working for yourself you don’t have the same checks & balances that you have in full time employment. The life of 9-5 is no longer the case; you are very conscious of the seemingly brutal fact that more hours worked = more money; and it’s easy to slip into working too many hours and burning yourself out.

Doing anything but paid work can be seen like an extravagant luxury; but it is not. Bear in mind that when you’ve got your head down, at the coal face of building or designing websites etc that your business is actually heading a direction. And unless you take time to step away from that coal face that you are not focussing on that direction. But a direction it is heading whether you like it or not.

Ways to step away:

1. Conferences

Why not spend a day away from the office learning about new techniques and meeting up with peers? I find that conferences are a great time for me put my mind in a different zone; to allow it to focus on a broader horizon than just getting the current projects out the door.

Conferences are also good for me as I work with lots of freelancers; the ability to meet and mingle with new folks who can help my clients is fantastic (and ultimately good for my business).

(Note: I do have a sore head from Handheld’s after show party last night mind).

2. A Business Day Out

This can be very useful. Take a day/morning off and (importantly) go somewhere where you do not normally work. Turn your email off. Stay off Twitter. And take time to really think about your business. Perhaps get your scrappy business plan out and see how that’s going. Perhaps read a business book or some business articles that you’ve been meaning to cast your eye over. Perhaps think about how you want your business to look in a year’s time; or 5 years time*.

(*Yes it can feel like a luxury to do this when you’re fire fighting projects but think about this: if you don’t know where you are heading; how are you going to get there?)

3. Re-charging the batteries

You can’t just work harder and harder; we are not machines. If you pull an all nighter to get a project done; exactly how productive are you the next day? Not very I bet.

Working too hard over a long period of time is not good for you. Its not good for your physical & mental health; not good for your relationships and it’s not good for your clients. It dampens your enthusiasm for the work you love; and that’s not good.

Perhaps once a month schedule in some personal time when you do something just for yourself; visit an art gallery; take your camera out (which has been sat on the shelf for too long); go for a stroll across a blustery beach. Let your mind free wheel. Whatever works for you.

Unless you spend time re-charging your batteries then your work and your clients will suffer.

4. Books & Online learning

5 Simple Steps offer a great selection of industry focussed books. You need to invest in the time to read and learn as this is actually the resource which you are offering clients; your knowledge (websites are just an output).

Treehouse offers online learning opportunities and many conferences have workshops (on a side note I’d like to see more practical workshops; I love hands on learning).

There’s an infinite buffet of topics to choose from; but don’t be swamped by that. We can’t know everything about every subject – embrace your constraints. Don’t push yourself to learn topics which just aren’t you but, at the same time, allow yourself the scope to learn about topics which are at edge of what you currently do. Ultimately, have fun with it. And treat your learning as a core part of your business (which it is).

5. Mentor

Seek advice from a business person you trust; they may or may not be in the same sector as you. It’s very useful to be able to talk openly & candidly to someone about your business; sometimes we are just too close to it to see the blindingly obvious solutions. Put the feelers out for someone you can talk to; don’t be afraid to ask.

Have a lovely weekend everyone and don’t work too hard.

Joel