How Team Boss Project Lives in Our Life-First Value
Episode 659: Show Notes
Our very first absolute priority when it comes to our business values, is building a business that is life first. To us, that means that our business structure reflects the season we are in. Seasons can be short or long, but they are intentional choices. You can choose to work full time, build a business, and still respect life first.
What this looks like for us, is allowing ourselves plenty of flexibility even while working full-time hours. When we chose to do business this way, we structured our days in a way where we could still prioritize family and life over work. How it looks is not the point, how it is communicated, and how it is honored, are! Life first looks completely different in every different context - what our team looks like when we’re working, what our team looks like when we are not working. Open and early communication is the essential building block for a life-first business to thrive.
We’ve made it a rule that every single employee has to take both their birthday and their anniversary off from work. That’s just one example of how we’ve built the life-first value into our business, and we’re proud of it! Building a life-first business can look any way you want it to, and it can be the little things, and ultimately our goal is that you have the freedom to choose what you want to prioritize and how that works.
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Why Picking Priorities That Are in Alignment With What Works for You Leads to Greater Productivity
When we first started our business, we had a list of non-negotiables that have really shaped how our business has developed. We did an audit of our daily lives, decided what we wanted to have grace and space for, and built our schedules around that. Many things can get in the way of building the kind of life you want. Your life isn’t enabling you to reach that goal, your boundaries aren’t enabling you to, or something in your schedule isn’t allowing you to. We can tell you from first-hand experience, that when the things in your life that you just aren’t getting to become a part of your daily rhythm, everything else feels lighter.
Whether it’s finding time to rekindle your love of cooking, or creating space in your morning routine to ease into the day, finding what works for you will change the game. It’s about making time, and allowing time, and making it okay that you might miss valuable work time in order to focus on other things. Picking priorities that are in alignment with what is important to you leads to greater productivity in the times you are working.
Building Your Work Life Around What’s Best for Your Health
During different phases of business building, different practices have been built into the day to support our health and healing. If you’re going through a period of your life where you are prioritizing your healing, it can feel impossible to schedule in everything you need to do in a more traditional working environment. We’ve learned just how easy it is to make time for everything from doctor’s appointments to self-care, if you just plan ahead.
Communicate early and often so that your approach to life-first doesn’t inconvenience anyone else. In our office, we’ve decided to institute ‘Quiet Fridays’ where we intentionally have a slower day, trusting in our staff to get things done, and step out if they need to, for any particular reason. We’re not expecting immediate responses on Slack, we’re not taking meetings with anyone outside of Boss Project, and we’re working quietly and independently at our own pace. We book our appointments on Fridays because that’s the most convenient time for us to step out of the office.
How Valuing Lightheartedness Creates Space for Life First Emergencies
At Boss Project, any member of our team is one Slack message away from needing to reschedule something, cancel something, or change how their day looks. Anyone who can help make that happen, will make that happen. It’s not a discussion. You get the time, because you need it! Valuing lightheartedness, to us, means we believe that nothing is an emergency within our company, which leaves room for you to deal with any personal emergencies that may arise. Imagine treating everyone on your team like they’re adults that can take care of themselves!
Sometimes we encourage our team members to live into the life first value more than they are willing to themselves. But when they do, we don’t demand the intricate details. Sometimes a family member will have a health emergency, or a dog will go missing. Sometimes someone just needs to take the day. Making room for people to prioritize their lives first. We didn’t anticipate how many things would crop up, but because we have created the space for it, our team is open to sharing what is really going on. Is it sometimes inconvenient? Yes. Does it matter long term? No.
Why Flexibility Is Useful Beyond Allowing You To Be Flexible
If you’re anything like us, carving out moments to reset is a crazy useful practice. Stepping out of your workspace, getting a coffee, and doing a little window shopping are some of the things that work for us. There’s an understanding in our office, that if one of us needs to take a break before coming back and forging ahead, that’s okay. But here’s the thing, we don’t use this freedom nearly as much as you would expect. If we were to monitor just one team member’s habits, the numbers would show just how little we take advantage of our flexibility. But just knowing that the option is there makes a huge difference for us!
It is often the lack of choice that causes you extra stress, extra anxiety, and doesn’t allow you to focus on the things that truly matter to you. If we can do this for our team, and we can also help our clients do this inside The Incubator, we are doing our jobs!
Quote This
When you’re pursuing building a business that is life first, our interpretation is really focused on leaning into the season in which you are in. Seasons are not necessarily short or long, but they are intentional choices.
Highlights
Why Picking Priorities that are in Alignment with What Works for You Leads to Greater Productivity [0:13:39]
Building your Work Life Around What’s Best for Your Health [0:20:10]
How Valuing Lightheartedness Creates Space for Life First Emergencies [0:25:53]
Why Flexibility is Useful Beyond Allowing You to be Flexible [0:29:18]
ON TODAY’S SHOW
Abagail & Emylee
The Strategy Hour Podcast
We help overwhelmed and creative entrepreneurs break down their Oprah-sized dreams to create a functioning command center to tame the chaos of their business. Basically, we think you’re totally bomb diggity, we’re about to uplevel the shiz out of your business.
KEY TOPICS
Flexibility, Stress management, Productivity, Emergencies, Values
