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Work-From-Home Boundaries For Solopreneurs · The Life-First Solopreneur

• 0:00
  Carly Ries: When your office is also your kitchen, where do the boundaries go? In this episode, we tackle the messy reality of working from home, especially in summer when the kids are around and the laptop never really closes. We share the boundary tactics that actually work, and I even reveal my secret weapon for reclaiming my evenings while Joe shares the hard lesson he learned with launching his first Life-First business back in 1990. The takeaway? Boundaries aren't a luxury, they're a performance tool. You're listening to the Life First Solopreneur, the podcast for those in pursuit of a life first business. I'm Carly Ries, and my cohost, Joe Rando, and I spend every episode with solopreneurs who are proving there's a better way to run a one person business and experts who are helping make it happen. We like to say life first then business. So let's get right to it. So, Joe, I've been talking a lot about work life harmony in like my LinkedIn post. who was it? We were talking to somebody the other day and I was like, gosh, that's such a good Work life harmony.
• 0:59
  Joe Rando: so balanced. Yeah.
• 1:00
  Carly Ries: And it stuck with me. I feel like I'm talking about it so much and I've been putting it in my LinkedIn post and I've been talking about it with friends. just work life harmony versus work life balance really struck a chord. However, even when you integrate the two, and even when you make it a life, I would say a lifestyle as opposed to separating the two out, you still need boundaries. And for me, it's never been more real than this summer. As you know, kids are home from school.
• 1:27
  I have my laptop up, and sometimes they'll come up to me and ask me a question, and then they'll go in. Sometimes they'll come up and I'm like, you guys can't talk right now. And my husband's like, they don't know the difference. They don't know when you're in the I need to focus mode, go play in a room versus mommy's just casually checking emails. it's been such a weird mindset shift because I was explaining to them, like, when mommy was a kid, papa, my dad, would go into the office.
• 1:55
  And I never saw my dad work once in my childhood because he was always gone. And now we're living in an age where kids see you work and they see you on your phones. And I try to limit that as much as possible. But it's just kinda the reality of working in the modern world. You have your laptop in places you didn't used to.
• 2:18
  Would you agree with that?
• 2:19
  Joe Rando: I would agree with that except for me. I've got my screens.
• 2:26
  Carly Ries: But we talk about your daughter all the time. We talk about her traveling to other countries.
• 2:31
  Joe Rando: Oh, yeah. I mean, it's absolutely true. And it's great, and it's also, as you're pointing out, an issue. It could become an issue.
• 2:41
  Carly Ries: A big issue. And for people wanting to create life first businesses, it can really be a problem unless you set boundaries. And I think, like I was saying, I've had to come to the realization, if mommy has her laptop up and I'm sitting in a certain area of the house like I am right now, that's when you don't Come ask questions.
• 3:02
  Obviously, unless there's an emergency
• 3:04
  Joe Rando: And that's what I did too. My first life, first business literally was 1990, I started it, in a spare bedroom. But I had a spare bedroom, and I had it set up, and I went in there and the door was shut. Supposedly, the kids weren't gonna come in unless the house was on fire.
• 3:22
  Of course, that one time after literally 60 phone calls with this guy and he finally called me back, I'm on the phone with him and my daughter, who's three at the time, comes and bangs on the door and says, daddy, let me in.
• 3:35
  Carly Ries: Was the house on fire?
• 3:36
  Joe Rando: It was not. It was not. I don't know what it was But, anyway, it's just one of those things where having that space, that special space can be a real good way to kind of set some boundaries. But then there's a flip side to it that I don't wanna miss.
• 3:53
  Carly Ries: No. I was just gonna say, I think just it's more I mean, I've kind of alluded to this, but I think we've lost the ritual of signing on and signing off, for the day, unless your job allows that. And then there's the the guilt of like I don't know. for me, there's some guilt and anxiety around when should I have my laptop up?
• 4:13
  When should I not? How much should they see? How much should they not? And then like I'm sitting in my kitchen right now recording this, and this is a very common place in my house. It's a common space.
• 4:26
  And so we're just lacking those boundaries unless you set them intentionally. So Joe, you were just talking about spatial boundaries, like a dedicated zone, but you also had a flip side. What was that?
• 4:36
  Joe Rando: Well, flip side is that, it's in your house, and it can be very easy to just pop in whenever. Something pops in your head, something, you know, is a little bit of a quiet spell with whatever the kids or whatever, and you go in there, and at some level, I had to, in order to have a life first business, say, there are only certain times I'm gonna be in there working, and it's usually starting at, you know, 08:00 in the morning. Not today. It was earlier, but, usually 08:00 in the morning, and then it ends by six. That's how I work.
• 5:11
  And, I don't come in here in the evenings. I don't come in here on the weekends unless I'm doing house stuff because I do pay some some finance do some financial stuff from the same workspace. But I don't come in here and work on the weekends. It's just a rule. but if you don't do that, since this thing is calling to you, especially when you're getting started, you know, it can just be too easy to just be in there all the time and missing out on the the other parts of life.
