This entry was posted
on Tuesday, October 2nd, 2007 at 9:09 pm and is filed under Work/Life Balance.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
 |
|
External Links
|
My Recent Tweets
Other Great Business Blogs
- Benefits Of Building A Home Business
- Is There More Financial Hardship To Come?
- Planned Maintenance – Upgrade to WinWeb.com
- The Cost of Borrowing
- Small Office Tips
- Finding The Best Employees For Your Small Business
- Do You Need Encouraging To ‘Go Green’?
- Five More Small Biz Sales Tips
- A Financial Health Check For Your Small Business
- WinWeb Pitch of the Week – Virtual Studio TV
Work-Life Balance 2.0 and Small Businessby Stefan Töpfer on Oct 02, 2007In the past twenty years the term “work-life balance” has come to symbolize the problem many face with increasing work pressures and the neglect of family, friends and their hobbies. This has created not only many health problems like cardiovascular disease, a weaker immune system, frequent headaches, backache to name but a few, but also social problems in areas like child-care, care for relatives, increase in divorces and other symptoms of a social fabric breakdown. For women the situation is even worse, not only do they have all of the above mentioned problems, but by making the conscious decision to raise a family they also have to pay a penalty when the return to work. However well qualified, after only 3 to 5 years on parent leave, they find it very hard to get even close to the positions they held before. They are penalized for having a family and this causes additional stress and anxiety. In the last ten years I have watched an encouraging trend, people opting out of the corporate treadmill, with much success. Many are starting small businesses or home businesses, freelancers, self-employed, contractors, professionals in all small business areas setting up shop. The reasons for this are quite predictable:
Subsequently, for me at least, the “work-life balance” has entered into a new phase, Work-Life Balance 2.0 if you like. No only are the above mentioned facts important, but now the participants in this work-life revolution are far more focused on their life and the choices they make, more demands are actively pursued even in the home working or small office environment, to maximize financial results while optimizing the work-life balance:
In this new established work-life environment, family – especially children, health, environment and personal fulfillment are beginning to transform the way we all think about work. I foresee long needed changes in the social fabric of our society and the reversal of detrimental trends which have started in some cases over 150 years ago. As more and more people work from home, it is no longer necessary to move to the big city to earn a living and pay inflated prices for the privilege. It is quite feasible to work from anywhere, even from a parents home, if need be. This will not only deal with problems for the younger generation to get onto the “property ladder“, but may in time re-establish the multi-generation household with all it’s social benefits of care for the elderly, or supervision of children by grandparents, while the parent is in the “home-office” earning a living. These changes may also prove beneficial for local communities, as more business potential will return to rural areas. Local shops and businesses will receive new business revenue and local communities will begin to prosper again. We no longer use our work environment as our social-interaction-generator, our organically grown social networks will embed us all into functioning local social infrastructures, which are so important for our mental well being. When I built my first 64 kbits Frankfurt – New York IP-network in the early nineties – I was ecstatic and I knew things where about to change, I had no idea exactly how much they would change, because of what I and many others around the world were doing. The internet, broadband, web-applications and cheaper computer hardware have enabled users to work from anywhere, enabled software developers like us to develop our Small Business Infrastructure, enabling small business in every corner of the developed and even in parts of the third world to run a small business effectively. This in turn is the reason for the phenomenal and explosive growth in small business activity we have been witnessing of the past decade. We still have challenges ahead of us, like our political leaders need to do more than try and convince us all that the current up-turn in small business activity is due to their intervention, nothing could be further from the truth, IMO. They need to remove the red-tape barriers for small business and start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer- or Personal business, like professional, contractors, freelancers, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants, and with this allow anyone to participate in the working cycle, no matter how many hours someone is willing to work. The self-employed status has to be supported, just imagine the untapped work and intellectual resources, excluded from the work process by short sighted red-tape. Our economy has invested in the education of us all, only to exclude some parents or even disabled people from contributing to our economy. It is my belief that we are just at the beginning of this trend and that most of the participants will enjoy a much better work-life balance, which will result in happier and more fulfilling social environments. That is my vision for the future, what is yours? ST. 
58 Comments » | Trackback
| Share This
58 Responses to “ Work-Life Balance 2.0 and Small Business ”Leave a ReplyI would love to hear from you, please let me know what your take on my blog post is. In order to stop spam on my blog and increase conversations, I had to implement some simple rules: 1. Please enter your real name, not your company, product or service's name. We are sorry but any violation of the above rules will mean an automatic removal of your comment. |
Sponsors
Categories
- avoid growing pain
- be eco-friendly
- be successful
- bootstrap
- choose your office
- deal with taxes
- do a reality check
- do a SWOT plan
- do bookkeeping.
