Tycoon Woman

One of the most difficult things about becoming an entrepreneur is finding a way to deal with all the tasks you have to get done when you are working by yourself with finite resources and the pressures of having to make enough money to keep your head above water. Keeping an eye on the vision the reasons why you are doing it helps, yet in the cold light of day, most of the time all there is is a list of tasks, all of which need to be done.

Last week I cycled 8 miles to a meeting and 8 miles back. It was great to be out in the elements, the wind in my face and the threat of rain moments away for the whole journey. I used to cycle to work everyday, whatever the weather. I can recall insisting on taking my bike to work during some horrendous snow storms. Cycling in the snow has to be suicidal! If you think breaking on an icy road with four wheels is challenging, try doing it on two. Actually, two very thin wheels, which probably only grip the road surface using the sane illogical belief system that the bumble bee uses to fly.

Why am I going on about cycling, well apart from realising again just how much I miss it, I also realised how far my stamina had diminished. Working at home means that I don't often get the opportunity to use my bike to make long journeys. I had been doing 20-30 minutes a day on my stationary bike, but my bike ride brought home the fact that while it may have been keeping me fit, it wasn't doing any thing for my endurance!


Net result the bike ride plus my Tae Kwon Do class totally wiped me out. That evening  I feel asleep in the most uncomfortable position in front of the tv and woke up with the word ouch being my only thought. But rather than take my twisted body to bed I went and sat at my computer for a considerably long time, given that it was already after midnight when I got there. When I finally got to bed it was about 3 am. Needless to say I was to tired to wake up in time to attend my breakfast meeting.

Looking at it positively, over sleeping did give me a chance to catch up on some odd the tasks that I'd fallen behind with whilst attending breakfast meeting. Breakfast networking has got to be one of the most paradoxical terms used in modern language.Breakfast meetings  are promoted as a way of doing your networking without taking valuable time out of your working day. Well they may finish at 10 am, which in theory isn't too much time, however, then there are the additional conversations that take place afterwards, plus the journey home- all the meetings I attend are at least half an hour away.


So by the time I get back home and am in a positions to start getting on worth some work, it is easy past lunch time, which gives me only a few hours before the family start to arrive home an demand my attention.

Anyone one who knows anything about modern ways of doing business will tell you that networking is not only a must, it is the blood line, the lubricant, without it you will "bleed out" as they say in medical dramas, Ie die! Which means that you have to do it and strike a balance between your networking and the many other activities you have to do.

I know there are some breakfast meetings that start as early as 6 am, for me that would be taking it to the other extreme. I'd have to be up at 4 out by 5 am to get there and I'd probably be too tired to think for the rest of the day. Unless I could get to bed by 10 pm at the latest, and that has proved to be a mission impossible ever since my beautiful children came into my life.

What am I learning from all this. Well I guess balance is the key. There are always so many competing demands Yes you can start from the traditional prioritisation route, however, when your list of priorities is so long that it ceased to be of any help whatsoever, I've fall back on seeking to find some balance between all the things I have to do and what I need to do to keep sane. 


The day after my bike ride what I really needed to do was sleep. So I slept. I feel so much better for it. Someone once said that you have enough time to do everything that you are able to do. Which means if there isn't the time to do it then you are not able to do, it so stop feeling guilty about it and find some balance instead.


PS The other thing I learnt from this experience is never to send of your printing a 3am in the morning when you are bushed. The result 1500 business cards with the wrong phone number on!