How to Balance Work & Family Commitments When Running a Business

Balancing work and family life is often one of the most stressful elements of starting and running a business in today’s productivity-driven society. Women are especially burdened with the balance of their roles due to both cultural and socioeconomic expectations. For Iokopeta Williams, BLP Business Advisor and owner of Iokopeta Williams Accounting the secret to balance is time management. 

Iokopeta operates a small sole trader business (Iokopeta Williams Accounting and Administration Services) in the Cook Islands and thrives off assisting SME owners with financial management, grant applications and bookkeeping through her business and as a BLP Advisor.

I have been operating in the Cook Islands for almost six years and have loved seeing my clients’ businesses grow and succeed thanks to the admin and accounting assistance I have provided them with,” says Iokopeta Williams.

Recently, I was accepted as a BLP Business Advisor and have really enjoyed working on the projects that have come through this new professional relationship, which is just another step towards growing my business,” added Iokopeta.

While growing the business has always been one of Iokopeta’s top priorities she says it has taken a lot of perseverance and time management to get to the spot she is in today.

I balance my work and family commitments by managing my time through allocated timeslots strictly for work and strictly for family.

I used to get very stressed trying to juggle both the business and family life at the same time but have found that planning as far ahead as I can is what helps me avoid stress and achieve balance.

For me, the key to having a balanced life in your work and family is to define at the beginning what your priorities are. Work is a way to provide for my family, therefore family always comes first,” Iokooeta says.

Summarising her own time management tips for other SME owners, in particular, female entrepreneurs with families, she suggests the following:

• Group tasks by project or type.

• Create a day-by-day schedule.

• Plan for distraction.

• Dive into deep work.

• Keep priorities in check with a to-do list.

• Target your efforts with time-blocking.

• Separate daily and weekly planning by family and work commitments

If you’re interested in gaining cost-effective access to quality financial advice or business administration tactics like the type that Iokopeta Williams offers, but are not sure where to start, take the free online Business Health Check. The Business Health Check has a section that specifically addresses finance and accounting for growing businesses, and will help you identify where there are gaps in your business that could benefit from business advice. 

Alternatively, to arrange a face-to-face consultation and a full business diagnostic with our BLP In-Country representative in the Cook Islands, email [email protected]