• Bringing up our baby toddler with no outside help
• Running our main design & branding business
• Helping people learn how to live & work anywhere
• Helping aspiring illustrators create a sustainable, profitable career
• Helping health & wellness entrepreneurs build profitable businesses
• Working on various other business & personal projects

Our typical modus operandus has been to spend our days looking after the babe and then working at night, once she’s gone to bed. This has worked but she’s never been the greatest sleeper (1 hour of naps a day & an average bed time of between 7.30-9pm, depending upon naps) which means our time to work has been 3-4 hours at best, assuming we actually want to get to bed at a decent hour and get some sleep before she wakes up again.

It’s worked but it’s less than ideal and from a health perspective is not an approach that I want to maintain in the long term. I recently came across the “one week on, one week off” approach which sounded intriguing, so we’ve decided to try it. The results so far?

I’m liking it a lot but perhaps that’s because we’re about to head into an off week and the last one we had was bliss (once we were able to switch off – it took a while).

How We’re Making It Work

We’re experimenting with the length of periods – so we’re not strictly doing 7 days on & 7 days off but sometimes 9 days on, 5 days off or vice versa. Basically we’re working to a 2 week/14 day time frame and adjusting the on/off periods as necessary based on other commitments, trips & plans we’ve already got on the calendar.

We’re leveraging deadlines – one of the reasons I think this approach works so well is that it creates deadlines. Most of you will know that when you’re working on your own projects, to your own timelines which has no externally set deadlines there’s a tendency for things to sometimes slip. The one week on, one week off approach creates (artificial) deadlines which for us have also helped create a sense of urgency. We know that if we don’t meet a deadline, our off week will be delayed and also shortened – that’s not what we want so we work hard in the run up to ensure everything’s done on time & we can head into an off week with nothing hanging over us (very important if you actually want to be able to switch off).

We’re creating mind space to focus – you’ll also probably be familiar with the feeling of never quite catching up with yourself when you’re juggling running your own business, running a household and sometimes travelling on top of that. In any given week, you’ve probably got 1001 things you need to do swirling in your mind. What’s working so well for us with this approach is the fact that we get all our personal admin cleared up in our off weeks which means we can head into an on week knowing that’s all sorted and there’s not yet another thing hanging over our heads to sort out. It helps create the mind space during an on week to focus on the tasks at hand and the mind space during an off week to relax, knowing your work is done.

We’re rocking the to do lists – I’m a list person, always have been & always will be. But you know when you’re not being effective or productive when your list(s) keeps getting longer and not shorter. At the beginning of each on week, we create an “ultimate” to do list of everything we need to complete that week before the off week. It’s divided into the following sections:

• Client work
• Product creation
• Marketing
• Technical tasks

We usually have one main product we’re working on during any given on week and this is where it’s making the biggest difference – once all the other tasks are out of the way, we can focus on nothing but creating the new stuff.

We’re leveraging our strengths & working better as a team – as a husband & wife entrepreneurial duo, it took us a long time to figure out a way to work which leveraged both our strengths. Once we did, it made a big difference. And then along came the babe and our working practices got screwed up again. With this approach, we have very clear responsibilities during an on week and one of us works during the day while the other looks after Mali. This isn’t set in stone and it sometimes switches throughout the day – but it means we’re already working 2-3 hours more every day as a team than we were doing previously.

Is it worth trying?

I really think so. We’re about to head into our 2nd off week having now had 2 on weeks and so far, we’ve been at least twice as productive as we previously were. It’s a massive improvement for us and works really well with our commitments and working styles.

But is it worth it for you? If you already work for yourself and tick any or all of the following, then I think it’s worth a shot:

• You can’t remember the last time you took any time off from your business
• You always struggle to get through your to do list
• You find it hard to stick to your own deadlines
• You want to take better advantage of the fact you work for yourself
• You want to claw back some “you” time & actually start having weekends & holidays again
• You’re location independent & want to make the most of the places you’re travelling too as well as continue to grow your business

If you already work like this or you’re planning on trying it, let me know how you find it…

And then you launched into the world of entrepreneurship and running your own business and now you think, “I wish I had a boss telling me exactly what to do each day and how do I get more clients?”.

The grass is always greener, eh?!

As an entrepreneur you need to either have or cultivate the following qualities:

• Self-discipline
• Good time management skills
• Creativity in problem-solving
• An eye for detail
• Determination
• Staying power
• Forward planning

When you run your own business there is no-one telling you what to do nor how to do it; there’s no-one nagging you to work on your client pipeline nor telling to you get off Facebook and go do some work. There is no-one streamlining your processes nor checking the quality of your output.

You’re on your own…are you cut out for that?

