We’ve touched on this subject already. We’ve considered:

• changing to a quieter, less stressful location but continuing with the same type of job;
• changing from full to part-time working to allow time to do additional work and life-related activities which you would enjoy;
• reassessing the importance and direction of your career path;
• the benefits to family life of working from or closer to home;
• your overall priorities within the ‘bigger picture’.

Now’s the time to really focus on what this balance means to you, and the others who may be sharing this new adventure with you.

There’s a lot of talk about getting the work/life balance right within business. Much of the focus tends towards the time spent at work, with employees in the UK apparently voluntarily working longer hours than most of their continental colleagues, and some even omitting to take their full holiday complement each year. Are they willing volunteers? Is there not a slight culture of fear bred from job insecurity which discourages people from being away from their desks for too long, in case their role is seen as superfluous? In our view, the work/life balance stretches much wider than merely judging the relative hours spent at work and home. It is certainly a strong motivational force in moving towards your downshifting and relocation decisions.

Let’s focus on your work/life balance priorities for a moment.

There’s certainly food for thought there. Some of the latter questions are perhaps areas you might continue to address in the years to come, as your downshifting views evolve. Cutting to what perhaps is the key issue for work/life balance where you are considering downshifting and relocation, let’s review the working time implications of downshifting to self-employment.

The 24/7 world of self-employment

People, whether employed or self-employed, seem to be very proud of being on the go, supposedly, for 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Apart from the evident fact that this is an unreal boast, as they would have collapsed in an exhausted heap from lack of sleep a long time ago, is it really a target which people should be striving to achieve?

One of the dangers in self-employment – especially in the early, work-hungry years when you are building up the business, and even more especially if you are working from a home base – is the fact that you never quite ‘lock up the shop’ and go home. There is always the temptation to pop back to the office after the evening meal to write those letters or e-mails, get the financial books in order or tackle all those other administrative tasks that you will find yourself doing in your spare time.

So, you have the potential trap in which, giving up conventional work to achieve a better work/life balance, you finish up effectively spending more of your ‘24/7’ existence involved with work. This is especially true for public-facing situations such as hotels.

But is this broader flexibility necessarily a disadvantage? Although we are not encouraging an ‘all work and no play’ approach (which after all made Jack a dull boy, as the saying has it), there are several positive considerations to justify this wider self-employed involvement:

• You get the direct benefits (financial and developmental) of all your efforts.
• You can view your time more flexibly – work an evening to meet a deadline but have a morning off some other time, when work is quieter.
• Weekends are no longer weekends – have your day of rest on a Thursday (or whenever) some weeks if it suits your interests or hobbies better.
• Flexible hours and more control over what you do and when you do it will allow you to choose the best times of the day to do different tasks.
• The flexibility gives you the opportunity to have more time with your partner and family.

Making best use of your time

This last one has quite important implications in managing your work/life balance. Take writing, for example. You may have heard of authors who go down to their den in the garden and stay there until they’ve produced their 1,000 words for the day, at which point they switch off and watch TV. I’ve never managed to do it that way. Some days, I’m really productive, with words hitting the screen as quickly as my little fingers can move. At other times, I stare at the screen, my head threatening to slump forward and hit the delete button. Evidently time to do something less creative!

Kite flying

I have this theory. I tend towards thinking in the ‘now’ or present and planning the future, with not too much concern or even remembrance about the past. I therefore try to spot opportunities and respond to them in what I visualize as tossing kites into the air. At any given time, I have a variety of kites flying and part of my work/life balance thinking is keeping an eye on these different opportunities. Periodically, one or other kite string needs a bit of a tug to keep it flying; periodically, one of the kites begins to soar and twist madly, requiring more of my attention; occasionally, several kites do this simultaneously, with the additional efforts necessary eating into my ‘life’ time for a while. However, this is balanced by the calm breezes of other times, where I can leave my kites flying on their own and enjoy myself doing the things I prefer to do.

Of course, the final element of the kite analogy means that sometimes I decide it’s not worth the additional effort keeping a particular kite in the air, either temporarily or permanently. Having made the decision, I let it fall and focus on the elements of my work and life that I can progress forward.

Effective working: an attitude of mind

Having more control of your work/life balance is seen by many people as a benefit in its own right. They view the part of self-employment or self-sufficiency which allows you to make your own decisions about priorities, work loads and allocated free times as one of the key pleasures and assets.

Most people have identifiable productive and less productive times in their working day. If you are working nine to five, this can become a problem. But if you are self-employed and your work is creative, for example, you might be at your best very early in the morning, or even late at night. You can adjust your timetable to incorporate this. Where you may be involved in a variety of activities, you can allocate these to the times of your day which are most suitable – creative thought and action at the high spots; mundane but necessary chores during the low spots. And always, you have the motivation of knowing that you have the flexibility to slot your off-duty, life-enjoyment times in there as well.