- do cost cutting
- do credit control
- do customer service
- export
- find funding
- grow your business
- handle problems
- keep data safe
- lower overheads
- manage your time
- market and sell
- motivate your staff
- not to do it!
- outsource effectively
- plan cash-flow
- plan your business
- recruit the right people
- sell your business
- start-up in business
- use online IT
- Accountants/CPAs
- Accounting
- Boomer Business
- Contractor
- Development
- Disaster Plan
- DIY Business
- Employment
- Entrepreneur
- Exporting
- Failure
- Finance
- Franchise
- Freelancer
- Generation-Y
- Globelization 3.0
- Green/Eco-Friendly
- Health Check
- Home Business
- Infrastructure
- Key Account Management
- Lifestyle
- Marketing/PR
- MumEntrepreneur
- News
- Outsourcing
- Personal Business
- Red-Tape
- Relationships
- Sales
- Self-employed
- Social Entrepreneur
- SOHO/SMB/SME/Micro
- Sole-Trader
- Start-Up
- Suppliers
- Virtual Assistants
- Work/Life Balance
Said on October 3rd, 2007 at 3:53 pm
[...] Töpfer over at the Small Business Blog made a wonderful post yesterday about work-life balance and [...]
Said on October 3rd, 2007 at 6:02 pm
This is absolutely great Stefan. I love your concept of Work-Life Balance of 2.0.
Said on October 3rd, 2007 at 6:13 pm
Hi Sharma,
Thank you for your comment, had a look at your blog and loved it.
ST.
Said on October 12th, 2007 at 8:52 am
[...] Enhance Your Work-Life BalanceHave it all your way – family, friends, work and most of all a life! [...]
Said on October 12th, 2007 at 8:54 am
[...] Enhance Your Work-Life BalanceHave it all your way – family, friends, work and most of all a life! [...]
Said on October 12th, 2007 at 9:20 am
[...] Enhance Your Work-Life BalanceHave it all your way – family, friends, work and most of all a life! [...]
Said on October 18th, 2007 at 9:44 am
[...] Enhance Your Work-Life BalanceHave it all your way – family, friends, work and most of all a life! [...]
Said on October 19th, 2007 at 9:05 am
[...] Enhance Your Work-Life BalanceHave it all your way – family, friends, work and most of all a life! [...]
Said on October 19th, 2007 at 8:22 pm
Crime is a part of our lives. I remember back in the 80’s where I used to leave the front doors of my business open and feel safe. We run a small accountancy office in Telford and over the past ten years or so we have seen crime increase.
We have been targeted before and our business in the heart has suffered leaving us no option other than to take the move and research in surveillance and various options.
Having looked into the options we have decided to purchase the Interwatch Security system. This type of surveillance is so advanced and allows us to be able to view our business remotley, from your PC and even our mobile phone. Should our camera pick up motion we are sent an email, SMS and phone call – which is great for us.
Well don Interwatch Security!
Ian Wilson
Said on October 28th, 2007 at 7:57 pm
[...] Enhance Your Work-Life BalanceHave it all your way – family, friends, work and most of all a life! [...]
Said on October 29th, 2007 at 7:44 am
[...] Enhance Your Work-Life BalanceHave it all your way – family, friends, work and most of all a life! [...]
Said on October 29th, 2007 at 8:44 am
[...] Enhance Your Work-Life BalanceHave it all your way – family, friends, work and most of all a life! [...]
Said on October 29th, 2007 at 8:17 pm
[...] Töpfer presents THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG: Work-Life Balance 2.0 and Small Business posted at THE SMALL BUSINESS [...]
Said on October 30th, 2007 at 9:05 am
[...] Töpfer presents THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG » Blog Archive » Work-Life Balance 2.0 and Small Business posted at The Small Business [...]
Said on October 30th, 2007 at 6:36 pm
[...] Töpfer presents THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG » Blog Archive » Work-Life Balance 2.0 and Small Business posted at The Small Business [...]
Said on November 2nd, 2007 at 11:09 am
Electronic Commerce – Blog Carnival (2nd November
Welcome to the November 2, 2007 edition of electronic commerce. (Vol 1, No. 4, 2007)
Said on November 9th, 2007 at 3:47 am
Economics and Social Policy – XXXVII
archives submit postWelcome to the November 8, 2007 e …
Said on November 13th, 2007 at 12:57 pm
[...] Enhance Your Work-Life BalanceHave it all your way – family, friends, work and most of all a life! [...]