• 5:38
  Yeah. So that's all I'm saying. It's great to have a dedicated space because then it's like, it's here, it's not there, but it also can be a place to end up, you know, hiding from the other parts of your life and, overdoing it on the business.
• 5:55
  Carly Ries: I also think in terms of boundary setting, communication is key. So aside from spatial, letting people know, before we hopped on, I was like, hey, you guys, this is one of those meetings that cannot be interrupted. I'm gonna be recording. My husband is in our back office right now. He's in the real office, which is why I'm in the common space.
• 6:15
  And it was just obviously, come over to me if there's an emergency, but this is the boundary for right now. I texted my husband, again, was outside in a separate space. And I was like, FYI, recording, making it known when you need to have focus time, downtime. And for me, I mean aside from recordings right now, I try to get my heads downtime, uninterrupted downtime, time down when when my kids are asleep, or at my parents, or else, with my husband. I never try to get that stuff done when they are around. But yeah, I mean I think it's easy for people to open their laptop and casually check emails, and you just have to remember, the people around you don't know that you're just casually checking emails. And they don't know if it's important or if it's not. So just be really mindful of the work you're doing and the boundaries you're setting verbally with people, not just in terms of space. But I liked what you also said, Joe, about having the hard stop, start and stop times.
• 7:16
  You said eight to six. That's when you work. I've actually heard people say they're they're doing fake commutes now after working from home, where they're like, get dressed, take their dog for a walk, and then come back and do like a fake commute, so that you come back and you're in the zone and people know that when you get back from your commute, that's go time. I thought that was a really fun idea.
• 7:37
  Joe Rando: I didn't think of that. That's very clever. Yeah. I mean, it's just good to have that kind of separation For sure.
• 7:44
  Carly Ries: I think also in the modern era, having that separation from your phone. Did I tell you that I got this thing called the brick. Have I told you about this?
• 7:54
  Joe Rando: I think so. But remind me.
• 7:56
  Carly Ries: So in order to access certain apps that I set, I do it from three to nine, except for when my kids are home from school. Like I was saying I'm trying to be so mindful about not having my phone up around them. And so from three to 9 PM, when I know it's my time with them, everything on my phone is blocked except for text messages, and phone calls obviously. And the only way I can unblock it, is if I go physically tap my phone on a device in my nightstand.
• 8:26
  Joe Rando: So there's a device?
• 8:28
  Carly Ries: A device. So because you know how you can just override,
• 8:33
  Joe Rando: Oh yeah yeah yeah just go and
• 8:35
  Carly Ries: So easy to override. But this, it's like if we're out and about, I can't override it because it's in my nightstand. And if I'm at home, I have to consciously be like, is going to check my emails while I'm making dinner really necessary right now, enough to a point I have to get up, walk into my room, and actually override this. And so it makes you think about it.
• 8:58
  Joe Rando: See, if I had made the app, I would have done that it would cost you $10 to unlock it.
• 9:03
  Carly Ries: Oh, see, that's smart. See? That's the next generation. But really setting those boundaries also because I think you have the work life boundaries, but you also need to protect your mental space since we are always around technology right now. Whether it's work or personal, setting those boundaries to help you be more productive during the day and find more work life harmony like we talked about is huge from a get off your phone standpoint.
• 9:33
  But, Joe, I guess the point of today is to separate your work and your home boundaries when you work from home. I don't know if we actually kicked off by saying that, but that was the point of today. Because I think we all run into these issues, especially in the summer months.
• 9:49
  Joe Rando: Yeah. It's really important. And like I said, I unfortunately found out the hard way, early on that it's just too easy to pop in and then start working again, start working again, start working again. Especially, like I say, early days, because you're always stressed, trying to get things up and running. And just it's fine to work more when you're getting started, but you don't wanna lose your whole life.
• 10:14
  Carly Ries: So I guess the moral of the story today is you have to have a mindset shift. You need to look at boundaries as, I would say, like a performance tool, Not just a luxury, but something to get your work done and really separate that time. And then also protecting rest as part of your job, turning off those those phones. Rest is not a betrayal of your productivity. It is also necessary.
• 10:36
  And I think setting those boundaries is key to finding that as well. I think that's all I got for today. Do you have anything else you wanna add?
• 10:42
  Joe Rando: No. I think we covered it.
• 10:43
  Carly Ries: Awesome. Well, listeners, thank you so much for tuning in. As always, please leave that five star review. It helps us reach other life first solopreneurs who are trying to find those boundaries in their life. Subscribe to our show on your favorite platform, including YouTube.
• 10:58
  And we'll see you next week on the Life-First Solopreneur. You may be going solo in business, but that doesn't mean you're alone. In fact, millions of people are in your shoes, running a one person business and figuring it out as they go. So why not connect with them and learn from each other's successes and failures? At LifeStarr, we're creating a one person business community where you can go to meet and get advice from other solopreneurs.
• 11:24
  Be sure to join in on the conversations at community.lifestarr.com.