Today, we will be talking about a quite important topic – how to set boundaries as a solopreneur.

Especially for the ones of you that are a one-woman-show, it can be hard sometimes to get your business running while also being a girlfriend/wife, mum, and daughter at the same time, right?

Sometimes it can be A LOT to handle…

And the late nights and early mornings grinding and hustling are definitely not helping either…

I already wrote an in-depth blog post about why working long hours isn’t the answer to productivity and success in your business, (you can read it HERE).

However, today I want to dive deep into how you, as a solopreneur, can set healthy boundaries in your business so that YOU control your business and not the other way around 🙂. Because we all know how difficult it is to have this clear separation between work and private life, especially as an entrepreneur working from home.

So, keep on reading if you are searching for practical tips and advice on how to actively protect your time with your loved ones and create clear boundaries with your business.

Ready? Let’s do this!

Other Reads:

• How To Organize Your Whole Business In One Single Notebook
• Overcoming Perfectionism: 7 Steps to Silence Your Inner Perfectionist
• 12 mistakes you are probably making that are killing your productivity
• Losing Motivation? 7 Bullet-Proof Ways To Regain Your Passion And Stay Motivated In Your Business
• 3 Key Mindset Shifts To Stop Letting Fear And Anxiety Sabotage Your Success
• How I Avoid Feeling Overwhelmed As A Solopreneur: 3 Simple Steps

1. Set boundaries by setting office hours in place

I don’t know about you, but how difficult is it to close your laptop and decide when your working day is over, when there are constantly coming in new emails, questions, requests,… and so on.

As an entrepreneur, you don’t necessarily have office hours. And that’s one of the greatest advantages of being an entrepreneur, right? You can work whenever and wherever you want. But this is often a poisoned gift because it also means that you don’t really know when to stop working…

However, this doesn’t mean that you can’t set office hours as an entrepreneur.

Think about when it would be the most convenient for you to be working. From Monday to Thursday only in the afternoons? Maybe every weekday early in the morning and late at night when the kids are asleep? Or maybe an old-school nine to five.

Set office hours that suit best your unique lifestyle and then stick to them consistently.

Set alarms for when your office days start and end, so you know exactly when it’s time to open and close your laptop.

This is also way more efficient because let us be honest here… Those moments that you are partly working, partly looking after your kids aren’t efficient at all. You aren’t productive and you also are not totally present with your children…

Office hours give you this structure and peace of mind when you should and shouldn’t be working.

2. Taking days off

A second way to set boundaries within your business is to take days off regularly. You can’t be working every single day… That’s just not sustainable, girl…

So plan ahead and decide which days you will be taking off. And on those days off, it’s literarily forbidden to even think about work.

You really need these days to recharge your batteries, have quality time with your loved ones (and honestly, avoid a burn-out).

Take at least 1 day off per week, but 2 would be even better 🙂

And don’t feel guilty about it, you totally deserved it!

Remember that health always goes first. It goes BEFORE your business.

So if you have one of these days that you just feel really tired, a little sick or you just have had a rough week and you need a break, then please listen to your body, my friend.

It’s totally OK to pause and decide in the morning to just cancel your day and relax instead. Use this privilege you have to be able to do this, being your own boss.

3. Set boundaries with your clients

If you are a coach, service provider, or work with clients regularly, it’s SO important to communicate your boundaries from the very beginning. As soon as you start working together, you should manage their expectations and communicate clearly about when they can reach out to you, how they can reach out to you (via which platform? Do you prefer email? WhatsApp? …), and when you aren’t available.

And if a client reaches out to you outside of your office hours, then be consistent and don’t answer until you’re back, even if it’s urgent… It doesn’t matter, they have to understand that you aren’t available for them 24/7.

If you find it difficult to do this, it can definitely help to have a separate work phone that you turn off, outside of your office hours and also turn off your work email notifications.

What I also recommend you to do, is set up an automatic reply from the moment you’re out of the office that mentions that you aren’t available right now, and when the sender can expect a reply.

4. Saying no to opportunities that aren’t worth it

Another big one in order to set healthy boundaries in your business is to value your time and ONLY say YES to opportunities that are truly worth it.

Someone has invited you to do a guest posting on their blog. You are invited to someone’s podcast? Another collaboration?

Don’t say yes immediately to every opportunity that presents itself. Instead, look at it with an objective eye and estimate how much time and impact this opportunity will have on your business.

Are there other projects you are currently working on which take less time and have a bigger impact? Then be honest with yourself and turn down this opportunity.

Your time is golden so make the most of it.

5. Have a ritual to unwind after your work day

Does it happen to you too that after a day of working hard, there is just so much adrenaline rushing through your body and brain that you can’t seem to relax and truly enjoy your evening?

It seems impossible to clear your head, calm down and don’t think about work anymore.

Having an unwinding ritual that marks the end of the workday, can really help to come back to yourself and truly recharge during your evening.

What this unwinding ritual specifically looks like, depends on you and your preferences, but what I personally like to do is:

• Putting away all of my work stuff and decluttering my workspace.
• Then I sometimes like to vent a little the first half-hour about everything that happened, to my partner (but journaling also really helps).
• Then, I like to work out and get all of my adrenaline and any frustrations out by moving my body.
• After I like to take a long shower and put on my comfy clothes
• Finishing off by meditating and/or reading

Those steps really work for me every time to unwind after a workday, come back to myself, and feel relaxed and present in the moment.

Experiment a little with which activities help you to relax and disconnect from your work. and implement them on those days that you are feeling all over the place.

6. You’re not a content creation machine

Another way to set healthy boundaries in your business is to be completely honest and realistic with yourself and ask the question of how much content you really need to be producing on a weekly basis. Are these 3 Instagram posts, daily IG stories, 1 newsletter, 2 Facebook posts, 1 blog post, and a bunch of tweets really necessary to produce weekly?

I mean, you’re not a content creation machine. And there are so many other parts of your business that need your focus as well.

So, ask yourself honestly if there isn’t any way to cut down the content. Maybe you could do biweekly newsletters? And only 1 IG post per week instead of 3…

Believe me, the world won’t end just because you’re posting a lil’ less 🙂

Or alternatively, if you really don’t want to create less content, you could also decide to outsource a part of your content creation process.

However you prefer to do it, just create space to breathe so you’re not feeling like you’re on a hamster wheel all the time, trying to keep up with ALLLL this content.

7. Keep your work and private life as separate as possible

Hands-down the step that made the most difference for me, was this one.

Having a dedicated space to work, whether that’s a specific table, room or corner REALLY helps to make this clear separation between work and private life.

It gives you the opportunity to physically leave your workspace at the end of your workday, so you can transition to your role of mum or partner. And the next day you come back to your workspace that you fully associate with your role as a business owner.

The most important rule here is to avoid entering your workspace during your leisure time to avoid thinking about work and role confusion.

Okay guys, that rounds up 7 key ways to set healthy boundaries within your business.

Other Reads:

• How To Organize Your Whole Business In One Single Notebook
• Overcoming Perfectionism: 7 Steps to Silence Your Inner Perfectionist
• 12 mistakes you are probably making that are killing your productivity
• Losing Motivation? 7 Bullet-Proof Ways To Regain Your Passion And Stay Motivated In Your Business
• 3 Key Mindset Shifts To Stop Letting Fear And Anxiety Sabotage Your Success
• How I Avoid Feeling Overwhelmed As A Solopreneur: 3 Simple Steps

Let’s Chat

How do you set boundaries in your biz? Let me know in the comments down below.