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By Anastasia Bennett, TwoBrain Mentor   Having a balance between work and home can be challenging. But like any challenge it can be rewarding if done successfully.   By learning how to prioritize balance you will become happier, healthier (both mentally and physically), and be more productive at work.   “Be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars. In the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul.” ~Max Ehrmann   As business owners who are always busy taking care of their staff, customers, sales, bills, family and so on, we forget what should be our number one priority: OURSELVES!   You can’t pour from an empty cup.   Look after yourself: stay active Keep exercising – whatever form that takes. Change it up if you need to keep it interesting; do yoga, go for a run, do some strength training or CrossFit classes. Reduce stress and anxiety eat healthy food Eating healthy will give you more energy and make you feel better get as much rest as you can You can recover from distractions faster It can prevent burnout It can help with memory and improve your decision-making abilities   Accept help or Delegate Instead of trying to do everything, reassess your strengths and weaknesses. Carry on with doing what you are good at and what you love to do and delegate or outsource other things that you ‘waste’ your time on. Think about what can you let go and delegate to your staff in order to give them an opportunity to grow. It will give them the chance to learn and help them to feel valued while having the added benefit of freeing yourself up to concentrate on your priorities.   Stop trying to do everything perfectly   Are you a perfectionist? If you are reading this, you probably are. Stop trying to get everything done ...

Alright, you had a bad November.   Or maybe it was September? October?   Maybe it’s not your fault things went badly. Maybe people really DO stop looking for gyms after Thanksgiving. Maybe it’s an “industry norm”. Or maybe that’s all bullshit.   Maybe it’s not your fault, but it’s your responsibility to stop the bad month from happening again.   I clearly recall a horrible August and thinking, “I’m never, ever going through that again.”   For me, a bad month meant missing a paycheck, presenting the bad news to my wife, and cutting back on my kid’s birthday party. A weak revenue month meant a REALLY bad month at home. But that was a good thing, even though it felt horrible at the time. It meant I couldn’t afford to repeat my mistakes.   My first inclination was to ask, “Why was membership lower in August?” And the answer came down to attrition, back then: many of my clients took vacation time in August, so they stopped showing up to the gym. Some backed out of their memberships, but even more costly, many of my personal training clients were away in July, so their package renewals were pushed back.   I adopted a solution of many parts. The first was to plan a big “competition” in the first week of September, and charge a high entry price. Over 100 people signed up (especially for team events,) and that kept those 100 training more often in the gym, because the price for not training was painful (failure at the event, wasting the $50 entry fee.)   Second, we cut costs by cancelling our kids’ groups, all of our Friday night groups, and giving staff some time off. We adopted a seasonal class schedule to make sure we had space when our clients wanted it…and not when they didn’t.   We also froze purchasing through the summer so we’d have ...