Said on November 14th, 2007 at 6:22 pm
I recently read a study by Hewlett Packard which found companies that gave their staff the option to work flexibly increased productivity by up to 400 per cent. The study used two pre-designed “offices” one of which insisted their workers stay at their desks and the other allowing staff to use mobile technology and work more flexible hours. Results of the study found that as well as reducing stress levels, those in the more relaxed environment improved their IQ by 28 per cent and increased memory retention by 33 per cent.
Of course we don’t need a study to tell us what is already perfectly obvious: flexible working isn’t just desirable from a personal and social level, but makes good business sense too. The good news is that hosted network technology allows for complete flexibility in working, by giving organisations and their staff full and instant access to all their company data, email, calendar and contacts from any computer in the world, without the need for Virtual Private Networks to be set up. The technology is easy to use and affordable for even small businesses. Sadly, it’s the attitude of many managers that needs to change before flexible working becomes a common practice, and attitudes tend to evolve much slower than technology does…
Said on November 16th, 2007 at 11:58 am
Celia,
Thank you for your comment – I agree with you, in comparison to our technological advances, many of our business, social, political and moral attitudes are still in the Middle Ages.
Stefam
Said on November 26th, 2007 at 8:31 pm
[...] Töpfer presents THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG » Blog Archive » Work-Life Balance 2.0 and Small Business posted at The Small Business [...]
Said on December 1st, 2007 at 12:31 am
[...] Töpfer presents THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG » Blog Archive » Work-Life Balance 2.0 and Small Business posted at The Small Business [...]
Said on December 5th, 2007 at 3:09 pm
[...] Töpfer presents THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG » Blog Archive » Work-Life Balance 2.0 and Small Business posted at The Small Business [...]
Said on April 22nd, 2008 at 12:34 pm
Spending quality time with your family and taking part in activities you enjoy – and for many business owners this idea seems out of reach. The good news is that in 9 times out of 10 professional business coaching can bring you closer to your personal goals whilst maximising your business performance and profits.
Said on May 25th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
A tough one – the work life balance I guess may have something to do with another balance – the one at the bank!
Said on May 30th, 2008 at 9:49 am
Unfortunately, most people are still being caught in the rat race and not being exposed to the possibilities of a work from home setting. Sometimes, it might take some forms of wake up call to make us realise that a corporate job is not for life! Gaining experience perhaps..but definitely not something that we can totally rely on for financial stability or freedom…
Said on May 30th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Who was it said, that if you win the rat race, you’re still only a rat?
M
Said on June 10th, 2008 at 4:15 am
I remember those days while i held positions in corporations as a senior manager. Yet many times i felt a lack of satisfaction and yearned to do something for myself. A year passed by now and i am glad i had decided to take the plunge. As for my work life balance, i certainly am a more balanced man now as outsourcing is key to my business.
Said on July 17th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
“social fabric breakdown” – truly said Stefan !
and “choice to live with less consumerism” – is really the key .
Said on July 25th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
As a small business owner, I tend to find myself pushing the limits of work hours verses quality time spent at home. On one hand I feel if I’m not putting the extra time, my business is going to suffer… On the other hand, life is too short and quality family time is a must.
It’s a balance we all have to find… I truly appreciate your comments Stefan… Thank you!
Said on August 5th, 2008 at 3:50 am
Great insight! Creating a work-life balance can be difficult. We may seem too preoccupied with – as what Richard Hazelgrove commented – our finances, paying the bills, material things etc.
Said on October 1st, 2008 at 3:49 pm
For a very long time the move was towards working for large corporations so you could get a retirement and other benefits. The stability of large companies were very attractive. Now the trend is starting to come full circle. People are tired of depending on companies for retirement and health care and are moving to be more self sufficient. i think this is a fantastic trend for both families and the economy.
Said on October 19th, 2008 at 6:32 pm
i believe that the trend of working from home will continue. The maturing of broadband technology and the software used to secure it has been the primary factor that can be associated with an increase of people working from home. Because these softwares continue to mature, become cheaper, and easier to implement, I think there will be an even greater migration of workers home. The more time we are able to be with our family and loved ones the better off we are. Besides, they are the reason we go to work every morning anyway.
Said on November 3rd, 2008 at 11:13 pm
I agree. The internet has brough a revolution in home based business. Its relatively easy to start your business as long as you know a few things. The one things however is that people think that working online doesnt require work…
Said on November 19th, 2008 at 9:04 pm
“It is my belief that we are just at the beginning of this trend and that most of the participants will enjoy a much better work-life balance, which will result in happier and more fulfilling social environments.”