When I started out on the self-employment road, we lived in an area of London and I was involved in designing and producing learning materials for clients and delivering training courses. This meant that I had times away from home and times when I was slaving over a hot computer in my home-based office. I charged per day for my time, with days divided into 3.5-hour slots. However, these could be morning, afternoon or evening, which gave me an additional degree of flexibility. I agreed these charged times with the client, ensuring not only that I was giving value for money but also that I was around working in the office when I said I was, should the client phone. I must confess that old working day habits took some time to die out before I could finally stop feeling guilty about being out ‘having a life’ around Richmond during the working day. My concern, I suppose, was that people might think I was unemployed rather than taking a well-earned rest!

Differing balance points

Whatever self-employed downshifting activities you choose to become involved in, there are likely to be a whole range of areas of involvement, some of which you’ll find more fulfilling than others. It is important, however, that you cover all the aspects in order to keep your affairs running properly. Few people get an enormous kick out of keeping their paperwork in order, but we have probably all heard of good tradespeople who have gone out of business because their tax and VAT affairs have become hopelessly disorganized.

Equally, there is a danger that when business is going well, we don’t allow the time to identify new business and this can create a feast and famine, rollercoaster ride in our business affairs. Then again, we can either work too much or too long in the busy times, exhausting ourselves, or let the freedom go to our heads and become a little too relaxed towards fee-earning activities.

• If we have set up some form of creative studio, it’s not enough to be producing paintings, pottery or candles. You have to market and sell them, directly or indirectly, in order to make a living.
• There is a danger that if you’ve set up a consultancy of some description, companies will be keen to call you in to initially discuss ideas but less keen to pay for your services.
• There is a benefit – and hoped for knock-on benefit – in offering your professional services free to the community. Keep this in perspective, however – others will be doing it while also drawing a regular income.
• One of the necessities for supporting a ‘multi-kite flying’ type of existence is a good filing and reference system, so that you can readily call up the documentation for any one of your different projects.
• Keep some form of ‘things to do’ note-taking system, so that you can vacate your mind periodically of outstanding actions.

There is little more frustrating to your partner than you thinking ‘work’ while out having a ‘life’.

Sorting out your personal balance point

It should be apparent from the above thoughts that work/life balance is a personal thing, which you must progressively sort out to suit your own requirements. However, if working from home, remember to factor in the views and needs of your partner and family to ensure that the balance point suits their needs as well as your own. However creative you might feel in the evenings, it would be unfair to your partner and any children if you disappeared into your office each night, having spent the afternoon on the golf course.

From our experience, work/life balance is a constantly shifting scenario, affected by a range of factors including, among many other considerations:

• volume of work;
• time of year (relative to normal business volume);
• response to weather conditions;
• financial pressures;
• varying priorities and current projects.

Flexibility and selectivity

It would appear to be very important to keep an open mind in order to respond positively to these variations and not become bogged down in any particular aspect. In an ideal situation where there is enough work available, one of the benefits of running your own life and business is that you can be selective – you have the scope to choose and will have control over the ways you choose.

You can be selective about:

• when and where you work;
• the projects you become involved in;
• the clients you work for;
• the products or services you offer;
• the times of day and week you choose to work;
• times you can dedicate to family and life;
• the average split between life and work priorities;
• the skills you wish to develop;
• the working conditions you prefer;
• life aspects which you wish to develop.

Does the idea of this flexibility excite you? If so, you may well be mentally prepared for downshifting and having a greater degree of personal responsibility.

Reality check

However, it is fair to remind you that the above list was preceded by the phrase ‘in an ideal situation’. We are rarely in such a position, which is why we must be flexible while still having an eye on our ultimate objectives. Initially, for example, you may have to work for some clients who are below your ideal, in order to gain both experience and income. In the early 1970s, when we were both teachers, we ran a mobile discotheque when such things were very new. Some of our early gigs were with local youth clubs, which were rather too close to our teaching activities for enjoyment, but we ultimately progressed into the Scottish hunt ball circuit, which was much more enjoyable – and lucrative!

The feast/famine aspect of self-employment referred to above is another situation which can push you towards agreeing to moneyearning activities which you might otherwise refuse. Again, the need to do this will fluctuate depending on your financial situation and on the changing priorities of your particular business. Preferred styles and demand seem to fluctuate in cycles for the vast majority of work-related activities and we must flex and change with them to the best of our ability in order to maintain progress, or at worst keep our heads above water.

The buck stops

This is not to be despondent about possibilities; rather, it’s being realistic. Viewing your work/life balance, you alone will be responsible for keeping the equilibrium as much as possible – there’s no one else to blame.

• Not enough business? Check your marketing, advertising and product/service.
• Working too hard? Be more selective about the projects you take on.
• Spending too much time on administration? Condense, or outsource it.
• Not having enough family life? Schedule particular times and stick to them.
• Missing out on your life interests? Try to incorporate some aspects at work.
• Finding balance to be more like a see-saw? Keep working towards your goal.

It’s time to take stock of your progress and decisions so far.