Why weekends matter to the entrepreneur

It’s Saturday and I’m at a local coffee shop banging away on the keyboard.  I like working on stuff like this on Saturday and Sundays.  It’s quiet.  

Yes i have a few people in the office today, but it’s nothing like the sometimes pandemonium associated with a weekday.  

I wanted to write a quick article about why weekends matter to the entrepreneur because it’s not hard to argue that there’s never been a better time to start your own business. Between the ability to reach a large audience and access to technology, individual people with great ideas and a solid work ethic have a better chance to succeed in today's market. However, that does not make success an easy thing to achieve.

Statistics indicate that around 62% of adults think that becoming an entrepreneur can be an excellent career. When you break down those numbers, though, you'll find that nearly 50% think they themselves are equipped to become an entrepreneur and 40% believe it's easy. Let's just cut to the chase — the people who think it's easy are mistaken. Ask any entrepreneur who has even a modicum of success and they have likely taken ridiculous risks and worked very hard to make their baby fly.

Notwithstanding those “entrepreneurs” who have “Phds”.  If you're wondering, a PhD means “Papa Has Dough”.  For the most part, I’m not talking about those who had a family member give them money to “start their own thing”.  I’m talking about the real entrepreneurs who started from nothing and actually built something great.  

Entrepreneurship sounds like a great business because Instagram and other social media outlets inundate us with information about the benefits of being self-employed. Some of this propaganda includes an excitement about the work you're doing, the ability to make a living doing the things you love and being your own boss. What you might not be aware of is that small business owners often work longer much longer hours than their employees. At least they do if they're building a successful business.

I'm not totally complaining about the glamour that the Internet has put on the business of real estate.  It's helped push lots of people to enroll in our real estate license school and pass the real estate exam.

Still, it's important to remember that there is only so much time in a day and time is your most valuable commodity. This is why many entrepreneurs work every day and set their schedules so that they can optimize the time when they're working. If you have a great idea and are launching your business, here are some reasons you should consider working weekends.

Why Entrepreneurs Don't Follow the Typical Weekend Schedules

For a typical employee, there are set number of days where  work is required and specified days off. The most common model by far is Monday through Friday, 9-5. This may vary but, for the most part, Saturday and Sunday are days off to catch up on personal errands or spend time with family and friends. These are the reset days for the typical working world.

For an entrepreneur, taking these days off completely may not be possible if they want their business to thrive. Because the rest of the businesses they deal with are likely closed on one or both of those days, the weekend becomes a fantastic time for entrepreneurs to catch up, refocus, and innovate.

This doesn't mean that you have to work around the clock to run a successful business. In fact, doing that can easily lead to burnout. A work/life balance is important for healthy relationships outside of your career. But most entrepreneurs do find ways to use their hours creatively to improve their productivity. This might mean taking downtime on a weekday so that you can work through the weekend. It might also mean working part of the day on a weekend so that you can participate in social events around your work schedule.

Benefits to Using Weekends for Work Time

There are a few reasons that entrepreneurs work through many of their weekends. Here are a few benefits to working through other peoples' downtime:

• Fewer Distractions. Working on a weekend allows you more time to focus uninterrupted. This is true whether you're a business owner or work on a team. Because your clients and other professionals usually don't work on Saturday or Sunday, you won't have to spend time fielding calls from clients, attending conference calls, or attending to different things that might pop up during a regular business day. This gives you the uninterrupted time you need to focus on a single task.

• Time to Plan. Weekdays tend to fly by with many demands and few chances to catch up. This is especially true for small business owners who often take charge of multiple aspects of their company. With the rest of the world off the clock, the weekend gives you time to assess your previous week. You can check to make sure you've stayed on schedule with assigned tasks (and catch up on tasks you didn't get to). This time is also a great way to plan ahead for the following week. If you choose a day over the weekend to plan and assess your progress every week, you'll be more likely to keep your benchmarks in mind and achieve short term and long term goals.

• Less Rigid Schedule. Working on weekends doesn't have to feel like you never get a day off. You don't necessarily have to work from the office and you can even plan your hours to suit your mood. I’m sitting in a coffee shop right now with my laptop and a latte.  It feels little less like work when I’m in a pair of Jordan’s and jeans as opposed to a suit and tie. 

There Are Down Sides, Too

Successful entrepreneurs build their businesses to a large degree because they've put in the work and effort. That does come with sacrifices. While it's true that many small business owners use weekend hours to help them get ahead, that doesn't mean it's always easy.

For lots of us including myself the work is something we love and are excited about. We often enjoy putting in long hours and have a sense of pride and purpose in what we are doing. However, that doesn't mean it's always easy to spend your Saturdays and Sundays working when the rest of the world is getting that time to take care of their personal needs.

Here are a few negative points to working weekends that you should be prepared to navigate:

• Loved Ones May Not Understand. If your significant other is on the “regular” world schedule, they may not understand the long hours you put in at your company and it can lead to arguments.

• Most Personal/Social Obligations Are On Weekends. This is especially true if you have children but even single people will find their social calendar is mostly full of events on weekends.

• You Miss Out On Some Great Events. It's not all about obligations. Working those hours also means you'll miss out on fun events that you'd enjoy attending.  A football game in the middle of a Sunday might be something that is playing on the TV or online in the background as opposed to you being able to physically attend the game.  

Building a thriving business means working longer hours than you would as an employee. That's simply a truth. Weekends offer you hours to catch up and get ahead of your competition.

I’m always looking to bring you value.  If there is anything I can do to help, please reach out on Instagram or call the office at 888 768 5285.  

If you are interested in becoming a real estate agent, please call me or my team. We are happy to be of service.

Love,

Kartik