4. You need to start…later. Sadly, if I wake up at 3am, I check my messages. I check them before I go to bed and have tried to stop that being the first thing I do in the morning. Â There’s no easing into my day because I work from home and have no office hours. Â By telling yourself, your staff, and your clients when you will start (and end), you set a successful pace for your day.
5. You need to be the boss – of your time. Â There’s more to a day than work. Â Relationships with significant others, children, family, continued education, physical fitness, and even work events fall victim to our non-schedule. Â Knowing when you’ll be on the clock gives you more incentive to have and enjoy your off time.
6. You need to tell your family when they can expect and plan for you to be available. Â Having a set schedule helps everyone plan for you to be included in an event or not. Â Your family’s understanding of your time will make you more productive because you aren’t constantly having to shift appointments for what is important nor fielding interruptions throughout your (now) set workday.
7. You need to be you. As an entrepreneur you are your business, but your business is also you. Â All the experiences you had that make you an expert in your field need time to continue to percolate. Â With the crazy amount of hours we work, we all need to remember at the root we still need those experiences to give depth to our expertise.
Your business does need office hours. I’m not saying that you have to stay on a 9-5 schedule or even limit yourself to eight hours a day; you know your business and you should also know how many hours it takes you to be productive. I am saying you need to know when you are scheduled to be at your desk or engaged in activities that move your business forward. Â Being available for your business is your responsibility, but so is guarding against entrepreneur overkill.
Ella Rucker is the co-founder of Weekend Startup School and director of operations for #MentorMonday with Paul C. Brunson, both of which serve minority entrepreneurs. Ella has made her living for the past three years working as a writer, editor and content producer with some of the most successful personalities, brands, and blogs.  She has also written an eguide for Blogalicious entitled Tick Tock Goes The Blog Clock: The What, Why and How Of Creating 365 Days Of Content TODAY.
Ella tweets at @ellalaverne and blogs at BestBlogContent.com.