I think you are absolutely correct with this statement. i believe that in the next ten years or so more and more people will begin working from home. This will cause a sea change in the way people do their work and interact with their family. i think as computers; as well as broad band become faster and cheaper the incentives for companies to have more of their work force working from home will grow.
Said on November 20th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
Whilst in a perfect world getting a great work life balance would be great, but in reality, if you do not work extra hard, you will not receive the best possible rewards.
Said on January 27th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
Creating a work-life balance can be difficult.
great work stefan.
Said on April 10th, 2009 at 7:16 pm
I need to keep this in mind….sometimes I’m a complete workaholic!
Said on June 18th, 2009 at 2:13 pm
Hi Stefan, To bring balance between work life we total assets, that can be get by keeping our mind cool.. It is a very nice blog..
Said on July 3rd, 2009 at 9:29 am
Good tips to work life balance and small business. But keep in your mind it’s not easy, everything need your attention and and work hard…thanks for posting this blog..
Said on July 9th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
The good news is that if you take the time to make sure you balance your personal life with your business life, you will reap the benefits in both areas…. Broadband gives work from home flexibility…
Said on July 17th, 2009 at 6:12 pm
As a small business owner who runs his business from his parents home I fully identify with your post… I do find it extremely hard to let my mind release the thoughts of business matters. Even after nearly 5 years in business it doesn’t get any easier.
Said on July 29th, 2009 at 10:02 am
I feel very identify with this post. I created a company 3 years ago and pressures are always increasing. The bigest problem I found in this are psycological problems in relationship with the fault of free time. Dont you think we should have more free time? Its important have intelligent people in your company whiches let you sleep more..
Said on August 11th, 2009 at 9:12 am
Now this is quite optimistic point of view. I think a society full of self-employed people is unimaginable because of the competition between them that would cause big corporations, as it already happened in all markets.
Said on August 11th, 2009 at 10:42 am
I quite identify with what you are saying being quite apprehensive myself concerning m family too. The last job I did brought loads of pressure in my family as I was spending less and less time with them. Now my second baby is on the way I am looking for a work-from home job but having a real difficlty finding one. Do you have any suggestions?
Said on August 20th, 2009 at 11:04 am
Much to learn from people such as yourself. Seems harder than I thought to keep up and learn all the things. I find myself learning through mistakes.
Said on September 2nd, 2009 at 6:49 pm
I think you’re right and there are growing trends where more and more people are getting self-employed and earning through Internet by running a small business. There are home jobs available now as well which makes it easier for women especially to look after their kids as well as contribute to the family and make sure they don’t lose any points on their resume. Small businesses need to be respected as all the big companies now were started from home or on a low-scale.
Said on September 4th, 2009 at 10:11 pm
Interesting read. When I 1st got into the Real Estate business I was an absolute fanatic and completely tied to my work. Over the years I have realized there is more to life than work and making money. I guess having more security has allowed me to change my thinking. I would agree with you completely about the state of ones health. It is very easy to run yourself down in a job that is high stress.
Said on September 9th, 2009 at 11:50 pm
Great post and I try to keep a balance. My problem is that my balance leans heavily towards the work side. It is too easy to work with a office at home.
Said on September 10th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
Yes, It is a broad concept including proper prioritizing between career and ambition on one hand, compared with pleasure, leisure, …
Said on September 17th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
this post explains the importance of work-life balance for employees and employers. Summaries relevant law and suggests ways to improve with an action plan.
Said on September 21st, 2009 at 12:57 pm
Yes,a small business is a business that is privately owned and operated, with a small number of employees and relatively low volume of sales and we have to take care of each individual module..
Said on November 6th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
This is absolutely true, great post Stefan.
I´m totally agree with your reasons,
i enyoy reading your posts
Said on February 2nd, 2010 at 9:29 am
I think you are absolutely correct with this statement. i believe that in the next ten years or so more and more people will begin working from home. I think a society full of self-employed people is unimaginable because of the competition between them that would cause big corporations, as it already happened in all markets.
Said on February 8th, 2010 at 5:31 pm
Usually I do not post on blogs, but I would like to say that this blog really forced me to do so! Thanks, really nice post.
Said on March 11th, 2010 at 12:45 pm
I think working from home is certainly a good thing but you need to ensure that even though you’re working from home, the same work rules apply; working normal standard hours, no reading emails after work hours etc It is much easier to work longer hours when working from home and working from home can bring different pressures.
Said on May 28th, 2010 at 9:43 am
Great idea, great work,stefan.
Said on August 12th, 2010 at 10:59 am
The significant point here is to build out what you desire your priorities to be and not what you believe they have to be.