How Family Issues May Impact Your Business

Written By: Richard Hutchins, CD

This article is a contribution on behalf of the IDA Health & Wellness Taskforce. 

How Family Issues May Impact Your Business

Family isn't without its stressors. Family can present various issues that may affect your business in numerous ways. How can these affect your business? Below I have outlined different family situations and how these may affect you and your business.

Lack of sleep. An increase of chores. Decline in free time. If you have a new baby, you may be experiencing some of these. These items can cause stress in all areas of your life. Your partner may also expect you to take time away from the business to be at home 24/7 with your new baby. This can be a demanding role and can lead to a great deal of tension. In extreme circumstances, this can lead to post-natal depression. Bottom line, if you're feeling stressed, that stress is affecting you, and if it's affecting you, it can affect your business. Try your best to carve out even a couple minutes of your day to do something to help you destress.

As children grow and they become more attached to one parent over the other, the other parent can begin feeling unwanted. If this is the case for you, don't assume you are unwanted. It is still important to remain present in your child's life. Making time to stay connected and fully involved with your family as your child grows up is essential. Children grow up very fast. Missing important dates for children at school, such as a sports event, a play, or dance show, may cause your children to think you don’t want them and don’t like them. Take the time to make time for your children.

Being a parent is hard. Being a single parent can be even harder because you do not have a partner to split duties. It falls to you. It is vital that you find what support you can. Whether this is from friends or simply emotional support from a distant family member. Perhaps all you want is to keep a roof over your child’s head. Feeding them and buying them things they want can be financially draining. Setting ground rules with your kids is important. Make sure they understand from an early age the true value of money. Make sure they know it doesn’t grow on trees. Make them earn pocket money and when they have enough money saved, they can buy something.

A divorce could affect your business financially. Perhaps you see a drain on funds having to pay for legal items. Perhaps you own a business, and your partner may receive some part of it in the divorce settlement. It might affect your state of mind at work. If children are involved, this can affect their mental health too. Consider what they are witnessing if you are discussing divorce matters at home. Avoid tempers flaring in front of your children. This can frighten them. Find a friend you can trust. Separating from a partner that you’ve trusted for so long can be one of the most heart-wrenching situations possible, causing no end of stress and anxiety as that trust has been lost. Having a friend to confide in is important. Even if you just want to talk to let off steam, find that friend to help.

Arguments with family members can also affect your business. Even after an argument ends, you may find that it still holds your attention. This means you aren't fully concentrating at work. Instead, you find yourself thinking about what happened at home. You may also be worrying about having to go home. It is important for you to try to resolve the item that caused an argument. If it resulted from long work hours, avoid working long hours to avoid going home. Try to adjust your schedule to include more free time you can spend with family. Explain to them why you are working long hours. Are you spending too much time on social media responding to clients? Find systems and apps that can help you. Set them up and let the app do the work for you. Yes, you need to respond to clients, but make sure your partner understands this or ask them for help in keeping in touch with clients.

This can impact your business in several ways. First, you may need to take time off for various reasons. Perhaps you have to sort out wills, financials, or belongings. Maybe you need time off to attend the funeral. People react in different ways to the loss of a loved one. Dealing with loss can take years to overcome. Take your time to deal with your loss. You can choose to talk about it or take some time off for reflection or peace and quiet. Do not feel pressured into carrying on like nothing has happened. Everyone needs to express their feelings. Do not feel like you must hide them for the sake of upsetting others. Just deal with it your way and reach out to chat when you are ready.

IIllness in your social circle can cause several different stressors. You may have to take on more responsibility at home. Perhaps you must do more chores, schedule time to visit hospitals, or run to and from appointments. This may also cause financial strain. Bills for medicine and treatment can stack up. There is also a mental impact with illness. Financial strain can add to your stress levels. You also have the added worry about the health of a friend or loved one. There is also the worry and the strain it puts on you to keep that perfect balance of running your business and caring for your loved one. Getting things that can help and organising your schedule is essential. There are apps that can help make day-to-day things much easier and simpler. Don't forget to reach out to others for assistance.

First, this may impact your business financially. Weddings aren't cheap, so you may have to budget accordingly. You will also have another opinion on your business. Your partner may give advice or input, which could be beneficial or detrimental. Be sure to listen to their advice. However, don't make any changes just to make them happy. This could also impact your business from a time aspect. You could be expected to spend more time with your partner. A working relationship needs to be established with your work life and new home life. Balance is essential to ensure your relationship remains healthy for all concerned. Make plans well in advance. Then you both know when you are free to have quality time together. Do not forget to live your life. Make time for fun as well as work. Set aside time where all work-related items are pushed aside. We all know the saying, "work hard, play hard." This is great advice. Do not overdo things. Make time for both work and play.

 *The IDA is not a provider of medical or health services, and the information provided herein does not constitute medical advice. Please talk to your medical healthcare provider.