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When you are running a business from the comfort of your home office, the temptation can be to put 110% into your business 110% of the time. And while the demand for 24/7 services is very much part and parcel of the world we live in, is it realistic for you to take on this mammoth task when it’s just you?

How Can You Cope?

The fact is if you are running a business where you have contact with customers 24 hours a day, seven days a week and you fully intend to embody this approach, it’s impossible for you to keep up this pretense. While at the very beginning, you can feel stretched to your limits, once the business gains traction, you can begin to outsource certain tasks to freelancers. This is a very precarious path, especially if you are looking to make the most of talent across the world to communicate your multicultural approach to customer service. Because you may be lacking in finances, you have to make the most of the talent you can afford, such as via freelancer websites. While this approach can be effective, you need to be aware, especially when communicating yourself, that the language barrier doesn’t cause issues not just in relation to the people who hire, but the customers also. To make things a bit smoother, you may want to utilize a translation service. Many organizations, such as Lighthouse Translations, can work with you to communicate your tone of voice that doesn’t make it seem like your work has been fed into google translate! Although this can be a very tempting option in which to cut corners, you are going to, very likely, come across as amateurish.

Why Organization Is The Key

It is a very difficult thing to get right, because you are, in essence, spreading yourself over so many different time zones. If you are at the point where it’s just you, you have to have your processes as tightly wound as possible. Make the most of calendar programs, but also, when it comes to the marketing, there are so many social media tools that could help to keep your business advertising ticking over. Hootsuite is one of the most common examples. Rest assured, if you don’t have everything nailed down with spikes, you won’t keep on top of everything.

You Have To Set A Limit

And if you are making the most of freelancers, and outsourcing certain processes to make life easier for you, but you still find you are struggling with the weight of the work, it’s time to set a limit, for the benefit of your frame of mind. It’s unhealthy to answer emails at 3 in the morning, no matter how much time you think you’ll save yourself in the day. By setting yourself a strict working regime you can get that work-life balance down.

Make no bones about it, a 24/7 business requires a 24/7 mindset. And it’s impossible for you to think that you can do it all by yourself. No matter how little you have in the way of finances, you still need to make the most of the right talent, so your business can spread itself across different time zones.