I’m reading the e-myth and trying to systematize everything in my business.  In the pursuit of a balanced life, I want to be able to take time for vacations, long weekends etc.. without the fear of losing business or the expense of having to cover all my overhead without any income.  As  a small business owner, it can be scary to leave your business to someone else and you’re never quite free of the demands of your business.  Whether it’s to put out a fire here and there or to double check a receipt or to handle an emergency, you, as the main boss, are always the one employees will go to first.

To help aleviate this, I’m starting to write a manual of how we do things here at the office.

So far, we have the following entries:

1.  How to answer the phone when someone calls

2. How to greet a new patient when they walk into the office

3. The process of getting x-rays, and records

4. The process of talking to the patient and making diagnosis for the doctor (me)

5. How we review insurance estimates and payment options

6. The different instruments and setups needed for each procedure

That’s it for now.  If I can manage to structure and implement each of these, I will be able to hire more staff and they will run the business just as I would in my absence.  I’m still learning and trying to perfect this process.  It is actually kind of fun to sit down and go over your systems.  It has helped me improve redundancies and has made the staff more accountable to what needs to be done.

Pursuing a balanced life is not easy, especially when you enjoy both your work and your home life.

I’m a short person.  On a good day, with heels I’m about 5’2″.  I’m lucky to live in a house that has a pretty nice kitchen with lots and lots of cabinets.  When I reach up to these cabinets I can reach the lowest level and if I go on my tippy toes or I use a chair, I can get to the second shelf.

We recently moved to this house and started placing all of our plates, cups etc.. into the cabinets.  After unpacking our boxes, my mom who was helping us move said  “what are you going to put in the other shelves?”.  In fact, I looked into the kitchen cabinets and they all had something on the lowest shelf. Some had stuff on the second shelf from the bottom, but the third and fourth shelves were all empty.  Oh what a dilemma!!!  What am I supposed to do with all that space???  buy more plates, cups, stuff?  Put the towels there?

Well it has been about a month since the move into our new house and the shelves continue to be mostly empty.  I can see how easy it can be to keep buying stuff and putting it into the void of the high shelves.  I would never see it again and then go and buy the same thing over and over.  so here’s a rule I’ve made.  If I can’t see it, and reach it then I don’t need it.  We have enough cabinets that everything that we need should fit in the two lowest shelves so I refuse to buy more plates just to fill shelves that I will never even be able to see.

Here is a picture of our cabinet that contains all the plates, cups and bowls we use daily for a family of 4.  I mean, after making the decision to NOT fill the rest of the cabinets, I feel pretty relaxed and I even like to open the cabinets and see all that empty space.  Maybe I can put some pictures of the kids up there.

I have decided that I want to plan my space and my house around the stuff that I use every day rather than those fancy plates I only take out when guests come over.  Consider getting rid of all your “fancy” stuff that you haven’t used since your wedding.  I promise you won’t miss it.

I know that having empty cabinets may not be a choice if you have limited space, but if you have enough space, why not leave some empty shelves here and there.

If you like the idea of having less stuff, you may like this video on how less stuff can mean more happiness.

This is a hard one.

My husband and I have decided to start to choose our friendships more.  Instead of getting pulled into every birthday, every playdate, every mom’s night out or dad’s night out, we would rather choose how we spend that time.  We want to decide who spends time with us and our kids and what values they bring to the table that we share.  This is easier said than done, because we have 

For example, my daughter has a friend in school whose parents are extremly generous.  Everytime we go for a playdate, my daughter comes back with gifts, candy and toys.  She absolutely loves it.  However, it makes me very stressed out because I cannot stop her from having yet another cookie or wanting another sticker, pencil, toy when all her friends are getting them also.  By the time we get home, there’s toy and cany wrappers all over the car and my kids are on a major sugar high. 

 Also,when they come over, I feel obligated to run over to Target and spend time and money buying little toys and gifts and candy that I can give to them.  For my life philosophy, I prefer if a playdate is more about playing and less about exchanging gifts. 

This has put me in a very difficult situation since our kids are very good friends and enjoy eachother’s company very much.  However, I have decided to reduce our interaction with this family simply because I don’t have the time and money to go shopping for little knick knacks every week.  Also, there is  a lot of junk food at these playdates which, again, is not my preference for my children’s nutrition.

But how far to take this?  For now, I have decided to limit our interaction to birthdays and some visits here and there and not every week or twice a week like we used to do.  I absolutely LOVE this family and they are extremely good people, but the constant gift exchange has left me in a difficult situation since it goes against everything I believe in.  So as long as I have some power over who my children interact with, I will choose to interact with fewer families and also with families who are more focused on the experience the children have together and less on the material aspect of it.

Let me know what you think.  How far should I take this?  For now, I’m going with my gut feeling and I really feel a weight off my shoulders for not having to interact with so many people all the time.