(Because not everyone is – and that’s ok, it might just be easier to find this out before you take the plunge).

But honestly, sometimes when you sit down and look at what others have going on in their world and then you look at yours, it is hard not to be jealous.

I know that probably sounds rich coming from a girl who gallivants around the world living wherever she pleases, but I’m plenty jealous too….

• Of people who have thousands more blog subscribers than I do.
• Of people who own a penthouse in the V&A Marina Waterfront in Cape Town.
• Of people who can travel on a plane and look fabulous at the end of 10 hour flight.
• Of people who own an apartment at the Royal Phuket Marina in Thailand
• Of women who are taller than me (although I don’t really mind being 5ft 1.5in but given a choice…)

The thing is, for me, being jealous only serves to drive me on to achieve what I want to achieve so that I don’t have to be jealous anymore (except perhaps the height thing – and maybe the looking good after a long flight, I really don’t care that much but it would be nice) rather than depress the hell out of me because I’m not there yet.

Being jealous doesn’t have to be a negative, ugly emotion – it just depends on which way you look at it and how you choose to respond.

I’ve worked with several mentors and coaches over the past few years – it’s not something I regret doing although I still question whether I got true value from some of them – and would happily recommend some but not others. When it comes to dropping several hundred or even thousands of pounds and dollars on hiring a personal mentor, it helps to know you’re hiring the *right* person.

If you’re thinking of hiring a coach or mentor – whether it’s a business coach, an internet marketing mentor, a marketing consultant or one of the latest fads, a Social Media consultant, there are a few important aspects you should consider first…

#1 Check out their creds and establish their level and depth of experience

It’s quite easy these days to position oneself as an expert, consultant or coach of this, that or the other and start charging money for knowledge that someone has essentially learned from a book or by reading others blogs/reports and articles – without actually ever putting that knowledge into practice themselves.

If you’re hiring a business coach, you might want to check that they’ve got the relevant industry experience or have depth of experience in the specific function/area you’re struggling with. Does the person have more than a few months of experience to fall back on? Have they experienced the things you want advice on?

#2 Do they walk the walk?

On a similar note, you might also want to check that the coach, mentor or consultant you’re considering hiring walks the walk as well as talks the talk.

If you’re hiring a social media consultant, it’d be wise to see what their personal experience and online activity shows about the extent of their knowledge and experience? Do they have a blog (which has a decent number of subscribers)? Do they use & ‘get’ twitter? Do they have a Facebook profile? Or a LinkedIn profile? Are they actually using these tools to the greatest effect (e.g. by interacting with others) or simply tweeting to themselves, blogging to no-one and socialising with just their friends?

Does the online marketing mentor actually run and market their own business online? (even if they used to, things change so fast in this domain that you really need them to be up-to-date). Have they used the tools they recommend? Are they qualified to point you to one solution over another?

#3 Does their style suit your style?

I’ve worked through a number of mentoring programs and courses – some of which totally suited the style of learning I like and others turned me right off. Equally, in a one-on-one relationship with a mentor or coach, you need to figure out whether their coaching/teaching style suits your learning style.

Example: I worked with a coach who I personally found extremely unreliable. Punctuality is important to me and I find it unprofessional when someone I hire is late, MIA or hasn’t taken the time to confirm or double-check an appointment we have (note, I’m not saying that those things *are* unprofessional, just that I personally find them to be). On the other hand, some people would suit that flexible, more casual style and wouldn’t have a problem with it.

Does the mentor have the same values as you? Do they place stock on the same things as you? Does their working style suit yours?

If you’re looking to shortcut your way from A to B and the mentor, consultant or coach has done it, their experience, insight and learnings can be invaluable. Just make sure that they have the necessary depth of experience to draw from before taking the plunge and hiring them.

1. People often don’t live their own lives – they live the lives their parents mapped out for them, or the lives they think they *should* be living or the lives that their friends or relatives live.
2. It does take confidence to live your own life – because there are so many people in our lives who deliberately or not, attempt to shape how you live your life based upon their needs and desires and not yours.

It may sound rich coming from someone who gads about the globe permanently, seemingly doing just what she wants and going just where she pleases – but we’re not immune to the forces of others (and we went through our fair shares of struggles before we did this)…

…Well meaning family who question our decisions; people who suggest we should go there or stay in this place because they love it and think we should try it too; and even our own internal loyalties and emotions.

The breakthrough thing for me was realising that many of the questions, suggestions, gentle nudges and obvious shoves stem from that person’s own need to validate their life; to validate their decisions and to make themselves feel better. And we all do it; it’s human nature!

Staying on a path and living your own life requires you to have the courage of your convictions and the confidence to follow through. Do you have it?