The Entrepreneur's Work Schedule
Redefining the concept of weekends
A typical schedule
Most people I know have a full-time job. They work 8-4, with evenings and weekends off. This schedule has never been the norm for me. I used to be a window cleaning franchisee where I worked from Sunday to Thursday, 8am to 9pm.
Yep. 13 hours. Sometimes more.
During the peak season, the work day was split into two segments:
Day-to-day operations (8am-4pm)
Sales and marketing (4pm-9pm)
From 9pm to midnight, I would relax.
It’s crazy to think that during that phase of my life I only had friends who were free at night. I would regularly go out for dinner at 9:30pm.
The weekend.
I always viewed Friday and Saturday as my weekends. Most people define a weekend as 2 days where they don’t work. My definition was a 2-day period where I worked less. Lol. Therefore, Fridays I’d work from 8am to 6pm and Saturdays from 10am to 6pm. I would then do something fun with friends in the evening.
Eventually, I left this lifestyle behind.
I was running a franchise and it wasn’t 100% my business exactly. I didn’t have the choice to work less and it slowly caught up to me. And so I reduced my hours to create balance. I also started my very own business, the Calgary Language Nerds.
While I still work quite a bit, I also spend ample time looking after my special needs sister. Chilling with people I care about. Relaxing. Hitting the gym.
And for the past 10 years, this schedule has felt perfect.
But now…
I know it sounds crazy, but I miss working every hour. Seriously, I do. A part of me yearns to wake up at 7:30am, grind from 8am to 9pm, relax until midnight, and do it again. It just sounds ridiculously fun. Nothing would please me more than to work single-mindedly on a meaningful goal.
And yet, another part of me doesn’t want to be that unbalanced. I fear waking up at 55 with no deep relationships and poor health.
Types of schedules
First, there’s the Balanced Employee Schedule where you work 8am to 4pm. That sounds exhausting and so dull to me. I don’t want that.
I currently have a Relaxed Entrepreneur Schedule. I work lots, but also have time to myself. I don’t want this anymore. It’s not intense enough.
I used to have the Hardcore Entrepreneur Schedule where I pretty much just worked every minute of every day. Although I want that again, I don’t think it’s the right move all things considered.
My new schedule
I’m calling it the Disciplined Entrepreneur’s Schedule. I’ve mapped out a rough schedule below, but roughly speaking the simplified version is this.
Weekdays: must spend at least 10 hours/day working fervently on my goals
Weekends: must spent at least 5 hours/day working fervently on my goals
Given my lifestyle, here’s how that looks for me.
Monday to Thursday:
8am to 6pm: work fervently on my goals
6pm to 9pm: relax, spend time with people I care about
9pm to 10:30pm: work again, but not fervently. More chill.
10:30pm to 12am: wind down before bed
Friday:
8am to 6pm: work fervently on my goals
6pm to 12am: relax, spend time with people I care about
Weekends
Find 10 hours to work fervently on my goals
I can be flexible about when I find these 10 hours
All other time is spent relaxing or with people I care about
Excited to give this a try!
I think this solves some of the problems I discussed in my previous blog post. We’ll see if I am right :)
Thanks for reading!
Azren
Calgary Language Nerds owner
https://azrenthelanguagenerd.com
By the way…
I am looking specifically for more Spanish students. I have about 10 spaces open with tutors on my team.
I could also fit another 1-2 people for French, Gujarati, or Mandarin into my personal calendar. Spaces for these languages are limited. My calendar is about 90% full.
If you’re interested in a trial package:
Read about my method here
Fill out this Google Form
Thank you. I’m having sm difficultes to balance my personal life with my job. I teach languages online and not always have the same schedule for my calls